Kirkcudbright: The Artists' Town That Time Forgot to Forget

Tucked into the Solway coast of south-west Scotland, Kirkcudbright (pronounced "kir-COO-bree") has been an artists' town for over 140 years. It began in the 1880s when members of the Glasgow Boys discovered the town's extraordinary light, its picturesque harbour, and the drama of the Galloway landscape.

E.A. Hornel, the Glasgow Boy who settled here permanently, bought Broughton House on the High Street in 1901 and transformed it into both studio and social hub. His Japanese garden, inspired by two trips to Japan, became as much a work of art as his paintings. When illustrator Jessie M. King and her husband E.A. Taylor arrived from Paris before World War I, they added an Art Nouveau dimension to the colony.

What makes Kirkcudbright remarkable is not that it once had an artists' colony — many Scottish towns can claim that. It's that the colony never really ended. WASPS studios on the High Street provide affordable workspace for contemporary artists. The Whitehouse Gallery and Harbour Cottage Gallery represent working artists. And each summer, the Art & Crafts Trail fills 100 venues with 150 exhibitors. The artists' town abides.