Adele Patrick, our widely admired Lifelong Learning and Creative Development Manager, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate at the GSA graduation on Friday 16 June 2017.
A GSA graduate whose association with the institution continues to this day, Adele has over the last 30 years become one of the most important and influential voices in Glasgow.
Adele first came to Glasgow as a 17-year old to study embroidery and woven textiles. In the 1980s she was one of the first students on the GSA’s MDes programme through which she met Ross Hunter and Janice Kirkpatrick. As students the trio co-founded the innovative design agency, Graven Images, which under the direction of Kirkpatrick and Hunter has been a leading light in the city’s flourishing creative economy for the last 30 years.
Feminism and the politics of gender have always been central to Adele’s practice and it was therefore no surprise when in 1987 she established Women in Profile, the forerunner to the Glasgow Women’s Library. Through the work of this organisation Patrick made sure that women were front and centre in Glasgow’s year as European Capital of Culture. The Glasgow Women’s Library emerged from the work she lead during the 1990 festival and for the last 27 years Adele Patrick has worked tirelessly to ensure that this unique institution continues to be a beacon for equality and diversity.
“Adele Patrick’s achievements are remarkable,” says Professor Tom Inns, Director of The Glasgow School of Art. “She has harnessed her passion for women’s issues and her entrepreneurial spirit to create and sustain one of the most important institutions in the city – the Glasgow Women’s Library.”
“Adele has been an inspiration and an example to generations of students at the GSA as well as to the people of her adopted city. We are delighted to be able to recognise her contribution through this honorary doctorate.”
‘I considered myself hugely fortunate to have been accepted onto a Glasgow School of Art course, so over three decades later to be receiving this accolade is beyond anything I could have imagined,” says Adele Patrick. “The GSA, and the vibrant milieu of Glasgow in the 1980s and 1990s were incredibly formative for me and for so many others; important, long-lasting friendships were fostered and creative, cultural and campaigning seeds were sown. I am terrifically proud to be associated with GSA and incredibly touched to be honoured in this way.”
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