RSA Residencies for Scotland 2013 – Isla MacLeod

Since its inception in 2009, RSA Residencies for Scotland has supported a wide range of artists at 26 venues across Scotland. The Royal Scottish Academy has a proud tradition of promoting excellence in contemporary art in Scotland. Led by eminent artists and architects the RSA support the creation, understanding and enjoyment of the visual arts through exhibitions, artist opportunities and related educational talks and events. Re-establishing themselves as a leading organisation for the visual arts in Scotland, the RSA have successfully garnered a reputation for the strength of their engaging and diverse exhibitions and the fantastic opportunities they offer both established and emerging artists.

www.royalscottishacademy.org

“I stayed at the Inshriach Bothy for 2 weeks as part of the RSA Residencies for Scotland scheme. I wanted to use my time there to generate ideas for the second part of my residency at The Highland Print Studio in Inverness. It’s good to go back to basics and it definitely gives you a different perspective on what’s important in life. Collecting water, chopping wood and keeping the fire going where the most essential daily tasks. Boiling the kettle felt like a big achievement!”

www.islamacleod.wordpress.com

“While I was there I did a lot of reading, sketching, thinking and walking. I was also experimenting with what I could use to make my own pigments, My time in Florence last year as part of the RSA John Kinross scholarship primarily influenced my work through the simple earthy colours and terracotta all around. The bothy and surrounding woodland area were covered in autumn leaves when I arrived and had a similar tone to the colours in Italy. I was keen to incorporate the autumn colours into my own work. I collected, pressed and dried leaves with the hope of grinding them down to use as pigment at the print studio.”

Blog entry by Isla MacLeod:
www.bothyproject.com/isla-macleod

RSA Residencies for Scotland 2026 – Cassia Dodman

We are delighted to announce that Cassia Dodman has been selected as the 2026 recipient of the RSA Residencies for Scotland award.

Cassia Dodman is a visual artist living in Stromness, Orkney. Her work uses industrial, repurposed and elemental materials combined with traditional and experimental fabrication methods to explore human impact on local marine habitats, movement, patterns in the environment and points of tension.

Through playfulness, and a tactile, material-led approach, Cassia explores processes of change and environmental pressure relating to both the industrial and the organic, gentler impact of touch and curiosity. Recently Cassia has been researching local Marine Protected Areas around her home, and using ex-industrial textiles related to water and bodily protection in her work, such as oilskins, neoprene and lifejackets, transformed through layering and accumulative processes, metalwork, stitching and print.

Cassia graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in 2017 with a BA in Fine Art and since has worked and exhibited throughout Scotland, including at the RSA New Contemporaries and at the Pier Arts Centre in the exhibition Inside Landscape – the natural environment observed by women artists. She has completed a residency at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop, and was recently nominated for a Henry Moore artist award to support her studio practice.

On Eigg, Cassia will explore the relationship between industrial activity and natural ecosystems through close observation of the island’s coastal and underwater landscapes; walking, snorkeling, and engaging with local projects, drawing inspiration from the physical shapes, patterns, and movements studied.

RSA Residencies for Scotland is an artist-led scheme which enables visual artists a period of research, development and production at partner venues across Scotland. Launched in 2009, the opportunity is offered on a biennial basis and is open to visual artists at all stages of their careers, who were born in Scotland or who are currently living in Scotland (and have been for at least 3 years consecutively). Previous recipients of the RSA Residencies for Scotland award include Helen McCrorie (2024), Calum Wallis (2022), Bruce Shaw (2019), Becky Šik (2019), Uist Corrigan (2015), Hannah Imlach (2015), Sylvia Law (2014), Isla MacLeod (2013) and Kari Stewart (2013).

Residencies for Scotland is administered and funded by the Royal Scottish Academy. Cassia’s residency is supported by The Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust.

Above image: Portrait of Cassia Dodman. Image courtesy of the artist.

