Glasgow Girl

Kara, herself a Glasgow girl, was captivated by the Scottish artists working around the turn of the 20th century; Bessie MacNicol (1869-1904) she found particularly inspiring. Kara designed the play to utilise her skills as a painter, actress and singer. She told the story of Bessie’s life while painting a portrait, a copy of Bessie’s impressionistic self portrait, ‘Autumn’. She interspersed the action with songs of the period.

In 1997 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe the play was premiered at the Leith Gallery. After a successful run in Edinburgh, she took the show to Billcliffe Fine Art Gallery, Glasgow Art Gallery, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Glasgow Art Club, and Broughton House followed by three performances in New York in early 1998 at Phillips Auction House.

In recent years Bessie MacNicol has become more widely known and her paintings, when they change hands now, are increasingly pricey.