Ann Dallas (born Wylliann Weatherall, 1908 – October 1996) was a British artist. She was a member of the Kirkcudbright Artists' Colony in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, where she moved around 1958. Her works, like those of her husband Alastair Dallas, focused on paintings in watercolour and oil of local views such as the harbour, and local people.
Weatherall was born in Blyth, Northumberland. The daughter of a colliery engineman, she attended the King Edward VII School of Art at Armstrong College (then part of Durham University), where she studied under instructors such as Herbert Maryon. After graduating around 1929, she spent more than a decade teaching art at Gosforth Secondary School, while also regularly exhibiting sculptures, watercolours, and oil paintings at the Laing Art Gallery. She took her husband's surname after her 1945 marriage, and at some point adopted Ann as her professional given name—perhaps due in part to the similarity between Wylliann and William. The two moved to Scotland after their marriage, and settled in Kirkcudbright around 1958.
Dallas exhibited frequently while in Kirkcudbright, particularly at the Harbour Cottage Gallery and Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries, as well as in Glasgow and Edinburgh. She was recognised as being among the last of the members of the Kirkcudbright Artists' Colony, which flourished from around 1880 to 1980.
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Early life and education
Wylliann Weatherall was born in 1908 in Blyth, Northumberland. Her father was a colliery engineman. She had a brother, Albert. She was educated at Blyth Secondary School for Girls, Rutherford College of Technology, and the King Edward VII School of Art at Armstrong College, then part of the University of Durham. Her instructors included Herbert Maryon, who taught sculpture, and she graduated around 1929.
Career
Early career
After graduating from Armstrong, Weatherall began teaching art at Gosforth Secondary School. She was still teaching there in 1941. During this period, Weatherall also exhibited regularly at the Annual Exhibition of Works by Artists of the Northern Counties, held at the Laing Art Gallery. In most years from around 1929 to 1941, she exhibited works including sculptures, busts, watercolours, and oil paintings. Several of the portraits included busts of William Straker (general secretary of the Northumberland Miners' Association), one of which was placed in Burt Hall, a sculpture of E. M. O'R. Dickey, and an oil portrait of her former teacher Maryon.
Kirkcudbright
Following her 1945 marriage to Alastair Dallas, Weatherall took her husband's surname. Perhaps around this time, she also began going professionally by the given name Ann—possibly to avoid confusion caused by the similarity between "Wylliann" and "William". Dallas and her husband lived first in a rented house in Kippford; soon thereafter, they moved to Glenhead in Auchencairn, where they remained for a decade. Around 1958 they moved to Kirkcudbright, where they set up a studio next to Kirkcudbright Tolbooth. The town was home to the Kirkcudbright Artists' Colony, having lured artists with its charm, seaside location, natural light, and cheap property. This distinction, with Kirkcudbright referred to as "The Artists' Town", or "the St Ives of Scotland" lasted for a century, from around 1880 to 1980.
In Kirkcudbright, both Dallas and her husband focused on paintings of local views and local people in oil and watercolour; a frequent subject for Ann Dallas was the harbour, and she liked to try painting roses once per year. She often exhibited at the Harbour Cottage Gallery in Kirkcudbright. She also showed works at the Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries, as well as in Glasgow and Edinburgh. In the early 1980s, Harbour Cottage Gallery put on a joint exhibition of the works of her and her husband; though they were both still alive, it was termed a "memorial" exhibition.
In 1993, Dallas met Queen Elizabeth II during dedication ceremonies at the Tolbooth, which was being reopened as an art centre following renovations. At the time, The Galloway News described Dallas as "the last surviving member of the old school of painters in Kirkcudbright". Around 1994, she also met Charles III (then Prince of Wales) during his own visit to Kirkcudbright. She continued painting, particularly in watercolours, until near the end of her life.
Legacy
From September to October 1998, two years after Dallas died, the Harbour Cottage Gallery staged a memorial exhibition of her work. The exhibition included works from friends and family dating from the mid-1920s until the 1990s. Writing in The Galloway News, a reviewer wrote that "This exhibition reveals a prodigious wealth of talent—an artist equally conversant with techniques in oil, pencil, watercolour and sculpture." Another reviewer for the paper called it "a sad reminder of the passing of time but a fitting tribute".
Several works by Dallas are held in public institutions. These include a 1933 bust of Straker (Woodhorn Museum), her oil portrait of Provost Brown (Stewartry Museum), the oil painting Jug of Roses (Kirkcudbright Hospital), and the oil painting The 'Mary Pullman' (Stewartry Museum). Additional works are displayed online.
Personal life
Weatherall enjoyed staying in youth hostels, and in 1938 met Alastair Dallas, also an artist, while staying in one in Glen Nevis. They married in 1945 and had a son, also named Alastair. The elder Alastair died on 26 December 1983.
Dallas died in October 1996 at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, aged 88. A service was held at Greyfriars Church in Kirkcudbright, followed by a funeral in St Cuthbert's churchyard. Both were conducted by the Reverend Arnold Simister, a family friend.
Selected exhibitions
Laing Art Gallery: Annual Exhibition of Works by Artists of the Northern Counties
1929: Included Bather (sculpture), priced at £15.
1931: Included The Water Girl (sculpture).
1932: Included bust of William Straker, along with Miss Joan Howson (sculpture), Fantasy (sculpture), and a crucifix.
1933: Included April (sculpture), and a sculpture of E. M. O'R. Dickey.
1934: Included another sculpture of Straker, and one of R. F. S. Morrison, the headmaster of Gosforth.
1935: Included Dancer (sculpture).
1937: Included an oil portrait of Herbert Maryon, Indian Scout (sculpture), and Sunbeam II (screen).
1940: Included two watercolours.
1941: Included watercolours and a sculpture.
Harbour Cottage Gallery
Easter 1986: Included Loch Stroan, a watercolour reviewed as displaying Dallas's "sensitive approach to nature characterising even the smallest moorhen on the surface of the limpid water, while retaining her distinctive freshness of vision".
Summer 1986: Included The Flowing Tide, a watercolour reviewed as displaying "great delicacy", and the oil The Venetian Glass Duck, reviewed as "masterly".
Summer 1986 "Festival Exhibition": the only living artist represented, Dallas exhibited a portrait of a Provost John Brown, now held by the Stewartry Museum.