Visual Arts advisors
Alastair Snow
Alexia Holt
Gary Thomas
Helen Cadwallader
Helen Monaghan
Jane Jeffrey
Jenny Brownrigg
Kate Tregaskis
Kirsteen McDonald
Kirstie Skinner
Mary Doyle
Maureen Finn
Michelle Cotton
Moyna Flannigan
Patricia Ellis
Rosita McKenzie
Stephen Hollingsworth
Stephen Beddoe
Susan Christie
Wendy McMurdo
Alastair Snow is the director of ASAP Alastair Snow Associates + Projects, working across the UK as an arts consultant and visual arts specialist. He is a Specialist Advisor to the Scottish Arts Council and a national advisor to the Arts Council of Wales. He worked with Bristol City Council as Senior Public Art Officer and as Director of Cleveland Arts, Teesside. He was a member of the Panel of Assessors of the Scottish Arts Council and Arts Council of England National Lottery Funds; the Public Art Review steering group with the Arts Council of Wales; and a member of the steering group to advise the ‘Creating Places’ conference held at Tate Modern to profile the role of artist studio workspace provision in regeneration. He worked with the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), Arts & Business and Public Art South West as manager of the PROJECT awards scheme across the UK. He was part of MADE’s international delegations to Berlin, Copenhagen and Malmo.
He is a trustee of Arnolfini in Bristol and a director of [a-n] the artists information company.
Alexia Holt was appointed Director of Cove Park in January 2004. Prior to this appointment, from 1997 to 2003, she was Curator at Tramway, Glasgow. A graduate of Glasgow University’s History of Art Department, she also worked at Cumbria Institute for the Arts, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow University and the Centre for Contemporary Arts whilst completing a PhD on early twentieth century French fashion design. She is also currently the Glasgow Editor for Contemporary magazine and a member of the Editorial Board for Map magazine. Alexia has worked as a Specialist Advisor for the Scottish Arts Council since 2004.
At Cove Park, Alexia is responsible for the development of an international programme of artists residencies and the organisation’s public and education programme. Artists working in all artforms are offered residencies to undertake research, initiate projects and develop new work. In 2006, the Cove Park Commission was launched: this programme was developed as a means of commissioning major new projects by visual artists for Cove Park’s site on Scotland’s west coast. Alexia’s roles at both Tramway and Cove Park reflect her interest in all areas of contemporary visual art and specifically her concern for the support and development of new work.
Gary Thomas is an arts consultant and co-director of Animate, which supports activities that explore the relationship between animation and contemporary visual arts practice, including commissioning work for Channel 4. He curated a touring season of British animation for the British Council in Poland (2001), and is co-editor of The animate! Book. Recent consultancy work includes a review of Cine City Festival, Brighton, leading audience development training days on behalf for the Independent Cinema Office, and working with Tom Fleming Associates on a study of the public value of mixed-arts and media centres in the digital age, for UK Film Council.
As Artists’ Film and Video Officer at Arts Council England (from 1991), he managed funding programmes and broadcast commissioning schemes, and as Head of Moving Image (2001-6), he led on development of a Digital Distribution Action Plan for the Arts, and was a member of the DCMS Digitisation of Cultural Heritage Expert Group. Most recently he devised the Necessary Journeys programme (in association with BFI), the Single-Shot project (with UK Film Council), and co-curated the Artsts: Film: Archive symposium at Tate Modern, as part of the Legacy and Learning initiative to develop strategies for preservation and collecting of artists’ moving image.
He is on the boards of LUX and no.w.here artists’ film lab. He studied at the Polytechnic of Central London and Chelsea School of Art. He makes work in collaboration with artist Tim Shore, including the film Cabinet (2006), awarded second prize at transmediale.07 Berlin.
Helen Cadwallader is Executive Director of Brighton Photo Biennial. From 2000 to 2006 she was Arts Council England national lead for the strategic development of photography and media, publishing and distribution, advising and developing the implementation of its Photography and Media strategy. At the Arts Council England specific responsibilities included monitoring and evaluating high profile inter/national media arts based organisations, conducting research, managing open access funds, and a range of strategic projects from the International Artists' Fellowships: in photography to initiating and commission editing the book 'New Media Art: practice and context in the UK 1994-2004' published in partnership with Cornerhouse Publications (2004).
