Aberdeen Art Gallery has announced the recipients of the latest round of Micro-Commissions.
Three North-east-based artists will make new works inspired by the Archives, Gallery & Museums’ (AAGM) collection. The awards are supported by the Friends of Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums. The term ‘Micro-Commissions’ is used to describe these awards, due to the relatively short development and making time of up to 12 weeks.
Earlier this year creative practitioners living in AB postcode areas were invited to submit proposals for small-scale commissions inspired by the AAGM collection. In the year Aberdeen hosted the Tall Ships Races, artists were also asked to respond to the theme of Aberdeen as a maritime city and its relationship with the North Sea.
The Gallery team received 40 submissions this year, up from 29 in 2025. They were considered by the selection panel of Jessica Barrie and Griffin Coe (AAGM curators), Rosemary Kaye (Secretary of the Friends of AAGM), and artist Daisy Williamson who received a Micro-commission award in 2024.
The 2025 recipients are:
- Kirsty Cameron: £1,000
- Bethany Reid: £1,000
- AJ Simpson: £2,500
Kirsty Hilda Cameron
Councillor Martin Greig, Aberdeen City Council’s culture spokesperson, said: “Since the Micro-Commissions were established in 2020, 26 North-East-based artists have been commissioned to make new work inspired by Aberdeen’s outstanding collection of art and history. We are grateful to the Friends of Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums for providing vital financial support for these important opportunities for local artists. The original artwork that has been produced is impressive and inspiring. I’m particularly pleased that this year’s commissions will reflect on Aberdeen as a maritime city and its relationship with the North Sea. This year’s Micro-commissions are another important legacy of Aberdeen’s time as host port for the Tall Ships Races.”
Rosemary Kaye, Secretary of the Friends of AAGM and member of the selection panel, said: “The Friends are once again delighted to support the Micro-Commissions programme, which aims to bring the huge wealth of artistic talent in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire to the fore. It is particularly rewarding to be able to offer these great opportunities to three local creatives with such impressive skills and vision. The standard of the proposals received this year was exceptionally high. I felt privileged to be a member of the selection panel, and very much enjoyed discussing some outstanding submissions with my fellow judges. I encourage anyone who is working in any area covered by the brief to consider applying in 2026.”
AJ Simpson
About the 2025 Micro-commission recipients:
Kirsty Hilda Cameron is an illustrator and film photographer living and working in Aberdeen. Her candid style of photography seeks to portray people as they truly are, rather than how we are conditioned to present ourselves. Her illustrative style allows for unique idiosyncrasies, emphasising intimacy and individuality. Kirsty aims to capture moments of genuine joy, love in its many forms, and the quiet connections that reveal our shared humanity. Her proposal, entitled Tides that Bind, seeks to capture the community that has formed around wild swimming at Aberdeen Beach. Combining 35mm film photography with illustrative elements and fragments of swimmers’ words, the work will create layered portraits that celebrate connection, resilience, and belonging.
Bethany Reid’s practice invites engagement with the natural world and shared responsibility for non-human life. She received the Gray’s School of Art Socially and Environmentally Engaged Creative Award, the Scottish Society of Artists’ New Graduate Award, and was selected for the Royal Scottish Academy’s New Contemporaries 2025 exhibition. Her work spans sculpture and puppetry, using found and recycled materials to create animal forms inspired by impressionist colour theory and textile techniques. Taking inspiration from George Mackie’s Aberdeen at Work and Edwin Landseer’s Flood in the Highlands, Bethany will create an interactive textile seal mask, using recycled textiles and found materials. The final piece will function as both a sculptural artwork and an interactive experience, encouraging audiences to consider Aberdeen’s maritime identity through the eyes of another species with humour, empathy, and care.
AJ Simpson graduated from Grays School of Art in 2021 with a BA Hons in 3D Design, specialising in ceramics. In 2022, AJ won The Great Pottery Throwdown on Channel 4, and has since taken their practice full-time from their studio at the Deemouth Artist Studios community in Aberdeen. AJ crafts a mix of wheel-thrown and hand-built pieces. They enjoy exploring the novel side of ceramics through their fun ‘blob’ series of decorative one-off characters. Alongside their series of small ornamental figurines, AJ fuses fun with function in their series of blob crockery which includes blob mugs, bowls, plant pots and more! In recent years they have been pushing the limits of their sculpting skills to produce larger forms in a series of dinosaur blobs which showcase bright colours and goofy expressions. AJ’s proposal, The Old Torry Brownie, is inspired by walks with their dog in Old Torry, where they comb the beach for “treasures” and take note of all the diverse wildlife along our coast. A childhood fascination with folklore led AJ to discover tales of Aberdeenshire’s Brownies – a shy, magical house spirit, and a mischievous collector of odd things, said to transform into a troublesome Boggart if it ever became displeased.
Bethany Reid
Visitors to Aberdeen Art Gallery can see works on display which were created during previous rounds of Micro-commissions:
- Gallery 1 – Collecting Art: Works by Daisy Williamson, C(U)SP: Collection of (Unfinished) Shared Projects and Flying Lion.
- Gallery 15 – View of Aberdeen: Works by Lis Bos, Helen Scaife and Clive Ramage
- Gallery 19 –Spotlight Display: works by Mary Bourne and Bruce Swanson, who received awards in the last round of Micro-commissions, went on display at the beginning of October as part of a selection of recent acquisitions.