
THIRD INTERNATIONAL VISUAL ARTS RESIDENCY ANNOUNCED FOR SABHAL MÒR OSTAIG
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the National Centre for Gaelic Language, Culture and the Arts on Skye announces its call to international visual artists for the third Jon Schueler Scholarship Artist Residency.
The John Schueler Scholarship is a unique partnership between Sabhal Mòr Ostaig in Scotland and the Jon Schueler Charitable Trust which complements the existing artists’ residency programme at SMO currently supported by Creative Scotland. The scholarship is offered each year to a different artist and will run until 2016. It has been 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.
Kath MacLeod, Arts Development Officer at SMO said: “We are again looking forward with great interest to this year’s Jon Schueler Scholarship Residency. Last year we received 344 applications from visual artists in Scotland, the UK and across the globe. The interest, quality and diversity of artists is very encouraging and honors the legacy of the late Jon Schueler as well as allowing an interesting response to, and exchange of ideas in the, culturally rich and multi-disciplinary Gaelic arts environment here at SMO. The first Scholarship in 2013 was awarded to the renowned artist Takeshi Shikama, whose work was not only inspired by the island’s landscape but in particular Gaelic music, and was exhibited at SMO, the first time work by the artist has been shown in the UK. The second Scholar in 2014 was sound-artist Helmut Lemke. In closing his Jon Schueler Scholarship at Sabhal Mor Ostaig Helmut Lemke presented aspects of his artistic practice and ongoing work with a series of events including an evening of experimental sound / music / poetry and performance; an exhibition of drawings in response to the sounding environment of Sabhal Mor Ostaig, and a launch of his artist’s book “ CÀNAN, SREATHAN, TUINN ”.
Helmut says “Being given the opportunity to work for three month in the unique context of Gaelic Culture and Language, based on the breathtaking beautifully island of Skye and surrounded by supportive and engaging people has opened new routes in my work for me. This residency is absolutely one of the most stimulating I have ever been involved in.”
The Scholarship is open to international, Scottish and UK artists working to the highest level of professional practice in a visual medium and with a particular interest in landscape and the environment. The Scholarship enables a visual artist to base themselves in the summer/autumn months in the Visual Arts Studio, housed within the Fàs Centre for the Creative and Cultural Industries at SMO.
Applications are now being invited for the Jon Schueler Scholarship Visual Artist in Residence 2015, with the residency taking place from July to October 2015. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to research, develop and produce work for 3 months in the dedicated artist’s studio in a spectacular setting overlooking the Sound of Sleat, the place which so inspired Schueler as an artist.
At the end of each residency the artist is offered the opportunity to exhibit the work they produce within Sabhal Mòr and it is also hoped that a special ‘Schueler Scholarship Residency Exhibition’ will be mounted at the end of the four years featuring a selection of work produced by each of the artists who have been awarded the scholarship. A conference celebrating the life, work and artistic influence of Schueler will be held on 27-29th May 2016 at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, in the centenary of Schueler’s birth.
Applications for this year’s Jon Schueler Scholarship are to be submitted by the 3rd February 2015. For more information visit http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/en/ealain-is-cultar/jon-schueler