She was the first to manage and further develop the BAA Art Programme, a strategy to commission contemporary art in BAA airports including Heathrow which operated from 1994 to 1999 and published 'Art in the Airports'. During this time she was a board member of Public Art Forum (now ixia). Prior to this period she received an Arts Council England bursary in Video and New Media Curating based at Moviola (now
FACT) in Liverpool and worked as project support at Locus+ in Newcastle upon Tyne.
A graduate in History of Art, Design and Film in the Modern Period at University of Northumberland and a post-graduate in Film Studies at University of East Anglia she has written about contemporary practice and time-based media and is published in a wide range of books and publications including, 'Locus Solus' (Locus +), Mute, Hybrid, Women's Art Magazine and Performance.
Helen is committed to good practice, the production of new work, audience development and education in all contexts for contemporary visual arts.
Helen Monaghan was appointed Talks and Events Programmer at the National Galleries of Scotland in 2004. Prior to this, she worked at The List magazine from 1996 to 2004, taking up the role of Art Editor from 2000, where she planned, commissioned, wrote and edited previews, reviews and features on modern and contemporary art for the visual arts section of the magazine. She has also written previews on contemporary art for The Scotsman, The Herald and Map magazine.
At the National Galleries of Scotland, Helen is responsible for planning a regular programme of educational events for adults including talks, lectures, conferences, study days, workshops and performances across a range of subjects linking in with the Galleries' permanent collections and its programme of temporary exhibitions. She also manages and co-programmes Spin, a membership scheme for adults who are interested in contemporary art.
She has led several discussion sessions, taken members on a tour of the Venice Biennale (Oct 2005 & Oct 2007) and the Liverpool Biennial (Nov 2006), and has delivered public tours of the Selective Memory exhibition (Scotland's 2005 presentation at the Venice Biennale) at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Jan & Feb 2006).
Helen was also invited to select work for the Terra Nova exhibition (Jul-Sep 2002) which featured the best Degree Show work from the School of Fine Art 2002's graduating students at Glasgow School of Art.
In March 2005, she independently curated a group exhibition of work by Edinburgh-based contemporary artists at Patriothall Gallery, WASPS Studios in Stockbridge. Artists included Andrew Mackenzie, Alan Kilpatrick, David Forster, Ian Healy and Kirsty Whiten.
Jane Jeffrey has been Director of An Tuireann Arts Centre since December 2004 and was a member of the Board of the Scottish Arts Council, and Chair of its Creative Arts Committee from 2005 to 2007.
From 2001 to 2004 she was a senior policy adviser to Scottish Ministers as the Head of Arts and Creative Industries Policy at the Scottish Executive. This cultural policy remit also included museums, libraries, screen production, arts in education, and broadcasting. She worked with the national cultural bodies, and local authorities at a strategic level. She has substantial experience as a lead artist delivering a wide range of community based arts projects at national and local levels and often in partnership with local authorities, health services, criminal justice systems, environmental agencies and economic regeneration projects.
From 1994 to 2001 she was Director of TInCAN (The International Contemporary Arts Network) and of An Tairbeart Arts Centre in Argyll. She has also worked in a variety of artist led situations connecting leading edge artistic practice and best practice in engaging people with the arts.
She studied Fine Art (Painting) at Chelsea College of Art in the late 1960s and has continued her own practice as a visual artist alongside her engagement with arts policy, strategic management and arts development roles.
Jenny Brownrigg is University of Dundee Exhibitions Department Curator at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (2002 - present).
She graduated with BA (hons) Fine Art from Glasgow School of Art (1990-4) and MFA at DJCAD (1996). Previous posts have included; Gallery Co-ordinator at Changing Room Gallery, Stirling (1998-9), and Project Officer at Grizedale Arts, Cumbria (2000-2).
