SCOTTISH LANDSCAPE AWARDS EXHIBITION NOW OPEN AT CITY ART CENTRE, EDINBURGH

Cate Howell and daughter Elizabeth Smith (donors of first prize The Lapeca Award), admire third prize winning work ‘L.U.C.A.’ by Kiera Walsh. Image credit: Greg Macvean.

7.11.23

The inaugural Scottish Landscape Awards opened on Saturday after winners were announced on Friday evening at a ceremony Edinburgh’s City Art Centre. The £10,000 first prize winners were named as Kate Davis and David Moore for their haunting and lyrical artwork ‘BASS ROCK’.

The exhibition is the biggest and most ambitious survey of contemporary landscape art in Scotland today and includes emerging artists alongside established professionals. The winning piece is one of 133 artworks selected from 2,800 entries currently on display, spanning two floors of the City Art Centre. Each of the selected works reflect all dimensions of natural and man-made environments including those that are imaginary, surreal, abstract, documentary, ecological and realistic across a wide range of media – from painting, sculpture, drawing and miniatures, to film, animation, audioscapes and virtual reality.

The winning piece was made by weaving musical scores selected from Songs of the North Vol 1, a collection of 18th century traditional folk songs gathered from the highlands and lowlands of Scotland which describe landscape, love and death. Selected titles legible in the artwork include Drown’d, The Weaving Song and The Twa Corbies.

On winning the Lapeca Scottish Landscape Award, Kate Davis who is Senior Tutor in Sculpture at Royal College of Art and David Moore, Head of Sculpture at Edinburgh College of Art said, “BASS ROCK is our largest woven music score work to date and took one year from inception to completion. It was the early announcement of the first Scottish Landscape Awards that gave us a much-needed deadline and reason to commit to embark on such a time-demanding work. We're therefore thrilled to be the recipients of this important new award and to be part of the exhibition which invites conversations and dialogue that challenge the concept of landscape art."

Kate Davis and David Moore, winners of the Lapeca Award Scottish Landscape Award and £10,000 prize, in front of their work ‘BASS ROCK’. Image credit: Greg Macvean.

The judging panel included influential art-world figures Ade Adesina RSA, Marian Leven RSA, David Mach RA HRSA, Barbara Rae RA CBE RA RSA RSW (chair), and Jane and Louise Wilson RA.

The City Art Centre’s Curatorial and Conservation Manager David Patterson said: “We are thrilled to have been selected as the venue for the first-ever Scottish Landscape Awards exhibition. From the outset, our vision matched the ambitions of the Scottish Arts Trust in wanting to challenge the traditional notion of landscape art. We're genuinely pleased with the variety and quality of artworks selected by the judges, as well as the high calibre of artists who submitted their work. I believe visitors will leave the gallery thoroughly impressed, given the exceptional standard and diversity of the exhibited pieces."

Open to anyone over 16 years, born, living or studying in Scotland, regardless of experience, the Scottish Landscape Awards is Scotland’s newest and biggest prize for contemporary landscape art, giving visibility to a mix of well-established artists as well as newcomers across a diversity of styles. It is managed by the Scottish Arts Trust, a registered charity dedicated to promoting the arts in Scotland which also manages the Scottish Portrait Awards. The next Scottish Landscape Awards will be held in 2025.

EXHIBITION DATES AND VENUE DETAILS

4 November 2023 to 3 March 2024

City Art Centre, 2 Market Street, Edinburgh EH1 1DE

Open daily from 10.00 to 17.00; admission free

An events programme accompanies the exhibition. Full details here. 

THE SCOTTISH LANDSCAPE AWARD WINNERS

£10,000 – First Prize – The Lapeca Scottish Landscape Award. For works in any medium. The winner will also receive the Scottish Landscape Awards Sculpture: ‘The Cloud That Became A Tree’ by James Castle RSA. Winners Kate Davis and David Moore with ‘BASS ROCK’.

£5,000 – Second Prize – Donated by the Robert Haldane Smith Foundation. For works in any medium. Lennox Dunbar with ‘Island Storm’.

£1,000 – Third Prize – Donated by the Scottish Arts Trust. For works in any medium. Kiera Walsh with ‘L.U.C.A.’

£5,000 – The City of Edinburgh Award – Donated by the City of Edinburgh Council. For works in any medium depicting the Edinburgh landscape. The winning work will become part of the City of Edinburgh collection. Robbie Bushe with ‘Towards St James and Calton Hill (reimagining the Civic Survey and Plan for the City & Royal Burgh of Edinburgh)’.

£3,000 – The Scottish Landscape Award for Environmental Art – Donated by the Cruden Foundation. For works in any medium. Magi Sinclair with ‘Flow Mist Rising’.

£1,000 – The Scottish Landscape Photography Award – Donated by the Friends of the City Art Centre and Edinburgh Museums. For works produced using any photographic process. Lindsay Robertson with ‘Dialbeag – Isle of Lewis’.

£2,000 – The Scottish Landscape Sculpture Award. A commission to create the Scottish Landscape Award Sculpture to be presented to the next winner of the Scottish Landscape Awards in 2025. Lorna Fraser with ‘Rising From The Cracks’.

£1,000 – Young Landscape Artist (16-25 years) – Donated by Irene Adams OBE. For works in any medium. Daira Ronzoni with ‘A land of ethereal fruits, colours, and shapes – Corazón de Pachamama’.

2023 SCOTTISH LANDSCAPE AWARDS JUDGES

Barbara Rae RA CBE (chair)

David Mach RA

Jane and Louise Wilson RA

Ade Adesina RSA

Marian Leven RSA

“This competition is for everybody. From the youngest to the oldest. From amateur artists to professional artists, to emerging artists.” Barbara Rae

David Mach (judge) with second prize winning artwork ‘Island Storm’ by Lennox Dunbar. Image credit: Greg Macvean.

THE SCOTTISH ARTS TRUST

The Scottish Arts Trust was established in 2014. Its aim is to support and promote innovation and creativity in the arts in Scotland through voluntary action. The Trust provides new platforms for showcasing and promoting the work of Scotland’s artists, writers, musicians and other practitioners, while also mobilising and drawing on the skills, energy and vision of volunteers committed to the creative arts.

The Trust’s initiatives include awards, exhibitions, performances and publications in the visual and literary arts as well as new music. Its work has enabled established artists to reach new audiences, while creating opportunities for new artists to exhibit, be published, and be heard on a national platform for the first time. The Trust aims to expand these opportunities by building on the experience of volunteers who seek a closer involvement with the arts. Currently, around fifty volunteers are involved in the operation of our projects.

CITY ART CENTRE

The City Art Centre is one of Edinburgh’s main public art galleries, with a vibrant programme of exhibitions. It is also home to the City’s collection of historic and contemporary Scottish art, one of the best in the country, showcased in a series of changing displays.

Located in the heart of Edinburgh close to Waverley train station, the City Art Centre’s aim is to champion historic and contemporary Scottish visual and applied arts. Artworks from their nationally-recognised collection of Scottish art are displayed on a rotating basis. Visitors can also enjoy a richly diverse programme of changing exhibitions, which include historic and modern Scottish painting and photography, as well as contemporary art and craft.

An escalator and lift provide easy access to six floors, and the Centre also houses a shop on the ground floor. Admission is normally free, although charges apply for some temporary exhibitions. Mimi's Bakehouse is situated on the ground floor, open daily 9am-5pm (last sit ins at 4:30pm) offering coffee, cake and an all-day brunch menu.