Fourth year BA (Hons) Sculpture student Maria McStay has been selected as the winner of this year’s Astaire Art Prize, for her work Collective Future.

Three students receive runners-up prizes:

• Esther Forse – fifth year MA (Hons) Fine Art
• Jackie Gibb – fourth year BA (Hons) Sculpture
• Carlotta Mateus De Hildenbrand – fifth year MA (Hons) Fine Art

The prize was established by University of Edinburgh graduate Mark Astaire to recognise outstanding undergraduate work by students at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA). 

After the prizegiving, held at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, Mark said: “I think the entries this year were really of incredibly high standard, it was very difficult to choose. Also, there was a lot of variety across the different disciplines, so it was a really strong year. I’ve been doing it for 12 years now and this year is certainly as strong as any, and maybe the strongest ever.

“The winning entry had a real ‘Wow’ quality to it, it immediately hits you as being a very beautiful piece of work, beautifully executed.  And actually, though it was difficult to make a decision about a lot of the prizes, there was a unanimous view that it was the most exciting work.”

More about the prizewinners' work

Maria McStay

Collective Future - Is a physical archive of space and time, advocating for a collective respect for the earth. The pot’s earthy tones and rugged texture adds character to any home, blending with both rustic and modern interiors as a unique and sustainable piece.

Esther Forse

Disaster Painting 2 - I am exploring the idea of Utopia in my paintings, through imagery taken from old postcards of model villages. I have chosen this painting here because it best captures the beauty and the tension of this subject matter - a whole miniature town plan which is sunlit and dreamlike, but also sinister.

Jackie Gibb

How many wishes would it take? - Reflecting on an increasingly complex and politically unstable world, I ask how many wishes it would take to create a peaceful world. As summer ends in Scotland, it is not unusual to see seeds swept up by a light breeze and carried into the path of people who momentarily catch and then release their individual ‘wishes’. How Many Wishes Would It Take? is a sculpture created with hundreds of thistle seeds collected at the end of summer 2024. The seed ‘wishes’ are contained in a Perspex box lit from the base; their fragility protected while they are waiting to be granted.

Carlotta Mateus De Hildenbrand

Control - Hand-carved life size pewter casts of contraceptive methods that strive to promote knowledge on sexual health awareness and what options are open to everyone by displaying common contraceptive methods, ordered top to bottom from most to least effective according to user statistics. In a time where women’s sexual rights are being continuously debated internationally, knowledge of contraceptives seems more keen than ever, yet rarely openly discussed. Artwork that contributes to knowledge on medical sexual autonomy is critical, reaching a wider audience through visual mediums can help to highlight these oftentimes invisible issues that are cast onto women to undertake.