As an artist Jenny undertook several residencies including the Scottish Arts Council Pier Arts Centre Fellowship, Orkney (1998).
She is also the author of two publications; ‘Nature Centre’, the result of a writer’s residency with Grizedale Arts, and ‘Romantic Vanguard’, a screenplay which was developed during her artist residency with Royston Road Project in Blackhill, Glasgow (2002). She writes articles for magazines including Untitled and The Map.
She is co-curator of The Young Artists’ Biennial ‘Absent Without Leave (AWOL) , 2nd Edition, Bucharest, Romania, (2006).
After completing a Degree in Fine Art at what was then Newcastle Polytechnic, Kate Tregaskis worked as an artist and community arts worker before becoming part of a two person team that in 1991 set up and ran the now defunct Zone Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne.
In 1995 she became Artistic Director at Stills Gallery in Edinburgh, steering the organisation through a major Lottery funded refurbishment project. Since leaving Stills in 2001 she has been involved in journalism (including for Art Monthly, The List, Times Education Supplement, The Herald, Artists Newsletter) editing (two issues of the now folded Matters magazine) and freelance work (for various organisations including the National Galleries of Scotland, the Serpentine Gallery, London, Castlemilk Environment Trust, the Clore Duffield Foundation and Grays School of Art)
More recently she enrolled on the MLitt Creative Writing Course at Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities and subsequently on the MSc in Creative Writing at Edinburgh University. She has been the recipient of both a New Writers Bursary and a Writers’ Bursary from the Scottish Arts Council and has recently completed her first novel.
Kirsteen Macdonald is Visual Arts Development Officer at Stirling Council (since 2001), based at The Changing Room, where she curates a programme of temporary exhibitions, projects and events as well as developing strategic initiatives throughout the local area. Between January 2005 - March 2006 she worked on secondment in the Visual Arts Department of the Scottish Arts Council as Officer with responsibility for artists' support.
Since 2006 she has been a member of VAGA Scotland Development Group, and is part of University of Stirling's Special Collections and Heritage Advisory Group. She was a Curatorial Advisor to Open Frequency, run by Axis, Leeds in 2005 and a member of engage Scotland Development Group between 2002-2005.
Kirsteen studied BA Art History and German at Anglia University, Cambridge and Heinrich Heine Universitat, Dusseldorf, graduating in 1997. Between 1997-2001, she worked as a project administrator at Cambridge Darkroom Gallery, as an independent curator and as Gallery Assistant at Focal Point Gallery, Southend on Sea.
Kirstie Skinner is a writer and lecturer specialising in contemporary art.
Since 2000, she has organised conferences, talks programmes and tours for National Galleries of Scotland, Glasgow City Council (Glasgow Art Fair, RAW and Glasgow International), and Scottish Arts Council. In 2003, she established a contemporary art members group called Spin for the National Galleries of Scotland and the Contemporary Art Society, and continued as Programme Co-ordinator until 2005.
In 2006, she filmed a series of interviews with Scottish curators, and created a website for the National Collecting Scheme for Scotland. On behalf of Scottish Arts Council, she organised curatorial professional development trips to Venice Biennale in 2005, and to Documenta 12 and Muenster in September 2007.
Kirstie is currently completing her doctoral research on minimalism and installation art at Edinburgh College of Art, where she also taught for several years. Published essays include ‘The self as a screen’ (Journal for Visual Art Practice, 3:1, 2004), ‘The Picture and the Step’ (Jan de Cock, 2005), ‘Camera Perspective’ (Dispatch 114, Norwich Art Gallery, 2005), and ‘Moving in the Image’ (Henry Moore Institute and Ashgate, forthcoming).
Kirstie is on the board of the Collective Gallery.
Mary Doyle has worked in the visual art sector for over 20 years. She is co-founder and Co-Director of The Drawing Room, London, established in 2003 as the only public gallery dedicated to contemporary drawing practice in the UK. (The Drawing Room exhibits national and international artists, commissions’ new work, tours exhibitions to regional museums and galleries and produces publications).
