Peter Quinn

Peter Quinn was born in Dumfries in 1960. He studied painting at the Glasgow School of Art before later completing a PhD in the history of art from the University of Sunderland. He now lives in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where he both paints and teaches art history.

Peter is a member of the Royal Watercolour Society and also the chair of the Bewick Society, dedicated to promoting the life and work of the great Northumberland artist Thomas Bewick. His latest exhibition, Voyages, runs until 20 November at Gallagher & Turner, Newcastle.

Your new exhibition is called Voyages, but presumably you’ve not had many of those in the last 18 months. Are the paintings all based on previous travels?

Yes. In 2020, before things locked down, I had already been to Malta, to the carnival, and then as things were in the process of locking down here, we were in South Africa.

And then when I got home, I decided to take time to go through older things – things that I’d put to one side, projects that had been shelved, or ones I