Iris Walker-Reid - Fine Art

Aberdeen born Iris Walker-Reid initially studied an HND in Art & Design at North East Scotland College before pursuing a BA in Contemporary Art Practice at Grays.

Building on her undergraduate success, Iris has studied a MA Fine Art at Grays and become RGU's Contemporary Art Practice Graduate in Residence. Through this role, Iris has acted as a 'go between' support for staff and students, transferring knowledge and experience between the two groups.

Iris's work explores our environment, in both its past and present, and looks at the relationships between ourselves and surroundings through the marks we leave behind. She says a city’s landscape constantly changes through abandonment and the need for change and restoration. These places form fragile memories that she seeks to express through her work.

Iris draws on these small changes to build a portrait of human life and living. She explores the history of lonely interiors with an expression of the past life displayed and exposes the raw emotions of erosion and time. 

She says familiar examples can be found in the ever-changing streets of Aberdeen where granite facades are often empty yet undergo repeated deconstruction, renovation and reconstruction. 

For her postgraduate degree project, Iris has created a giant sculpture, ‘The Palace of Façade' based on the Bridge Place palace which hosted Cooke’s colourful Royal Circus, a world-famous equestrian establishment, providing family entertainment in Aberdeen for 125 years from around 1880.

In later life, the building was adapted to the ‘Palace of Varieties Music Hall’ and subsequently became the Palace Cinema. Sadly most of the building subsequently burnt down in 1896 as most of it was flammable. All that remains is the façade.

Iris’s ‘Palace of Façade’ is made from Chinese plywood with a pine frame and is just under 5metres wide by 2.4m in height. The sculpture  is on show at the Gatehouse exit of the campus, next to Aberdeen Business School.  A small model is also on display at Gray's Postgraduate Showcase, ‘Onwards’ on St Andrew’s Street in the Look Again Project Space. 

Speaking about her experience at Grays, Iris says the School has really helped her develop her practice further and she's had great support from the staff.  She'd definitely recommend studying at Grays, mainly for the support, workshops and courses.

Upon graduating, Iris keen to keep applying for opportunities and wants to focus on her Graduate in Residence role at RGU.