Visual Artists and Craft Makers award launches for eighth year

The Visual Artists and Craft Makers (VACMA) fund aimed at supporting artists in the county to develop their practice will open for the eighth year running on 1 September.

Supported by Creative Scotland through funding from the National Lottery in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Orkney Islands Council, the 2021-22 scheme will offer two levels of bursaries:

• Bursaries of £750 for experienced artists.
• Bursaries of £500 for New Graduates / Emerging Artists. Applicants must have less than 5 years’ experience outside of education or training or to have graduated in 2015 or later.

Funding can be used to support developmental research, skills training, studio work, exhibitions and mentoring.

There will be two rounds of applications – the first round will run throughout September and October, with a second round planned for early in the new year.

The Council's Arts Officer, Emma Gee, said: “Last year Creative Scotland moved very rapidly to make their funding as responsive as possible to artists’ needs, moving over to a fixed bursary grant to enable artists to seed fund creative development, experiment and risk taking, and is following that model again this year due to its success nationally.

“Whilst the bursary amounts are modest they open up the potential for artists to continue to grow and develop and incrementally challenge their practice, and thus continue to thrive as the creatives they are.

“Orkney artists continue to amaze with the range and depth of their artistic vision and the huge amount they do with the resources available. This fund is a hugely important part of supporting this sector to carry on punching way about its weight and we are delighted to be entering this eight season with the support of the National Lottery, HIE and Creative Scotland.”

Eight artists based in Orkney benefited from bursaries totalling £5,750 in the 2020-21 round of the grant.

One local artist who has benefitted from last years VACMA scheme is Samantha Clark.

People in Orkney may be most familiar with the artwork Samantha created for the new Balfour hospital - a 30 metre mural the length of the curved wall and internal windows in the central ‘hub’.

However Sam’s creative practice has spanned a wide range of media over many years, including writing, video, textiles, sound, installation, public art, drawing and painting.

Her most recent work responds to the dynamic natural environment of Orkney, particularly, she says, the movement of water through and around the landscape: waves, rivers, lochs, clouds, fogs and rain.

“The VACMA award allowed me to test out new surfaces and materials like silver leaf and mica, using these to create misty, sparkling, softly iridescent surfaces that capture a sense of light moving through and behind fog, rain and mists. I was able to create a whole new series of artworks and to launch them I held an Open Studio weekend a couple of weeks ago. It was lovely to be able to share the new work in person again at last! For those outside Orkney, I also did an ‘Instagram Live’ tour.

“I am fascinated by the slippery and elusive quality of water, the interplay between its reflective surface and dark depths, its porous and shifting boundaries, its ancientness and yet moment-by-moment freshness. In the drawings and paintings I make, surfaces are created through a painstakingly slow process with several layers of translucent washes of gouache and gesso laid down before further layers of intricate line drawing are built up over them. In this way, water becomes a focus for a wider meditation on time, change and impermanence. Drawing becomes a way of gathering up time and making it visible.

“It’s a slow, contemplative process that contrasts to water’s endless movement. Each mark drawn records the moment of its own making, a gesture caught and held. As I continue working, these gradually accumulate in intricate meshes, sometimes in many layers, like fine lacework or Shetland knitting. I think people find the detail of my work very calming and meditative.”

View Samantha’s new work on her website and follow her on Instagram and Facebook on @samclarkartwrite .

More information about the VACMA scheme, application packs and case studies can be found on the Council website.

The deadline for the first round of submissions is 17:00 on Tuesday 26 October 2021.