Header image 1: Cassia Dodman, Reconstructed Wind Sock, 2023, wind sock, windbreaker jacket. Image courtesy of the artist.

Header image 2: Cassia Dodman, The Bore, 2023, layflat hose, steel, nuts and bolts. Image courtesy of the artist.

Header image 3: Cassia Dodman, West Flag, 2025, aluminium panel. Image courtesy of the artist.

RSA Residencies for Scotland 2019 – Bruce Shaw

Bruce Shaw was one of the 2019 recipients of the RSA Residencies for Scotland award. As part of his residency, Bruce spent time at Insriach Bothy, developing ideas for a personal body of work relating to Nan Shepherd’s book ‘The Living Mountain’

Bruce Shaw is an artist based in Dundee. Working mainly in the graphic media of drawing and printmaking, his work can vary from narrative images of crumbling buildings, lined faces and a variety of creatures to evoke a sense of mystery and tell their own stories in a manner that is sometimes surreal yet familiar, to a fascination with the landscape its’ own sense of time atmosphere and place ‘genius loci’ and our place and effect on it.

RSA Residencies for Scotland is an artist-led scheme which enables visual artists a period of research, development and production at partner venues across Scotland. Launched in 2009, the opportunity is offered on a biennial basis and is open to visual artists at all stages of their careers, who were born in Scotland or who are currently living in Scotland (and have been for at least 3 years consecutively). Previous recipients of the RSA Residencies for Scotland award include Uist Corrigan (2015), Hannah Imlach (2015), Sylvia Law (2014), Isla MacLeod (2013) and Kari Stewart (2013).

16mm film from workshop with Eigg community, courtesy of Helen McCrorie, RSA resident 2024/25

RSA Residencies for Scotland 2026

We are delighted to be taking part in the 2026 RSA Residencies for Scotland programme. RSA Residencies for Scotland is an artist-led scheme which provides valuable research and residency opportunities for artists. It forges important networks with centres of artistic excellence across Scotland, ranging from traditional residency venues to specialised production facilities.

Open to artists at all stages of their careers, the emphasis is on enabling a period of research, development and production, as well as on the acquisition and exchange of new skills and experiences. Artists can apply for funds of up to £5,000 and are responsible for managing their own residency, in discussion with their chosen partner venue.

This opportunity is open to artists who were born in Scotland or who are currently living in Scotland (and have been for at least 3 consecutive years), and are not in full-time education.

For further details and to apply, please visit the RSA website.

Deadline for submissions: Sunday 18 January 2026, 5pm

Residency dates: to take place in 2026/2027

Launched in 2009, the RSA Residencies for Scotland programme is offered on a biennial basis. Previous recipients who have worked with Bothy Project are: Helen McCrorie (2024), Calum Wallis (2022), Becky Šik (2019); Bruce Shaw (2019); Hannah Imlach (2015); Uist Corrigan (2015); Sylvia Law (2014); Kari Stewart (2013) and Isla MacLeod (2013). And of course in 2011, Bobby Niven and Iain MacLeod successfully applied for a residency with Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, during which they built Inshriach Bothy and initiated Bothy Project!

Should you have any questions about the opportunity, please email info@bothyproject.com

The RSA is an independently funded institution whose purpose is to promote and support the visual arts in Scotland. The Residencies for Scotland programme is administered and funded by the RSA, with kind support from the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust and the RSA W. Gordon Smith & Jay Gordonsmith Trust. Launched in 2009, the programme is offered on a biennial basis. Since its inception the RSA has awarded over £386,000 to 118 artists to spend time at 42 different venues across Scotland.

Image: Becky Šik, film still from Mercury, 2021

RSA Residencies for Scotland 2019 – Becky Šik

Becky Šik was one of the 2019 recipients of the RSA Residencies for Scotland award. Becky spent two weeks at Sweeney’s Bothy, the first in August 2019 and the second in July 2022 (postponed due to the pandemic). During her residency, Becky began research for a new experimental moving image work Mercury, which went on to be shown at Collective, Edinburgh as part of their Satellites Programme.

