Page 45 - Art First: Helen MacAlister: The Glamour of Backwardness
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AF HM catalogue 2023 PRINT.qxp_Layout 1 15/06/2023 17:37 Page 43
MacAlister trained in Fine Art at Duncan of Jordanstone
College of Art, Dundee (1987–91) and was a part-time
lecturer there to 2004, and at Edinburgh College of Art
between 2001–4.
Awards and scholarships include: the Hope Scott
Trust Award, a bursary to study Italian at Siena University;
the Rome Scholar ship in Painting at the British School
at Rome; the Prince’s Trust European Grant, Madrid and
Barcelona; the Miller Homes Young Scottish Artist; and
Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, all of which enabled
her to work in these euopean cities. Further residencies
include the MacDowell Colony, New Hampshire, USA,
1995, and the Bellagio Study and Conference Centre
in Italy, 2000.
Exhibitions range from a group show at Richard
Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh, in 1989, to the major
solo exhibition, Dollo’s Law, at Talbot Rice Art Gallery,
University of Edinburgh (and tour) in 1998, and At the
Foot o’ Yon Excellin’ Brae at An Lanntair, Stornoway,
and Art First, London, in 2012–13.
Work is held in in public and private collections in
the UK, Europe, and the USA, including: the Fleming
Collection; McManus Galleries, Dundee; Talbot Rice
Art Gallery, University of Edinburgh; and Poets House,
Working drawing, detail New York, USA.
Helen MacAlister lives and works in Edinburgh.
She has been represented by Art First since 1994.