Written by Kaitlin, from Queen Margaret Academy, during placement at the Scottish Maritime Museum.

‘Flare Boom’ was created in 1988, after a one-week residency Kate Downie was placed at in June of the previous year, on the oil platform ‘North Alwyn A’ (Total Oil Maritime) in the North Sea. The North Sea oil industry is a rarely depicted subject for artists since they don’t often get access to it. The painting subject is of the ‘flaring’ of the waste by-product gas on the ‘North Alwyn A’.

Originally, the piece was exhibited in the gallery at Downie’s Wasps studio in 1989. However, only weeks after the residency, the Piper Alpha disaster occurred, meaning that the painting was a sensitive subject matter and could not be displayed in any further exhibitions. [1]

The painting is acrylic and oil on canvas with a gilded tray frame. The features of this painting are elemental, with fire, water, air and steel all focusing on the harsh environment of the oil industry. This offers a unique insight into the daily reality of those who are a part of an oil rig environment. Due to the Piper Alpha Disaster following the creation of this painting, it gives a significant and tragic subtext, capturing the image of the industrial process and the risks that can follow. Downie herself said that: ‘It was both shocking and exhilarating to witness such gases from below the sea being burnt off and was challenging for me to create a painting that truly echoed this experience.’ [2] The Scottish Maritime Museum purchased the painting in 2016 with the assistance of the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Kate Downie is an American born Scottish landscape artist. Her career has involved painting, drawing, printmaking, performance and film for over 30 years. Downie learned and practised at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen and has participated in international artists’ residencies since the 1980s. [3] She has created work in response to environments which are as diverse as a brewery, a maternity hospital, oil platforms and coastlines. [4] Her developing and continuing use of Chinese Ink Painting over the past 5 years has allowed her to interrogate the urban, industrial and romantic landscapes of both China and Scotland. [5] In 2014 she was announced artist in residence for the Forth Road Bridge in its 50^th year, and later carried out research of bridges and estuaries in Australia and Japan.

Downie is a member of the Royal Scottish Academy, and her work is held in public and private collections worldwide such as; Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh City Arts Centre, Royal Scottish Academy, Royal Bank of Scotland, Scottish Arts Council, The University of Edinburgh, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Museum of London, Rietveld Kunst Academie Amsterdam, and here at the Scottish Maritime Museum.

Thank you to Kaitlin for her interest in the artwork in the Scottish Maritime Museum’s collection. This blog helps to highlight one of the artists featured in the exhibition ‘Tides of Time’. In partnership with the Royal Scottish Academy, this exhibition will be held at the Linthouse building in Irvine from February until April 2026.

References