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Introduction
The position of Head of the School of Fine Art is an important leadership role for The Glasgow School of Art. The School of Fine Art has an incredibly rich heritage, producing some of the most important practitioners of the last century and a global community of graduates that continue to lead the way across the whole spectrum of fine art practice today.
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History
Founded in 1845 as one of the UK’s first Government Schools of Design, the GSA can trace its lineage to the 1750s and the establishment, during the Scottish Enlightenment, of the Foulis Academy, the UK’s first School of Art. Nearly 270 years later, we are one of the UK’s last remaining independent Schools of Art, ranked as one of the top 20 art and design schools in the world and at a pivotal and exciting point in our history.
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“Over 80 global exchange partners”
Thin Blood Thick Water 2017-18, Flannery O’kafka, Fine Art Photography 2018
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Students
Socially and culturally diverse, the GSA has one of the highest numbers of international and EU students of any UK visual creative institution or faculty and one of Scotland’s highest percentages of students from more disadvantaged backgrounds.
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Alumni
The School of Fine Art has produced 6 Turner Prize winners, 30% of Turner Prize nominees since 2005, and virtually all the artists chosen to represent Scotland at the Venice Biennale since 2003. Our global community of graduates continues to lead the way across the whole spectrum of fine art practice today.
We Love Real Life, Ross Sinclair. Photo mcateer photograph/GoMA
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“Don’t call Glasgow’s contemporary art scene a miracle… Glasgow's success is hard won, durable and above all consistent.”
Untitled, Sam Harley, Painting and Printmaking 2020
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Strategy
Our Plan for Our Future: Strategic Plan 2022 – 2027 articulates the collective ambition for the future direction of The Glasgow School of Art.
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Research
SoFA comprises a distinctive, specialist research culture encompassing art writing, historical and critical theory, curatorial studies and research in, about or through creative practice. Teaching at the school is informed directly by academic staff’s active engagement in research, creative practice and scholarship.
As Above, So Below. Ruby Pluhar, Fine Art Photography 2019
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The City
It is only two miles’ walk from the fourth oldest university in the English-speaking world to the UK’s first technological university. It’s a walk that takes you through a city whose architecture was built at the height of its global success, from the parklands of Kelvingrove, through the city’s Georgian new town and into the Victorian grid of the city centre.
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Galleries
Interrogate this year’s final year Graduate Showcases from the School of Fine Art, galleries of alumni successes, and emergent artists.
Utopia of Dark Desires, Aiva Storostnieka, Painting and Printmaking 2020