2023 Awardee: Tessa Mackenzie

YEAR OF AWARD: 2023
AGE AT AWARD: 28
ARTFORMS: ,
WEBSITE:http://www.tessamackenzie.com/
 
 

Biography

Tessa Mackenzie is a glassworker and illustrator based in Glasgow. She is interested in research-led projects, material focus in the built environment, and storytelling.

Tessa moved from London to Glasgow in 2012 to study Communication Design at the Glasgow School of Art. Since graduating she has developed a material-led practice, with a focus around how Stained Glass can enhance the way we experience architecture and the role it has to play in telling the stories of people that occupy a space.

Tessa has worked freelance since graduating, with selected clients including the BBC, Scottish Government, NHS, The Princes Foundation, Mind, Elephant Magazine and University of Edinburgh. She has also been featured by the BBC, Creative Review, It’s Nice That and Wallpaper.

How the Award Helped

Tessa’s Award supported her to explore the technique of acid etching. As Tessa is a self-taught stained glass maker, she didn’t have the opportunity to learn complex techniques in a traditional environment. Her Dewar Award allowed her to seek private tuition, access necessary facilities, cover material expenses and allocate dedicated time. This financial backing not only allowed her to learn the ancient technique but also paved the way for her to confidently explore innovative methods of production, enhancing and elevating her artistic practice.

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2023 Awardee: Erin McQuarrie

The Dewar Arts Award has provided vital funding to set up my studio in the Scottish Highlands and purchase essential weaving tools. I would like to sincerely thank the committee for all their encouragement and support.

YEAR OF AWARD: 2023
AGE AT AWARD: 29
ARTFORMS: , ,
WEBSITE:http://www.erinmcquarrie.com
 
 

Biography

Erin McQuarrie is a textile artist and researcher from Glasgow based in the Scottish Highlands. She believes ancient methods of making provide an innovative means of interpreting and responding to contemporary life. Through textiles McQuarrie reacts to the everyday – the language of warp and weft is her vocabulary, providing an antithesis to our fast-paced consumerist society, an outlet to explore health and wellbeing, and a platform for historical recovery.

Erin completed her BFA in Textiles at The Glasgow School of Art (2018) and her MFA in Textiles at Parsons School of Design, NYC, on a Fulbright scholarship (2021). Her work has been exhibited in Scotland and internationally, including Jane Lombard Gallery, L’Space Gallery, Mana Contemporary, The Royal Scottish Academy, and New York Textile Month.

How the Award Helped

Support from the Dewar Arts Award enabled Erin to finance an enclosed studio space and acquire essential tools for her practice. By purchasing a Saori floor loom, Erin is able to produce more ambitious textile work at a larger scale than with handmade tools at home. The studio also provides the space needed for lengthy dyeing and weaving processes.

Since the Award

In 2024, Erin presents her first solo show ‘The Time Between The Lights’ at The Briggait in Glasgow.

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The Dewar Arts Award has provided vital funding to set up my studio in the Scottish Highlands and purchase essential weaving tools. I would like to sincerely thank the committee for all their encouragement and support.

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2020 Awardee: Sonya Smullen

sonya smullen set designer

"I sincerely value the support of the Dewar Arts Awards. It has granted me the possibility to devote myself to my studies at the Wimbledon College of Arts and develop my potential as a theatre maker. Without their support, the reality I live in would still only be a dream."

YEAR OF AWARD: 2020
AGE AT AWARD: 17
ARTFORMS: ,
 
 
 

Biography

Sonya Smullen is a theatre set designer from Glasgow. Whilst studying Music History at the Music School of Douglas Academy, she discovered a love of set design whilst watching operatic performances. Realising that the design of the space can have an extraordinary effect on performer and audience alike, she moved to London to study Theatre Design at The Wimbledon College of Arts.

In November 2020 she was selected as a finalist for the Prague Quadrennial festival for a site specific immersive design proposal of Karel Capek’s Play ‘The White Plague’. Sonya was also chosen to showcase her work in response to the archive of theatre designer Jocelyn Herbert at the National Theatre symposium ‘Staging the Future’ in March 2021.

After being nominated to study abroad, she was accepted by the Weissensee Academy of Art Berlin to spend an academic year on the Fine Arts Stage and Costume Design programme in Germany.

Her studies at Wimbledon have enabled her to follow the aspirations she had while sitting in her lessons in Music History. Looking to the future, she hopes to work across a multidisciplinary platform, collaborating with a variety of artists to find new approaches for theatre making.