Becky Šik is an artist based in Glasgow whose practice moves between film, sculpture, sound , music and publishing. Recent projects include, Sharing a View, group exhibition, Luxun Academy of Fine Arts, Shenyang, China; Creative Lab residency with Sarah Forrest, CCA Glasgow; Next Top Model, group show, Govan Project Space; Fiducial Marker, solo exhibition, Project Rooms Glasgow; Human Machine Interface, group show at Hilbertraum Gallery, Berlin; A thought Becomes an Announcement solo exhibition, QPRC, Glasgow. Becky is part of the ongoing collaborative project Made by ME.

RSA Residencies for Scotland is an artist-led scheme which enables visual artists a period of research, development and production at partner venues across Scotland. Launched in 2009, the opportunity is offered on a biennial basis and is open to visual artists at all stages of their careers, who were born in Scotland or who are currently living in Scotland (and have been for at least 3 years consecutively). Previous recipients of the RSA Residencies for Scotland award include Uist Corrigan (2015), Hannah Imlach (2015), Sylvia Law (2014), Isla MacLeod (2013) and Kari Stewart (2013).

Image: Helen McCrorie, work in progress, 16mm film, 2022

RSA Residencies for Scotland 2024 – Helen McCrorie

Helen McCrorie was the 2024 recipient of the RSA Residencies for Scotland award. Helen spent two weeks at Sweeney’s Bothy on the Isle of Eigg, during October 2024 and September 2025.

During her residency, Helen worked on the production of a 16mm film. The experimental film will focus on island life and the women of Eigg, and will build upon previous research gathered through family trips to the island and previous Self-Directed and Creative Practitioner Residencies (2019 & 2022).

Helen McCrorie is an artist and filmmaker based in Perthshire. Her work combines observational filming with experimental sound workshops. Helen works with communities engaged in embodied forms of learning to explore how we generate meaning and relate to the environment and each other through social activities. Her films celebrate marginalised stories of care, creativity and community, in the face of institutions and narratives of power and control. Two of Helen’s most recent films We know a better word than happy (2021) and If play is neither inside nor outside, where is it? (2019) have explored the urgency of play, the first focusing on an urban community greenspace after lockdown, and the second on anarchic outdoor play in a former military camp.

RSA Residencies for Scotland is an artist-led scheme which enables visual artists a period of research, development and production at partner venues across Scotland. Launched in 2009, the opportunity is offered on a biennial basis and is open to visual artists at all stages of their careers, who were born in Scotland or who are currently living in Scotland (and have been for at least 3 years consecutively). Previous recipients of the RSA Residencies for Scotland award include Calum Wallis (2022), Bruce Shaw (2019), Becky Šik (2019), Uist Corrigan (2015), Hannah Imlach (2015), Sylvia Law (2014), Isla MacLeod (2013) and Kari Stewart (2013).

Residencies for Scotland is administered and funded by the Royal Scottish Academy. Helen’s residency was supported by the W. Gordon Smith & Jay Gordonsmith Trust.

RSA Residencies for Scotland 2024

We are delighted to be taking part in the 2024 RSA Residencies for Scotland programme. RSA Residencies for Scotland is an artist-led scheme which provides valuable research and residency opportunities for artists. It forges important networks with centres of artistic excellence across Scotland, ranging from traditional residency venues to specialised production facilities.

Open to visual artists at all stages of their careers, the emphasis is on enabling a period of research, development and production, as well as on the acquisition and exchange of new skills and experiences. Artists can apply for funds of up to £5,000 and are responsible for managing their own residency, in cooperation with the partner venue.

This opportunity is open to artists who were born in Scotland or who are currently living in Scotland (and have been for at least 3 years consecutively).

The aims of the RSA Residencies for Scotland programme are:

To enable artists a dedicated period of research, development and production
To reinforce links with centres of excellence across Scotland
To provide access to technical expertise and assistance to learn new skills and techniques
To enable the exchange of ideas and practice

For further details and to apply, please visit the RSA website.

