Sam Ainsley

Sam Ainsley
Born 1950
North Shields, Northumberland
Residence Glasgow
Nationality British
Education
Known for Painting, Printmaking, Teaching
Elected RSA, DLitt (Honorary), Saltire Society Outstanding Women of Scotland
Website www.samainsley.com

Sam Ainsley (born 1950) is a British artist and teacher, living and working in Glasgow, who was the founder and former head of the Master of Fine Art (MFA) programme at the Glasgow School of Art.

Biography

Ainsley was born in North Shields in Northumberland.[1] In 1973 she completed the one-year foundation course at the Jacob Kramer College in Leeds and until 1977 she studied painting at Newcastle Polytechnic. In 1975 she spent six weeks in Japan studying Sukiya architecture which led to her using a very limited palette of colours but with an emphasis on texture and materials.[2] After graduating from Newcastle, Ainsley spent a year in postgraduate study at Edinburgh College of Art. When she completed her post-graduate diploma there in 1978, an Andrew Grant fellowship award allowed to her to teach part-time in the same department for a year.[1]

Following a visit to New York City in 1979, Ainsley's work developed into using shaped canvases, her work developed from monochrome canvases into abstract shapes using the full colour spectrum[2] Her Postgraduate work was heavily influenced by her time in Japan and her interest in Japanese culture[3] In 1982 Ainsley created a series of banners for the inauguration of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art's new building in Edinburgh.[4] A commission for a thirty-foot tapestry for the headquarters building of the General Accident insurance company in Perth was completed in 1983.[4] Her 1985 Banner for Greenham represented Ainsley's political concerns and featured images of historic and contemporary female artists and writers.[2] A solo show of Ainsley's work was held at the Third Eye Gallery in Glasgow in 1987, a semi autobiographical installation entitled 'Why I Choose Red'[5] and in 2004 she was included in the exhibition of women artists from the New Hall, Cambridge collection.[4]

From 1985 Ainsley taught at the Glasgow School of Art on Environmental Art before co-founding the School's MFA course on the subject with David Harding in 1991.[6] Ainsley served as the MFA programme director until 2005.[7] Since leaving full-time teaching, Ainsley has continued to paint and participated in a number of joint and solo exhibitions.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 Scottish Tapestry Artists Group Second Exhibition. Scottish Tapestry Artists Group. 1978.
  2. 1 2 3 Penny Dunford (1990). A Biographical Dictionary of Women Artists in Europe and America since 1850. Harvester Wheatsheaf. ISBN 0 7108 1144 6.
  3. ↑ Frances Spalding (1990). 20th Century Painters and Sculptors. Antique Collectors' Club. ISBN 1 85149 106 6.
  4. 1 2 3 David Buckman (2006). Artists in Britain Since 1945 Vol 1, A to L. Art Dictionaries Ltd. ISBN 0 953260 95 X.
  5. ↑ Carrell, Christopher (1987). "Why I choose red ...". Glasgow: Third Eye Centre. ISBN 0906474620. OCLC 21229257.
  6. ↑ Clare Johnston (27 September 2015). "The secret of our success ? You must know how to party arty". Daily Record (Scotland). Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  7. ↑ "Sam Ainsley Artist and teacher". Saltire Society, Scotland. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  8. ↑ Jan Patience (27 September 2017). "Critics choice: Sam Ainsley, An Tobar Gallery, Tobermory". The Herald (Glasgow). Retrieved 8 May 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.