International Women's Day: Sam Ainsley and Dr Catriona McAra in conversation

Join us on International Women's Day for a conversation on making art, landscape, women and more, between artist Sam Ainsley and Dr Catriona McAra, Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Art History at the University of Aberdeen.

A guided tour of Sam's exhibition Wednesday is Cobalt blue, Friday is Cadmium red, will be followed by a seated Q&A.

Wednesday is Cobalt blue, Friday is Cadmium red is Glasgow-based artist Sam Ainsley’s first major exhibition in the city for over 30 years. It is the first such show for Ainsley since her 1987 solo exhibition, Why I Choose Red at the Third Eye Centre (now Centre for Contemporary Art, CCA).

This tour and talk for International Women's Day will be followed by the publication in Spring 2024 of a reflection on Sam's work by Dr Catriona McAra.

Sam Ainsley's GoMA exhibition runs until 30 June. Free entry.

About the speakers

Sam Ainsley RSA is an artist and teacher and until 2005 was Head of the Master of Fine Art (MFA) programme at Glasgow School of Art (GSA). She has forged a remarkable career within the visual arts sector nationally and internationally. From 1985 to 1991 she taught on the Environmental Art programme when she then co-founded the MFA course. She is a respected and published spokeswoman for the visual arts and her own artwork is held by of public and private collections nationally and internationally. Ainsley has contributed to a broad range of visual art initiatives in Scotland and has served as a Board member for many arts organisations. She has exhibited in and curated independent exhibitions and undertaken residencies in numerous institutions and arts organisations across the USA, Australasia, Europe and the UK. In 2017 Ainsley was inducted into the ‘Outstanding Women of Scotland’ by the Saltire Society. GSA awarded her an Honorary Doctorate (D.Litt) for her contribution to art and art education in 2018.

Dr Catriona McAra is Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Art History at the University of Aberdeen. She was awarded her doctorate in History of Art at the University of Glasgow followed by a post-doc at IASH, University of Edinburgh. She spent the first decade of her career leading research curation in university museums and galleries at St Andrews and Leeds Arts University. Catriona is the author of two monographs on Dorothea Tanning and Leonora Carrington (2017; 2022) and is currently writing a third book on Scottish contemporary women artists.

Image shows Sam Ainsley in her exhibition, photo by Alan Harvey for SNS