Edinburgh College of Art
Encyclopedia
Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is an art school in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, Scotland, providing tertiary education
Tertiary education
Tertiary education, also referred to as third stage, third level, and post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of a school providing a secondary education, such as a high school, secondary school, university-preparatory school...

 in art and design disciplines for over two thousand students.

Edinburgh College of Art is located in the Old Town
Old Town, Edinburgh
The Old Town of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is the medieval part of the city. Together with the 18th-century New Town, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has preserved its medieval plan and many Reformation-era buildings....

 of Edinburgh, overlooking the Grassmarket
Grassmarket
The Grassmarket is an historic market square in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland.In relation to the rest of the city the area is a hollow, well below surrounding ground levels.-Location:...

, and not far from the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

's George Square campus. The college was founded in 1760, and gained its present name and site in 1907. Formerly associated with Heriot-Watt University
Heriot-Watt University
Heriot-Watt University is a university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The name commemorates George Heriot, the 16th century financier to King James, and James Watt, the great 18th century inventor and engineer....

, it now has its degrees issued by the University of Edinburgh. The College formally merges with the University on 1 August 2011, combining with the School of Arts, Culture and Environment and continuing to exist under the name Edinburgh College of Art as a fourth College of the University, with administrative support from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. As a result, the new Edinburgh College of Art will comprise not only Art, Design, Architecture and Landscape Architecture, but also History of Art and Music.

History

Edinburgh College of Art can trace its history back to 1760, when the Trustees Drawing Academy of Edinburgh was established by the Board of Trustees for Fisheries, Manufactures and Improvements in Scotland. This board had been set up by Act of Parliament in 1727 to encourage and promote the fisheries or such other manufactures and improvements in Scotland as may most conduce to the general good of the United Kingdom, and was also responsible for the construction of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery on Queen Street, Edinburgh, Scotland. It holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. In addition it also holds the Scottish National Photography Collection...

. The aim of the academy was to train designers for the manufacturing industries. Drawing and the design of patterns for the textile industries were taught at the Academy's rooms at Picardy Place.

From 1826 classes were held at the Royal Institution
Royal Institution
The Royal Institution of Great Britain is an organization devoted to scientific education and research, based in London.-Overview:...

 building, now the Royal Scottish Academy
Royal Scottish Academy
The Royal Scottish Academy is a Scottish organisation that promotes contemporary Scottish art. Founded in 1826, as the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, the RSA maintains a unique position in Scotland as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and...

 on The Mound. The Master of the School was always a fine artist, the first being French painter William Delacour. Subsequent masters included Alexander Runciman
Alexander Runciman
Alexander Runciman was a Scottish painter of historical and mythological subjects. He was the elder brother of John Runciman, also a painter....

 and David Allan. The Academy's focus gradually shifted from applied arts to encompass fine art, and the school gained a reputation for excellence in both painting and design. Scottish artists who were trained at the Academy include John Brown
John Brown (artist)
John Brown was a Scottish artist. The son of a watchmaker, he was born at Edinburgh and studied there at the Trustees’ Academy. In 1769 he traveled to Rome, where he became a pupil of Alexander Runciman, and where he lived for the next eleven years...

, Alexander Nasmyth
Alexander Nasmyth
Alexander Nasmyth was a Scottish portrait and landscape painter, often called the "father of Scottish landscape painting".-Biography:...

 and Andrew Wilson
Andrew Wilson (artist)
Andrew Wilson was a Scottish landscape-painter.-Life:Born in Edinburgh, he came of an old Jacobite family. His father was Archibald Wilson, and his mother Elizabeth Shields. When quite young he began to study art under Alexander Nasmyth, and then, at the age of seventeen, went to London, where he...

.

In 1858 the Academy was affiliated to the Science and Art Department
Science and Art Department
The Science and Art Department was a British government body which functioned from 1853 to 1899, promoting education in art, science, technology and design in Britain and Ireland....

 in London, known as the "South Kensington system", under which it became the Government School of Art for the city of Edinburgh. A School of Applied Art was also established under this system. The Drawing School became part of a system of schools managed on similar lines, and distinctive teaching practices were lost. In 1903 it amalgamated with the School of Applied Art. In 1907 the Scottish Education Department took over responsibility for the school, and it became Edinburgh College of Art.

