September 2008
New Academicians
26 September to 26 October 2008.
RSA Finlay Room, The Royal Scottish Academy, The Mound, Edinburgh
Admission Free.
This exhibition features paintings, prints and sculptures by recently elected members Michael Agnew, Delia Baillie, James Castle and Donald Urquhart.
Each year the Royal Scottish Academy elects a number of artists and architects as new members. Nominated by the existing membership of the Academy, this prestigious invitation recognises their contribution to the arts in Scotland and looks forward to calling on their knowledge and experience in helping to nurture and promote contemporary visual art in Scotland.
Related exhibition:
Donald Urquhart RSA
6 October - 19 December 2008, RSA Friends Room Exhibition
Admission Free and open on Mondays or by appointment 0131 225 3922.
Solo exhibition featuring a selection of screenprints from Urquhart’s The Icelandic Suite which were made from a Friends of the RSA Artist’s Bursary in 1997 and also some aquatint etchings, inspired by a trip to the Cairngorms and commissioned by Edinburgh Printmakers Workshop.
Related event:
Wasps Artists’ Open Studios Weekend
Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 October 2008
Michael Agnew, Delia Baillie and Donald Urquhart are members of Wasps (Workshop and Artists’ Studio Provision Scotland Ltd. Wasps Artists’ Studios was set up in 1977 with one building in Dundee and has now grown into one of the UK’s largest artists’ studio providers supporting the careers of 750 artists through a network of affordable workspaces in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Irvine, Paisley, Selkirk, Nairn, Newburgh and Shetland. The Open Studios Weekend is the only time of year when hundreds of artists’ studios across Scotland are open to the public. www.waspsstudios.org.uk
ENDS
Notes to editors
1) Donald Urquhart is recognised as one of the leading Scottish artists of his generation whose profound and thought-provoking work has been shown both nationally and internationally. Originally from rural Perthshire, Urquhart studied Drawing & Painting at Edinburgh College of Art where he now lectures. His strong interest in the perceptions of one’s environment has resulted in an artistic practice which involves working with architectural space and permanent outdoor installations in addition to his principal media of drawing, painting and installation. He was one of the creative team responsible for AN TURAS on Tiree, the built artwork that has received international recognition. He was also responsible for all aspects of the design of THE SANCTUARY, the award winning spiritual space at the new Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
2) Michael Agnew is a painter and printmaker, who often uses iconography in his work and is strongly influence by Dada. Having studied Printmaking at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen, where he now lectures, Michael then went on to study for an MA at the Royal College of Art in London. He was awarded the RSA John Kinross Scholarship in 1990 and has regularly exhibited at the RSA Annual Exhibitions. He has exhibited works at both the Thackeray Gallery in London, and Rendezvous Gallery in Aberdeen.
3) Delia Baillie is originally from Glasgow but is now based in Dundee, having studied Drawing & Painting at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art. She received the RSA John Kinross Scholarship in 1999 and the RSA Alastair Salvesen Scholarship in 2003; which she used to travel between Las Vegas and Mount Rainier in Washington State, producing a body of work which explores the natural patterning of the landscape and the artificial patterning of everyday human existence in an area facing the ever-present threat of nature’s volcanic forces. Delia’s current work is preoccupied with lists, sequencing and orderliness and how nonsensical they seem when compared with the inner-workings of the human minds that create them.
4) James Castle is a painter and sculptor born in Aberdeen but now resident in Wiltshire. He was elected an Associate Member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors in 2005, before becoming an elected member of the Royal Scottish Academy in 2008. James has previously exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy as part of Connections in 2000, and the RSA Annual Exhibition in 2007 and 2008. His current work has its roots in the landscape; with a series of horizontal wall pieces suggesting a horizon, above which the landscape is clearly evoked, and beneath which the history of the land or sea is carved out in forms, which in reality we do not see.
5) Many works will be available for purchase. The RSA is part of the Own Art scheme, offering interest-free credit for people to buy contemporary art and craft. For further details visit www.scottisharts.org.uk
6) Aims of the Royal Scottish Academy:
- To uphold the best practice in contemporary Scottish Art and Architecture.
- To maintain a Collection, Archive and Library relevant to the history and activities of the Academy and to make these accessible to the public.
- To encourage and support emerging Artists and Architects
- To inform national debates on a range of visual, cultural and educational issues.
For further information or images please contact:
Kirsty Dickson, Press Assistant, 0131 225 6671 or press@royalscottishacademy.org
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The Royal Scottish Academy is a charity registered in Scotland (No. SC004198)
Registered address: The RSA, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL.
