GLEN ONWIN Glen Onwin was born in Edinburgh, where he studied painting at the College of Art. Following a period teaching in secondary education he returned to the College and is now a Reader. http://www.eca.ac.uk
Glen has followed an highly individual course as an artist. He became fascinated by salt marshes, not as the subject of conventional landscape painting, but rather as a phenomenon to study with a quasi-scientific approach. He is interested in the structures behind appearances - microscopic images, crystalline forms, and the slow changes of materials over time. In the 1970's and 1980's he held a number of touring exhibitions of largely wall based works at diverse locations, including the Scottish Arts Council Gallery, Edinburgh; the Serpentine, London; the Arnolfini, Bristol; the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; and the Third Eye, Glasgow.
'Revenges of Nature' at the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, in 1988 saw a return to canvases, but the work continued to examine aspects of natural change. In these works he used a diverse range of media including plant material, chemicals, coal dust, metals and wax. In 1992 he used the Square Chapel in Halifax, at that point derelict, for a site-specific installation on two floors entitled 'As Above So Below'. This work was organised by the Henry Moore Sculpture Trust in Leeds.
During 1997 Glen participated in 'The Quality of Light' project organised in association with the Tate Gallery, St. Ives. His work 'Blood of the Pelican' at Geevor Mine explored the processes of extracting tin, relating this to it's symbolic aspects in a large installation in a redundant mine shed.
Glen Onwin’s creative interests involve art, science and the natural world, incorporating early science, earth sciences, life sciences and alchemy. Some of his work is site specific, or site generated installations, and sometimes he also works collaboratively. Examples include a 20-acre area of land on the quarry edge of Kemnay, Aberdeenshire, "Places of Origin," (nominated for the Saltire Civil Engineering Award 2003) and "An Turas," a sculpture architecture project on the Isle of Tiree (short listed for the RIBA Stirling Prize and winner of the RIAS Best Building in Scotland award 2003).
He is currently researching ideas related to "Synthetic Biology" (a concept first explored by Stephane Leduc in 1911) in collaboration with Prof. Michael Russell from the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, together they are developing a new body of work for exhibition.
Glen Onwin is an Associate Member of the Royal Scottish Academy. He lives in Edinburgh and has published widely. Some details are listed below but he has his own Official Website http://www.onwin.co.uk and that lists his work in more detail, including photographs and details of Shows and Exhibitions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1984 Creation, Modern Art and Nature, Pub. Scottish National gallery of Modern Art 1989 Scottish Art since 1900, Hartley, Pub. National Gallery of Scotland. Lund Humphries, London 1990 The Journey, A search for the Role of Contemporary Art in Religious and Spiritual Life. Pub. Usher Gallery and Radcliffe Press. 1992 Contemporary Paintings in Scotland, Hare, Pub. Craftsman House. 1993 The Henry Moore Sculpture Trust Studio at Dean Clough, Halifax. 1989 -1993. Pub. The Henry Moore Sculpture Trust, The Henry Moore Institute. 1994 Scottish Art in the 20th Century, Duncan Macmillan. Mainstream Publishing. Edinburgh /London 1994 Installation Art, Archer, de Oliveira, Oxley, Perry Pub. Thames and Hudson, London. Also published by Abrahams in the USA 1995 Calanais. Pub. An Lannair, White, Macmillan, Curtis, Stornoway. 1997 A Quality of Light, Gooding, Pub. St Ives International Penzance. 1998 'Onwin's holistics' Art and Science. Martin Kemp, Nature. Vol 391 1999 Two Places in Scotland. John Maine, Art and Architecture. No 51 1999 Gustav Metzger - Retrospective, Museum of Modern Art papers, volume three. Edited by Ian Cole Pub. Museum of Modern Art Oxford. 2000 Scottish Art. Murdo MacDonald. Pub. Thames and Hudson. 2000 Visualizations, The Nature Book of Art and Science. Martin Kemp Pub. Oxford University Press. Now published in German, Italian and French. 2001 Scottish Art in the 20th Century. Duncan MacMillan Pub. Mainstream. 2001 The Dictionary of Scottish paintings, 1600 - To the Present. Paul Harris, Julian Habby. Pub. Canongate. 2001 Scottish Art 1460 - 2000 Duncan MacMillan. Pub Mainstream. 2001 Second Sight. Robert Hopper and the Henry Moore Foundation 1989 - 2002. Pub. The Henry Moore Foundation. 2002 ARCA. The Journal of the Scottish Architecture "focusing the landscape" Volume 2 Number 1. 2003 Common-Place, Buildings and spaces that connect us. Exhibition catalogue. Pub. Lighthouse, Glasgow. 2003 Journey Towards the Sky. Gavin Morrison. Blueprint, no 209. 2003 Architecture 03. The RIBA Awards. Pub Merrel, London. New York. 2003 Shore Thing. Berrie Evans The Architects Journal. Sept 03 2004 The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture. Phaidon. 2004 Places of Origin. Mark Chalmers. Prospect May 04. 2004 Boom Boom Cluster, The David & Lisa Brown Bequest. pub Southampton City Art Gallery.
