First all-female appointment of prestigious role at Royal Scottish Academy

Julie Brook, Anna Geerdes, Moyna Flannigan, Denise Bennetts and Eilidh Henderson will join renowned names including Sir William Gillies and Elizabeth Blackadder to be invited to participate in the life of the Academy by sitting on committees and awards panels, as well as taking on office bearer roles.

They will also be asked to deposit a Diploma Work into the RSA’s Nationally Recognised Collection. The collection dates back 200 years and is one of the largest and most important collections of Scottish art and associated archives and artefacts anywhere in the world.

Sculptor Ms Brook, who created a new public commission, Tide Line, in the East Neuk of Fife, has spent the last decade making work in stone and marble quarries in Japan, Cumbria and Italy. Meanwhile Netherlands-born Ms Geerdes, who moved to Scotland in 1991, has created work inspired by her home in Hoy, Orkney and was the 2011 recipient of the RSA Landscape Award and the 2021 recipient of the W Gordon Smith Award.

Meanwhile, Ms Flannigan, from Kirkcaldy, who has taught at Edinburgh College of Art since 2015, earlier this year received the Blackadder Houston Mid-Career Painting Award from the RSA.

She said: “I think the election of five women signals a positive intent and I’m looking forward to working with the RSA to bring the work of under-represented artists to a wider audience.”

Architect Ms Bennetts has been lauded for her work as co-founder of practice Bennetts Associates in 1987 with her partner Rab Bennetts, as well as being a respected architectural critic, an assessor for several awards schemes and a recent chair of the RIBA National and International Awards Group. Ms Henderson, who was named RIAS Emerging Architect of the Year in 2018, has led strategic and capital projects in a wide range of sectors, with a focus and keen interest in placemaking and settings for culture and communities.

Colin Greenslade, director of the RSA, said: “It’s wonderful to welcome five new elected members as Academicians this year. Julie, Moyna and Anna’s practice talks to the rich landscapes of Scotland as well and of the human condition and of our wider society and environment.

“Denise and Eilidh bring collectively over 60 years of experience in the field of architecture and are both noted leaders in their field, not only contributing to architecture but to arts, culture and sustainability more broadly. We look forward to working with them and to adding their diploma work to our collection.”

Flora La Thangue, head of programme at the RSA, said: “We are thrilled that this year we welcome five women as Academicians to our fold as we celebrate our 200th anniversary year.

“Their work sits perfectly with our programme for 2026, which also includes great women RSAs such as Joyce W. Cairns PPRSA and Dame Barbara Rae RSA.”

Each academician will offer a diploma work for the collection, which is representative of their practice. Once accepted, the work elevates the academician elect to full academician status.

These accumulated diploma works have formed the Academy’s core collection, which is recognised by the Scottish Government as a Collection of National Significance.