TY - ADVS
T1 - Portrait of Hugh MacDiarmid
A2 - Colvin, Calum
N1 - Research content: (300 words on process, insights and dissemination)
A commissioned installation/portrait for the National Galleries of Scotland/Royal Scottish Academy exhibition Ages of Wonder: Scotland’s Art 1540 to Now exhibition at the RSA. The aim of the research was to discover the creative possibilities in making an artwork in public view, and open to public interrogation. To question how a process of interaction with a public audience could stimulate collective memory and provoke discussion around national identity, poetry and politics in a Scottish context. To what extent could this provocation become a collective endeavour? Can an artwork be successfully created in this manner, and can the contextual research move beyond the artistic to the public?
To this end, the subject was agreed to be Hugh MacDiarmid (1892-1978). Honorary RSA and Scotland’s most influential and controversial writer of the 20th century. Communist, fascist, Scottish Nationalist, MacDiarmid’s avowed intent was to ‘aye be whaur extremes meet’ (A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle, 1926). Variously "the most important figure in Scottish life in the twentieth century" and "a symbol of all that's perfectly hideous in Scotland", his poetry is of historic, and national, significance (Riach 1999).
The research process involved transplanting the artist’s studio to the confines of the Clifford Room in the RSA. The public engaged with the artist during the nine-week run of the exhibition. Objects, an undiscovered letter, and books related to the subject were contributed by the public and there were scheduled and impromptu talks and discussions. Visitors included MacDiarmid biographer Alan Riach, writers James Robertson and Ian Rankine, and MacDiarmid portraitist Sandy Moffat.
The finished installation was marked with a public event in the Gallery with Colvin and James Robertson on 1/1/18. Subsequently the finished portrait won the City of Glasgow College Purchase Prize at the RSA Annual Exhibition 2018, which was curated by Colvin.
Galleries/Venues: Ages of Wonder: Scotland’s Art 1540 to Now, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh;
The RSA Annual Exhibition 2018, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh.
(For Commission Type Outputs only–delete section if not applicable to this output)
Client / commissioning body: Royal Scottish Academy
Date commission completed / available to public: RSA Ages of Wonder Edinburgh, 4 November 2017 - 7 January 2018; RSA Annual Exhibition, 5 May 2018 - 6 June 2018.
Process of commission: Invitation
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - A commissioned installation/portrait as one of the programme of public events at the National Galleries of Scotland/Royal Scottish Academy collaborative opus Ages of Wonder: Scotland’s Art 1540 to Now exhibition at the RSA. I was invited to ‘bring my studio’ into the building and create an artwork during the run of the exhibition in public view. The finished installation was marked with a public event in the Gallery with Calum Colvin and author James Robertson on 1/1/18. Subsequently the printed and framed photographic portrait was debuted at the RSA Annual Exhibition 2018, which was convened and curated by Colvin and included a number of guest artists who were invited to explore the links between poetry and visual art. This included a programme of public artist/poet talks. The portrait subsequently won the City of Glasgow College Purchase Prize.
AB - A commissioned installation/portrait as one of the programme of public events at the National Galleries of Scotland/Royal Scottish Academy collaborative opus Ages of Wonder: Scotland’s Art 1540 to Now exhibition at the RSA. I was invited to ‘bring my studio’ into the building and create an artwork during the run of the exhibition in public view. The finished installation was marked with a public event in the Gallery with Calum Colvin and author James Robertson on 1/1/18. Subsequently the printed and framed photographic portrait was debuted at the RSA Annual Exhibition 2018, which was convened and curated by Colvin and included a number of guest artists who were invited to explore the links between poetry and visual art. This included a programme of public artist/poet talks. The portrait subsequently won the City of Glasgow College Purchase Prize.
UR - https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15713709.calum-colvins-three-dimensional-take-on-hugh-macdiarmid-takes-shape-at-the-rsa/
UR - https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/art-review-rsa-annual-exhibition-2018-royal-scottish-academy-edinburgh-1429518
UR - https://www.thenational.scot/news/15711747.artist-makes-3d-portrait-of-hugh-macdiarmid-for-new-exhibition/
UR - https://www.royalscottishacademy.org/exhibitions/rsa-annual-exhibition-2018/
M3 - Artefact
PB - Royal Scottish Academy
CY - Edinburgh
T2 - RSA Annual Exhibition 2018
Y2 - 5 May 2018 through 6 June 2018
ER -
