01st Dec – Scotland and Venice

Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan are preparing work for the second leg of the “Scotland and Venice” project that opens at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in December. In the meantime, they are undertaking a new site-specific commission for “Spectator T”, a city-wide contemporary art event in Sheffield that looks at the role of the viewer in contemporary art. “Spectator T” is at several venues throughout Sheffield from October 28th to November 27th.

29th Nov – Computer Arts magazine features examples of Digital Media student’s work

25th Oct – Magnetic North

Magnetic North returns with another selection of exciting works produced by recent graduates of the Scottish Art Schools. Selected by Colin Andrews and Jim Hamlyn this survey show of Photographic and Electronic art will include interactive installation, large scale digital images, video works and exquisite colour photography by an international array of up-and-coming talent.

13th Oct – BRAVEART05

Recent Graduates Debbi Beeson, Christine Hilditch & Graham Robertson (Sculpture), and Debby Forsyth (Painting) have been selected to participate in BRAVEART05, an exhibition of selected work from this year’s graduate students from Scottish Art Schools.

BraveArt is now in its third year and, since its inception in 2003, has received much acclaim and support from the art world. Each year, members of an expert selection panel tour the Scottish art schools’ degree shows to select a broad, multi-disciplinary body of work. It provides the cream of graduating students from Scotland’s four art schools with a unique platform to exhibit their work and establish contact with influential London gallerists, critics and art enthusiasts in order to launch their careers.

05 Oct – HUNTLY RESIDENCY

Debbi Beeson has been awarded a 2-year part-time residency which combines visual art practice with community involvement under the title of ‘Artist for All Seasons’. Funded through the Scottish Arts Council, the residency is an opportunity for Debbi to continue with her interest in seasonal festivals and tradition and custom in contemporary Huntly.

1st Oct – Studio Visit – A Northern School by Francis Convery

Throughout October, November, and December at Aberdeen Art Gallery, Schoolhill – Pictures in Parallel Art Students Preparing a Still Life by Ian Fleming and Studio Visit – A Northern School by Francis Convery. Although working fifty-five years apart, these artists have both taken as their subject matter the familiar territory of the art school classroom.

In 1940 Ian Fleming was at the beginning of his career, teaching drawing and painting at Glasgow School of Art. Francis Convery’s work depicts a studio at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen, where he has been a lecturer since 1987 and head of Painting since 1997. This display examines their differences and similarities.

28th Sep – Public Art Observatory

Anne Douglas delivered a co-authored paper at the Public Art Observatory, University of Barcelona 28th September – Ist October 2005. The paper entitled An Ecology of Art in the Everyday was developed with Chris Fremantle, cultural historian and research associate to the On the Edge research program.

The paper explored the issue of sustainability by viewing the experience of the On the Edge projects, in particular, recent developments, through Jane Jacob’s articulation of economies as a dynamic. The Public Art Observatory is a partnership between the Universities of Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Porto, Plymouth, Manchester Metropolitan and Central England at Birmingham.

Helena Elias, who graduated from the MA at Gray’s six years ago, also contributed to this conference. She is currently teaching at the Universidade Lusofona in Portugal and completing a Ph.D. with the University of Barcelona.

01 Sep – Ken Neil Thinks Through Art

Published by Routledge in September, edited by Katy Macleod and Lin Holdridge of the University of Plymouth, ‘Thinking Through Art: Reflections on Art As Research’ gets past the idea that good research is the same thing as good research methods, and takes stock of the agency of the creative practitioner in the processes of researching and creating and creatively researching.

Ken has contributed a chapter entitled ‘Repeat, Entity, Ground: Visual Arts Practice as Critical Differentiation’ which analyses the disaster screenprints of Andy Warhol by way of making a case for the artist’s role in counteracting the flatness of administrated systems.