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Joyce Cairns trained at Gray's School of Art from 1966 to 1970 and then proceeded to study in London obtaining a Master of Art from the Royal College of Art and then her teaching qualification from Goldsmiths College, University of London in 1976. Since then she has resided at Fittie in Aberdeen and in 1976 she became a lecturer in Drawing and Painting at Gray's School of Art. She has exhibited at the RSA Annual Exhibitions from 1971 the year in which she won the Carnegie Travelling Scholarship. She became an Associate Member of the RSA in 1985 and an Academician in 1998.In 2018 she became the first woman to be elected President of the Royal Scottish Academy, holding office until 2022.