Deadline for submissions: Sunday 14 January 2024, 17:00

Residency dates: to take place in 2024/2025

Launched in 2009, the RSA Residencies for Scotland programme is offered on a biennial basis. Previous recipients who have worked with Bothy Project are: Calum Wallis (2022), Becky Šik (2019); Bruce Shaw (2019); Hannah Imlach (2015); Uist Corrigan (2015); Sylvia Law (2014); Kari Stewart (2013) and Isla MacLeod (2013). And of course in 2011, Bobby Niven and Iain MacLeod successfully applied for a residency with Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, during which they built Inshriach Bothy and initiated Bothy Project!

Should you have any questions about the opportunity, please email info@bothyproject.com

The RSA Residencies for Scotland programme is administered and funded by the Royal Scottish Academy and supported by The Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust and the W. Gordon Smith & Jay Gordonsmith Trust.

RSA Residencies for Scotland 2022 – Calum Wallis

Calum Wallis was the 2022 Royal Scottish Academy, Residencies for Scotland recipient. Calum spent one month at Sweeney’s Bothy on the Isle of Eigg, during the winter of 2022/23.

During his residency, Calum spoke to BBC Radio Scotland on 14 January 2023 for their Out of Doors programme. You can listen back to this conversation on the Scotland Outdoors podcast: The Beauly Elm, The Alyth Genius and the Elie Sauna (Calum’s interview is at 1:05:45). The podcast also features our 2023 Cairngorms Youth Local Action Group resident, Isabel McLeish, who speaks about her project on Beauly’s ancient wych elm tree (Isabel’s interview is at 29:28).

Calum Wallis (b. 1993) grew up in Ross-shire, moving in 2013 to study Fine Art at Duncan of Jordanstone in Dundee, where he now lives. His practice asks questions of how humans relate to the natural world, posing them in the form of drawings made in, of and with the landscape. Borrowing, isolating, rescaling and repurposing natural formations, his drawings ponder the roles of memory and expectation in our experience of nature, and the deeper memory held within the earth. His drawing practice increasingly seeks to grow fresh arms, now encompassing kinetic sculpture, performance and printmaking.

Previous residents and recipients of the Royal Scottish Academy’s Residencies for Scotland award include Becky Šik (2019), Bruce Shaw (2019), Hannah Imlach (2015), Uist Corrigan (2015), Sylvia Law (2014), Kari Stewart (2013) and Isla MacLeod (2013).

Calum’s residency was supported by the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Charitable Trust.

Image 1 – main page – Tormore Canvas Walk, installed. Photo – Fergus Tibbs.

Image 2: 86 Bricks, 2021, graphite on paper and canvas, WAPS, Dundee. Photo – Ben Douglas.

Image 3: Tormore Canvas Walk. Photo – Fergus Tibbs.

Royal Scottish Academy, Residencies for Scotland – 2022 – Deadline has passed

We are delighted to be a taking part in the 2022 RSA Residencies for Scotland programme. It is an artist-led scheme which provides valuable research and residency opportunities for artists. It forges important networks with centres of artistic excellence across Scotland, ranging from traditional residency venues to specialised production facilities.

Previous recipients who have worked with Bothy Project are: Becky Šik (2019); Bruce Shaw (2019); Hannah Imlach (2015); Uist Corrigan (2015); Sylvia Law (2014);Kari Stewart (2013) and Isla MacLeod (2013). And of course in 2011 Bobby Niven and Iain MacLeod successfully applied for an award with Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, and built Inshriach Bothy!

