Graduate Programme 2023-24
An opportunity for Scottish art school graduates
12 places for artists
Supported by The Hope Scott Trust and the PF Charitable Trust, Professor Christopher Breward, and the Hospitalfield Alumni Association.
The programme offers 12 artists a year-long association with Hospitalfield. At the heart of their working relationship with the organisation, is the support they will gain from the structured Mentoring programme over this time and their 16-day residency in March 2024 at Hospitalfield. Each artist have graduated in either 2021 or 2022 from a Scottish art school, and wish to establish their artistic careers in the period of uncertainty following their departure from formal education. This programme provides a route into furthering their practice, with Hospitalfield acknowledging that they represent the next generation of artists who will reflect the world back to us. The Graduate Programme gives artists artistic and professional development pathways, continuing on from the precedent of the Graduate Residency which begun 10 years ago at Hospitalfield and has supported 114 artists since.
The artists selected for the 2023 – 24 programme are:
Alexandra Beteeva
Tilda Williams-Kelly (Selected for the Joan Cuthill Painting Bursary)
Maya El Nahal
Len Goetzee (Selected for the Christopher Bursary)
Josie KO
Kialy Tihngang
Alliyah Enyo
bury heal nella
Edward Gwyn Jones
Ames Truscott
Gudrun Schmidinger
Amy Strzoda
Find out more about each of the artists via their biographies on our residents page here: Residents – Hospitalfield
Images:
1-3 courtesy of Amy Strzoda
4-6 courtesy of Alliyah Enyo
7-9 courtesy of Alexandra Beteeva
10 – 12 courtesy of Ames Truscott
13 – 15 courtesy of bury heal nella
16 – 18 courtesy of Edward Gwyn Jones
19 – 21 courtesy of Gudrun Schmidinger
22 – 24 courtesy of Josie KO
25 – 27 courtesy of Kialy Tihngang
28 – 30 courtesy of Len Goetzee
31 – 33 courtesy of Maya El Nahal
34 – 36 courtesy of Tilda Williams-Kelly
The Graduate Programme is devised, selected and facilitated with the Mentors Circle which includes Sekai Machache (Artist, Glasgow), Rachel Pimm (Artist, Northampton), and Cicely Farrer (Programme Manager, Hospitalfield).
Graduate Programme 2021 - 2022
A yearlong programme for Scottish art school graduates
Thirty Places: three groups of ten artists
May 2021 – May 2022
Supported by the William Grant Foundation, Hope Scott Trust and the PF Charitable Trust.
Programme Mentoring Circle: Artist Sekai Machache (Edinburgh), curator Eoin Dara (Head of Exhibitions Dundee Contemporary Arts) and writer/curator Tendai Mutambu (Bristol) and Cicely Farrer (Programme Manager Hospitalfield). We thank Dundee Contemporary Arts for their valuable partnership on the development of the mentoring Programme.
Continuing on from the precedent of the Graduate Residency which ran for 8 years at Hospitalfield, the Graduate Programme 2021 was designed to support the next generation of artists. Through this programme we gave artists who have graduated from art schools and colleges in 2019-2020, artistic and professional development pathways at a time of significant uncertainty.
The programme offered 30 artists a year long association with Hospitalfield. At the heart of the programme was the support that participants gain from both the Mentor’s Circle and the 16-day residency at Hospitalfield and each other. The programme supports three groups of artists all who have graduated in 2019-20 from Scottish art schools; emerging out of full-time education into what is in many ways a closed world. The structured programme provides the selected artists with a new network and a period of time to focus on the development of their work.
Situated just to the south of the rural coastal town of Arbroath, Hospitalfield is an artists’ house; a place of ideas combining the conventions of the museum and the academy and interpreting these models for this moment in time. Hospitalfield is attentive to its aims; to support artists and, in this ever-changing environment, our programmes change and respond to the shift in artist’s needs.
In early 2021, the mentoring circle selected 30 artists from an open call for this year’s programme which combines residency with online mentoring. The programme begun on 1 May 2021 and runs until 30 April 2022.
Participating artists are:
Katherine Fay Allan, Aqsa Arif, Emelia Kerr Beale, Sean Patrick Campbell, Ivy Deacon, Kiên Denier, Kaya Fraser, Benjamin Hall, Marie Hamrock, Sinéad Hargan, Jacob Hoffman, Sean Kemp, Julia Carolin Kothe, Kate Frances Lingard, Jek McAllister, Heather McDonald, Cat and Éiméar McLay, Owain Train McGilvary, Siobhan McLaughlin, Chao-Ying Betty Rao, Lauren La Rose, Rodrigo Nava Ramírez, Stella Rooney,
Natasha Thembiso Ruwona, Marta Sanders, Kiera Saunders, Anya Sirina, Rosie Trevill, Sweætshops® / Merik Tiz
Find out more about each of the artists on our Residents page here
The artists have graduated from Programmes at institutions including Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Edinburgh College of Art, Glasgow School of Art, Grays School of Art and University of Aberdeen.
