Kinblethmont Gallery, by Arbroath September 1 - 16 11am - 5pm daily

LYS HANSEN is an internationallyrenowned artist with a vision shaped by two nations – her native Scotland and Denmark, home of her father’s ancestors. Whether it is this wide-ranging world view or an upbringing shaped by creativity across the board – her mother was a master baker, her father loved and quoted poetry (including Burns) and she and her sisters were encouraged to recite, sing and perform – that has influenced her passionate and prolific output is hard to say.

What is obvious is her commitment, her individual energy of expression and the creative fire she draws from life and the world around her.

Lys has exhibited all over Scotland and globally, including the Danish island of Bornholm where her grandfather came from and in Berlin, with which she has a long and artistically rich connection dating back to the days before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In the last year alone, she has shown work (with young photographer KraigWilson) at the University of Dundee’s Cooper Gallery – “they did me proud!” she says – and at the University of Cambridge. Her third major show of 2012 is at Robert and Penelope Ramsay’s lovely gallery at their home at Kinblethmont, near Arbroath.

The exhibition’s title comes from Kurt Weill’s September Song:

That’s significant because although the lyric refers to the passing of time, this is not a retrospective show. It’s about the latest stage of a very busy life’s work, shown in life’s September – that is, in maturity.

Born in Falkirk, now living near Stirling and with a studio, rebuilt from scratch, in the Perthshire village of Braco, Lys Hansen is continually interested in themes from human experience, inspired by the power and surge of nature more than by traditional landscape, by the effects of war and conflict, by family and human relations.

A book about her work, edited by her son, the art critic and writer Giles Sutherland, is aptly titled Passionate Paint. Her larger-scale pieces highlight that, with big, bold colours and effects, full of life and an unflinching tackling of major themes.

Other, spare and pared down black and white drawings, many of which emanate from working in Berlin and watching it change, are no less striking and direct for being much more restrained and reduced to essentials.

Alongside this show, she is also currently working with a designer on publication of these stark, simple and strong images. And she has recently started working in wood and paint, creating three-dimensional works that have stretched her imagination and technical skills.

“I’m interested in conflict, partly because of what I remember as a child of the SecondWorldWar and partly because we never seem to resolve it. There is an obvious link there, too, with the complexity of human nature, from the fragile to the outrageous.

“Working in Berlin has introduced me to artists from a very different background, from influences we can hardly imagine but who have made me think about where our ideas came from, how we link up. It’s not just about ‘you’, when you’re an artist, it’s ‘us’ – all in it together.

“I think being an artist means you have a way of expressing subconscious memories, of showing people a vulnerability and rawness that otherwise they couldn’t express themselves. There’s a lot to paint about.”

Of her own childhood she says: “I think we all just thought that God wanted us to be wonderful!” She has also been at pains to teach and encourage young people, many of whom had no artistic background at all.

For her, art isn’t just about decoration and trivia – it illustrates deeper truths. One of her canvases that has never been seen in public in Scotland is a triptych influenced by the terrible events at Dunblane, at a time when she was already concerned with depicting children and their place in life.

“The time will come when it will be seen – a piece of work like that needs space, as a comment on what happened and also on the bigger context. For me, painting tells me how I am and where I am. I feel very uncomfortable ”

As with all of Lys Hansen’s work, there is more to it than meets the eye.

Lys Hansen in her studio.