Lawson Burch RUA

Lawson Burch was a landscape and figure painter born in Belfast and was educated at Grosvenor High School and then at Stranmillis College where he trained to be a teacher. He then went on to teach art at Holywood Intermediate School and then Castlederg Intermediate School in Co Tyrone.

Burch first showed his piece ‘Low Tide, Annalong’ in 1965 at the Royal Ulster Academy, having been mentored by John Luke. He then held his first solo exhibition at Queen’s University and then at the Arts Council Gallery in 1974. His subject matter was mainly people in the city of Belfast who were caught up in the conflict and tension as well as Donegal landscapes.

Burch exhibited six pieces of art for the first time at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1993 and continued to do so every year up until he died suddenly in Donegal in 1999. Lawson was buried in Portnoo, Donegal and then a studio sale of his work was later held in the Bell Gallery, Belfast in the year 2000.