The College has always been an independent institution, and is now officially recognised by the Scottish Government as a Small Specialist Institution for the teaching of art, design and architecture. From 1968 to 2004, it was associated with Heriot-Watt University
Heriot-Watt University
Heriot-Watt University is a university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The name commemorates George Heriot, the 16th century financier to King James, and James Watt, the great 18th century inventor and engineer....

 for degree
awarding purposes. Today's students graduate from the College with degrees awarded by the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

. The two institutions are partners in an academic federation.

In 2005 the College joined with Edinburgh Napier University to launch the Screen Academy Scotland
Screen Academy Scotland
The Screen Academy Scotland is a collaboration between Edinburgh Napier University and Edinburgh College of Art. It was opened in August 2005 by the then First Minister of Scotland, Jack McConnell, and is based in Edinburgh, Scotland...

, a new centre of excellence in film practice education.

The College Buildings

With the creation of Edinburgh College of Art in 1907, the institution moved to new premises on Lady Lawson Street. Formerly a cattle market, the site lies above the Grassmarket and opposite Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear...

. The red sandstone main building was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by John More Dick Peddie
John More Dick Peddie
-Biography:Peddie was the son of the architect and politician John Dick Peddie and his wife Euphemia Lockhart More. Born in Edinburgh, he attended Edinburgh Academy, followed by two years at a school in Elberfeld, Germany. He enrolled at Edinburgh University, and was also articled to his father's...

 and George Washington Browne
George Washington Browne
Sir George Washington Browne FRIBA was a Scottish architect. He was born in Glasgow, and trained there and in London...

, and was completed in 1909. The main building was listed Category A in 1970. Inside, the Sculpture Court displays casts of the Elgin Marbles
Elgin Marbles
The Parthenon Marbles, forming a part of the collection known as the Elgin Marbles , are a collection of classical Greek marble sculptures , inscriptions and architectural members that originally were part of the Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis of Athens...

 and other antique statuary, alongside changing displays of contemporary student's work.

The Architecture Building was added to the east end of the college in 1961, designed by architect Ralph Cowan, who was a Professor of Architecture at the college. In 1977 the campus was completed in its present form with the addition of the Hunter Building. This L-shaped red sandstone block encloses the college courtyard, and fronts Lauriston Place to the south. In the 1990s the college took over a separate group of buildings in the Grassmarket, for use as a library and teaching space, and also took over the former Salvation Army building on West Port
West Port, Edinburgh
West Port is a street in Edinburgh's Old Town, Scotland, located just south of Edinburgh Castle. It runs from Main Point down to the south west corner of the Grassmarket...

.

The nine-storey Evolution House on West Port by Reiach and Hall Architects was completed 2003, adjacent to the main College building. Built as speculative offices, it now houses the administrative functions and the main library, as well as many new design studios. The College is now concentrated on a single site, and the Grassmarket (First Year studies) and former Salvation Army buildings (Animation and Postgraduate Tapestry studios) have been sold.

Architects

  • Sir Nicholas Grimshaw
    Nicholas Grimshaw
    Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, CBE is a prominent English architect, particularly noted for several modernist buildings, including London's Waterloo International railway station and the Eden Project in Cornwall...

    , architect, president of the Royal Academy
    Royal Academy
    The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

  • Robert Matthew
    Robert Matthew
    Sir Robert Hogg Matthew, OBE, FRIBA was a Scottish architect and a leading proponent of modernism.- Early life & studies :Robert Matthew was the son of John Matthew . He was born and brought up in Edinburgh, and attended the Edinburgh College of Art.- Career :Robert was apprenticed with his...

    , architect
  • Patrick Nuttgens
    Patrick Nuttgens
    Patrick John Nuttgens CBE was an English architect and academic.Patrick Nuttgens was raised in Piggotts Hill, near High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. His father, stained-glass artist Joseph Edward Nuttgens, married twice, and Patrick was one of four children from the first marriage. His mother died...