PUBLICATIONS, ARTISTS BOOKS,
1974 Saltmarsh, Edition500 Pub. Onwin. Edinburgh 1975 Saltmarsh. Pub. Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh. 1978 The Recovery of Dissolved Substances, Edition 1000 Pub. Arnofini/ Onwin. Bristol 1981 Solve et Coagula, Pub. St Andrews University. St Andrews. 1988 Earth Icons/ The Chymical Garden, Pub. Artsite, Bristol 1988 Revenges of Nature. Pub. Fruitmarket/ Third Eye, Edinburgh/ Glasgow. 1991 As Above So Below, Edition 1250, Pub. Henry Moore sculpture Trust. Leeds 1996 Flammable Solid/ Flammable Liquid. Edition 100. Pub. Tramway/Onwin. Glasgow.
SELECTED COLLECTIONS work in the following collections
British Council
Contemporary Arts Council Scottish Arts Council Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Salford University Arts Council of Great Britain Kelvin Grove Museum, Glasgow City Arts Centre, Edinburgh Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester Global Crossing Collection Art in the Ark, London University of Dundee Edinburgh College of Art Tate Gallery, London Yorkshire Sculpture Park Scottish Parliament Southampton City Art Gallery
RADIO and TELEVISION
1994 'Artist in the Landscape' An interview with Professor Martin Kemp, Radio 3. 2000 Tacsi, BBC2 Gaelic Television, Programme relating to Surfaces Exhibition. 2004 ARTWORKS, Channel 4 Scotland "HANGING IN PARLIAMENT"
PERSONAL BIOGRAPHY
1947 Born Edinburgh Scotland. 1966-70 Studied Edinburgh College of Art, School of Drawing and Painting. 1970 Graduated Edinburgh College of Art, DA Edin. 1971 Awarded Postgraduate Scholarship, Edinburgh College of Art. 1971 Prize winner Northern Young Contemporaries. 1972 Scottish Arts Council Award for travel in the United States 1972 Graduated from Moray House College of Education 1972-79 Art Teacher in Edinburgh Schools 1974-84 Board Member of New 57 Gallery, Edinburgh. 1979 First artist to be awarded the Scottish Arts Council Bursary to work in S.A.C. Amsterdam Studio. 1979 Part Time Lecturer, Edinburgh College of Art. 1979 Visiting lecturer, Glasgow School of Art. 1980 Visiting lecturer, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art. 1982 Exhibition Selector: Scottish Art Now, Scottish Arts Council Edinburgh Festival Exhibition. 1983 Visiting lecturer, Grays School of Art. 1984 Elected Painter Member of the Royal Scottish Academy. 1987 Appointed full time lecturer, School of Drawing and Painting, Edinburgh College of Art. 1992 Appointed Director of Postgraduate Study, School of Drawing and Painting, Edinburgh College of Art 1992 Awarded the W & J Burness Prize, Royal Scottish Academy. 1993 Awarded Sir William Gillies Bequest for travel in the U.S.A. 1994 Appointed Senior Lecturer, Edinburgh College of Art. 1997-2000 External Examiner for BA, Fine Art - Staffordshire University. 1998 Appointed Reader Edinburgh College of Art. 1999 Visiting lecturer, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne. 2000-2003 External Examiner, Masters in Fine Arts, University of Newcastle upon Tyne. 2003 Winner DCA Data Solutions Award, Royal Scottish Academy, annual exhibition 2004 External examiner, Fine Art PhD candidate, University of Newcastle upon Tyne. 2005 Internal examiner, Sculpture PhD candidate, Edinburgh College of Art. 2005 Member of the Saltire Society arts and design in architecture committee. 2006 External examiner, BA Sculpture, Northbrook College Sussex. Appointed by the Open University.