Moray Art Centre has opened its bursary scheme for the fourth year offering 12 fully-funded summer school places to students and creatives.
Each year from June to September, the community-focused arts charity hosts a vibrant summer school, taught by award-winning artists and tutors – attracting both local art enthusiasts and international visitors alike.
This year’s tutors will offer a selection of five-day immersive workshops, exploring everything from clay sculpture, landscape and seascape painting, textile weaving, printing, botanical bookmaking and more.
The summer school is positioned to appeal to those looking to enjoy a creative holiday at Findhorn Bay, as well as locals who wish to spend five days alongside like-minded art enthusiasts, or those looking to try something new in a place which is on the ‘must visit’ list for many nature lovers nationwide.
Outside the box
A truly inspiring location for the senses, Moray Art Centre is situated in an ecologically, purpose-built space, which includes four artists’ studios and three gallery spaces. The centre also has an established surrounding garden, where many of the summer school students choose to work from, to experience the well-being benefits of creativity out in nature.
The board and volunteers at Moray Art Centre aim to make art accessible to all people in Moray and beyond.
Trustee Bill Austin said: “Moray Art Centre’s summer school has established itself as one of the highlights of the cultural year. We are pleased to offer a varied programme of 12 visual arts workshops, led by some terrific tutors from years past but also introducing some new and exciting faces to the region.”
Erin Matheson, who is a fourth-year Moray Art School student and previous recipient of the bursary, added: “Being given a funded place at the 2021 Summer school hugely impacted my creative development. Studying BA (Hons) in Fine Art at Moray School of Art and having the opportunity to attend a five-Day Portrait Painting workshop, led by Alan Davies, really paved the way for the practice I have now. From never painting in oils before, to it becoming my sole medium right to the end of my degree, it allowed me to find my style”.