One of Scotland's leading contemporary artists has been appointed to a new chair at the University of Dundee in the faculty in which he was a student 20 years ago.
Professor Calum Colvin, whose unique style of "constructed photography" has earned an international reputation takes the new Chair of Fine Art Photography based at the Faculty of Duncan of Jordanstone College.
Colvin, who was born in Glasgow, joined Duncan of Jordanstone College as a student in 1978, laying the foundations for his later career by studying sculpture and photography there. After graduating he specialised in photography at the Royal College of Art in London and returned to teach part time at the College ten years later.
Colvin's rare approach is to assemble a tableau of objects - many of them everyday domestic kitsch - which are then painted and photographed. The whole falls into place from the camera's fixed point of view. His works, which include well known pieces such as Sacred and Profane and the Kelvingrove Eight are internationally renowned, widely exhibited, and held in many public collections including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh.
Dean of the Faculty Professor Georgina Follett welcomed the appointment: "Calum Colvin is one of Scotland's most exciting artistic talents. For students to be able to come to Duncan of Jordanstone College and know they will be able to develop under his guidance is a wonderful incentive. Calum is no stranger to the college - he has taught here part time for some years - but it's a great coup for Dundee to have established a unique personal chair of this nature, held by the leading figure in the field. " Postgraduate courses based on Colvin's expertise are expected to follow. Calum Colvin: "To be given this chair in the college where I first studied as a 17-year-old art student is a great honour. I look forward to working with the students - to tuning into their ideas, enjoying their enthusiasm and watching them develop."/ends
For an interview with Colvin call Jenny Marra in the press office.