GSA Phoenix Bursary Studios

GSA Mackintosh windowIn May of this year, many of you will have seen The Glasgow School of Art make headlines across the world after the school’s beloved Mackintosh building was ravaged by fire on the final day of hand in before the annual undergraduate degree show.

Despite the dramatic images seen from the streets, online and on tv sets all over – only 10 per cent of the structure was lost. However the Mackintosh library was destroyed and a large number of fourth year fine art student’s work damaged.

Since then it has been revealed that 100 artists who were impacted by the fire have been awarded a bursary that was established by the GSA in the immediate aftermath of the fire to ensure that all artists were able to develop their practice and create a new body of work.

The Phoenix Bursary programme has been supported by a £750,000 grant from the Scottish Government and students have been offered studio spaces in art schools all over the world including Mongolia, Canada and Iceland.

Almost half of the artists elected to stay in Glasgow where they are able to benefit not only from ongoing direct support from the GSA, but from the city’s wider visual arts community. We are extremely pleased to tell you that those artists that have chose to stay in Glasgow to create their degree show work will be spending their 5 months working in studio spaces right here at The Whisky Bond.

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One month in and it’s been great to see how the once empty studios have been transformed into fantastic creative working environments. Sam De Santis, Coordinator of the Phoenix Bursary Project kindly sent us some images he has taken of the studios this week. With many tenants here at The Whisky Bond being graduates or friends of those at The Glasgow School of Art, we’re very pleased to be sharing a roof with these artists and can’t wait to see how the building evolves with them here.

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For regular news about the GSA Phoenix Bursary Programme please visit: www.gsaphoenix.blogspot.co.uk
The Whisky Bond studio images by Sam de Santis, coordinator of www.gsaphoenix.blogspot.co.uk
Mackintosh window image by www.kimberleygrant.com