Painter and printmaker, born Falkirk, Scotland. She studied at Edinburgh University and Edinburgh College of Art, 1949-54. In 1954 she was awarded a Carnegie Travelling Scholarship and visited Yugoslavia, Greece and Italy and was much influenced by Byzantine architecture and mosaics. In 1956 she married the painter John Houston with whom she has since travelled widely. Flowers, cats and small objects are often arranged perpendicularly across the paper or canvas.
Elected RSW in 1960, an Associate of the RSA 1963, an Associate of the RA 1971, RSA 1972 and RA 1976, she is the first woman to be elected both RA and RSA. Blackadder has exhibited at the Mercury Gallery, London, Marjorie Parr Gallery and abroad and is a member of the Scottish Arts Club. Her work is represented in Aberdeen University, Bolton Art Gallery, Brighton and Hove Museums and Art Galleries, City Arts Centre, Edinburgh, Fleming Collection, Glasgow Print Studio, Gracefield Arts Centre, New Hall College, Cambridge, Otter Gallery, Reading Art Gallery, RWA, Scarborough Art Gallery, Sheffield Art Gallery, Stirling University Art Collection, Warwick University, the Tate Gallery and major public collections in the United Kingdom. She was married to the artist John Houston and was appointed OBE in 1982 and her further appointments include Her Majesty’s Painter and Limner in Scotland in 2000 and DBE in 2003..
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