Collage and Me
As an artist who values conscientious application as a prerequisite for creativity, collage is an ideal medium. Alter/change/adjust/correct/revise; a satisfactory conclusion builds through practice. The collage is built from the history of its own making.
Collage encourages and facilitates risk-taking and intuitive making, free of indecision, procrastination and fear of failure. Work don’t think. Stop, reflect. Think don’t work. Work again.
My collages evolve from quick line drawings, inspired by simple, visual triggers in my immediate environment; light falling on a wall, cast shadows, open doorways, mirrors and their reflections, frames within frames, familiar landscapes. I am not trying to make an image of what I see but turn what I see into a collage. Accurate local colour imitation is inconsequential, I want to find colour combinations and relationships that work. I keep a store of coloured papers mostly created from left over paint from my palette. These are stored mostly according to hue but also by value.
There is no preplanning or drawing out a composition. I generally begin with large pieces of colour, quickly blocking in the main elements, creating a scaffold/structure. The collage goes where it wants to go, led by the most recently applied piece of coloured paper. The initial drawing and my visual memory are just launch pads. I have no interest in accurate rendition, just making improvised arrangements to express something which will be found as the work progresses.
Biography (Abbreviated)
Education
PGCPSE Strathclyde University
Edinburgh College of Art BA(Hons) Drawing and Painting
Residencies
2014 Vermont Residency Centre, USA
2012 Schwandorf Residency, Germany
2010 Hospitalfield Alumni Residency, Arbroath
Artita, Piran, Slovenia
2007 Artist in Residence, Grizedale Forest
Scholarships/Awards
2017 Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow Award. RGI
2016 Shortlisted for W. Gordon Smith Painting Prize
2011 Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow Award. RGI
2010 Jolomo Painting Prize, Joint Third Prize winner
1997 William Grant and Sons Ltd. Charitable Trust Prize, Paisley Drawing Competition Prize
1980 Patrick Allan Fraser Scholarship, Hospitalfield, Arbroath
Collections
Scottish Arts Council, BBC, Hospitalfield Trust, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Glasgow, Jolomo Foundation
Various private collections in Britain, Canada, Hong Kong, USA and Germany
Additional
2016- 2019 RGI Council member
2015- 2019 PAI Committee member, artist member and Hanging Convenor,
Vice –President 2018-19
2013 Visiting Lecturer, Marist College, Poughkeepsie, New York and Venice programme
2003-2004 Assistant Professor of Painting, NSCAD University. Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
2004 Part-time lecturer, Glasgow School of Art
1989-2021 Lecturer, North Glasgow/Glasgow Kelvin College
1986-89 Part-time lecturer, Cardonald College, Glasgow
Founding member of Transmission Gallery, Glasgow and committee member 1983-85
Artists Representative on the WASPS Studios Board, 1987-95
Organising Committee of the Scottish Young Contemporaries, 1984
Guide, British Art Show, 1984
Film, 6 Painters, Life’s Rich Tapestry, 1987
Exhibitions Assistant, Third Eye Centre, Glasgow 1983-90
1981-2006 Studio in WASPS, King Street, Glasgow
