AHM (Ainsley, Harding & Moffat)
AHM (Ainsley Harding Moffat) undertook a three year Research Residency at Glasgow Sculpture Studios throughout 2008-11. They are Sam Ainsley, David Harding, Sandy Moffat, three of Scotland’s cultural figures who are recognised individually as having contributed enormously to Glasgow as a leading centre for contemporary art, to the city’s cultural life in general, and as promoters of Scotland’s art and culture around the world.
Sam Ainsley, David Harding and Sandy Moffat have been instrumental in the development of the culture of art born in Glasgow and exported around the world for over 25 years. Put simply – the very idea of Glasgow as a new and vibrant centre for visual art would not exist on the scale or depth without their sustained efforts over a lifetime. (Ross Sinclair)
Sam Ainsley is an artist and teacher and until recently was Head of the MFA Programme at The Glasgow School of Art. She has forged a remarkable career within the visual arts sector nationally and internationally. In 1991 she co-founded the Master of Fine Art course having taught at GSA since 1981, she has been the course Director since its inception. She is a respected and published spokeswoman for the visual arts and her own artwork is in a number of public and private collections nationally and internationally.
David Harding is an artist, writer and teacher. He was appointed Head of the new Environmental Art Course at The Glasgow School of Art in 1985. He taught the course for over fifteen years and, with Ainsley, is widely credited with its outstanding international acclaim. He has written numerous articles on public art and education in contextual practice in art and remains an influential commentator on public art.
Alexander (Sandy) Moffat emerged as on one of the Scottish Realist Painters, so called because of their social awareness and rejection of the decorative principles that defined much Scottish art during the first half of the twentieth century. From 1979 Moffat taught at Glasgow School of Art where he encouraged a new generation of Scottish figurative painters including Peter Howson, ken Currie and Steven Campbell and Adrian Wiszniewski. He was Head of painting from 1992 until 2005. He has written extensively on Scottish art and has curated several important exhibitions of contemporary painting.
During their residency AHM have organised a series of symposia entitled State of Play: Art & Culture in Scotland Today in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee.