The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
A PORTRAIT OF SUCCESS
Dundee fine art graduate Calum Stevenson was crowned Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year – and he’s the first Scottish artist and youngest person to take the title. Gayle Ritchie finds out more
Calum Stevenson is wading through more than 700 unread emails – and it’s stressing him out just a bit. Since being crowned Sky Portrait Artist of the Year, the 24-year-old has been inundated with requests to put on exhibitions, take on commissions, and received fan mail galore from people desperate to buy his work. It seems everyone wants a piece of him.
“It’s been amazing and I’m totally overwhelmed by all the attention but I really need to get back to what I do best – painting!” he laughs.
Falkirk-born Calum, who graduated with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD) in 2019, beat off competition from 72 other artists and more than 3,000 applicants to win the prestigious Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year TV show when the final aired last month.
Aged 23 at the time of winning, he is the first Scottish artist and youngest person to take the title.
The show, first aired in 2013, sees judges Tai Shan Schierenberg, Kathleen Soriano and Kate Bryan travel across Europe in search of the art world’s brightest new star.
Taking part was a huge challenge and privilege for Calum, who graduated from Glasgow School of Art with an MA in Fine Art Practice in 2020.
Initially, he dreaded the idea of painting on camera, but once he had a brush in his hand and was able to focus, he calmed down and got on with the job.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I was amazed when I got through each round of the show,” he says.
“They zoomed in on my hand in the first episode and you could see it was shaking. But I just had to crack on. I was much more composed by the end of the series.
“When I won, I was completely gobsmacked. And to have one of my paintings hanging on the walls of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery is such a huge honour.”
Calum is a figurative painter who, in order to apply to be on the series, began focusing on portraiture.
During the show he painted actress Kelly Macdonald, Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, and comedian Barry Humphries.
“I painted Barry in just four hours in the final which wasn’t that long. It was the one painting I managed to paint a background in.
“My style is quite clean-cut so it was about taking everything I’d learned along the way and demonstrating it,” he says.
But it was a “modern realism” painting of his accountant girlfriend Kelsey Young that sealed the deal for him.
“This was the ‘commission piece’ and my chance to make a painting in a longer timeframe which would be displayed beside my four-hour portrait of Barry Humphries in the final,” explains Calum.
“It took about 10 days, so it was a good contrast but a better reflection of what I do as an artist. It was, I suppose, my chance to impress.
“I see Kelsey day to day and I’m always in awe of how she handles things. I wanted to depict a portrait of a young modern woman who’s very progressive. It’s an image of how I see Kelsey. A moment of clarity before she gets on with her busy day.”
Calum describes the painting as a “dual image” and if you look closely, you’ll see what he means.
The main feature which comes in to focus is Kelsey sitting up with the light hitting her face but do a double take and you’ll spot a “shadow” image in black and white of her sleeping on a bed.
“That was an aesthetic decision,” he explains. “If I’d made the sleeping figure in colour, it would’ve detracted from the main image; I wanted to make it more subtle. But the main figure in the middle is the star of the show.”
The final episode of the Sky series was followed by a winner’s programme, which saw Calum paint top violinist Nicola Benedetti for an exclusive portrait which will hang in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh.
“Both being Scottish, we got on great – there was an instant connection,” he says.
“She was so friendly and I felt I’d known her for ages. It was difficult to concentrate on drawing her because I just wanted to sit and listen to her play the violin!”
Former Bonnybridge Primary and Denny High pupil Calum applied to get on Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year after spotting an advert in a Glasgow shop shortly before Covid kicked in. He was scheduled to take part in 2020, but had to hang on until 2021 due to the pandemic.
“I thought it would be a fun, one-off experience; I thought it would be good for my career. I was always quite good at art but it wasn’t something I knew I wanted to do for a living until I was in my final year at Denny High,” he says.
“One of my teachers, Mrs Felton, was quite instrumental in pushing me on. She told me DJCAD was a great place and inspired me to apply to study there – and I’m so glad I did. It was a fairly daunting prospect because I’d never been to Dundee, I was only 17, and I knew I’d have to move to Dundee. Mrs Felton reassured me it would be worth it.”
Calum, who was awarded the Sandra McNeilance Prize for Drawing and Painting at the 2019 DJCAD Degree Show, found Dundee to be a welcoming place, bursting with culture.
“There’s no better city I could’ve gone to for university,” he enthuses. “It’s so close-knit and you can walk everywhere; you don’t need a car. It’s stunning wherever you look – up to the Law, or along the waterfront.
“I used to love drawing the Tay and sketching the views across the water to the houses in Fife.
“I found a strong sense of community – and I loved hanging out at the Art Bar.”
Calum says he never made a “conscious decision” to specialise in portraiture and describe himself as a figurative painter.
“I’ve always been drawn to the figure; I find it a really natural thing. But I’m not putting any limits on how my work develops.”
Calum, whose work is regularly exhibited with Gallery Heinzel in Aberdeen, says he has no immediate plans, other than checking all those hundreds of emails from galleries and doing some more painting, but he hopes to have a solo exhibition early this year.
He took a break after filming the show but he’s back in his studio in Bonnybridge creating a new body of work now.
“My new paintings are a bit more ambitious than the kind of thing I did on the show in four hours,” he says.
“I need to speak to galleries, potentially in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and London but I’m open to suggestion too.
“I need to keep on painting, and be able to offer a body of work worthy of a solo show, but I’ve yet to confirm dates or venues although London is looking likely.
“It’s beyond a dream come true!”
I WAS ALWAYS QUITE GOOD AT ART BUT IT WASN’T SOMETHING I WANTED TO DO FOR A LIVING UNTIL I WAS IN MY FINAL YEAR AT SCHOOL