The Scottish Society of Artists, one of Scotland’s major exhibiting societies, has always used the Royal Scottish Academy for its annual shows. The society was set up to represent the ‘more adventurous spirits in art.’ Its current strapline emphasises an open outlook: ‘international art in Scotland, Scottish art internationally.’

The 118th Annual Open Exhibition will take place from 21 December – 18 January. Selected works will be eligible for a number of cash prizes, residencies and exhibition opportunities on offer.

There are two options for submitting work:

1. Digital submission of *installation and large scale work (over 180cm) – proposals/sketches will be considered at this stage.
Deadline: 30 August

2. Digital submission of all work under 180cm.
Deadline: 4 October

* Includes all site-specific works, digital artwork, video, sound, performance and any artwork measuring over 180cm in any direction.

For full guidelines, FAQs and to enter your work online please visit here.

More: Website | Facebook | Twitter

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Find more opportunities in our weekly bulletin here.

Catherine Ross is a painting graduate of this year from Gray’s School of Art. Her work is made up of paintings and models which relate to her own experiences and ideas to do with ‘North’. She tells us what’s happened since her degree show.

Earlier this year I was shortlisted for the Woon Art Prize, which was exhibited at Gallery North, Northumbria University. I applied for this opportunity during my final year online. At the installation of the exhibition in Newcastle, I met the nine other students in the show who were from schools from all over the UK and I was awarded the Judges prize of £2500.

Bound

Following this, I can now understand the value of the online exposure which can be gained from events such as this. I now maintain my own websites. At the end of the summer, I was approached by Arusha Gallery in Edinburgh, who had read about my work online. They asked me to exhibit one of my final year models as part of their Autumn exhibition.

For the Washing or the Waves

Some friends and I also put on a small exhibition together following our degree shows. Since graduating, I have continued to sell existing work to those I met at my degree show as well as new acquaintances. This has included selling work to clients in both France and Italy.

It Snowed in my Garden

Found Land

At the degree show, I was given the opportunity, as an invited graduate to take part in The Royal Society of Painters in Watercolour Winter Exhibition and Graduate Competition, January 2015. I was also selected to make work for the Royal Scottish Academy’s New Contemporaries Exhibition. I have been concentrating my efforts on my studio practice and on making this new body of work, which will be shown at the RSA in March 2015.

Sketchbook

For more about Catherine’s work, see this review of the Gray’s School of Art Degree Show

Comment below or on Twitter using #LifeAfterArtSchool & mentioning @CenSta with your experience after art school.

Stay tuned for updates from art school graduates all this week. In the meantime see a preview of what to expect from the Life After Art School features here.

More: Website | Twitter

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Looking for more blogs? Visit here.

Alex Boyd with his portable camera, Downpatrick Head, Ireland

For several years now I’ve been working as a photographer specialising in historic processes such as wet-plate collodion. This is one of the earliest ways of making images and was first invented in 1851 by Frederick Scott Archer.

Den Bruiste Sea Stack, County Mayo, Ireland

This process has the slight downfall that it requires you take your studio with you, with enough chemicals, supplies, water and materials to make images wherever you are working.

Alex’s portable studio

It currently takes a car to move my studio from one location to another, with little room left once the camera and my darkbox are packed alongside me. If I’m working inside, in a dedicated studio space, or an improvised one such as the vaults of Stirling Castle, then making images is fairly straightforward, as long as there is an ample supply of light and water, and the chemicals such as silver nitrate are behaving themselves.

Inside the darkbox, portrait on tintype

Louise Boyd

Working outside in the landscape however brings a whole new set of challenges, difficulties and frustrations, however it is probably where I most enjoy working with this process. Setting up my portable darkroom, in effect a large wooden box in which I can work in the field, I need to contend with high winds, rain, snow and intense heat and in the case of a residency on the Atlantic coast of Ireland I undertook earlier this year, all of these within a matter of hours. Difficult locations also mean that you have to drag all the gear to where you want to make images, sometimes a back-breaking and laborious task.

Alex’s studio, WW2 bunker, Downpatrick Head, County Mayo, Ireland

Scottish artist Hugh Loney

To date I’ve worked across Ireland, Scotland and England with my darkbox, everywhere from Rannoch Moor up in the Highlands, to the ruins of several Second World War clifftop bunkers in County Mayo in Ireland. Working in this way allows me to completely immerse myself in each location, due to the slow and methodical approach to image making, with each plate taking 15 minutes from the moment I pour collodion on the glass, to the final development using potassium cyanide.

Darkbox, camera and chemicals in studio

I’ve been asked many times why I persevere with collodion photography, especially given the difficulties in producing images using chemicals and the need to bring so much equipment with me. The answer is a straightforward one – it perfectly complements the way I make images. I found that with film and digital my approach was slowing down and becoming more contemplative, and that I was investing more time into each individual shot. This of course does change with the subject, however for landscapes I would say that my pace at the moment is fairly glacial.

Cashlanicrobin Rock, County Mayo, Ireland

The approach also produces distinct images. Aside from collodion’s unique aesthetic, each image is a moment in time recorded on glass, not just the scene before me, but every flaw and imperfection which goes into making that image. This can range from chemicals producing chaotic and unexpected results, to blades of grass from the side of Loch N-achlaise or midges from Glen Etive trapped forever in the collodion like amber. The corner of every image also contains my fingerprint from where I held it during its creation, a marker which signifies that I was there.

The Old Tree Graveyard, Ballycastle, Ireland

Alex Boyd is currently the RSA Artist in Residence at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig in Skye.

Find out more:
Website | Blog | Flickr |Facebook | Twitter

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‘Where I Make’ invites readers behind the scenes of artists from many disciplines to share photographs and a little insight about where they create their masterpieces. See more from the series here.

Potato Fountain #3 at RSA, 2012

Why we like it:
As well as his finished sculptures, we like seeing Andrew’s detailed technical drawings of proposed works.

Potato Fountain #3 Technical Drawing, 2012

Hidden treasure:
Andrew keeps a separate blog for reference material. See if anything catches your eye here.

Where to find out more:
Website | Blog | Flickr | Vimeo | Twitter

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Want to take a look at more suggested blogs by artists? Look here.