Exhibitions

Highlighted below are the key events from my artistic career to date. These include prominent national exhibitions, international exhibitions and awards.

My full Artist CV can be downloaded here.

  

2021

Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition, The Mound, Edinburgh

Both my prints “Valentine” and “Corgi Toys 238” were selected to be part of the RSA’s 195th Annual Exhibition. This exhibition was hosted online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The online event featured a short film of my work alongside my prints and I was also featured in their newsletter.

Craft Festival x Find a Maker

This year I was selected to take part in Craft Festival’s Online event “Digital Craft Festival”. Competition to take part in Craft Festival events is fierce and I was delighted to have been chosen from the incredible wealth of talent that applied. I was subsequently selected into the membership of Craft Festival’s new artist directory and business school “Find a Maker”. My profile can be found on the Find a Maker website  https://www.findamaker.co.uk/Sarah-Stewart-Printmaker/Maker/

 

2020

Society of Scottish Artists

I joined the membership of the Society of Scottish Artists as an Artist Member in December. My profile can be found on their website https://www.s-s-a.org/our-members/sarahstewart/

House of Prints

I was invited by House of Prints to become a founding member of their platform which celebrates printmaking across the breadth of the UK, selecting prominent printmakers to exhibit on their online platform. As part of my membership I took part in two key charity events during the pandemic. The first was to raise funds for the NHS and the second to raise funds for RefuAid. https://prints.house/artist/sarah-stewart/

VACMA Award

In early 2020 I won a Visual Arts and Craft Maker Award to help develop my practice as a Visual Artist. This grant of £500 is funded by Creative Scotland through the National Lottery, in partnership with Live Borders, D&G Council, DG Unlimited and Upland CIC. Due to the pandemic the activity associated with this award has been postponed until a later date.

 

2019

Macmillan Art Show, Edinburgh

My silkscreen print “Valentine” was selected for the annual Macmillan Art Show in Edinburgh. Raising funds for Macmillan Cancer Support, this is a juried show presenting the highest standards of contemporary art.

Upland Pop-Up, 17 Dundas Street, Edinburgh

My work was selected for a Pop-Up exhibition hosted by Upland CIC in the old &Gallery premises on Dundas Street in Edinburgh. This exhibition brought together a wealth of talent from some of our region’s leading artists including: Patti Lean, Denise Zygadlo and Emma Visca, among others.

 

2018

“The Masters: Screen & Stone” Bankside Gallery, London

My silkscreen print “Olivetti Lettera 32, 1963” was accepted into this printmaking exhibition in the prestigious Bankside Gallery, home of the Royal Watercolour Society (RWS) and Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE). The exhibition focussed on works created using Lithography or Screenprinting as a primary process.

“Coast to Coast” Upland CIC x Icelandic Printmakers Association, Touring Exhibition between Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries and IPA, Reykjavik, Iceland

Exploring the theme “Coast to Coast”, this touring printmaking exhibition showcased the works of selected members of Upland CIC and the Icelandic Printmakers Association. The exhibition was first presented in Dumfries and then travelled to Reykjavik in Iceland.

 

2017

“Surge” Patriothall, Edinburgh & Scott Gallery, Hawick Museum

Surge was an exhibition inviting proposals for artists to create new experimental works of art. My two retroscopes “Clatter, Clatter: Letters & Words I” and “Clatter, Clatter: Cogs & Keys I” were two new pieces created especially for this exhibition and were accepted and presented alongside Olivetti Lettera 32, 1963 and two new artists books. This exhibition was so well received it subsequently went on to tour at Scott Gallery in the Hawick Museum.

 

2016

“RSA Open Exhibition 2016”, Royal Scottish Academy, The Mound, Edinburgh

My screenprint “Olivetti Lettera 32, 1963” was selected for this prestigious exhibition held at Edinburgh’s Royal Scottish Academy each year. The Academy was founded in 1826 and supports and promotes excellence in contemporary Scottish Art and Architecture.

  

2015

 “Making. Art.” Green Hill Gallery, Berlin, Germany

My work was selected to be featured in Spring Fling CIC’s first international exhibition, curated by Tonia Lu and Kate Brehme, an independent curator and researcher based in Berlin and founder of Contemporary Art Exchange. The exhibition featured the works of 12 artists, including the late Silvana McLean, Morag MacPherson, Lizzie Farey and Denise Zygadlo. I received funding from Spring Fling to travel to Berlin to lead an accompanying workshop and immerse myself in the arts scene through exhibition and studio visits.

McGill Duncan Gallery, Castle Douglas

McGill Duncan Gallery in Castle Douglas presented my work as part of Spring Fling’s Flagship event.

  

2015-2021

Spring Fling Open Studios

My work has been consistently selected over the past seven years for Spring Fling Open Studio Weekend. Spring Fling is Scotland’s Premiere Art & Craft Open Studio event, taking place on the May Bank holiday each year. Over the weekend between 80-90 artists from across Dumfries and Galloway open their studios to the public. The event is accompanied by workshops, demonstrations and public art projects. Participation into the event is selected each year by a panel of external judges, looking for work of the highest quality to represent the wealth of talent from across the region.

 

Other Experience

2014 - present

Owner & Artistic Director of Craigard Gallery

I opened Craigard Gallery in September 2014. Named after the building “Craigard” in which it resides, it is one of the region’s leading contemporary private art galleries. The gallery seeks to promote the works of emerging and established professional artists. Craigard hosts a diverse but carefully curated programme of some of the finest contemporary artists and craftspeople. Recent exhibitors include Ruth Brownlee, Benji Davies, Hazel Campbell, Clare Dawdry, Pamela Grace and Gregor Henderson.

 

2017-2021

Chair of Board of Directors of Upland CIC

Upland Arts Development CIC is an arts organisation based in Dumfries and Galloway delivering the flagship Spring Fling Open Studio event, exhibitions and events, professional development for artists, and a range of projects aimed at emerging artists and community engagement. Upland is largely funded through Creative Scotland, The Holyrood Trust and Dumfries and Galloway Council as well as receiving funding from many other organisations. Joining the Board of Directors in late 2017, I was elected Chair in November of that year where I served and led the organisation for a full term until June 2021, strengthening the structure of the organisation and steering it through the unchartered territory of a pandemic.