How the Award Helped

Her Dewar Arts Award helped Sonya to complete her BA Theatre Design studies at the University of the Arts London.

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sonya smullen set designer

"I sincerely value the support of the Dewar Arts Awards. It has granted me the possibility to devote myself to my studies at the Wimbledon College of Arts and develop my potential as a theatre maker. Without their support, the reality I live in would still only be a dream."

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2019 Awardee: Thomas Cameron

Thomas Cameron

"Receiving a Dewar Arts Award has been very encouraging and will allow me to produce a body of work focusing on the places and people of Glasgow"

YEAR OF AWARD: 2019
AGE AT AWARD: 26
ARTFORMS: ,
WEBSITE:https://www.thomascameronart.co.uk
 
 

Biography

Thomas is a visual artist who has (so far) lived in Scotland all his life. He has been described by his tutor as having ‘a very particular artistic vision’ which stands out for ‘it’s poetic charge and Romantic referencing’.  Thomas has a fluency in his painting which ‘transforms these otherwise mundane vistas into paintings of subtle beauty’ and a natural facility for drawing that has ‘enabled him to render the things he sees effortlessly’.

Thomas studied Fine Art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, and Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Art.

Since graduating, Thomas has continued to develop his skills, and produced a solo exhibition at the Sutton Gallery in Edinburgh. This attracted critical praise for his distinct poetic vision. Thomas received the support of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation on two occasions, which helped to accelerate his career and cement the potential he demonstrated. He is set to become an artist of significance.

Thomas’ paintings stem from an interest in the moments that often go overlooked due to their familiarity. He works with a wide range of subjects and approaches these intuitively. He is drawn to candid moments, domestic scenes, and fleeting moments of beauty in the everyday. His painting focus on atmosphere and often have a suggestion of narrative, like still frames from a film.

How the Award Helped

Thomas received a Dewar Arts Award to enable him to travel and create, as well as to maintain a studio space at Trongate 103 in Glasgow.

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Thomas Cameron

"Receiving a Dewar Arts Award has been very encouraging and will allow me to produce a body of work focusing on the places and people of Glasgow"

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2018 Awardee: Isabelle Thomson

"I am extremely grateful to have received this award...and to work towards my ambitions full time. As an emerging artist, it is very encouraging to know you are being supported."

YEAR OF AWARD: 2018
AGE AT AWARD: 25
ARTFORMS: ,
 
 
 

Biography

Isabelle is a gifted and idiosyncratic artist, who was born in Inverness and grew up in the Highlands of Scotland.

In 2016, Isabelle graduated from Gray’s School of Art with a First Class BA (Hons) in Painting. Whilst at Gray’s, she was awarded a Cross Trust Vacation Award which she used to travel to Iceland to collect visual research. This trip was the catalyst for her fourth year work and degree show.

After graduating from Gray’s, Isabelle was one of the selected Graduates in Residence at Leith School of Art. At the 2016 Visual Arts Scotland annual exhibition she won the Great Art Award.

In 2018, Isabelle exhibited in London at both the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize in the Mall Galleries and at Fully Awake in the Royal College of Art. She also received an award to undergo one-to-one animation tutorials from Highland Visual Artist & Craft Maker Award Scheme and won a Hope Scott Trust Award to for research in Canada.

Isabelle’s oil paintings often include text and other materials. She paints to understand the value of the wilderness: to reawaken our slow and essential ‘mountain time’.

How the Award Helped

Isabelle received a Dewar Arts Award to enable her to work in a Wasp’s Artist’s Studio in Inverness for a year. This enabled her to build a new body of work from her time in Canada and Scotland, and to further develop the use of animation within her practice, with the aim of using this to apply for a Masters Degree in Fine Art.

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"I am extremely grateful to have received this award...and to work towards my ambitions full time. As an emerging artist, it is very encouraging to know you are being supported."

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2018 Awardee: Ruth Gilmour

"The Dewar Arts Award has provided me with great creative freedom and an ability to experiment with material thoroughly. I am honored to be represented by an organisation admired for supporting the development of young Scottish artists."

YEAR OF AWARD: 2018
AGE AT AWARD: 27
ARTFORMS:
WEBSITE:https://www.ruthelviragilmour.com/
EMAIL:hello@ruthelviragilmour.com
 

Biography

Ruth is a cross-disciplinary artist from Glasgow who works with material alongside a deeply embedded mode of research to challenge conceptions of the body and its sense of place.

