New portrait celebrates Principal’s time at GCU

A portrait of the Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Pamela Gillies CBE FRSE was unveiled at a celebration event on Wednesday in which the Principal was joined by colleagues and friends to mark her leadership of the University over the past 17 years.

The event, hosted by Sally Magnusson, was held to mark Professor Gillies' stepping aside at the end of this month and featured the unveiling of her portrait by artist Alastair Adams.

The large-scale work captures the Principal in the lively stairwell of the Sir Alex Ferguson Library, at the heart of the University's campus, and was painted both on location and in the artist's studio in Rutland. Dressed in her robes of office yet surrounded by her students and the buzz of campus, the image blends the formality of her role with the informality of student life.

Professor Gillies said: "It was a joy and an honour to be joined by so many of my colleagues and friends at a celebration of the time we have worked together. It was a wonderful event and a wee bit emotional! My thanks to everyone for their kind words and to all at GCU for their dedication to creating a university we can be incredibly proud of.

"It was a privilege to join everyone for the unveiling of my magnificent portrait. Alastair Adams is an incredible artist who has captured me amid the vibrancy of university life that I will miss so much. My sincere thanks to the University for commissioning this portrait, which actually feels a bit like me."

Alastair said: "Both Pamela and her team at Glasgow Caledonian have been welcoming and extremely supportive throughout the process. It's been a pleasure to paint Pamela's portrait and we will remember our trips to Glasgow fondly."

Alastair and the Principal looked at a range of potential locations for the portrait's setting before unanimously opting for the stairwell. The portrait will be hung on campus.

In 2008, Alastair was named the youngest president of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, the youngest in the society's 120-year history, and is currently the society's treasurer.

He has been painting portraits since the mid-1990s and his work is held in collections around the world including those of the universities of Cambridge and Oxford, Princeton and Yale, as well as the Commonwealth Secretariat and several Royal Societies. In 2013, Alastair was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to paint former Prime Minister Tony Blair for its Primary Collection.

Colleagues including University Archivist Carole McCallum, Yunus Chair and Distinguished Professor of Health Economics Professor Cam Donaldson, Director of Recruitment and Admissions Stephanie Pitticas and former Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor James Miller. now Principal and Vice-Chancellor of UWS, were among the speakers celebrating the Principal's leadership, focusing on GCU's pioneering women, 17 years of transformative leadership, empowering the student voice and community engagement.