The Royal Scottish Academy of Art & Architecture (RSA) is delighted to announce that Arthur Watson RSA has been elected the twenty-first President of the Academy.

First elected to the Academy as an Associate Academician in 1986, Arthur was elected full Academician in 2005 and has held the office of Secretary of the Academy since 2007.

Arthur Watson is a major figure in the Scottish art world. He is a distinguished artist whose work has been shown widely throughout Scotland and internationally. His recent projects include site-specific works in the Cairngorms and Skye, with Will Maclean RSA, and installations in Chicago, Venice and Nagoya.

He was the founder and Artistic Director of Peacock Printmakers in Aberdeen, and as a master-printer he has worked with many of the most significant contemporary artists from Scotland, the UK and abroad. He has also served on the boards of several arts organisations including the Demarco European Art Foundation, and was a special advisor to the Director of the Edinburgh International Festival. He is currently on the boards of WASPS (Workshop and Studio Provision, Scotland) and the Pier Arts Centre Orkney.

He has had a distinguished academic career and is a senior lecturer and researcher at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, University of Dundee, and has played an important role in research development within fine art. He has been a visiting lecturer, assessor and advisor at many institutions here and abroad.

Since becoming RSA Secretary Arthur has led several of the key initiatives at the Academy, including revision of the RSA Constitution, rationalisation of the RSA Collection and setting up the RSA Foundation. He has also made a significant contribution to the development of the exhibition programmes at the Academy and, with Euan McArthur, curated the recent highly successful exhibition ‘10 DIALOGUES: RICHARD DEMARCO, SCOTLAND AND THE EUROPEAN AVANT GARDE’ at the RSA.

The election of a new RSA President was due to the untimely death of President Professor Bill Scott.

Source: RSA