RSA David Michie Travel Award: This award is now archived

The RSA David Michie Travel Award (£2,500) was a travel and research opportunity for graduating and postgraduate drawing and painting students which ran from 2017-2025. Funded by the family of David Michie RSA and administered by the Royal Scottish Academy, the award consisted of:

• A monetary award of £2,500 to fund a period of travel outside the UK for the research and development for a new body of work.
• An exhibition of selected completed work at the Royal Scottish Academy at a future date.
• The donation of work into the prestigious RSA Permanent Collections, 'A Recognised Collection of National Significance to Scotland'

David Alan Redpath Michie OBE RSA (1928 – 2015) was born at Saint-Raphaël, France. His father, James Michie, was an architect and painter and his mother was the celebrated artist Anne Redpath OBE RSA.

Michie’s early years were spent living in St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and the vibrant colour schemes of the Côte d’Azur would later infuse his work. In 1934, his family settled in the Scottish Borders. In 1946, he enrolled at Edinburgh College of Art where he was taught by William Gillies RSA. In 1953, after a period of National Service, he received a travelling scholarship to Italy, accompanied by his friend, the painter John Houston. They toured the Renaissance sites of Tuscany, and stayed in the hilltop towns of Anticoli Corrado and Orvieto in Umbria. 

Michie taught widely, lecturing at James Clarke’s School, Edinburgh, and Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen. He was a visiting professor at the Academy of Fine Art in Belgrade and the University of California. He returned to Edinburgh College of Art to teach painting during the 1960s and 1970s, and was Vice Principal there from 1974 to 1977. 

Banner image: Emma Hall, Rhododendron (detail), 2024, oil on canvas