£1,125
Contemporary & Post-War Art | 595
Auction: 16 April 2020 at 12:00 BST
Mixed media on paper
Biography:
Dr Joyce W. Cairns (b. 1947) is a Scottish painter and printmaker born and raised in Edinburgh. She studied painting at Grays School of Art, Aberdeen and The Royal College of Art, London. She was awarded a Fellowship at Gloucester College of Art and Design from 1974-75, and returned to London where she did an Art Teacher’s Certificate Course at Goldsmiths College, University of London the following year.
In 1976 she returned to Aberdeen to teach Drawing and Painting at Grays School of Art. She took an early retirement in 2004, so that she could complete a vast body of work which culminated in ‘War Tourist,’ which was exhibited for 3 months at Aberdeen Art Gallery in 2006 and attracted nearly 30,000 visitors.
Her work is mainly autobiographical, based on memories intertwined with present experiences, with inspiration taken from the Scottish landscape and the once fishing village of Footdee at the mouth of Aberdeen harbour.
She has been publicly exhibiting since 1969 and her work is held in numerous private and public collections, both within the UK and abroad. Cairns was recently elected the first woman President of the Royal Scottish Academy in 193 years.