New Gaelic Artist in Residence with Tobar an Dualchais/ATLAS Arts Appointed
Gaelic artist Frances Driscoll has been selected for the annual Tobar an Dualchais (TAD)/ATLAS Arts residency to explore and create work relating to the oral heritage recordings available on the TAD website. This is the sixth year that this exciting opportunity has been offered.
Frances, who hails from Glasgow and attended the Glasgow Gaelic School, is an interdisciplinary, multilingual artist with an MA in Fine Art from Edinburgh College of Art. Her practice is rooted in collage, with her output spanning drawing, writing, moving-image, dance, installation, book making, printmaking, and, on occasion, performance. Her key concerns centre on the reproduction of images, text and its relationship to translation, and how various tropes and strategies have emerged within filmic, artistic, and capitalist convention, particularly in the twentieth century. Frances was awarded the RSA John Kinross Scholarship in 2022
Frances remarked: “I am both elated and stunned to have been selected as the Tobar an Dualchais/ATLAS Arts artist in residence. This is a special opportunity for me to develop my visual practice in a critical, experimental, and expansive manner whilst deepening my connections to Gaelic culture and utilising my own language skills. I feel grateful to have this self-directed time to conduct meaningful research into the archives and work alongside the insightful and vitalising support of both organisations.”
Frances will be completing the residency on a part-time basis over the coming months and will share her work via blogs during that time. People can also keep up to date with Frances’ residency by following TAD on Facebook and Instagram.
TAD Director, Flòraidh Forrest, expressed her delight at Frances’ appointment. She said: “Working with creative people is very important to us and we’re excited to be supporting Frances through this residency, in partnership with ATLAS Arts. Frances attended our ‘Creative Connections’ online course at the end of September which provided a great opportunity at the start of her residency to learn more about the precious recordings on the TAD website, and to help inspire her creative practice.”
Commenting on the opportunity to work with Frances, Heather Fulton of ATLAS Arts said: “We are really pleased that Frances is joining as this year’s artist in residence. Tobar an Dualchais is such an important organisation whose online resources and recordings are of huge importance to sustaining and celebrating Gaelic culture. We love working on this residency, learning alongside the team and artist, and can’t wait to see how Frances’ artistic research develops during this time. We’re grateful to Creative Scotland’s Place, Partnerships and Communities team whose ongoing support through the Gaelic Targeted Arts Development Fund makes this residency possible.”
Previous artists who have been awarded the residency are Susannah Bolton (2024), Iseabal Hendry (2023), Calum Ferguson (2022), Mairi Gillies (2021) and Catherine Weir (2020).
