Ian Barr is an artist educated at Glasgow School of Art, a very long time ago, and who has had a professional life working at senior levels in education both in Scotland and internationally.  Throughout his life he has managed  to maintain his artistic practise in some form or other.  Ian was a Trustee of the National Galleries of Scotland for eight years and is now, once again a full-time artist.

 Ian has four objectives for his talk:

·      to make the case for the arts as a fundamentally important part of how we live a good life;

·      to show you that abstract art is not a relatively new-fangled idea

·      in particular to explain, in a way that is understandable, what abstract art is about and how it should be approached;

·      share something of how he makes abstract art.

 What he is not intending to do is convert everyone into enthusiasts for abstract art, but simply to perhaps provide a better understanding of what this sometimes curious field of human endeavour is about, and perhaps encourage some to look at it in a more sympathetic and better informed way.