Carla Angus - MA Contemporary Art Practice
After meeting her husband, Carla moved to Banff in the North East of Scotland, and opened a successful creative development business called The Creative Retreat, in Gardenstown. Over the next 10 years, she led residential visual arts courses, artist residencies, workshops, curated exhibitions and organised cultural events for the third sector, public sector and education.
Having always wanted to return to education and to challenge herself with new areas of creative work, Carla seized the opportunity to apply to Gray鈥檚 School of Art鈥檚 Master鈥檚 in Art & Design. Her children had grown up, and with a part time job as a Cultural Development Officer at Aberdeenshire Council, she had more time and flexibility to take on a masters.
鈥�Gray's was the logical place to go; I have friends who recommended the course and although it鈥檚 50 miles away, it鈥檚 fairly close to home. My daughter Isobel is also graduating in Communication Design from Gray鈥檚 next year, so it鈥檚 been great to be on campus at the same time.鈥�
Carla鈥檚 MA degree show focuses on arts in heritage, and creatively responds to stories generated by artefacts and buildings. She uses a deep mapping approach to contextualise and generate multiple threads of research. Her work centres around two bodies of work called 鈥楢 Choice Cut鈥� and 鈥楤oiled Fowl鈥�. Both projects vary in concept and materials and are informed and guided by each story.
A Choice Cut is a sculptural installation inspired by a seal skin waistcoat inherited by Carla鈥檚 husband, that reflects on the practice of seal hunting within Inuit and European cultures. It takes the form of a long formal dining table set with bespoke crockery, cutlery, tablecloth, and glassware.
Boiled Fowl is an augmented reality piece sited in Garthdee House at Robert Gordon University, that explores links with the building鈥檚 first owner whose local provisions business expanded to serve British colonies worldwide in the 19th and 20th centuries, thanks to entrepreneurship, royal warrants, technological advances in tinned food, and war.
鈥淢y work is rooted in the belief that objects, such as artefacts, buildings, and people, are more comprehensively and empathetically understood when considered from multiple points of view.
鈥淚 hope people will be intrigued, interested, and possibly challenged as the nature of the topics can evoke strong feelings; I hope they provoke discussion.
鈥淚鈥檝e so enjoyed my time here, it鈥檚 been wonderful to spread my wings and engage my brain in a new creative way; I鈥檝e worked with metal, clay, cloth, resin, digital platforms, found objects and drawing and the facilities at Gray鈥檚 have been fantastic.
It鈥檚 been hard work at times balancing my job, family life, other commitments, and travelling, but definitely worth it. I am actually shattered right now!鈥�
Carla has been accepted on to Gray鈥檚 Graduate in Residence Programme and will be linking up with a project she鈥檚 leading at the Edinburgh Episcopal Cathedral that will be using a 鈥榗all and response鈥� approach to developing work. This will involve several research visits to the Cathedral leading to a sharing event during the Edinburgh Fringe 2025.
For anyone considering studying a MA at Gray鈥檚, Carla says they should just go for it.
鈥淵ou need to be very self-directed, prepared to challenge yourself and be challenged, speak to current and ex-students to make sure it鈥檚 the course for you, consider doing the course over two years to allow more thinking time, and then jump in!鈥