June 5, 2023
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The School of Fine Art at the Glasgow School of Art is pleased to make available a bursary to support research into the work of the Glasgow-based painter Carol Rhodes (1959-2018). Organised in conjunction with the Estate of Carol Rhodes, this bursary is intended to support scholarship centred around the artist’s archive.
Known for her depictions of landscape, Rhodes portrayed a world of semi-fictional locations that are at once familiar and ambiguous. Intimately scaled, densely rendered and typically taking an aerial viewpoint, her works often feature uninhabited industrial terrains and ‘edgelands’ – factories, canals, motorways, reservoirs – described by the artist as ‘hidden areas’. Psychologically charged and often muted in colour, Rhodes’s paintings reflect on our experiences of place, the ways in which we perceive, make and adapt our environments. The unique method she developed to make these paintings was based on a rigorous process of drawing and assemblage. This process was informed by aerial photographs, taken herself or found in illustrated books on geography and the environment, and replete with references to the British landscape tradition.
Beyond her own practice, Rhodes was consistently engaged with work on the behalf of others. She studied at the Glasgow School of Art (1977-82) and following her graduation, became involved in social activism, organising and participating in feminist, pacifist, gay rights and social justice campaigns. She co-founded the Glasgow Free University and, between 1986 and 1988, was part of a burgeoning group of artists associated with the artist-led gallery Transmission. From 1999 onwards, she returned to Glasgow School of Art as a tutor, and played a pivotal role in the education of many notable Scottish artists of a subsequent generation. In 2012, along with Merlin James, she founded 42 Carlton Place, a gallery space that mounted exhibitions by a dynamic range of painters, including Christina Ramberg, Louis Eilshemius and Adrian Morris.
Rhodes’s archive, sited in her Glasgow studio facing the River Clyde, comprises of artist’s materials, an extensive range of drawings relating to completed works, unfinished paintings, preparatory studies and a library of reference material that informed these. It also contains documents relating to the activities of Transmission Gallery and the Glasgow Free University.
In addition to a £525 fee, the award includes financial support of up to £1000 for travel and accommodation while carrying out research in the archive, for an anticipated period of 1-2 weeks. It is open to a range of individuals, including artists, curators and art historians. It affords an unprecedented opportunity to engage with Rhodes’s working methods, as well as thematic concerns present in the work, including feminist practice, land rights, aerial photography and landscape painting.
The bursary holder will be expected to present their findings as part of symposium on Rhodes’s practice that will take place at The Glasgow School of Art in Spring 2024. This presentation will be subsequently published, alongside other proceedings, as part of a special issue of The Journal of Contemporary Painting. There will also be an opportunity to display material selected part of the archive as part of an exhibition that will coincide with the symposium.
In order to apply, please provide:
- A 300 word proposal detailing the research they would wish to engage in
- A Curriculum Vitae (maximum length of 4 pages)
- The name and contact details of a referee
Expressions of interest should be sent to [email protected] by the 5pm on Monday the 26th June.
Image: Carol Rhodes Studio, Glasgow. Photo Credit: Ruth Clark.