Carol Tambor, best known in Edinburgh as the force behind the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award (founded in 2004), is also a portrait artist based in New York. She has met playwrights, actors, directors and others during Fringe, who have become inspiring subjects.
Both passions of her life came together in this exhibit of 30 canvases. These paintings were exhibited as part of a fund raising effort for Edinburgh University’s Bedlam Theatre. The exhibition spurred donations for the theatre through an auction of the paintings. Bedlam is a unique, student-run theatre that has a venerable history as part of the University. All money received went to fund a much needed refurbishment.
“In 2008, I gave the Award to the play Eight, by Ella Hickson, which was presented at the Bedlam Theatre. It was impossible for me to ignore the poor state of repair of the theatre,” explains Carol. “I approached The Principal of the University, Sir Timothy O’Shea, and together we came up with a plan for an exhibit at the Edinburgh College of Art. Creating these paintings and exhibiting them here, is a way for me to honor my subjects, as well as raise funds for the theatre.”
This exhibit closed at the end of the festival, August 2012. It raised much needed funds for the University of Edinburgh’s Bedlam Theatre.
