Group will collaborate with the GSA and communities in the Highlands and Islands during trip
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| The Courtyard of the celebrated École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris |
The Glasgow School of Art is welcoming students from one of Europe’s most prestigious art schools during a collaborative visit this month. A group of third year sculpture students from L’École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris will spend two weeks travelling in Scotland as part of an educational trip.
After three days in Glasgow, including a visit to the GSA’s Garnethill campus, the group travelled north to the Highlands and Islands to collaborate on a project as part of the GSA’s Institute of Design Innovation’s island research programme, Archipelago 136. The students aim to gain a better understanding of life in the islands, including aspects of community, infrastructure, landscape and identity.
The students will be staying in Lochmaddy on North Uist this week, where they will work with Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Art Centre. They will also work on drawing and digital art projects with two groups of visual arts students from the University of the Highlands and Islands. This will be followed by visiting the GSA’s Highlands and Islands Creative Campus in Forres, Moray (9-15 October) where they will work with arts students from the GSA on a week long collaborative project that continues the themes of rural identity and landscape.
It is hoped that the trip could lead to further collaboration with the art school, including the potential for a visit to France by GSA and University of the Highlands and Islands students.
“We are delighted to welcome students from L’École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts and hope that this will develop into a stronger international relationship as well as sharing what the Highlands and Islands have to offer,” says Research fellow Dr George Jaramillo, of the GSA.
“They will see two different sides of Scotland during their trip and I’m sure they will find both equally inspiring for the projects they will be taking part in. We hope this is the first of many collaborative visits with the school.”
“The trip is a great opportunity for the students to discover a different context as well as working together as a group with GSA and University of the Highlands and Islands students. I am especially looking forward to exchanging ideas and developing some new artwork inspired by the collaboration,” adds Professor Anne Rochette of L’École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts.
“Earlier in the year researchers from the GSA’s Institute of Design Innovation presented workshops in Taigh Chearsabhagh, where our studios are located. It provided a great opportunity for a number of students, from both the degree and certificate courses, to engage with innovative design technologies and discuss areas of design research that were of interest to them,” says Dennis Magee, Course leader in BA Hons Fine Art at the University of Highlands and Islands.
As a result, we have developed a very positive connection with the GSA. The fact that this connection has now led to us being able to invite students from L’École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts to come here, provides a great opportunity for our students to develop future international connections. These are extraordinary opportunities for students working in a remote location like the Uists.”
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Notes for Editors
· The relationship between the GSA at L’École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts dates back more than a century to when Eugene Bourdon, who had studied at L’École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, joined The Glasgow School of Art from Paris as its first ever Head of Architecture. He went on to introduce the Beaux-Arts architecture style to Scotland. This year is the centenary of Bourdon’s death on the first day of the Battle of the Somme and The Glasgow School of Art will mark the occasion with an exhibition of his work held in the GSA’s Archives and Collections.
· L’École nationale superirudes Beaux-Arts
· Taigh Chearsabhagh
Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre is a partnership between Comamm Eachdraidh Uibhist a Tuath and the Uist Arts Association. The two voluntary organisations formed Taigh Chearsabhagh Trust in 1993 and over several years have created a thriving museum and arts centre that has much to offer visitors and the local community. Located in Lochmaddym the main port of entry to North Uist, Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre is located on the shoreline of a marine Special Area of Conservation.
· The Glasgow School of Art
The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) was founded in 1845 as one of the first Government Schools of Design, as a centre of creativity promoting good design for the manufacturing industries of Glasgow. However, the School’s lineage can be traced to 1753, when Robert Foulis established a school of art and design in Glasgow, described as “the single most influential factor in the development of eighteenth-century Scottish Art”. Today, The GSA is internationally recognised as one of Europe’s leading university-level institutions for the visual creative disciplines.
Our studio-based approach to research and teaching brings disciplines together to explore problems in new ways to find new innovative solutions. The studio creates the environment for inter-disciplinarity, peer learning, critical inquiry, experimentation and prototyping, helping to addressing many of the grand challenges confronting society and contemporary business.
www.gsa.ac.uk
· The Institute of Design Innovation (InDI)
InDI is a research institute at The Glasgow School of Art. It is a creative collective of researchers, lecturers and students specialising in Design Innovation, which together address complex issues through new design practices and bespoke community engagement.
InDI researches the new qualities of design that are needed enable people to flourish: at work, in organisations and businesses, in public services and government. InDI’s wide research portfolio covers the thematic areas of work, wealth and wellbeing.
The GSA’s Institute of Design innovation is located in both Glasgow and the Highlands and Islands of Scotland enabling teaching and researching in both urban and geographically distributed contexts.