After graduating with a first class Honors degree from Glasgow School of Art in 2017 with her project ‘Nothing is Solid’, Ruth was represented at a number of different graduate showcases in the UK and exhibited at North Lands Creative and Ruthin Craft Centre.

Ruth was invited to undertake a 9 month residency at DSKD in Denmark, where she made ‘Material Bodies’, a project that was exhibited at DSKD and later at New Glasgow Society.

In 2018, Ruth was accepted for a Master of Fine Arts in Sweden. She went on to be selected to represent the Academy at The Stockholm Design Week and invited to Milan Design Week to exhibit with Svensk Form.

How the Award Helped

Ruth was nominated for her Award by Jonathan Boyd – her tutor at Glasgow School of Art and a previous Dewar Arts Award recipient. The Award supported Ruth’s studies at the presitigious HDK in Gothenburg, Sweden.

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"The Dewar Arts Award has provided me with great creative freedom and an ability to experiment with material thoroughly. I am honored to be represented by an organisation admired for supporting the development of young Scottish artists."

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2017 Awardee: Tom Joyes

"The Dewar Arts Award gave me the opportunity to deepen my research practice by participating in a focussed migratory design programme in the Netherlands. I'd like to extend my thanks to the trustees for their amazing support of this."

YEAR OF AWARD: 2017
AGE AT AWARD: 22
ARTFORMS: ,
WEBSITE:https://www.tomjoyes.com/
EMAIL:info@tomjoyes.com
 

Biography

Tom is a Glaswegian designer and graduate of Communication Design at the Glasgow School of Art. Working with graphic design, writing and film, his research-driven practice is critically engaged with politics, aesthetics and technology.

In 2016, Tom was nominated for The Glasgow School of Art’s prestigious Newberry Medal and was selected by design magazine It’s Nice That as part of their shortlist of the most influential young design graduates in the UK.

Since then, Tom has spoken and exhibited in Glasgow, London and the Netherlands, notably writing a text about space junk and image archeology for London-based publisher Books From the Future.

In 2017, Tom was offered the opportunity to participate in a pilot MA programme Checkpoints and Chokepoints at ArtEZ Arnhem, Netherlands, exploring the topic of migration in Europe under the tuition of Vinca Kruk (Metahaven). For this, he produced the comic book FUZZY LOGiC Vol.83, described as a ‘technodrama’ about bodies, borders and surveillance set between the layers of global infrastructure.

https://www.instagram.com/born_slippery

How the Award Helped

Tom’s Award supported him in undertaking the experimental, newly-minted post-BA programme ‘Checkpoints and Chokepoints’ at ArtEZ University of The Arts (Arnhem, Netherlands).

FUZZY LOGiC Vol.83

Tom’s portrait by Adam Counihan

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"The Dewar Arts Award gave me the opportunity to deepen my research practice by participating in a focussed migratory design programme in the Netherlands. I'd like to extend my thanks to the trustees for their amazing support of this."

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2017 Awardee: Christiana Bissett

"Because of the Dewar Arts Award I am privileged to be exploring my practice in a new and exciting masters, as well as engaging in an international dialogue about art and ecology."

YEAR OF AWARD: 2017
AGE AT AWARD: 22
ARTFORMS: ,
WEBSITE:https://thedoinggroup.com/
EMAIL:christiana@thedoinggroup.com
 

Biography

Christiana is a Glaswegian artist, with a research practice in aesthetics and ecology. Using performance methodology her work explores how we perceive environment and how this perception impacts our imagined futures.

After making and touring award winning work with company Junction 25 from a young age, Christiana studied performance theory at the University of Glasgow. During this time she developed a clear interest in the urban environment, and created site based and politically engaged work programmed by the CCA as part of Unfix Festival of Ecology and Performance and at The Arches as part of Arches Live:Scratch.

With six other students in the department, Christiana founded The Doing Group, a collective response to the tradition of reading groups, experimenting with the potentialities of ‘doing’. Since their beginnings two years ago The Doing Group’s work has been shown in the Pollokshields Playhouse and CCA in Glasgow, as well as at Temporary in Helsinki. The group’s research has been supported by the Alistair Cameron Scholarship and presented in a Spaces of Exile Symposium in Tramway Glasgow.

https://cargocollective.com/christiana

How the Award Helped

Christiana’s Award supported her as one of six artists participating in a pilot MA in Ecology and Contemporary Performance at Helsinki’s University of the Arts. With an overarching question of ‘What is Performance Now?’, the students received mentoring from artists Kira O’Reilly and Tuija Kokkonen.

