Details

First Name

Joan

Last Name

Smith

Username

joansmith

Website

joansmithartist.weebly.com

Region

Edinburgh & The Lothians

Disciplines

Installation, Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture

Themes

Abstract, Environment, Figurative, Identity, Narratives

Statement

Statement

In my paintings, prints, drawings and objects I explore my longstanding interests in archives, medical history, archaeology, anthropology and environmental issues. My recent research projects have focused on the archives of Surgeons Hall Museum, the skull collection in the Anatomical Museum in the University of Edinburgh and the amulets collection in the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. I consider the histories embedded in the objects found in these collections. My starting point is nearly always drawing and this is central to my practice.

 

I enjoy working collaboratively on art/science projects. From 2016-19 I was part of ‘Traces’, a Europe-wide interdisciplinary research project which explored contentious collections. I am a member of the Bones Collective, a research network of anthropologists, archaeologists and artists, and the art/science group, ‘Fusion’.

 

I have exhibited widely and my work is held in public and private collections including: The Royal Scottish Academy; Heriot Watt University; Edinburgh College of Art

Glasgow Museums and Art Galleries; Edinburgh City Art Centre; Paintings in Hospitals (Scotland); Sakima Art Museum, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan; Norsjo civic collection, Sweden

Biography

Biography

 

Graduated 1987 with MA Hons Degree in Fine Art and 1989 Master of Fine Art from Edinburgh College of Art

Senior Lecturer in the School of Art, Edinburgh College of Art (University of Edinburgh) until 2021

Professional Member of the Society of Scottish Artists since 2000

 

Selected Exhibitions and Research Projects

SSA Annual exhibition Maclaurin Gallery, Ayr 2023

Scottish Landscape Awards exhibition of shortlisted artists City Art Centre Edinburgh 2023-24

Caledonian Club London SSA selected group exhibition 2023

Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition 2023

Sea Amulets installation at Hidden Door Festival, The Complex, Edinburgh 2023

Borders Art Fair SSA selected group exhibition 2023

SSA 130 commissioned work ‘Fragments (Paolozzi)’ RSA Gallery, Edinburgh 2022-23

ANGUSalive Meffan Gallery, Forfar 2022-23

North Visual Arts Scotland group exhibition at Inverness Creative Academy 2022

Sea Amulets installation shown at Art Walk Porty 2022

REVERB Visual Art Scotland group exhibition 2022

Skull Colour Chart installation at SSA Annual Exhibition November 2021

Here and Now selected group exhibition at Tatha Gallery 2021

Contemporary Figure online exhibition 2021

Field Notes Exhibition at Surgeons Hall Museum, Edinburgh, with Susie Wilson. November 2018 – March 2019

TRACES Transmitting Contentious Cultural Heritage with the Arts – From Intervention to Co-production. 2016 – 2019. http://www.tracesproject.eu

Dead Images exhibition at Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh Art Festival 2018

The Bone Library group exhibition at Summerhall Edinburgh, Edinburgh International Science Festival, 2014

In a Jiffy SSA group exhibition at the Meffan Art Gallery, Forfar, 2014

The Bones Beneath the Face collaborative event and research project at the Association of Social Anthropologists Conference in Edinburgh 2014

Word of Mouth: talking about how we interpret skulls banner installation based on The Bones Beneath the Face, Surgeons Hall Museum 2014

Big Print Small Print group exhibition at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design, Wroclaw 2012

Cast Contemporaries group exhibition at Edinburgh College of Art 2012

Smugglerius Unveiled exhibition at the Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh December 2009 – March 2010

SSA Exhibition group exhibition at Eastwood Park Gallery, Glasgow 2009

Prints Tokyo International Print Exhibition, Tokyo and Sakimi Art Museum, Okinawa, Japan 2007

6th British International Miniature Print Exhibition, Gracefield Art Centre, Dumfries, then touring the UK 2006/7

Biennial International Miniature Print Exhibition New Leaf Editions and Dundarave Print Workshop Gallery, Vancouver, Canada 2006

Society of Scottish Artists Annual Exhibition 1999, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2011

20×20 group show University of Kansas, USA 2001

IndustriaArt group show, Bank of Ireland Art Centre and Artstore Gallery, Dublin 1999

Connections  invited exhibitor, Royal Scottish Academy Festival Exhibition, Edinburgh 1999

