John Byrne (b.1940) was born in Paisley in 1940, grew up in the Ferguslie Park and studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1958 to 1963. He has made a remarkable contribution to Scottish arts and culture through his varied career as a prolific illustrator, painter, printmaker and writer. The six-time BAFTA award-winning 1980s television series Tutti Frutti starring Robbie Coltrane, Emma Thompson and Richard Wilson is one of his most notable written creations. Drawing upon his pre-artschool experiences in the colour-mixing room of a 1950s carpet factory in Paisley, The Slab Boys written in 1978 is named by the National Library of Scotland as one of the 12 key works of the last 40 years. In 2012, Byrne worked directly with Dovecot to make a gun-tufted rug titled Father of the Man for the Carpets of Distinction exhibition curated by Panel Curates.
John Byrne
Artist
