New Provost/Vice President of Academic Affairs Named at Cornish College of the Arts

President Nancy J. Uscher announced today the appointment of Moira Scott Payne as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Cornish College of the Arts. Ms. Payne is currently Programme Director of Art and Media, at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee, in Dundee, Scotland. She will assume her new position at Cornish on October 1, 2013.

"Moira Scott Payne will be an excellent addition to the leadership team of Cornish College of the Arts," said President Uscher. "She brings a remarkable combination of academic credentials and experience, in addition to her background as a working artist, to the position of Provost and VP of Academic Affairs. She will also provide new perspective and connection to a wider, global community, helping us ensure that Cornish delivers on the promise of our mission to create artists, citizens and innovators."

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design is rated as the top art school in Scotland for both research and teaching. The Art and Media team covers three program pathways: Art Philosophy and Contemporary Practices, Fine Art and Time Based Art, and Digital Film, and two Masters Programs, Art Society and Publics, and Art and Humanities.

As Programme Director of Art and Media, Ms. Scott Payne has created a network of links with external and international arts organizations, and, in collaboration with Dundee Contemporary Arts, has run the DJCAD Speakers Programme for more than 10 years. Her recent academic papers given include an art /science collaboration that resulted in Drawing As An Act of Engagement published by the University of La Paz, and From the Tattoo Parlour to the Venice Biennale for NAFE, London and Sense and Sensibility, Department of Philosophy, Dundee University.

Ms. Scott Payne has visited and lectured in art colleges across the U.S. and the UK, including The Art Institute of Chicago, The University of Maryland, Washington and Maryland Institute College of Art.

Significant awards include The Patrick Allan of Fraser Trust Scholarship, The John Kinross Travel Award to Florence, an SED award to Sienna, The Alastair Salvesen painting award, £10,000 travel to Alaska, The Carnegie Publishing Award, Awards For All, Scottish Arts Council, Grundtvig Award, British Council Award, and an Angus Arts Award.

Ms. Scott Payne Has a B.A. (Hons) in Drawing and Painting from Glasgow School of Art and works as an interdisciplinary artist, arts administrator and educator. Her practice involves time-based media; photography; drawing and painting; and curatorial and community-based collaborative projects.

Ms. Scott Payne is interested in materiality and knowledge transfer, and her various projects have examined how information and meaning translate across discipline boundaries.
Projects include Piano Drawing, a collaboration with Creative Scotland Award winner, jazz pianist Brian Kellock, published by Hungry Dog Press; Blind Sight, a sound installation, Turku Finland, published by Salty Press; Digital VD, a film project bringing together Scottish and American artists to make films that challenged IP convention and looked at ownership and influence allowing a random screening of sound and image.

Payne's project, 100 Women Paint The Sea, funded by The Scottish Arts Council/Heritage Lottery Fund and The Angus Arts Award, gathered women living along the East Coast of Scotland to make a comment on their lives in relation to the sea. The project set out to be a systematic study of the effects of the fishing industry in severe decline but went on to look at how arts in the community can demonstrate citizenship through the presentation of various collaborations, exchanges, seminars, workshops, performances and events. The project was published in six languages and widely represented in the U.K. press.

A recent art project, Spoken Spaces, funded through the EU (Grundtvig) programme and The British Council, gathered a network of artists from European arts centers - Landkunstleben, Steinhofel Germany, Schloss Pluschow Germany, Fort Monostori Hungary together with The Hospitalfield Trust Scotland, and other partners, Suomenlinna Finland and Ujazdowski Castle, Museum of Contemporary Art, Poland - to develop new strategies using the creative arts to actively encourage the involvement and participation of adult communities with their own Historic and Cultural Centres.

Ms. Scott Payne is part of the Leabhar Mor na Gaidhlig, The Great Book of Gaelic, which brought together artists, poets and calligraphers, currently on international tour but shown in the Gallery of Modern Art Glasgow and the Smithsonian Institute Washington D.C. The project is funded by Esmee Fairburn, The Scottish Executive and The British Council.

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