#UnwrapArt: Artists’ Editions
#UnwrapArt is SCAN’s annual campaign inviting the public to support Scotland’s artists and makers while buying gifts and experiences that loved ones will treasure. This week, we’re bringing you a guide to our members’ editions – from limited run artists’ prints to more unusual one-off or numbered works, all at multiple price points.
£210 or £35 per month for six months
Founded in 2020, Sculpture Placement Group’s SPG Club is an affordable, sustainable way to collect art. For a monthly subscription, or an upfront fee, club members get a unique piece of sculpture and behind-the-scenes access along the way. We have one of Tessa Silva’s SPG works in the SCAN office, and we love it! This festive season, sign a loved one up to the club and they’ll get an artwork by Glasgow-based artist Clara Ursitti in June 2024, with a look at the production process, exclusive artist interviews and access to the member community.
sculptureplacementgroup.org.uk
16NSt: Shae Myles prints
£20 or £35
We loved our visit to Shae Myles’ exhibition Hush Lil Baby, currently on show at Strange Field in Glasgow – and thanks to 16NSt, you can gift one of her colourful Polly Pocket-themed drawings as A5 or A4 prints. We’re particularly fond of Mr Fry’s Restaurant (1990).
£300-400 or 10 monthly instalments of £30-£40
We spoke to Christian Noelle Charles about her printmaking practice for our Artists Make a Better World campaign this summer, and we were thrilled to find her playful prints for sale via our members From the Studio. The prints can be purchased via the Own Art scheme too, so you can spread the cost, support an up-and-coming artist and delight someone with her vibrant artwork.
£1,200
Have you admired the light fittings in the Fruitmarket café while having your coffee? They’re designed by multi-media artist Andrew Miller, and come in a super limited edition of just 11, with perspex components that can be endlessly rearranged into different forms. If your budget doesn’t quite stretch this far, Fruitmaket stock a number of artists’ editions at different price points. At the other end of the scale, their Tacita Dean film strip would make a lovely stocking filler at just £10.
fruitmarketbookshop.myshopify.com
Spilt Milk: Kate Marsden collage
£80
Spilt Milk is an Edinburgh-based social enterprise which supports and advocates for artists who are also mothers, through international networks and pop-up exhibitions and events. Their editions shop is full of collages, prints, photography and zines, including this gorgeous collage by Kate Marsden made from repurposed fashion magazine cuttings. Another community organisation worth looking at is Art in Healthcare, which offers a range of prints and festive cards.
£150
Orkney-based SCAN members Pier Arts Centre and Soulisquoy Printmakers teamed up ton a series of prints for Soulisquoy’s 40th anniversary, commissioned from artists working on the islands. Our favourite is this lyrical whale print by Megumi Barrington Uenoyama, which draws from both her Japanese heritage and the landscape of Orkney. As you can imagine, printmaking organisations are a great destination is you’re looking for artists’ editions – we also recommend having a look at Edinburgh Printmakers, Glasgow Print Studio and Highland Print Studio.
£300
Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art returns in 2024, and you can support the programme with a festive purchase from their editions shop. There’s prints galore from artists who have exhibited at the festival, including Lubaina Himid, Mark Leckey and Jamie Crewe, as well as this charming, melancholy stoneware piece by Erica Eyres and Garnet McCulloch, part of a series of ceramic fruit and vegetables by the pair.
Gaada: Daniel Clark riso prints
£15
Gaada’s online shop is a brilliant place to find affordable artists’ editions that help sustain contemporary art in Shetland, with the profits being split 50/50 between the artist and Gaada’s programme. We’re big fans of Daniel Clark’s witty Make Love Not War risograph print – but make sure to hurry, because every edition comes in very limited numbers.
Follow the campaign and tag your contemporary art gift tips on social media at #UnwrapArt. Find out more about the campaign on our project page.