    , architect and academic
  • Sir Basil Spence, architect
  • Sir William Kininmonth
    William Kininmonth (architect)
    Sir William Hardie Kininmonth was a Scottish architect whose work mixed a modern style with Scottish vernacular.- Biography :...

    , architect
  • Sir James Dunbar-Nasmith
    James Dunbar-Nasmith
    Sir James Duncan Dunbar-Nasmith, CBE, RIBA, PPRIAS, is a leading conservation architect from England.He was born in 1927, son of Admiral Sir Martin Dunbar-Nasmith, VC KCB KCMG DL...

    , conservation architect and former head of the Department of Architecture (1978-1988)
  • Rab and Denise Bennetts, architects, founders of Bennetts Associates
    Bennetts Associates
    Bennetts Associates is one of the UK’s leading firms of architects, and has won more than 100 awards since its foundation in 1987.In particular, Bennetts Associates is recognised for its expertise in sustainability through innovative projects such as the Wessex Water Operations Centre in Bath,...


Artists

  • Dame Elizabeth Blackadder
    Elizabeth Blackadder
    Dame Elizabeth Violet Blackadder, DBE, RA, RSA is a Scottish painter and printmaker. She is the first woman to be elected to both the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy....

    , artist
  • Anne Bruce, artist
  • Paul Carter, artist
  • Stanley Cursiter
    Stanley Cursiter
    Stanley Cursiter, CBE was a Scottish artist who played an important role in introducing Post-Impressionism and Futurism to Scotland.- Biography :...

    , artist
  • Alan Davie
    Alan Davie
    James Alan Davie is a Scottish painter and musician.He was born in Grangemouth and studied at Edinburgh College of Art in the late 1930s. An early exhibition of his work came through the Society of Scottish Artists...

    , artist
  • Keith Farquhar, artist
  • William Geissler
    William Geissler
    William Hastie Geissler was a Scottish artist known for his watercolours of the natural world. He was one of the Edinburgh School, and much of his earlier work came from sketching trips undertaken with other members of this group, though he himself is sometimes described as a "neglected"...

    , artist
  • William George Gillies
    William George Gillies
    Sir William George Gillies was a renowned Scottish landscape and still life painter.Gillies was born in Haddington, East Lothian; he studied at Edinburgh College of Art and taught there after graduation for over 40 years. He was principal of the College from 1959 until his retirement in 1966...

    , artist
  • William Green, artist
  • Gwen Hardie, artist
  • William McLaren, artist
  • Wendy McMurdo
    Wendy McMurdo
    Wendy McMurdo is a British artist who specialises in photography and digital media. She attended Edinburgh College of Art, Goldsmiths, University of London and Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York where she first became interested in photography.-Career:Her work centres around the relationship...

    , artist
  • David Michie
    David Michie
    David Michie OBE RSA is a painter who was born in 1928 in the South of France, and brought up in the Scottish Borders. After national service service as an instructor in the Royal Artillery Signals Training regiment he studied at Edinburgh College of Art from 1949 to 1953, where he was taught by...

    , artist
  • John Maxwell
    John Maxwell (artist)
    John Maxwell was a Scottish painter of landscapes and imaginative subjects.Born in Dalbeattie in Kirkcudbrightshire, Maxwell studied at Edinburgh College of Art from 1921 to 1927 and then, with the aid of a travelling scholarship, from 1927 to 1928 at the Académie Moderne in Paris under Léger and...

    , artist
  • Sir Robin Philipson
    Robin Philipson
    Sir Robin Philipson was a Lancashire-born painter who was influential within the Scottish art scene for over three decades.Philipson was born in Broughton-in-Furness and moved to Scotland with his family when he was 14...

    , artist
  • Nina Pope and Karen Guthrie, aka Somewhere
  • Anne Redpath
    Anne Redpath
    Anne Redpath OBE was a Scottish artist whose vivid domestic still lifes are among her best-known works.Redpath's father was a tweed designer in the Scottish Borders. She saw a connection between his use of colour and her own...

    , artist
  • Patrick Reyntiens
    Patrick Reyntiens
    Patrick Reyntiens, OBE, is an English stained glass artist.He is notable for his work on Liverpool's Roman Catholic Cathedral and on the new Coventry Cathedral in collaboration with the artist John Piper...

