Jon Schueler Scholarship announces 2019 Artist in Residence at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig
Australian artist, Kim Anderson, has been named as Sabhal Mòr Ostaig’s new Artist in Residence, under the Jon Schueler Residency Programme which has been running for 7 years at the National Centre for Gaelic Language and Culture on the Isle of Skye.
The Scholarship is a unique partnership between SMO and the Jon Schueler Charitable Trust with support from the Royal Scottish Academy. It was established to celebrate and remember the life, work and artistic influence of internationally renowned artist and abstract expressionist painter, Jon Schueler (1916-1992), and in recognition of his very special relationship with the landscape and environment of the Sound of Sleat.
Kim, who is from Ballarat, Victoria completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) at the University of Ballarat, Australia, and in 2007 was awarded a scholarship to study a Master of Fine Art at the University of Dundee, in Scotland. Since then, Anderson has undertaken a number of residencies including an Australia Council International Studio Residency at the British School at Rome, in Echigo-Tsumari, Japan, at Hospitalfield House in Arbroath, Scotland, and at DRAWinternational in Caylus, France, which was supported by the Ian Potter Cultural Trust.
In 2010 Kim received an ArtStart Grant from the Australia Council, and has created and curated projects supported by Arts Victoria, the City of Melbourne, and Regional Arts Victoria. Kim has also exhibited around Australia and abroad and been a finalist in numerous national awards including the Paul Guest Award, the Rick Amor Drawing Prize, and the Hazelhurst Art Award. Major installation projects include, I Am My Own Prisoner at Scotch Oakburn College in Launceston, Tasmania, in 2013, and The Space Between, a visual/sound installation at the inaugural White Night Ballarat in March 2017. In 2018 Kim was a core artist of the Biennale of Australian Art with a major solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ballarat.
On her residency, Kim said: “I feel so incredibly thrilled and honoured to be awarded the Jon Schueler Scholarship for 2019. It is a real validation of the direction I have recently been pursuing in my work – focusing on themes of ecological grief and mourning in the face of climate change and irreversible damage to the environment. I am looking forward to engaging with Gaelic culture and developing a new body of work, a new series of large-scale drawings and soundscapes inspired by Gaelic traditional songs, poetry and the extraordinary landscape on the Isle of Skye.”
Last year’s residency artist, Rachel Schmidt, will be opening a solo show at the Hamiltonian Gallery in Washington DC on January 12th, featuring a new body of work that is the direct result of the residency at SMO. During her time at SMO, Rachel worked collaboratively with a young Gaelic artist and recent graduate of Glasgow School of Art along with sound artist/ musician Hector MacInnes presenting a live installation/sound/performance event at SMO. The proceeds went towards the first Small Halls Festival, run by local arts promotion organisation based at SMO, SEALL.
Now back in the USA, Rachel is continuing a cross-atlantic collaboration in 2019 with Gaelic writer & poet Rody Gorman and Hector MacInnes at Sabhal Mòr on video/sound interpretations of a series of Rody’s poems on Sleat. The soundscape will be recorded at SMO’s ‘Stiùidio Ostaig’.
Kath MacLeod, SMO’s Arts Development Officer, commented: “We are delighted to be welcoming Kim Anderson in 2019 as our 7th international visual artist on this Jon Schueler residency. The continuing collaborations of international artists with Gaelic/established/young artists is an exciting outcome of the programme, reflecting the richly creative and cultural hub that SMO is. Artists, students and the wider community are also able to engage with the Schueler artists while they are here through open studio events, talks and collaborative events, promoting the exchange of ideas across cultures. This compliments our long-running artist residency programme for Gaelic writers, musicians, drama and visual artists which for 2019 is planned to increase cross art-form collaboration opportunities for Gaelic artists.”
Some of previous recipient David Lemm’s work, from the 2017 residency/exhibition at SMO in 2018, is currently showing at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh (23 December – 17th January 2019) as part of the SSA 121st Annual exhibition.
Applications for the 2020 residency will open on 30th August 2019. For more information, including information on how to apply, visit link http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gd/ealain-is-cultar/jon-schueler/
Image and credit: Kim Anderson