Artists at Hospitalfield in June 2021
In June 2021 we hosted ten of the artists from the Graduate Programme in residence at Hospitalfield. Over 16 days the artists had time and space to develop their practice and discuss work together outside and in the Studios.
Over the two weeks each artist had a tutorial with Sekai Machache and Cicely Farrer, we had a day in Dundee when the group were hosted by V&A Dundee, Generator Projects, Cooper Gallery DJCAD and our partners Dundee Contemporary Arts. In attending each of these organisations we held a discussion about how each of these organisations works with artists.
The artists in this June programme were:
Jacob Hoffman
Aqsa Arif
Emelia Kerr Beale
Rodrigo Nava Ramírez
Stella Rooney
Natasha Thembiso Ruwona
Marta Sanders
Sinéad Hargan
Siobhan McLaughlin
Chao-Ying Betty Rao
These images and accompanying text give an idea of how some developed their practice and the projects that were created both during and after their stay.
2-4. Aqsa Arif – Aqsa was testing ideas for an installation at Jupiter Artland’s festival examining the archetypal story of the wild woman through the lens of her dual identity with Scottish-Pakistani heritage. Aqsa also developed a short film script in her time here, currently in the post-production phase.
5-7. Jacob Hoffman – Jacob used his time at Hospitalfield to incorporate foraged botanical forms into the image making process, continuing on from his research into gardens and outdoor spaces as sites of erotic potential, layered with significance.
8-10. Rodrigo Nava Ramirez – Rodrigo’s work uses augmented reality, online tutorials & time-space blending to comment upon methods of reverse anthropology through cyberspace, acts of resistance against digital preservation and methods aiming to predict, profit and control.
11-13. Siobhan McLaughlin – Siobhan’s practice really opened up during her time at Hospitalfield. Words and ideas expanded and began a period of deep reflection, the above piece The Mountain Pass (Lairig Ghru) is a painting which is a result of this research & reflection.
14-16. Chao-Ying Betty Rao – Betty brought along Sky, a 2016 RealDoll petite who had just joined her from Portland and her time at Hospitalfield was spent getting to know Sky, the new surroundings and, upon reflection, herself and her own practice.
Emelia Kerr Beale – Emelia spent her time in residence researching medical etymologies, unravelling words and weaving new meanings through monoprinting, which she is now developing into textile works.
Photos 1 & 12 by Stella Rooney
Artists at Hospitalfield in October 2021
In October 2021 we hosted ten of the artists from the Graduate Programme in residence at Hospitalfield. Over 16 days the artists had time and space to develop their practice and discuss work together outside and in the Studios.
Over the two weeks each artist had a tutorial with Sekai Machache and Cicely Farrer, a visit in the first week by Eoin Dara, we had a day in Dundee when the group were hosted by V&A Dundee, Generator Projects, Volke Gallery, Wooosh Gallery and our partners Dundee Contemporary Arts. In attending each of these organisations we held a discussion about how each of these organisations works with artists. The artists also participating in a group exhibition with Wooosh Gallery followed by an evening of performance at the George Orwell Pub.
The artists in this October programme were:
Sean Patrick Campbell
Kaya Fraser
Rosie Trevill
Sweætshops® / Merik Tiz
Owain Train McGilvary
Jek McAllister
Heather McDonald
Marie Hamrock
Sean Kemp
The images give a bit of insight into the projects each of the artists were developing and the processes that they used
2-4. Rosie Trevill – Preparing a textile work to install in the house and testing out locations for performance
5-6. Sean Kemp – Making pulp for paper briquettes and examples of the briquettes
7-9. Sweætshops® – Stripping cables, sewing conspiracy, oscillating crystals.
10-13. Sean Patrick Campbell – Making images of found objects, performative actions and environmental details
14-17. Kaya Fraser – experimenting with new and rekindling with old photography and printmaking processes. Reflecting on thoughts and using time to tease out and play around with these.
18-19. Heather McDonald – Formulating and testing techniques for combining fabric and woven places with cast metal and glass elements.
20-22. Owain Train McGilvary – “Reflecting on conversations with wrestlers’ character development, I have been making drawings with ink and watercolour that are inspired by them.”
23-25. Marie-Chantal Hamrock – Looking at broadside ballads from the 17th century which have also inspired the beginnings of an inflatable bustle pad (as seen in the drawing).
26. Jek McAllister – “I am thinking about things and places, going on adventures and planning the PowerPoint Presentation Club”.
