EDINBURGH.- This January, the Royal Scottish Academy presents In Orcadia, an exhibition of artwork inspired Orkney's landscape and natural environment.

The exhibition includes a new body of work from Samantha Clark, the inaugural winner of the RSA MacRobert Art Award for Painting. Funded by the MacRobert Trust, this £20,000 award, which Clark received in October 2023, provides financial assistance for a committed painter whose circumstances have, for whatever reason, made it difficult to focus upon and develop their artistic talent.

Based in Birsay, Orkney, Clark describes her work as ‘a meditation on water and time, and a response to the natural environment of Orkney’. The award has supported her in an intensive period of creative study, focusing on the waters in and around Orkney, exploring how painting can sensitively attend and respond to this challenging and vital element. Her work is focused on drawing and painting, shaped by Orkney’s deeply layered human histories and its dynamic natural environment of wind, sky and water.

In Orcadia also showcases works by Academicians who are either based on, or inspired by, the Orkney Islands. Among them is Orkney-born sculptor Anne Bevan RSA (Elect), who frequently collaborates with experts from disciplines such as archaeology, anthropology, marine science, and geology. Her work explores the relationship between place and environmental change.

Victoria Crowe RSA presents new works inspired by her RSA residency at the Pier Arts Centre in 2022. Throughout her residency, Crowe immersed herself in the two most extreme periods of the celestial cycle, capturing the changing atmosphere and shifting light. Sculptor Frances Pelly RSA draws inspiration from Orkney’s natural environment, often incorporating natural materials into her practice. She will exhibit a series of carved landscapes influenced by the island’s distinctive forms.

Dame Barbara Rae RSA, renowned internationally for her bold use of colour, focuses on the history of a place and its people. Her works in the exhibition are inspired by the dramatic Yesnaby coastline. Also on display is Cliff Path by Frances Walker RSA, a print created in collaboration with Peacock to celebrate Walker’s 94th birthday.