As Senior Curator at the Contemporary Art Society, she managed the Special Collection Scheme, a £3.5m Arts Capital Lottery project to develop contemporary art collections in fifteen museums and galleries throughout England, from 1995-2005. She has worked with curators on curatorial development programmes and collection schemes since 1994. Prior to this she worked at Arts Council National Touring Exhibitions, the British Council and commercial galleries in London.
Recent freelance projects include consultancy and management of public art commissions: including Grennan & Sperandio for Bradford City Council, June 2006 and Richard Woods for a new English Partnerships housing development in Hackney, Sept 2007. Other projects include research into a new archive for New Contemporaries, 2006; curator of Out of Place, part of Parade, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham, March 2007; Project Director of Arts Unwrapped, a London-wide artists’ open studios event May/June 2007.
Mary has sat on advisory and award panels including Arts Council Grants for the Arts, London; Jerwood Drawing Prize and Jerwood Drawing Steering Committee; Durham Cathedral Artists Residency programme; Prospects drawing prize; John Jones ‘Works on paper award’ (Zoo Art Fair); Grants for Artists, British Council. She is currently a member of the Stanley Picker Gallery Steering Committee, University of Kingston and Associate Curator for Modus Operandi, London.
Maureen Finn works as a freelance consultant. Much of her recent work concentrates on the mediation of visual art and language through digital technology, the context for which is mainly museum and gallery settings. Most recent projects have been the online development of the Arts Council of England’s Art Collection and undertaking the role of Digital Media Learning Consultant to the National Maritime Museum, London.
Maureen is currently supervisor to a major Nesta funded project that works with nine museums throughout the UK and is researching and developing a Cultural Pathfinder project for Scottish Museums Council in a local authority setting. She has also been commissioned by Scottish Executive to evaluate a three-year project run by Scottish Book Trust that will recommend national policy to inform on the ways that literature can impact on the lives of young people.
Until 2004 Maureen was Head of Education at National Galleries of Scotland. Prior to that her positions included Education Exhibition Curator for Glasgow 1999 Festival of Architecture and Design, Head of Education at Camden Arts Centre, London and Museum Education Teacher at Glasgow Museums.
Michelle Cotton is an independent curator and writer based in London. She was Assistant Curator at Norwich Gallery 2001–3 and Curator at S1 Artspace Sheffield 2003–6. She has developed projects for the 10th Istanbul Biennial, ICA, FACT, Whitechapel Gallery and Neuer Berliner Kunstverein. As a writer she contributes to publications including Untitled and Texte zur Kunst. Current projects include an exhibition of Mary Ellen Bute’s films (1933 - 1953) for Sketch, a screening programme for the Independent Cinema Office Essentials series (Tate Modern and selected cinemas nationwide) and group exhibitions for the International 3 and The Approach. Writing includes an essay on light sources in art for Walther König’s 2008 edition of the series Jahresring.
She was a Director of Sheffield Contemporary Art Forum 2003–6, a Curatorial Advisor to Open Frequency 2005–6 and is currently part of the panel for New Acquisitions at LUX.
In 2006 she was one of six curators to be awarded an international travelling residency with Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design Stockholm. Michelle studied English Literature at Kings College London and History of Art as the Stavros S Niarchos Foundation Scholar at the Courtauld Institute of Art
Moyna Flannigan is a painter. She graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in the mid-80’s and received a major scholarship to study for her MFA (1987) at Yale University School of Art, USA. She has has residencies at Aberdeen Art Gallery (1990) and was Scottish Arts Council Scholar at the British School at Rome in 1997 and was shortlisted for the NatWest Art Prize in 1999. From 1995-2005 she was a lecturer in the Painting department at Glasgow School of Art. In 2004 she received a Creative Development Award from the SAC and in 2005 a Creative Scotland Award.
