Leanne Ross - Dirty Dancing Flowers
CLOSED Monday and Tuesday
Open Wednesday to Friday 12 to 5pm
Saturday 12 to 6pm
Sunday 12 to 5pm
In Loving Memory of Leanne Ross
On Friday 7 February 2025, Leanne Ross passed away after a long illness. Though her time with us was far too short, she filled it with creativity, passion, and beautiful connections. Her paintings are a joyful, colourful celebration of life, a true reflection of the amazing person she was.
Leanne was a brilliant artist, and her talent shone brightly in every artwork she created. As one of the founders of the KMAdotcom artist collective, she not only helped shape this vibrant artistic community but also formed lasting friendships with fellow artists who shared her love for creativity and beauty.
Leanne’s warmth, kindness, and artistic spirit will be deeply missed by all who knew her. Her legacy lives on in the stunning works she left behind and in the hearts of absolutely everyone she touched. She will be missed.
Tramway extends its sincerest condolences to Leanne’s family during this difficult time.
__________________________
Tramway presents a solo exhibition by Scottish artist Leanne Ross (1984 -2025) featuring an immersive new body of work, created in partnership with KMA studio and Artlink, Edinburgh. The installation also includes a bespoke karaoke stage where visitors are invited to sing along to tracks from the classic film, Dirty Dancing.
Leanne worked across a variety of mediums including painting, printmaking, sculpture and installation, to create exuberant and poetic artworks that explore the interplay of text and image. Leanne worked decisively and intuitively, arranging dynamic combinations of colour, material, form and language to generate new associations and meanings, with emotive, humorous and poetic results.
Words were often the starting point for most of the artist's practice, most notably in her iconic ‘Shout Out’ paintings which feature snippets of conversations and observations from her life. These words were then paired with colours which she had meticulously journaled, transforming everyday phrases and rituals into a form of visual poetry. Scaled up, the words become proclamations or positive affirmations.
For her exhibition at Tramway, Leanne explored new materials and processes to expand on the ‘Shout Out’ works, working with large scale canvases and glittering, metallic paints to explore her diverse inspirations. These range from the bold floral designs of Finnish Marimekko designer, Maija Isola; the vibrant prints of Sister Corita Kent and lush paintings of Morris Lewis, to popular culture, temporary tattoos and Disney’s classic film, Sleeping Beauty. Leanne was also heavily influenced by her personal interests; family, food, health and wellbeing. During preparations for Dirty Dancing Flowers, her studio wa reminiscent of a scout hall which prompted associations with the film ‘Dirty Dancing,’ and the idea of introducing a karaoke stage into the Tramway exhibition, alongside her new body of large-scale text works and paintings of flowers.
More about Leanne Ross' work
Flowers are a recurring motif in Leanne’s practice, which she painted directly from life, as well as incorporating memories and her imagination to interpret the flowers in front of her. Uniquely, Leanne did not paint on to the wall or easel but worked on to horizontal canvases laid flat on a table to create a 360 degree perspective. Leanne moved around the edge of the canvas to create spatially dynamic works which ignore rigid axes in favour of no fixed orientation.
Reminiscent of concrete poetry and automatic writing, Leanne’s works seem to vibrate with a palpable, spontaneous energy that reflects the artist’s intuitive and collaborative process. Her works convey a sense of community, a polyphonic chatter of voices, gestures and images that remind us of the profound importance of our daily interactions with others, and the ways in which language, both verbal and non-verbal creates connection. These themes also reflect the realities of care, collaboration and community which were integral to Leanne’s practice and the context in which she made work, predicated on access to resources, materials and studio space, as well as ongoing care, respect and support, as a person with a developmental disability. Leanne was a founding member of KMAdotcom - an artist collective studio based in Midlothian that brings together a diverse group of artists, with and without learning disabilities. Through this collective, Leanne gained access to new production processes and materials, and collaborative, supported ways of working.
The artist collective KMAdotcom is supported by the organisation Artlink whose vital work supports transformational learning and a space where diversity is celebrated and respected. Artlink staff work with the individual, their families, carers and those working in communities, education, health and social care to creatively explore their potential. At Tramway, Leanne was supported to bring her ideas to life by her friend and collaborator, Laura Aldridge.
Artist Biography
Leanne Ross (b.1984 - 2025) lived and worked in Midlothian. Her work has been exhibited at the Glasgow International Festival and Frieze Art Fair London, and recent exhibitions include ‘The Outside is Inside Everything We Make’, Kendall Koppe, Glasgow (2021) and a solo presentation at Chapter, Cardiff titled ‘ALL MY PALS’ in 2023. Leanne was part of KMAdotcom (Kiss my Art) – an Artlink supported artist collective that brings together a diverse group of artists in a supportive space which encourages collective and individual creativity.
About KMADOTCOM
The Artlink supported artist collective KMAdotcom, is a studio based in Midlothian that brings together a diverse group of artists in a supportive space which encourages collective and individual creativity. Weekly workshops, over several years, sparked an invaluable connection between the artists which has developed into strong working relationships based around sharing ideas, inspiring, and challenging each other.
ACCESS
It is our aim to make Tramway as accessible as possible for all our visitors. Download our Gallery Visitor Pack with this link. A hard copy of this pack is also available from our Box Office Reception desk on request.
Image: Leanne Ross, Dirty Dancing Flowers, Installation View, Tramway 2024
Photo Keith Hunter