Background and Recent Works
Mandy McIntosh is an artist from Glasgow who makes Sculpture, Community Art, Moving Image/Animation, Textiles, Drawing and Painting. Trained in fashion she worked with KENZO in Paris in the 90s before leaving to pursue an MA at Glasgow School of Art, graduating in 1994. She has worked in artist film and other disciplines ever since, both nationally and internationally. 25 years after her MA she is now a PhD candidate at Glasgow School of Art working across Fine Art and Architecture. her focus of study is in radical recuperations of sculptural artefacts which belong to community as a basis for new practice.
In the past few years she has been working predominantly in housing schemes, namely Ferguslie Park in Paisley , Easterhouse, Castlemilk and various sites in Springburn, North Glasgow, where she is from.
Her aims with community based projects are to increase the creative platforms and visibility for local people, devising projects which feature the artwork of individuals strategically brought together to make collective statements.
Recent appointments include the role of lead artist on Arbroath2020 celebratory community pageant, an event, produced by Hospitalfield, to mark the 700 year anniversary of the treaty of Arbroath. This project has been postponed until 2021 but marks a new turn in her work in terms of scale, engaging with Arbroath and people there. The artist made a short animated film of work postponed which can be viewed here.
During this time Mandy McIntosh is also recuperating a major bronze sculpture in Ferguslie Park which was commissioned to mark the opening of the Tannahill Community Centre. The work was fly tipped and dumped in plain sight of the community 12 years ago. This work is forming a radical case study for new research in Community Art and precious material permanence.
Other recent works are FEGS URNY MUGS 2019, which was commissioned and acquired for the permanent collection at Glasgow GOMA, this sculptural work comprises a collection of mugs designed by women in Ferguslie Park who are part of The Feegie Needlers collective.
Also in 2019, Mandy McIntosh was resident artist for ward 17 Springburn and Robroyston, under a new Glasgow Life initiative to place an artist in every ward of Glasgow. This residency resulted in an exhibition entitled Good Ground which featured artworks by local people and the digitally enabled recuperation of sandstone sculptures from Springburn Public Halls in 2012. Works which were almost lost lost in a sudden demolition, a civic loss opposed by local community.
In September 2018, Dear Duty, a figurative bronze sculpture featuring May Donoghue and her twin granddaughters was unveiled in Paisley. The Paisley Snail is an historic court case which underpins the globally significant legislation the Duty of Care. For this sculpture, the artist represented the woman who pursued the case and the circumstances of extreme poverty that surrounded her.
2017 brought collaborations with third sector and statutory support organisations, such as Women’s Aid and others, which has involved creative self-publishing through group work. Other recent projects include Hap Up Easterhouse at Platform for Glasgow International 2016, Yird Muin Starn for Galloway Dark Sky park and The Thunderbird’s Ballad, an animation for Channel Four commissioned by Animate Uk. Her films have been screened and broadcast nationally and internationally including Hors Piste, Sheffield Documentary Festival, Bradford Animation Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival and many others. In 2004 her project Weightless Animals was awarded a BAFTA for best interactive media.
Mandy has previously worked within the NHS as an artist engaged in the context of mental health in acute and community settings and has a focus in her work of placing strong aesthetic principles combined with community development learning at the heart of making art with other people. She is also deeply invested in textile making, printing manually and digitally as well as tapestry weaving. Her unique knitting work has also appeared internationally in several books and as a former knit and print designer with KENZO she maintains an interest in fashion and surface design. Mandy also curates a small library of craft books and has done so since 1979.
In September 2018 Mandy commenced study towards a PHD at Glasgow School of Art. The title of her research is Inflammable Phoenix, Living with Sculpture in Schemes.
contact: studio@mandymcintosh.com