Aims of the residency programme:

To enable artists a period of research, development and production
To reinforce links with centres of excellence across Scotland
To provide access to technical expertise and assistance to learn new skills and techniques.
To enable the exchange of ideas and practice

Full application details can be found here

Image: Becky Šik, still from Mercury, 2021, HD video Commissioned by: Collective. Funded by: Creative Scotland, Edinburgh City Council, Baillie Gifford. Supported by: RSA, Bothy Project

Staff & Trustees

staff team

Director – Lesley Young

Lesley has a background in visual arts curating and production. In 2021 she worked with Sean Lynch to make Tak’ Tent O’ Time Ere Time Be Tint, a co-commission between Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop and Edinburgh Art Festival 2021. She is a founding member of the curatorial co-operative Chapter Thirteen (2018-2021) and between 2007-10 initiated and ran The Salford Restoration Office with James N. Hutchinson, curating exhibitions with Jeremy Deller, Dan Shipsides and Artur Zmijewski, and developing projects with Imogen Stidworthy and Katya Sander. In 2024 she worked at Hospitafield, Arbroath as Phase 4 Development Project Manager for Phase 4 of their capital project. She is based in Glasgow.

Residency and Programme Co-ordinator – Evie Edwards

Evie joined Bothy Project in 2022 as the Admin & Marketing Co-ordinator, working across both Bothy Project and Bothy Stores. In 2025, she began a new role as our Residency & Programme Co-ordinator. Evie studied Fine Art at Edinburgh College of Art and continues to be based in Edinburgh.

Host, Sweeney’s Bothy – Lucy Conway

Lucy has been the host for Sweeney’s Bothy, Isle of Eigg since 2014. She has lived on the Island since 2004. In 2025 Lucy began a new role as our Development & Finance Manager. Lucy is an experienced freelance creative producer, who has developed and managed a wide variety of theatre, art and exhibition projects. After five years in the role as a Director of the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust she has recently stood down, but remains amazed by what community ownership has enabled Eigg’s residents to achieve since the buyout in 1997.

board of trustees

Trustee – Iain MacLeod

Iain is an architect and co-founder of Bothy Project. In 2019, Iain established Studio IMA, an Edinburgh-based chartered architecture and design practice. Iain founded the practice following fifteen years of rich and varied industry experience throughout the UK and internationally. Alongside his practice, Iain contributes to the work of Bothy Stores, which was set up in 2017 as Bothy Project’s trading arm.

Trustee – Jon Macleod

Jon is a practising Artist, Curator and Producer (An Lanntair and Grinneabhat), with a particular focus on Residencies. He was a member of the SCAN curatorial network, Taisbean and was recently awarded a Churchill Fellowship to Fogo Island, Newfoundland, researching the role of creativity in revitalising island communities. He is on the advisory group of Climavore and works a croft on the west-side of the Isle of Lewis.

Trustee – Laura McSorley

Laura is a Curator and Producer originally from the Black Isle. Now based in Dundee, Laura has experience supporting artists at the early stages of their careers in her previous roles at GENERATOR Projects, Edinburgh Art Festival and as part of curatorial collaboration two of cups. Laura was part of the British Art Networks Emerging Curators group in 2021 and is currently working as Assistant Curator on a major UK-wide commission.

Co-Chair – Dr Dominic Paterson

Dominic works at the University of Glasgow where he teaches 20th and 21st century art and theory and is curator at The Hunterian Art Gallery. Dominic has recently worked with Elizabeth Price to realise the major exhibition Underfoot; in 2022 with Charlie Hammond, on Workaround, and in 2018 Still Moving: The Films and Photographs of Ulrike Ottinger.

Treasurer – Calum Shields

Calum is an economist based in London and has experience in both the public and private sectors where he has undertaken various analytical roles. Commencing his career in Edinburgh, he contributed to proposition design for a pensions firm before moving to an economist position within The Department for Business and Trade.

Co-Chair – Matthew Arthur Williams

Matthew is a visual and sound artist, photographer and DJ. His major solo exhibition Soon Come was presented at DCA, Dundee in 2022-23. Before joining Bothy Project’s board he’d been a resident at both Sweeney’s Bothy and Inshriach Bothy.

To express interest in joining our board of trustees, please complete an expression of interest form.