Scottish Art Highlights and Opportunities: May 2018

May starts with the final week of Glasgow International, and brings new sculpture in Jupiter Artland from Phyllida Barlow and the last few weeks of DCA's well-received show on Shonky: The Aesthetics of Awkwardness

Feature by Rosie Priest | 04 May 2018

If you haven’t had the opportunity to explore any of the Glasgow International offerings yet – what have you been doing?! Most of the exhibitions and events wrap up on 7 May so be sure to spend at least a day adventuring through the city to get the most out of the festival. If you’ve missed out on the festival and are reading this a little too late, then don’t panic, a few exhibitions will be lingering on, such as: Ciara Phillips at the Glasgow Print Studio where she has transformed the gallery into a space of simultaneous production and display (until 3 Jun), Ross Birrell at the CCA presenting a major film work (until 3 Jun) and Katinka Bock at The Common Guild for her first UK solo exhibition in which the artist takes the gallery space as the starting point and taps into the history of 21 Woodlands Terrace as a domestic building, as well as the history of Glasgow as a place of exchange and transaction (until 8 Jul).

The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art are kicking open their doors with the extraordinary work of Raqib Shaw on 19 May – expect to be immersed in intensely opulent and intricately detailed paintings that are fantastical albeit violent and sexual with their imagery. This is the first time Shaw’s work will be displayed in Scotland and is a fantastic opportunity to immerse yourself in an uneasy jewel-like world.

Up the East Coast in Dundee, the DCA will be wrapping up their exhibition Shonky: The Aesthetics of Awkwardness on 27 May. This show has been a visual extravaganza so far – exploring ideas of visual awkwardness, the term ‘Shonky’ means shoddy or unreliable meaning this exhibition has seen the creation of some obscure but visually intriguing pieces. There is an opportunity to delve deeper on 10 May, as Echo will be occurring in response to the exhibition: an evening of multidisciplinary presentation and events, and one not to be missed.

We mentioned last month about Jupiter Artland’s incredible line-up for spring and summer 2018, and they will be opening their doors to the general public from 12 May. With new work by the ever impressive Phyllida Barlow as well as the surreal and sculpturally overwhelming Joana Vasconcelos, there are also opportunities to get creative with their Salon evenings of relaxed creativity, drawing and live music, meaning there’s plenty to get your teeth into at the open air gallery from the middle of May onwards.

Funding Opportunities

Although not strictly a funding opportunity, there are some big bucks at stake in the Aesthetica Art Prize: set up to celebrate excellence in art, there are several opportunities to put your work up for acknowledgement, as well as for some hefty prize money (deadline: 31 August). The Scottish Portrait Awards isn’t strictly funding either, but again there are several cash prizes available to artists willing to submit their work (deadline: 1 October).

If you’re based in Glasgow and looking for a no strings attached grant, then Awesome Foundation have an opportunity to apply for a small grant, the only rule of your application being that your project must benefit the community (deadline: 25 May).

Learning Opportunities

It may seem that we’re often talking about the awesomeness that is Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, and there’s a reason for it: not only do they provide novices and well versed practitioners alike an opportunity to explore their sculpting potential, but they are also offering a Scottish Bursary Graduate Award, providing young artists with an opportunity to partake in a three month residency programme. (Deadline: 13 May)

This is a little left field, and after a little bit of double checking it wasn’t a Scientology scheme, there is an opportunity for a Residency on the Sea with Sail Britain: this residency will be taking place on a boat as it circumnavigates the UK coastline and offers artists and creatives the opportunity to share their practices with one another and contribute to an interdisciplinary team – all while sailing a boat! (Deadline: 2 October)

Finally, the University of Edinburgh have decided to tackle a problem that haunts a lot of us working in the Arts – how can we grow and change as practitioners while we’re making and creating alone? Well they’re offering up mentoring opportunities through their Centre for Open Learning's Mentoring Programme, to those of us in the creative industries to help relieve the problems associated with working alone.

http://theskinny.co.uk/art