Elected ARSA: 16 March 1983
Fred Stiven was an artist, teacher and polymath who influenced a generation of artist and designers.
Born in Fife he was educated at Thurrock School, Grays, Essex and Beath High School, Cowdenbeath, before studying design in Edinburgh College of art from 1946 to 1950 under Leonard Rosoman and John Kingsley Cook. He was awarded a postgraduate scholarship in 1950-51.
Prior to National Service in the Army, Fred Stiven was a lecturer in typography. On release from the forces, he worked for four years with Fife Education Authority, joining the staff of Gray's School of Art, Aberdeen, on 1958. For a number of years he led the general course in design before succeeding George Mackie as head of design in 1987, a post that he held until 1992.
Those students who had the good fortune to have studied in Aberdeen when Fred Stiven taught as Gray's School of Art found him to be an inspirational teacher. They were taught to appreciate the skills of the craftsman. Fred attributed his instincts and ability as a craftsman in art to his kinship to the 19th-century Stivens of Laurencekirk, marks of finely crafted boxes for snuff and tobacco.
Stiven's teaching was centred on the importance of draughtsmanship in all forms of the creative arts, in typography, in textile design, in painting and sculpture. His former students, many of whom are now established artists and designers, owe much of their visual education to his breadth of knowledge and his enthusiasm for the visual arts.
Partial RSA Obituary, transcribed from the 1997 RSA Annual Report
