Biography
Aileen is based at her home and studio 20 miles south of Edinburgh.
She graduated in sculpture and drawing from Edinburgh College of Art (Edinburgh University). Following a post graduate year, she joined the Sculpture School staff. Her teaching experience is extensive, from first year to post graduate; teaching drawing a specialisation. After 30 years as a lecturer, she now works full time in her studio and is a professional member of the SSA (Scottish Society of Artists) and VAS (Visual Art Scotland).
In her practice, drawing has always been an important element and is now the fundamental focus of her work. Her interest in the process of remembering and forgetting, combined with the process of drawing, is explored through an eclectic range of materials and methods. The end result is often discovered gradually through layering. Images, colour and line are laid down, then decisions are made to preserve, subdue, obliterate, move, re-establish detail and add more layers . Unexpected results and accidental marks are accepted and incorporated or rejected and drawn over. It all adds to the richness and subtlety of each piece.
She says: "The word 'memory' has many connotations. When it is lost, it leads to questions about personality, identity and individuality. It also touches on how human beings make sense of the vast volumes of information, opinions and ideas in a digital world. What is important to remember? It connects with the present and the future, not exclusively the past".
Aileen has exhibited sculpture and drawing widely including: the Economist Plaza, London; the Marioka Hashimoto Museum in Japan; the Kokkola museum, Finland and the Collective gallery Edinburgh. She has won several prizes and is in collections in Europe and Scotland.
CV
1979 Graduated in Sculpture and Drawing. Edinburgh College of Art.
1980 Post Graduate Diploma in Sculpture and Drawing. Edinburgh College of Art
Andrew Grant Travelling Scholarship
1984 Member, Federation of Scottish Sculptors
1991 Member, Collective Gallery Edinburgh
1981- Lecturer, Edinburgh College of Art (Edinburgh University)
2008 School of Sculpture and Department of First Year Studies
2015 Professional member, SSA
2017 Professional member, VAS
Exhibitions (last 5 years)
2021 -VAS : Flow Online
‘Here and Now’ Tatha Gallery, Fife.
On a Small Scale. Open Eye, Edinburgh
2021-2022 - VAS : Reverb Online
2022-2023 SSA RSA, Edinburgh
VAS : North Wasps, Inverness.
On a Small Scale. Open Eye, Edinburgh
SSA Caledonian Club, London
SSA McClaurin Gallery, Ayr
2024 VAS ‘Then and Now’ Centenary Exhibition. RSA Edinburgh
SSA ‘Treasures’, Gairloch Museum, Gairloch
2025 RSA Annual Exhibition
2025 On a Small Scale, Open Eye, Edinburgh.
2025-2026
VAS ‘The Thread that Pulls’ . RSA Edinburgh’
VAS ‘Common Ground’, Kirkudbright.
VAS Annual Exhibition, Maclaurin Gallery, Ayr
RSA Centenary Exhibition, Edinburgh
Publications
Contemporary Sculpture in Scotland. Andrew Patrizio.
ISBN 90 5703 431X
Drawing Comparisons. ISBN 0-9531180-0-2
Iwate Art Festival UK 98
Nine Sculptors in Scotland
Jerwood Drawing Prize 2014 . ISBN978-1-908331-17-5
Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2018. ISBN978-0-9935511-5-4
Collections
Work in private and public collections in Finland, Italy, Germany, Belgium and
Scotland
