Gilchrist Fisher Award 2022

siobhanmclaughlinstudio • February 23, 2022

In 2021 I was shortlisted for the Gilchrist Fisher Award and this month the exhibition opening finally took place. It was an honour to exhibit with 5 other shortlisted artists from nearly 200 applicants!


"The Gilchrist-Fisher Award was established in memory of Alasdair Gilchrist-Fisher, who died of cancer in December 1986 at the age of twenty-four. He was a remarkable young man whose wit, intelligence, enthusiasm and love of life won him many friends and presaged a great future. Soon after his illness was diagnosed he began a postgraduate art course, finding much joy in the discovery and exploration of landscape painting.


The Award was established in 1987 and is a biennial prize open to all artists under the age of 30 whose work explores the broad theme of Landscape. Previous winners of what the Financial Times has called ‘this remarkable and admirable’ prize include Peter Doig, Alasdair Wallace and Angela Hughes."



Huge thank you to everyone who came to Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery for the opening this week. It was a fantastic night and was lovely to meet the Gilchrist-Fisher family who had some kind words to say about my painting. Thank you also to Charlotte Call of Sapling Gallery, Curator Greta Caldera, and Caroline Boseley and Joséphine-May Bailey of Studio West Gallery for coming as my guests!



Please see below for a short video introducing my process and inspiration behind the work. I was shortlisted for the award for my large painting Glen Muick, view here, and went on to create this Mountain Pass painting specifically for the exhibition. I'm delighted with the results.


The painting will be on sale at the Rebecca Hossack gallery until 28th February.



Photo of colourful abstract painting of hills
Two colourful abstract landscape paintings on a white wall

Belongings: Siobhan McLaughlin, an essay by Martin Holman

By siobhanmclaughlinstudio • January 7, 2025
I'm delighted to present Belongings, a piece by Martin Holman written in response to my show 'Pilgrimages' at Hweg gallery , Penzance 22nd November 2024 - 11th January 2025. I'm really touched by Martin's insights, references and analysis of the work and hope you enjoy reading the text. Read time is roughly 10 - 15 minutes. Thank you to Martin and to Joe at Hweg. For images of the show, see my works page here .

Glasgow cityscape commission

By siobhanmclaughlinstudio • August 2, 2024
Fantastic to see this new commission installed at the Hazel Restaurant, part of AC by Marriot Hotel, Glasgow.
Screenshot of Lyon and Turnbull Auctioneers website, showing the Art Edit 793 auction

Lyon & Turnbull's The Art Edit | 793

By siobhanmclaughlinstudio • June 23, 2024
Delighted to have been asked by Lyon and Turnbull to select my Top Picks for the upcoming Art Edit 793 Auction. Aimed at making the art market more accessible, The Art Edit series of auctions enables people to begin or grow their art collection, with estimates starting at £200. Recent lots have included works by Victoria Crowe, Dame Ethel Walker and Dame Laura Knight, and here I'll be highlighting my top 3 picks for the next auction , opening on Wednesday 26th June 2024.
Photo of 6 people leaning on a table to draw

Workshops

By siobhanmclaughlinstudio • February 8, 2023
This blog post will act as a record of my favourite workshops that I've led or co-led in the arts. All images are shared with consent of the participants.
Photograph of 7 cups of coloured liquid paint on a wooden floor

Gathering earth pigments

By siobhanmclaughlinstudio • February 2, 2023
During my residency in Cornwall, awarded by Visual Arts Scotland , Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust and Porthmeor Studios, I met artist Peter Ward . After seeing an interesting painting of his at the Tremenheere Gallery, Penzance, I contacted Ward to ask about the medium of 'earth pigments'. To my delight he offered to show me the best pigment collecting sites along the South West Coastal Path.
Photo of woman sitting on a bench with two colourful paintings on the white wall behind

Letting go of imposter syndrome...

By siobhanmclaughlinstudio • October 20, 2022
Letting go of the imposter syndrome and accepting/celebrating the fact that I'm actually a curator. Nearly 3.5k people visited the Alan Davie exhibition at Dovecot Studios . That's mad to me. Thanks so much to everyone who visited, I hope you enjoyed it! A huge thank you to Dovecot for supporting my idea and giving me the opportunity to curate when I had no previous 'professional' experience. From approaching Dovecot with an exhibition plan in September 2019 to speaking at the exhibition opening in June 2022, I've learned a lot.  Thanks also to Edinburgh Art Festival , the William Grant Foundation and the John Ellerman Foundation for the support.
Photo of artist Siobhan McLaughlin smiling with a microphone

8 reasons to visit the Alan Davie Exhibition!

By siobhanmclaughlinstudio • August 26, 2022
Thank you to Edinburgh Art Festival for inviting me to speak at Art Late 2, streamed live from Jupiter Artland this week! It was a fantastic day of discussion, hearing from a range of artists, curators and creatives about their contributions to this years art festival. Watch the video below to hear my 8 reasons why everyone should visit the Alan Davie: Beginning of a Far-Off World exhibition at Dovecot Studios !
Woman walking across room in front of white wall with two Alan Davie paintings hanging

Alan Davie Exhibition Press!

By siobhanmclaughlinstudio • July 8, 2022
Alan Davie: Beginning of a far-off World opened at Dovecot Studios on 24th June 2022. I'm delighted that the reception to the exhibition, which I've been working on since September 2019 has been very positive so far.
Hand holding book with pink photograph and text 'Alan Davie' in front of green BBC wall

Interview on BBC Radio Scotland!

By siobhanmclaughlinstudio • June 29, 2022
BBC Radio Scotland's Nicola Meighan and I had a chat about Alan Davie last week on the opening day of my exhibition Alan Davie: Beginning of a far-off World at Dovecot Studios.
Group of young people standing in a field of green grass facing the sea

Artist-as-Gardener: Thoughts on artist-run spaces

By siobhanmclaughlinstudio • April 29, 2022
Meeting a lot of artists recently, who have such varied practices, has made me reflect on an essay I wrote back in 2018 on the role of artists in artist-run spaces. Particularly, meeting an artist who is currently studying Horticulture, got me thinking about the idea of 'artist-as-gardener'. I've just included a wee section of the essay here, which used EMBASSY Gallery in Edinburgh as a case-study, looking at the role of the artist in an artist-run space. In this section I was processing ideas of authorship and importance given to the 'Curator' title in contemporary discourse. Curatorial/artistic practice has developed significantly since I wrote this in 2018, but I think that the 'artist-as-gardener' idea is still a nice one.
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