    , artist
  • Zoe Walker, artist
  • Richard Wright
    Richard Wright (artist)
    Richard Wright is a British artist and musician.Wright was born in London. His family moved to Scotland when he was young. He attended Edinburgh College of Art from 1978 to 1982 and studied at Glasgow School of Art between 1993 and 1995 studying for a Master of Fine Art...

    , artist, winner of the 2009 Turner Prize
    Turner Prize
    The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...


Painters

  • John Bellany
    John Bellany
    John Bellany, CBE, RA is a Scottish painter.He was born in Port Seton. During the 1960s, he studied at Edinburgh College of Art and then at the Royal College of Art in London....

    , painter
  • William Crozier
    William Crozier (Scottish artist)
    William Crozier was a Scottish landscape painter.Born in Edinburgh, Crozier studied at Edinburgh College of Art and was a fellow student and friendly with William Gillies, Anne Redpath and William MacTaggart...

    , painter
  • Molly Garnier
    Molly Garnier
    Molly Garnier, born at Salisbury, England in 1981, is an English artist.-Early life:From 1993 to 1999 Garnier was educated in England at Gresham's School, Holt, and then from 1999 in Scotland at the Edinburgh College of Art, where she gained a Bachelor of Arts degree with first class honours in Art...

    , painter
  • William Gear
    William Gear
    William Gear was a painter, born on 2 August 1915 in Methil in the south-east of Fife, Scotland. Born into a mining family, he studied at Edinburgh College of Art before travelling to Paris to study with Fernand Léger....

    , painter
  • Nicola Green
    Nicola Green
    -Early Life and Education:Nicola Green was born in London in 1972. She graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 1998 with a Distinction in Master of Fine Arts under the supervision of minimalist Alan Johnston.-Career:...

    , painter
  • Callum Innes
    Callum Innes
    Callum Innes is a Scottish abstract painter and former Turner Prize nominee.-Life and work:Callum Innes was born in Edinburgh. He studied at Gray's School of Art and graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 1985....

    , painter and Turner Prize
    Turner Prize
    The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...

     nominee
  • Sir William MacTaggart
    William MacTaggart
    Sir William MacTaggart was a Scottish painter known for his landscapes of East Lothian, France, Norway and elsewhere. He is sometimes called William MacTaggart the Younger to distinguish him from his grandfather, the painter William McTaggart.-Life and work:William MacTaggart was born at Loanhead...

    , painter
  • Alexander Moffat, painter and lecturer
  • Christopher Wood
    Christopher Wood (Scottish painter)
    Christopher Wood is a contemporary Scottish abstract landscape painter. Educated at George Watson's College and James Gillespie's High School, he received a Bachelor of Arts at Edinburgh College of Art, specialising in drawing and painting.He now lives and works in the coastal town of Dunbar, East...

    , painter

Sculptors

  • Robert Callender, sculptor of seashore litter
  • Alexander Carrick
    Alexander Carrick
    Alexander Carrick 1882–1966 was one of Scotland’s leading monumental sculptors of the early part of the 20th century. He was responsible for many architectural and ecclesiastical works as well as many war memorials executed in the period following World War I...

    , sculptor and academic
  • Christopher Hall, sculptor
  • Hew Lorimer
    Hew Lorimer
    Hew Martin Lorimer was a Scottish sculptor.He was born in Edinburgh, the second son of architect Sir Robert Lorimer. He was educated at Loretto School in Musselburgh, then at Magdalen College, Oxford University, but he left Oxford prematurely to study design and sculpture at Edinburgh College of Art...

    , sculptor
  • Elizabeth Ogilvie, huge water installations
  • James Pittendrigh MacGillivray
    James Pittendrigh Macgillivray
    Dr. James Pittendrigh MacGillivray was a prominent Scottish sculptor. He was born in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, the son of a sculptor, and studied under William Brodie and John Mossman...

    , sculptor
  • Sir Eduardo Paolozzi
    Eduardo Paolozzi
    Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi, KBE, RA , was a Scottish sculptor and artist. He was a major figure in the international art sphere, while, working on his own interpretation and vision of the world. Paolozzi investigated how we can fit into the modern world to resemble our fragmented civilization...

