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Joyce Cairns
recently took early retirement from Gray's School of Art,
which must surely be a poorer place without her warmth,
generosity, eccentricity and humour. The college has also lost
the considerable teaching skills of one of Scotland's most
important artists. Which is great news fort the rest of us.
Joyce can concentrate on her own work and I look forward
hugely to War Tourist, scheduled for Aberdeen Art Gallery in
February 2006. This large show will be the culmination of ten
years' travel and research for work which began as a tribute
to her father, Major Robert Cairns and has taken her through
the harrowing history of events of World War II. I visited her
studio in Footdee last week and saw two of the large paintings
propped against the wall. Why Joyce talked animatedly,
apologising for the mess, I felt silent. My friend is a
fantastic artist: the work she creates is moving and awe
inspiring.
This show of
smaller scale work, created specially for the Rendezvous
Gallery, has its own magnificence. Footdee, where she
has lived since 1979, is the backdrop to its emotional drama
and fantasy.
Joyce and I met in
1984 at her show in Peacock ('Love at first sight', she
cackles) and since then I've grown accustomed to her
face...across many a riotous dinner table in Footdee and
Ferryhill and of course, everywhere in her work.
Like the artist
herself, the art is a tremendous companion. I've lived with
her prints and paintings for twenty years, in every room of
our house and never tire of them. I love these
expressions of sorrow and longing and loss and the witty
juxtaposition of painting styles. The work speaks of pain but
makes me smile too...as far as I know Joyce has had no sexual
liaisons with German seamen out on the quay, although she does
have a certain penchant for men in uniform. She wears a
red beret but I've yet to see her with a cat, bird or fish on
her head. And, along with the corsetry, she rather suits these
references to medieval and naive artistic traditions.
While the large,
expressionist studio pieces are densely packed with images and
activity, metaphor and allegory, these contemporary icons
cover a considerable psychological landscape. They also give a
fascinating insight into the artist's thought processes. The
ink drawings, for example, provide a clue to how the bigger
paintings are networked and developed. Many of the images seen
here, will in the future be woven into a larger, busier
context but in the meantime, we are, delightfully, spoilt for
choice by her lively narratives of maritime life and dramas of
the soul behind the visage.
by Edi Stark
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QUALIFICATIONS |
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1966-1970 |
Diploma of
Art, Gray's School of Art |
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1970-1971 |
Post Diploma
Certificate (Highly Commended), Gray's School of Art |
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1971-1974 |
Master of Art,
Royal College of Arts, London |
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1974-1975 |
Fellowship,
Gloucester College of Art and Design, Cheltenham |
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1975-1976 |
Art Teachers
Certificate, Goldsmith College, University of London |
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ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE |
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1974-1975 |
Part-time
Lecturer, Gloucestershire College of Art & Design,
Stroud Art College |
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1976-2004 |
Full-time
Lecturer in Drawing and Painting, gray's School of Art |
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Visiting
Lecturer: Glasgow School of Art, Duncan of Jordanstone
College of Art, Strathclyde University External Examiner |
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SOLO
EXHIBITIONS |
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1980 |
Compass
Gallery, Glasgow |
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1981 |
English
Speaking Union, Edinburgh |
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1981 |
Peacock
Printmakers, Aberdeen |
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1982 |
Senior Common
room, Aberdeen University |
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1984 |
Artspace
Galleries, Aberdeen |
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1986 |
Perth Museum
Art Gallery (Music and Arts Festival) |
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1986 |
369 Gallery,
Edinburgh |
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1987 |
The Third Eye
Centre, Glasgow |
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1991 |
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Ship to
Shore: |
Talbot
Rice Gallery, Edinburgh |
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Peacock
Printmakers, Aberdeen |
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Odette
Gilbert Gallery, London |
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Kirkcaldy
Art Gallery & Museum |
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An
Lanntair, Stornaway |
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1992 |
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Ship to
Shore: |
Highland
Region Tour, Inverness, Wick, Skye, Thurso |
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1993 |
To The
Lighthouse: Andrew Lamount Gallery, London |
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1993 |
The Guilding
Light, Elektra Fine Art, Toronto, Canada |
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1995 |
Footdee Ikons,
Roger Billcliffe Fine Art, Glasgow |
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Monoprints and
works on Paper |
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1998 |
The Rendezvous
Gallery, Aberdeen |
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2003 |
Sea Sirens,
The Weem Gallery, Pittenweem |
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2003 |
Monoprints,
Peacock Visual Arts |
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2004 |
Postcards
From Fittie |
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The
Rendezvous Gallery, Aberdeen |
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| AWARDS |
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1969 |
Hospitalfield Prize |
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1970 |
Robert Brough
Scholarship |
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1970 |
RSA Student Prize |
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1971 |
Carnegie Travelling
Scholarship |
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1971 |
First Prize Arbroath
Art Competition |
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1972 |
English Speaking
Union Scholarship to USA |
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1972 |
Anstruther Award
(RCA) |
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1974 |
E.Q. Henriques Gift
(RCA) |
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1978 |
Latimer Award (RSA) |
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1982 |
Second Prize, Shell
Competition, Aberdeen Artists |
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1985 |
Six Month Bursary
from Scottish Arts Council |
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1989 |
1st Prize Morrison
Portrait Competition, |
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Royal Scottish
Academy |
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1993 |
The May Marshall
Brown Award, RSW |
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1993 |
W & J Burness
Award, RSA |
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1994 |
Premier Award, Shell
Expro, Aberdeen Artists |
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1995 |
SHEFC Award-1 year's
sabbatical |
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1997 |
Gillies Travel
Bursary (RSA) for trip to Poland |
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2002 |
2nd Prize, Shell
Expro, Aberdeen Artists Society |
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| MEMBER OF |
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1979 |
Elected RSW |
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1981-1983 |
Member of Awards
Panel, Scottish Arts Council |
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1985 |
Elected Associate
Member of Royal Scottish Academy |
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1985-1988 |
Elected President of
Aberdeen Artists (First woman to hold post) |
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1986-1989 |
Member of the Art
Committee, Scottish Arts Council |
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1987-1990 |
Member of the Awards
Panel, Scottish Arts Council |
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1993 |
Elected Member of
newly constructed Board of Peacock Printmakers, Aberdeen |
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1998 |
Elected
Academician, Royal Scottish Academy |
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| PUBLIC COLLECTIONS |
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Aberdeen
Art Gallery, Scottish Arts Council, Grampian Television,
Aberdeen University, Fife Regional Council, Mobil, Shell,
Aberdeen Public Libraries, Unilever, Graves Art Gallery and
Museum, Sheffireld, Manchester Art Gallery, Edinburgh City
Arts Centre, Lanarkshire County Council, University of
Strathclyde, The Contemporary Arts Society, BBC Television,
Glasgow Art Gallery of Modern Art, The Royal Scottish Academy,
Gray's School of Art, McMaster Museum, Hamilton, Ontario,
Fleming's Holdings of London, Tidaholm Government Office. |
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| GROUP COLLECTIONS |
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Exhibited
extensively in group exhibitions in Britain and abroad. |
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