She has partipated in many solo exhibitions nationally and internationally, including New York, Amsterdam, Munich, London, Rome and Edinburgh, and group shows in Greece, Holland, USA, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Germany and Italy. Exhibitions in public galleries include, CCA, Glasgow 1996, Open Country a survey of contemporary Scottish Art at the Musee de Beaux Arts, Lausanne 2001, Beuys to Hirst: Art Works at Deutsche Bank at the Dean Gallery, and Here + Now, DCA, New at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 2002, and in 2004 Once upon our time: Portrait Miniatures by Moyna Flannigan was presented at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Her work is represented in a number of major public collections including Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, City Art Centre in Edinburgh, City Art Collection in Munich, Deutsche Bank Collection and Saatchi Collection in London. She is currently showing “A footprint in the hall” at Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute.
For many years Moyna was a committee member of the Collective Gallery and has participated on numerous committees and panels in Higher Education and elsewhere.
Patricia Ellis is an art writer and curator. She has written catalogue texts for museums, publishing houses and commercial galleries including: The Saatchi Gallery, the Institute of Contemporary Art, and The Royal Academy, Museum Het Domain, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Gem Museum, Vanabbe Museum, Artimo Foundation, Kunsthalle St. Gallen, and Migros Foundation.
She has worked with The Saatchi Collection since 1998, providing written critical documentation of the collection for analogue and online publication purposes. Ellis has held editorial posts with Giancarlo Politi Editore (publisher of Flash Art International, Flash Art Italia, and Invervista) and MAKE, the magazine for women in the arts. She has contributed to periodicals such as Flash Art, Modern Painters, Beaux Arts, Contemporary, and Metropolis M. Ellis has written 2 books: 100: The Work That Changed British Art, published by Random House London, and Interview With Painting (co-authored by Gianni Romano), published by Postmedia Milan.
Since 1999, Ellis has curated 11 international exhibitions in the UK, Finland, Israel, and Ireland, including the British exhibitions for the Tirana Biennale 2001, ArtKliasma Moscow 2003, and the Prague Biennale 2005.
Rosita Mackenzie has been a freelance Disability Equality Consultant since 1989, with a special interest in access to the arts for visually impaired people.
She provides training in Disability Equality, access to information and web site evaluation. As a visually impaired artist she has participated in workshops and exhibitions with the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum. As a Blind Photographer, Rosita has created the Two Voices series of exhibitions for Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh. She works in close collaboration with other Photographers such as Rebecca Marr and David Grinly and Visual Artist, Camilla Adams who produces raised interpretations of her photographs. During the past year, her artwork has been widely exhibited across the UK, from Aberdeen to Dorset. In addition, Rosita has many years experience in advising Arts Organisations on interpretation, access and participation for disabled artists and visitors. These organisations and galleries include The Living Paintings Trust, The Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, The National Museums of Scotland, The National Trust for Scotland, The National Galleries of Scotland, the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh and Edinburgh International Book Festival.
She has a Bsc (HONS) in Social Science and Health from Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh, where the disability computer suite was named after her in recognition of her achievements in identifying the access and support requirements of disabled students. Her other qualifications include City & Guilds 7307 Certificate in Teaching Adult Learners and RSA Certificate in Counselling Skills and Personal Development.
In 2007, Rosita received a Scotland UnLtd and Millennium award for her work from The Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs. This led to her Exhibition: ‘Temptation Denied’ which demonstrated the physical, psychological and emotional barriers encountered by her along her local High Street. During 2005/2006, she assisted the Re: Create Project, Edinburgh to develop three innovative art workshops for visually impaired people in sound, iron sculpture and print making. In 2005 she received the British Computer Association Edinburgh Branch Computers in the Community Award for outstanding service to the Community.
She serves on the Board of Directors of Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop. As a person who has been blind since childhood, the issue of disability access and full participation is central to her personal philosophy and professional practice.
Stephen Beddoe received a BA and Post-Graduate degree in Fine Art from Glasgow School of Art.
