Mother-of-three’s ‘shock’ at art win
A MOTHER of three who went to art school in her late forties has won £15,000 and a place on a highly contested artistsin-residence programme.
Charlene Scott, 52, from Tranent, secured a place on the 2024 Glenfiddich Artist in Residence programme for her work using folded paper and homemade botanical pigments.
She will now spend three months this summer at Glenfiddich’s Dufftown distillery in Moray, alongside other artists from all over the world, on the prestigious programme.
The award, supported by distillery owner William Grant & Sons, is handed out annually at the RSA New Contemporaries exhibition in Edinburgh, regarded as the leading showcase of emerging art in Scotland.
Charlene, who has two grown-up daughters and a 16-year-old son, fulfilled a lifelong ambition when she started a degree course at Edinburgh College of Art in her late forties.
She worked as a travel agent for 10 years, then did a variety of jobs from home while raising her children, but her passion for art remained a constant.
Her distinctive work, made by folding paper to create lines and patterns, then adding colour from natural pigments she makes herself, caught the eye of the Glenfiddich Award judges.
Andy Fairgrieve, coordinator of the Glenfiddich Artists in Residence programme, said: “It would be easy to underestimate the works of Charlene Scott; however, the longer you linger and absorb her works, the more is revealed.
“Not unlike a well-crafted single malt whisky, her work is a clean yet complex celebration of simplicity with a great sense of hidden depth. She will be a perfect fit to this year’s Glenfiddich Residency.”
Charlene was “shocked and delighted” to win the award.
She said: “The residency is such a gift. My work is quite slow, and I need time to soak up my surroundings. I’m really looking forward to developing my work at Glenfiddich.”
Charlene began making her own colours from foraged plants while completing a foundation course in art at Edinburgh College of Art and now grows plants to make dyes at home.
She said: “I use a stove in the garden for making pigments – when I use the kitchen my family complains about the smell!
“I can’t help but make connections between the aesthetics of minimalism and the basic principles of herbalism and ecology. I use line, folds, repetition and pattern along with botanical pigments to build a framework that I hope will entice a viewer to look closely and linger a little longer.”
While at Edinburgh College of Art, Charlene won the James Cumming Award for Draughtsmanship, the Astaire Art Prize and an RSA John Kinross Travel Scholarship, which enabled her to spend six weeks in Florence.
I use a stove in the garden to make pigments – when I use the kitchen my family complain about the smell!