CAITHNESS-BORN ARTIST WINS NATIONAL ART AWARD WITH FLOW COUNTRY DRAWING

21st May 2014

Artist Magi Sinclair has been announced winner of Edinburgh College of Art’s (ECA) Astaire Art Prize with a carbon drawing entitled ‘Forsinard Flows’.

Originally from Latheron and now living in Clovenfords in the Scottish Borders, Magi is in the final year of a BA Combined Studies Degree. Magi’s course co-ordinator and lecturer in the School of Art Joan Smith says “Magi's drawings are a powerful evocation of the beautiful but dangerous Flow Country with its deep bogs rich in plant life. Working in carbon on paper, with incredible sensitivity to detail and sharp observation, she makes art which directly links to the environment and which directs the viewer to appreciate this incredible landscape.”

The Astaire Art Prize champions outstanding undergraduate work by third or fourth year students at ECA where students submit a single entry, a drawing, painting or sculpture on a ‘domestic scale’ along with a supporting statement about the work. Ten shortlisted entries were presented for the consideration of the Astaire Art Prize Committee, comprising the prize’s sponsor, Mark Astaire (a University of Edinburgh politics graduate), together with ECA's Gordon Brennan (Undergraduate Programme Director – Painting), Gordon Munro (Lecturer in Sculpture) and Karen Forbes (Professor of Art).

For much of her work, Magi has been drawn back to her childhood home in the north of Scotland and her prize-winning carbon drawing, Forsinard Flows, is part of a wider body of work based on the vast area of peatland bog known as the Flow Country. Magi’s particular interest lies in closely observing the small details in the landscape, things often overlooked – patterns and textures and the intrigue of the plants that cling on and thrive in such isolated places.

Another subject and a feature of great heritage and cultural value in Caithness, the Whaligoe Steps, has been included in a range of media including watercolour and etchings.

A selection of Magi’s work can be seen at the forthcoming Degree Show held at Edinburgh College of Art, 74 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh. The show is open to the public from Saturday, 24th May until Sunday, 1st June from 11.00 to 5.00pm, with late opening until 8.00pm on Wednesday 28th May and Thursday 29th May 2014. Entry to the Degree Show is free.

Magi’s work can be seen online at magisinclair.co.uk

BIOGRAPHY
Magi lives in the Scottish Borders in the small village of Clovenfords and is currently in her final year of study at Edinburgh College of Art.

In her early years she was gently steered away from art to fashion, where she enjoyed twenty years in management, design and a period of self employment. During that time she made clothes for royalty and rock royalty, guided students and also experienced the throng as part of a team at the Milan fashion shows. Eventually, after being made redundant from Pringle of Scotland, the opportunity came round again to study for an art degree. She is currently at Edinburgh College of Art and will be graduating this year.