Stephen has exhibited work nationally and internationally and has curated projects in a number of galleries and public spaces. Stephen is also a Harkness Fellow (1995). When undertaking his fellowship, based in San Francisco, his research investigated the influence of contemporary visual arts on US urban regeneration and economies. During this period Stephen was also seconded to the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
From 1995 to 1997 he was Visual Arts and Crafts Officer for London Arts Board (now ACE London), the capital’s arts development agency and from 1997 to 2001 was Commissions Manager for Public Art Commissions Agency and (subsequently) Modus Operandi Art Consultants, initiating and managing large-scale public art projects both nationally and internationally. Stephen joined University of the Arts London in 2001 to develop, launch and lead Artquest, the ACE-funded advice and information service for London visual artists and craftspeople.
Since 2006 Stephen has been a Trustee of Space Studios London and a Non-executive Director of Creative Capital.
Steve Hollingsworth is an Artist based in Glasgow. He graduated with an MA in Fine Art from Glasgow School of Art in 1994. Since this time he has exhibited nationally and internationally.
He has participated in several international residencies, including the research program at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Kitakyushu, Japan between 1998-99 and UK@NRW Dusseldorf, Germany in 2003.
He currently teaches at Grays School of Art Aberdeen and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art Dundee.
Trained at Edinburgh College of Art, Susan has worked predominantly in the visual arts as a curator, project manager, researcher and fundraiser expanding into event management over the last two years.
Having worked for a number of art agencies with highlights including overseeing the installation of Dalziel+Scullion’s The Horn and running the Travelling Gallery for many years, Susan became an independent curator/project manager nine years ago when she moved to the Black Isle.
Her professional portfolio embraces a diverse range of projects both in terms of scale & scope from the very temporary – eg. 12 hours multi-media event Imagining the Centre to the more long-term complex public realm projects that involve a range of partners and stakeholders.
Brief overview:
Inverness Old Town Art – working in partnership with lead artist, Matt Baker to undertake a bold series of public realm projects that are integral to the multi-million pound regeneration of Inverness’s old town.
Cairngorms Arts Initiative – project manager for 3 years overseeing a programme of commissions for a uniquely fragile environment working with numerous specialist interest groups & stakeholders;
Six Cities Design Festival – invited to curate an exhibition in 2007, The One Feels Just Right that drew thousands of visitors during the design festival;
Centre for Health Science – currently working with lead artist, Jackie Donachie on commissions & a lecture programme as part of a phased build & multi-user facility located adjacent to Raigmore Hospital, in Inverness.
Wendy McMurdo was born in Edinburgh. In the mid-80’s she studied at the Pratt Institute in New York, where she first became interested in photography. She completed her M.A at Goldsmiths College in London in 1993. In the mid-1990’s, McMurdo became particularly interested in the then-evolving medium of digital media. With the assistance of a Henry Moore Foundation Fellowship, she produced a groundbreaking body of work called In a Shaded Place, which examined the impact of digital technologies on traditional representational photograph. Subsequent to this, McMurdo has developed a number of projects examining the interface between traditional and non-traditional forms. From 1998-2000 she was appointed Leverhulme Special Research Fellow at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee, Scotland.
From 1995-2000, she developed a series of works, which examined the ways in which technological developments in the bio-medical sciences in particular affected our view of our selves. In the past, she has been commissioned by the Science Museum in London and The Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh.
A major interdisciplinary project entitled ‘Wrecks of Scapa’ inspired by WW1 wrecks of the German High Fleet interred below Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands was published in FOAM – The International Journal of Photography in Amsterdam in April 2007. She has exhibited and published widely in the U.K and Europe over the last ten years and her work in the field of photography and digital media has been included in many major anthologies on the subject.
She is currently developing a number of commissions on the subject of early explorations of the self and has been included in a numerous important group exhibitions and publications on this subject – most recently in Through the Looking Glass for the Lewis Glucksman Gallery in Cork in 2005, Only Make Believe, curated by writer Marina Warner for Compton Verney, Warwickshire and What ever happened to your Dreams? at Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire, Paris, France. (2008).
Her work has been the subject of documentaries for BBC 2 and Channel 4 and is included in The British Library Sound Archive’s Oral history of British Photography. She is currently Fellow in Photography at Napier University in Edinburgh, where she lives with her partner and two daughters. |