The Royal Scottish Academy Building
The Mound, Edinburgh
Saturday 20 February – Thursday 18 March
Monday - Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 12noon - 5pm

Introduction to the 2010 catalogue

Welcome to SSA 2010, the 113th Annual Open Exhibition of the Society of Scottish Artists which sees a welcome return to Edinburgh and the Royal Scottish Academy Building, the traditional home of the SSA.

The Society’s Annual Open Exhibition continues to draw entries from across the length and breadth of the UK and beyond and this year we have seen another huge number of submissions – a clear testimony to the high regard in which the Society is held. An unusually large number of works on a small scale has put the Hanging and Arranging team on their mettle in order to create a coherent exhibition, and I would like to thank them, the Selection Committee, the Council, our tireless Administrator and all the helpers who gave so generously of their time to make the exhibition a reality.

We have, as usual, invited work from recent Graduates of each of the five Scottish Art Colleges. Each year SSA Council Members are sent off to the degree shows charged with the unenviable task of choosing just two graduates from each to invite to show with us in our annual exhibition. This year, as every year, the imagination, creativity, intelligence and ambition of these artists brings a freshness and vision which ensures there is no room for complacency within the Society.

The International element of this year’s exhibition comes to us courtesy of my predecessor, Professor Elaine Shemilt’s peripatetic tendencies and curatorial abilities and we are all grateful to her for introducing us to the wealth of Printmaking skills shown by the members of staff of The Department of Printmaking at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw, Poland. Furthermore, I am pleased that these works intrigued the artist and SSA Council Member Nan Mulder so much that, together with the Head of Wroclaw Academy, she has already put in motion plans for an exchange which will see SSA artists exhibiting in Wroclaw in 2011.
With times as they are, artist-run organisations like ours are precariously balanced and we are ever-grateful for the loyalty of all our members on whom we rely, not only artistically but financially. We are also fortunate enough to have the support of a number of institutions, businesses and individuals both in the form of advertising and of prize-sponsorship, and to them I extend a particular thanks.

We are fortunate this year to have attracted a number of new prizes sponsored by individuals, galleries and businesses. In particular, Maureen and Tony Toft, who are patrons and collectors, and who have guaranteed an extraordinarily generous prize for the next five years; also The Kilmorack Gallery prize which has been donated by Tony Davidson of the gallery; and the Connell and Connell prize, given by the well-known firm of Edinburgh Solicitors. These join our long-standing awards from Deloitte LLP, Grampian Hospitals Art Trust and Edinburgh Printmakers, and on behalf of the membership and the eventual winners, I thank them all for their support.

I hope you enjoy your visit to the Galleries.

Christopher Wood RSW
President