Christiana’s research explores how bodies and materials interact in the practice of water dowsing, and how neurodiverse subjects experience their surroundings.

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"Because of the Dewar Arts Award I am privileged to be exploring my practice in a new and exciting masters, as well as engaging in an international dialogue about art and ecology."

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2017 Awardee: Bobby Sayers

"Without the funding from Dewar Art Award I would have had to turn down my place at Piet Zwart Institute. The award made furthering my education and progressing my career as an artist possible...I am extremely grateful."

YEAR OF AWARD: 2017
AGE AT AWARD: 27
ARTFORMS: , ,
WEBSITE:https://www.bobbysayers.com/
EMAIL:bobby@bobbysayers.com
TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/bobbysayers

Biography

Bobby Sayers is an artist, designer and curator based in Glasgow/Rotterdam. Sayers’ practice explores themes of beauty and value through the frame of the city, his artworks often consider how we value ourselves and what authorship we have over our environments. Using film, performance, photography and sculpture to expose emotions and discuss the human condition and current sociopolitical situations.

Bobby has exhibited internationally and established residencies and arts projects across Scotland. As well as gaining one of only 10 places on a prestigious masters course at Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam, he has worked for many organisations and galleries across the UK such as Nottingham Contemporary, The Museum of Everything and You Me Bum Bum Train.  He has co-programmed for The Telfer Gallery, Glasgow, and has worked as a designer and website developer for Organise Consulting, a political campaigns organisation based in London.

Bobby has delivered a commission to develop progressive digital manufacturing and education schemes across 8 Libraries in East Dunbartonshire, runs an annual residency in Braemar, Scotland, and is involved in other projects across Scotland as part of the co-founded organisation Common Ground.

How the Award Helped

Bobby’s Dewar Arts Award contributed towards the course fees for his Masters of Fine Art at the Piet Zwart Institute.

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"Without the funding from Dewar Art Award I would have had to turn down my place at Piet Zwart Institute. The award made furthering my education and progressing my career as an artist possible...I am extremely grateful."

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2017 Awardee: Alistair Grant

"The support from the Dewar Award has enabled me to commit my time and energy to the course in a way that is truly freeing, I feel extremely lucky."

YEAR OF AWARD: 2017
AGE AT AWARD: 27
ARTFORMS: ,
WEBSITE:https://www.ahgrant.co.uk/
EMAIL:alistairhgrant@gmail.com
 

Biography

Alistair Grant was born in Manchester and moved to Glasgow to study a BA in Sculpture at the Edinburgh College of Art.  On graduating, he went on to study a Master of Fine Art at Glasgow School of Art.

Alistair is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores contemporary connections to the natural world. From sculptural and installation approaches through to performance and video games, Grant’s practice is concerned with how we negotiate and attribute value, whether aesthetic or ecological to these designated areas from within the built environment.

Alistair has undertaken residencies including The Wild Project (Czech Republic) and Odyssean (Orkney), which have resulted in exhibitions across the country. He has also made work for the Odyssean: Topographies exhibition at Hestercombe in Somerset.

In Spring 2014 Alistair Founded ‘The Number Shop’ Studios and Gallery, which he continues to manage as Director. To date TNS has hosted over 50 exhibitions and worked with over 150 emerging contemporary artists, highlights of our programme include Edinburgh College of Art Graduate Awards, Edinburgh Art Festival, Return Flight MEL-EDI (Melbourne – Edinburgh international artist-writer exchange), Edinburgh International Science Festival and Glasgow International 2018.

In August 2017, Alistair co-founded Edinburgh Contemporary Art Directory, a quarterly print listings publication (and online) that compiles activities, exhibitions and events from the Edinburgh scene, from independent artists, artist-run spaces and mid-large scale institutions.

Alistair’s ambition is to contribute to the Scottish contemporary art scene in a holistic way, supporting the work and activities of others alongside and intertwined with his own practice.

How the Award Helped

Alistair’s Dewar Award supported him in his studies, allowing him to fully pursue his aims to develop technical skills in workshops (physical sculpture processes in casting, digital 3D softwares and animation) whilst having the time to critically evolve his practice. The Award also allowed him to undertake his exhibition at Hestercombe.

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"The support from the Dewar Award has enabled me to commit my time and energy to the course in a way that is truly freeing, I feel extremely lucky."

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