    , sculptor and artist
  • Scott Sutherland, sculptor
  • Zigfrids Sapietis, sculptor

Musicians

  • Roy Williamson
    Roy Williamson
    Roy Murdoch Buchanan Williamson was a Scottish songwriter and folk musician, most notably with The Corries.-Early life:...

    , member of The Corries
    The Corries
    The Corries were a Scottish folk group that emerged from the Scottish folk revival of the early 1960s. Although the group was a trio in the early days, it was as the partnership of Roy Williamson and Ronnie Browne that it is best known.-Early years:...

    , and author of Flower of Scotland
    Flower of Scotland
    Flower of Scotland is a Scottish song, used frequently at special occasions and sporting events. Although there is no official national anthem of Scotland, Flower of Scotland is one of a number of songs which unofficially fulfil this role, along with the older Scots Wha Hae, Scotland the Brave...

  • The Rezillos
    The Rezillos
    The Rezillos are a punk/new wave band, who formed in Edinburgh in 1976 and still play gigs around the world in a re-formed line-up. Although frequently aligned with the punk movement, the Rezillos' irreverent glam rock image and affection for campy girl-group iconography, set them distinctly apart...

    , 1970s new wave band, featuring Jo Callis
    Jo Callis
    Jo Callis is an English musician and songwriter who played guitar with the Edinburgh based punk rock band, The Rezillos , and post-punk band Boots For Dancing before joining The Human League.-Biography:Callis was educated at the Edinburgh College of Art...

     who went on to The Human League
    The Human League
    The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...

  • The Magnificents
    The Magnificents (Scottish band)
    -Biography:The group formed while its members attended the Edinburgh College of Art. After playing a supposed one off gig of Northern Soul covers for a friend's birthday party they began to write their own material and settled into a lineup of Tommy Stuart , Steven McGregor , Drew McFadyen and...

    , Scottish rock band
  • Sandy Brown, Scottish Jazz clarinettist
  • Futuristic Retro Champions
    Futuristic Retro Champions
    Futuristic Retro Champions were a Scottish indie band from Edinburgh and Glasgow who sang and played Electropop with a Scottish brogue. They played support for such headliners as Kate Nash, Ladyhawke, The Vaselines, Bombay Bicycle Club, Charlotte Hatherley, Friendly Fires and Glasvegas, before...

    , Scottish ElectroPop band

Other

  • Adam Robson, rugby player, former head of the Scottish Rugby Union
    Scottish Rugby Union
    The Scottish Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. It is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873, as the Scottish Football Union.-History:...

  • David Harding, environmental artist and lecturer
  • Aileen Paterson
    Aileen Paterson
    Aileen Paterson is a Scottish writer and illustrator, best known for her series of children's books about Maisie the kitten, beginning with Maisie Comes to Morningside the title deliberately echoing 'Cotton comes to Harlem' by Chester Himes.Born in the Fife town of Burntisland, she then moved to...

     writer and illustrator of children's books.
  • David Shaw Nicholls
    David Shaw Nicholls
    David Shaw Nicholls is a Scottish architect and designer based in New York. Nicholls is known for his modern area rugs and textile designs...

    , designer & architect
  • Kerry Anne Mullaney
    Kerry Anne Mullaney
    Kerry Anne Mullaney is a Scottish film director, writer and producer. She won the 2009 Best Director award at the 10th Estepona International Horror and Fantasy Film Festival for her 2008 horror film The Dead Outside...

    , film director
  • Shashi Caan
    Shashi Caan
    Shashi Caan is a US designer, educator, advocacy icon, and founder of The Shashi Caan Collective, a US/UK multidisciplinary and international architecture and design firm, in 2002...

    , Interior Architect/Designer and President of The International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers
    The International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers
    The International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers represents professional Interior Architects/Designers.. Founded in Denmark in 1963 as a not-for-profit, limited liability company to unite the profession and act as a forum for interior design issues,,IFI is an associations'...

    (IFI)

See also

  • List of further and higher education colleges in Scotland
  • University of Edinburgh
    University of Edinburgh
    The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...


External links

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