Siobhan McLaughlin Scottish, b. 1994
Siobhan McLaughlin begins her practice by going out into nature with purpose. She walks slowly and deliberately, at a pace at which she can appreciate the subtleties and nuances of the surrounding landscape. She pays keen attention to form and colour, how they are affected by light, weather and time. Her work explores themes of place, memory, sustainability and ecology.
Siobhan feels a drive to try to capture the presence of our changing landscapes. On her mindful walks, she gathers earth and stone to grind into pigment to make paints. She also collects things that she finds: sometimes naturally occurring things, sometimes things discarded by other people.
Her work is rooted in a thoughtfulness for sustainability: salvaging remnant materials and assembling them to make non-traditional landscape paintings. Her practice navigates a certain relinquishing of control, contrasted with the decisiveness that it takes to make a work of art.
By using materials and colour palettes sourced in-situ, Siobhan tries to draw out the spirit of the landscape, reflecting on the ecology and inherent fragility of it. The resulting work seeks to make the viewer mindful of the importance of slowing down, and how this can help us to care for our landscape and one another.
Siobhan McLaughlin is an artist and freelance curator based in Glasgow. Since graduating from MA Fine Art at Edinburgh University in 2019, she has been awarded the SSA Wilhelmina Barns- Graham Award, a film commission from the Tate’s British Art Network, a Visual Art Scotland Cornwall Exchange Residency and the Stephen Palmer Travel Award. Alongside exhibiting regularly, McLaughlin’s curatorial practice focuses on creating opportunities for sharing and opening up private, inaccessible spaces to the public. In 2022 she curated a major private collections exhibition, Alan Davie: Beginning of a Far-off World, at Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh, and in 2023 curated Scottish Landscapes: A New Generation, with the aim of providing a platform at Dovecot Studios for artists at the start of their careers.
Education
The University of Edinburgh, M.A. Fine Art and History of Art, Edinburgh 2019
Tramway Visual Art Studio, Portfolio Preparation, 2014
Glasgow School of Art, Portfolio Preparation, 2013
Exhibitions
Scottish Landscapes: A New Generation, Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh 2023
Elemental, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh 2023
Coast to Coast, 108 Fine Art, Harrogate 2023
TEXTUS, Torriano Meeting House, London 2023
VAS West Spring Members Showcase, The Briggait, Glasgow 2023
Society of Scottish Artists 130 Years, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh 2023
A Wee Gathering, Anchor Studios and Jupiter Gallery, Newlyn, Cornwall 2022
HERE: Between you and the World, POP Griffiths Gallery, Brisbane, Australia 2022
50 X 50, The Auction Collective, London 2022
On Paper, PAPER Gallery, Manchester 2022
Visual Arts Scotland Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh 2022
No Arrow of Time, Box Hub, Glasgow 2021
Society of Scottish Artists Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh 2021
Abstract Zeitgeist, Rafiki Gallery at the Biscuit Factory, Edinburgh 2021
Re:Connect, Society of Scottish Artists (digital exhibition) 2021
Modern Show, Lemond Gallery, Glasgow 2021
Group Show, Shrine NYC digital exhibition, New York 2021
Lemond Gallery, ‘Landscape in Lockdown’, Glasgow 2020
Arusha Gallery, ‘Exercise Three’, Edinburgh 2020
Espacio Gallery, ‘Transformations’, London 2020
Royal Scottish Academy, OPEN SSA+VAS, Edinburgh 2019
Arusha Gallery, ‘July Exhibition’, Edinburgh 2019
Rogart Street Studios, ‘Drawn Threads’, Glasgow 2019
Edinburgh College of Art, Degree Show, Edinburgh 2019
New Glasgow Society, ‘All, Entire, Whole’, Glasgow 2019
G39 Gallery, ‘Sightseers’, Cardiff 2018
EMBASSY Gallery, ‘The Salon’, Edinburgh 2018
St Cecilia's Hall, ‘Other Faces 2’, Edinburgh 2018
Flat Seven, ‘Summer Show’, Edinburgh 2017
The Glasgow School of Art, ‘Common Threads’, Glasgow 2017
Degree Show, Edinburgh College of Art, ‘Rhythms’, Edinburgh 2017
St. Margaret’s House, ‘Running Up That Hill’, Edinburgh 2017
City Art Centre, ‘Genius Loci’, Edinburgh 2017
Tent Gallery, ‘PAINTING! PAINTING!’, Edinburgh 2016
The Pig Rock Bothy, ‘Hohe Nacht der klaren Sterne’, SNGMA, Edinburgh 2016
Residency
VAS From One to Another: Cornwall x Scotland Exchange Residency, Wilhelmina Barns-
Graham Trust and Borlase Smart John Wells Trust 2022
RSA Residencies for Scotland- Cromarty Arts Trust, Royal Scottish Academy, Scotland 2022
Hospitalfield Graduate Residency Programme, Arbroath 2021
Selected Member of PLACE Collective, UK’s Centre for National Parks, Cumbria 2021
Selected member of Emerging Curators Group, British Art Network, Tate, London 2020
Awards
Stephen Palmer Bursary Award, Scotland 2023
Art Trade Forum Bursary, Paul Mellon Centre for British Art, London 2023
Henderson Bursary Award, Pittenweem 2023
Shortlisted for the Gilchrist-Fisher Award 2022, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London 2021
SSA Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Award, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust, RSA 2019
Huntley MacDonald Sinclair Prize for Best Dissertation, Edinburgh University 2019
Helen A Rose, Bequest for distinguished artwork, Edinburgh College of Art 2019
Fire Station, Edinburgh College of Art, Astaire Art Prize, Edinburgh 2018
Collections
Zembla Gallery, Hawick, Scottish Borders
SD Business Management Art Collection, Glasgow
AC by Marriot Hotels Group, Glasgow
Ballymore Group Collection, London
New Ways Charity Art Collection, London
Kimpton Hotel Group, Doha, UAE
Various private collections in the UK, Spain and Australia
