Press Release
November 2008
CALL TO ARTISTS! RSA ALASTAIR SALVESEN SCHOLARSHIP
About the Scholarship:
Now in its 20th year, the painting & travel award of up to £10,000 includes a solo exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy. Sponsored by the Alastair Salvesen Trust in association with the RSA, the Alastair Salvesen Art Scholarship is a major initiative intended to encourage young painters who have made the transition from college to a working environment. The prize money funds travel for three to six months and previous winners have travelled to China, Eastern Europe, Alaska and the South Seas! Application deadline is Monday 12 January 2009.
Application Criteria:
Applicants must be painters who have:
• trained at one of the four Scottish colleges of art.
• are currently living and working in Scotland;
• have worked for a minimum of three years outside a college or student environment and normally be aged between 25 and 35 years
• have had work accepted for exhibition in an Annual Exhibition organised by one of the following – the Royal Scottish Academy, the Society of Scottish Artists, the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, the Aberdeen Artists’ Society, Visual Arts Scotland, the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours or have held a solo exhibition or participated in a group exhibition in a recognised gallery.
How to Apply:
Entrants will submit up to six high resolution digital colour images of current work, a curriculum vitae and statement of artist practice, together with details of a proposed itinerary. Please include image captions (title, year, medium, dimensions). Applications should be sent via email to info@royalscottishacademy.org
or on CDRom to:
The Alastair Salvesen Scholarship,
The Royal Scottish Academy
The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL.
For further details visit www.royalscottishacademy.org or contact the RSA Office, tel: 0131 225 6671.
DEADLINE: 12 JANUARY 2009
WINNER ANNOUNCED: 17 FEBRUARY 2009
Related Exhibition:
Lee O’Connor: RSA Salvesen Travel Award Winner 2008
5 June - 19 July 2009, Open Monday to Saturday 10am – 5pm, Sunday 12noon – 5pm.
Admission Free
RSA Salvesen Travel Award Winner 2008. New paintings and works on paper by Lee O’Connor from his travels by bicycle through Chile. Accompanied by artist books made along the way. Lee is an Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) graduate who was born in Fort William and currently lives in Strontian, Argyll. With the £10,000 RSA Alastair Salvesen Scholarship Lee intents to travel to Chile; cycling from Central Chile (Santiago) 2500 miles to the south of Chile (Punta Arenas). As a starting point he plans to make a comparative study between the Marine Harvest industries in Chile and that of the Loch Sunart area. As he travels down through Chile he will use photography, drawing and collected light objects that can be sent home as source material. “I have recently been painting watercolours depicting animals odd or compromising situations, usually causing the viewer to sympathize and anthropomorphize the animal depicted. This resonance between the medium of water colour – often thought of as a twee medium – and the peculiar subject matter is a duality that has reoccurred in my work as a whole… My father worked at the fish farm on Loch Sunart for over 15 years and I also worked there before going to art college and during art college holidays. As fish farming was a major part of my life it became inevitable that during my degree my artwork would tap in to this aspect of local culture and industry. It is revisiting this aspect of my work with a broader vision and in a wider context that I am certain would be a worthwhile project” Lee O’Connor
ENDS
Notes to editors
1) Recent RSA Salvesen Travel Award Winners:
- Jackie Anderson - After Carnival - Trinidad & Tobago (2007)
- David Martin - The Cusp of Change - Overland from Cairo to Damascus (2006)
- Eoghann MacColl - Edges/Oirean - Shetland, Iceland & Nova Scotia (2005)
2) 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
T 0131 225 6671 W press@royalscottishacademy.org