27. Sweætshops® – Preparing costume for performance.
Artists at Hospitalfield in March - April 2022
Between March to April 2022 we hosted ten of the artists from the Graduate Programme in residence at Hospitalfield. Over 16 days the artists had time and space to develop their practice and discuss work together outside and in the Studios.
The artist in the program were:
Lauren La Rose
Katherine Fay Allan
Anya Sirina
Kiera Saunders
Julia Carolin Kothe
Frances Lingard
Kiên Denier
Cat and Eimar McLay
Ivy Deacon
Benjamin Hall
Over the two weeks each artist had a tutorials, with Sekai Machache and Cicely Farrer or Eoin Dara, we had a day in Dundee when the group were hosted by V&A Dundee, Generator Projects, Cooper Gallery DJCAD, Wooosh Gallery. In attending each of these organisations we held a discussion about how each of these organisations works with artists. The artists also participating in a group exhibition with Wooosh Gallery.
These images are provided by the artists at the end of their residency to convey where they got to with their work while at Hospitalfield.
1-3. Julia Carolin Kothe: During the residency, I not only encountered the plaster casts of various sensory sculpture fragments from Hospitalfield’s collection but also spent time exchanging ideas with peers and exploring new artistic approaches. I thoroughly enjoyed the stimulating rhythm of experimentation as I lost myself in the methods of 3D scanning, on-site sound recording and the processes of copying and pasting both originals and digitised objects, amidst shifting scales and transformations across sculpture, body, image and architecture.
4-5. Kien Denier: The environment provided at Hospitalfield was mainly used as a testing ground for an ongoing video piece exploring the issue of subjectivity. It also allowed me to strengthen and anchor, in Scotland, an ongoing collaborative research project about flying objects.
6-9. Cat and Éiméar McClay: During our time at Hospitalfield, we have reflected on our recent project about the network of social institutions run by the Catholic Church in Ireland from the 18th – 20th century, and developed our research towards a new project exploring the history of psychiatric treatment in both Ireland and the UK
10-12. Ivy Deacon: My time at Hospitalfield was mainly spent in the studios, exploring the repetitive techniques in screen printing alongside my ceramics work. It allowed the time and space to be messy, joyful, and romantic.
13-15. Katherine Fay Allan: During my time at Hospitalfield, I have been exploring processes of consumption, embodied knowledge, and gut feelings through the construction of an earthen oven and baking bread with heritage wholemeal flour from ‘Scotland the Bread’. Being able to work with my hands after a sustained period of research has nurtured my emerging practice, enabling me to digest my conceptual investigations and chew over the different forms these ideas could be expressed.
16-18. Lauren La Rose: Lauren La Rose is a Disabled, LatinX multidisciplinary artist and educator working at the intersection of curating, producing, radical pedagogy and social practice. While at Hospitalfield they’ve been interrogating narratives about sickness researching the intersections between disability justice, sabotage, class struggle and technology.
19-21. Anya Sirina: Spending two weeks with such great artists meant I was able to collaborate and build relationships where I was able to test, workshop, and choreograph new performance ideas on other bodies. Being able to step outside my work was invaluable.
22-24. Kiera Saunders: I was preparing for the @vomiton_ collective show at RSA late, a paper mâché costume performance, recreating the historic Bosh painting known as the “concert of the egg”. I also spent time forming collaborative work for future projects and with artists during the residency. Seen in the white two-piece garment for Anya Sirina’s performance film in the Hospitalfields garden.
25-26. Benjamin Hall: Ben used their time at hospitalfield to research the work of Scottish esoterist and writer Benjamin Creme, philosopher Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Marvel Studios. They produced a new piece of writing on world building titled: Thoughts from the Border of my Imagination.
27-29. Frances Lingard: I used my time to play-test a storytelling game and experiment with control within my practice. Clippings from bits of old newspapers I found around the house influenced the architecture of the game, as well as research into ideas of the ‘unprogrammable’. Having the space to develop and test the game left me with somehow more questions around gaming within a contemporary art setting.
All images courtesy of the artists.
Online Programme
The Online Programme has responded to the identified needs of the artists as demonstrated in their applications and conversations during the programme.
The Programme launched in May 2021 with an online introductory group session for all thirty participants in the Graduate Programme.
Over the year, mentors Tendai Mutambu and Cicely Farrer led online group workshops with the participants. The first session focussed on collaboration and the second on sharing questions at stake in each artists’ practice.
Online special events included workshops by visiting artists Maria Fusco and collaborative group G.O.D.S as well as a two-part funding workshop led by Mentor Cicely Farrer.
Study Visit to Mount Stuart
In April 2022, artists and mentors from the Graduate Programme travelled to the Isle of Bute to visit Mount Stuart for a Study Visit and were hosted by Morven Gregor (Curator of Contemporary Programme), Sophie Crichton Stuart (chairperson) and artist Abbas Akhavan.