Caroline McNairn (16 May 1955 – 29 September 2010) was a Scottish figurative painter. She was born in Selkirk to John and Stella McNairn, and from 1972 studied fine art at Edinburgh University and Edinburgh College of Art.[1]
Caroline’s early work was essentially decorative, but evolved into something bolder, containing elements of representations, particularly of human figures.[2] Her paintings are composed of contrasting shapes, textures and interlocking forms.[3]
Personal life
In the 1980s Caroline met Hugh Collins, her future husband. Once dubbed Scotland’s most dangerous prisoner, he was serving a life sentence for murder, but was on day release from Barlinnie Prison. The couple were married soon after his release in 1993; Caroline is credited with having played a vital role in his rehabilitation.[1][4]
Caroline spent the last five years of her life in the Scottish Borders. She died from cervical cancer in 2010 at the age of 55, shortly before the opening of a local exhibition of paintings by four generations of her family, which she had organised for the Hawick Museum.[1]