ECA@Miro Eight printmakers at the Miro Institute, Palma, Majorca 1999

19th Mini Print International, Cadaques, Spain and international tour 1999

Created Space group show, Atrium Gallery, London 1999

Nexus Gallery Edinburgh group show 1999

Drawing Comparisons touring group exhibition

Grave Goods group show, Crawford Art Centre, St Andrews and tour 1996/7

10 Years of WASPS group show at various venues in Edinburgh 1996

Soutra solo show at The Christopher Boyd Gallery, Galashiels 1995

Castillo de Soutomaior Arcade Group exhibition, Pontevedra, Spain 1995

Joan Smith solo exhibition at the Pier Art Centre, Stromness, Orkney 1994

Konstnarskoloni i Norsjo Sweden: group show following residency 1994

Elizabeth Adamson and Joan Smith Patriothall Gallery, Edinburgh 1994

Common Origins group show Edinburgh International Science Festival at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh 1993

Works By Women The Crawford Art Centre, St Andrews, 1993

The Sea, The Sea exhibition and print publication, Edinburgh Printmakers’ Workshop 1993

Genetics solo exhibition at The Collective Gallery, Edinburgh 1992

Spring group show at The Fruit Market Gallery, Edinburgh and the Barbican Centre, London 1992

Margins group show Biuro Wystaw Artystycznych, Slupsk, Poland 1992

Collective Gallery Touring Exhibition Vilnius, Kiev, St Petersburg 1992

Twenty-one Works By Women, Edinburgh Printmakers’ Workshop 1992

Trace Elements  solo exhibition at The Crawford Art Centre, St. Andrews 1991

Work group show Adam and Co, Edinburgh and the Scottish Gallery, London 1990

Three Scottish Painters group show at Stamford Art Centre 1990

Of Woman group show at The Gatehouse Gallery, Glasgow 1990

Inverclyde Biennial group show at The McLean Gallery, Greenock 1990

The School of ’89 group show at The Step Gallery, Edinburgh 1989

Soft Ground, Hard Ground group show at Edinburgh Printmakers’ Workshop 1989

The New Scottish Art group show at Edinburgh College of Art 1989

RESIDENCIES

1992                Margins international artists’ residency in Sutherland, Scotland.

1994                Konstnarskoloni i Norsjo, international artists’ residency in Norsjo, Sweden.

PUBLICATIONS

Twenty-one works by Women 1992 Edinburgh Printmakers’ Workshop co-publication

The Sea, The Sea 1993 Edinburgh Printmakers’ Workshop co-publication

Drawing Comparisons ISBN: 0-9531180-0-2 1997/8

Cast Contemporaries 2012 ISBN 978-0-9565433-5-6

Field Notes 2018

Exposure: The ethics of making, sharing and displaying photographs of human remains J.Smith, L.Fibiger, T.Adler, J.Harries and A.Szöke 2017, Human Remains and Violence, vol. 4, no 1.

The Fabric of The Human Body J.Smith and J.Philp 2023, book chapter in Teaching, Research, Innovation and Public Engagement (Springer ISBN: 978-3-031-22451-1)

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

The Analysis of Beauty: Art, Anatomy and the Cast  Cast Collection Conference Edinburgh College of Art 2011

Smugglerius: Art and Anatomy Artefacts Conference, National Museum of Scotland 2012

Bringing to Light: The Dilemmas of Displaying Contentious Historical Material Performance lecture, ‘Critical Heritages and Reflexive Europeanisation’ at the Berlin Wall Memorial, September 2017

The Colour of Skulls: Rethinking the Edinburgh Skull Collection presentation at the Dead Images international conference at Edinburgh College of Art 2018

Exposure – Reflections on the display of contentious collections presentation, with Dr Linda Fibiger at Skeletons, Stories and Social Bodies Conference, University of Southampton 2018

 

AWARDS/PRIZES

2022     Anne Redpath Award for Painting. Visual Arts Scotland REVERB exhibition

2022     Detail Framing Studio Award. Visual Arts Scotland REVERB exhibition

2018     Random Acts Giving grant for publication related to Field Notes joint exhibition (with Susie Wilson) at Surgeons Hall Museum

2016-2019 Grant award: Horizon 2020: H2020-Reflective-Society 2-2015 (GA 693857) for group of researchers in TRACES: Transmitting Contentious Cultural Heritages with the Arts. http://www.traces.polimi.it

2013     EUSA Teaching Awards: runner up in the Best Personal Tutor category, University of Edinburgh

2013     Principal’s Teaching Award, University of Edinburgh, for collaborative project between staff and students in veterinary science and art, ‘Where art meets science’

2008     Dean’s Research Fund, University of Edinburgh, for collaborative and interdisciplinary project, ‘Smugglerius Unveiled’,  with Dr Jeanne Cannizzo

2004     Edinburgh Printmakers’ Workshop Prize, SSA Annual Exhibition

1989     George Jackson Hutchison Memorial Prize for Painting, Edinburgh College of Art.

1989     Edinburgh Printmakers’ Workshop Prize, Royal Scottish Academy

1988     Andrew Grant Major Award Edinburgh College of Art

1987     John Kinross Scholarship Royal Scottish Academy travelling scholarship to Florence