Whyn Lewis was born in Edinburgh in 1973 and is perhaps best known for her unique and almost obsessive paintings of whippets. She graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1995 and has since had seven solo shows in the UK. She has won several awards including five from the Royal Scottish Academy and currently shows her work with Portal Painters in London.

As well as by subject, Whyn’s paintings tend to be recognisable by the strong and highly detailed forms of animals drawn against plain, layered background colours. She uses the shapes and symbolism of the animals as narrative, sometimes introducing clues in the form of small jewel-like objects hanging from the subjects’ collars. Whyn’s work has been shown in Scotland, England and the USA.

Awards and Scholarships:

1994 Maude Gemmel Hutcheson Prize at the Royal Scottish Academy
1995 John Kinross Scholarship to Florence.
1996 Noble Gossart Painting Prize
1997 Maude Gemmel Hutcheson Prize, R.S.A
1998 Meyer Oppenheim Prize, R.S.A
2001 The Anna Miller Trust Scholarship.
2003 Maude Gemmel Hutcheson Prize, R.S.A