{"id":514247,"date":"2026-07-07T14:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T14:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/514247\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T14:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T14:37:09","slug":"edinburgh-art-show-to-focus-on-first-female-president-of-rsa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/514247\/","title":{"rendered":"Edinburgh art show to focus on first female President of RSA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Joyce W. Cairns’ Bonjour Matelot’ (Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n

\n It will coincide with the organisation\u2019s 200th anniversary and the Edinburgh Festival.\n<\/p>\n

\n Ms Cairns was born in Edinburgh and is considered one of Scotland\u2019s most significant contemporary painters.\n<\/p>\n

\n She served as President of the RSA from 2018 to 2022 and was the first woman to hold the post in the academy\u2019s history.\n<\/p>\n

\n Joyce W. Cairns ‘They said War was partly to blame’. (Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n

\n The exhibition will be the most comprehensive survey of her work in many years, tracing her deeply personal, autobiographical approach to painting.\n<\/p>\n

\n Her paintings draw on childhood memories, family history, and her life in Aberdeen<\/a>\u2019s historic Footdee, blending domestic themes with broader reflections on conflict and loss.\n<\/p>\n

\n Joyce W. Cairns ‘Wedding Breakfast’ (Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n

\n Ms Cairns was educated at Gray\u2019s School of Art<\/a> in Aberdeen and the Royal College of Art.\n<\/p>\n

\n She taught drawing and painting at Gray\u2019s until 2004, later leaving to complete the body of work that formed her War Tourist exhibition in Aberdeen.\n<\/p>\n

\n Her connection with the RSA began in 1963 when she visited the Annual Exhibition as a schoolgirl.\n<\/p>\n

\n She first exhibited her work in 1971, was elected an Associate in 1985, and became a full Academician in 1998.\n<\/p>\n

\n Founded in 1826, the RSA is an independent, non-governmental institution dedicated to supporting the advancement of art and architecture in Scotland.\n<\/p>\n

\n Its 200th anniversary celebrations will feature exhibitions, events, and performances across the country throughout 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joyce W. Cairns’ Bonjour Matelot’ (Image: Supplied) It will coincide with the organisation\u2019s 200th anniversary and the Edinburgh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-514247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}