A MAN who served nearly ten years in jail for drugs offences is set to join the ranks of Italian Scots at the forefront of Scottish art.
Michele Caira's favourite school subject was art but he was drawn into the family entertainment business, managing nightclubs, bingo and fruitmachines.
He then got into "quite a bit of trouble" with the drugs scene and from 1995 he spent about
ten years in prison, with breaks, for drugs offences, he said.
He started attending art school from an open prison.
Today, the 57-year-old from Fife is among the prize-winning students graduating from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and
hopes to make a living selling prints.
His studio is in Leven, near where the top-selling artist Jack Vettriano was born, and another Italian Scot, the sculptor and print-maker Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, is among his inspirations.
He has been accepted to the master's degree in fine arts course from September – but had to take a "nerve-wracking" eight-month break in his third year at the college when he was sent back to prison.
Mr Caira receives the Bernard Cooper Memorial Prize today for his print-making work in his degree show.
Staff describe him as a model student who produces top-quality work.
With a muscular build, Mr Caira cuts an unusual figure at the Dundee art college, arriving for classes in leathers on a high-powered motorbike.
"He's a pretty model student, highly prolific, spends every working hour in the print-making department, and is very accomplished technically," said Professor Gary Fisher, who oversees fourth year students.
"He's got quite a colourful background. He's got a big physical presence, but is quite a gentle character. I could well imagine a gallery selling his prints."
His prints reflect the "industrial archeology" of Fife, with desolate scenes portrayed in abstract images of cogs and machinery, Professor Fisher said.
Mr Caira says his criminal record has ruled out a return to the entertainment business because of licensing requirements.
His grandfather was drowned in the Arandora Star, the ship on which Paolozzi's father, grandfather and uncle lost their lives. It was taking Italian internees to Canada during the Second World War when it was sunk by a German U-boat.
He returned to prison in his third year after he was charged again on drugs supply offences, but was later acquitted. "It's well in my past," he said.
"Prison was a great waste of time but in some respects it's helping me re-evaluate my life and it was a very positive thing," he said.
The artist and gallery promoter Ricky Demarco said: "Here is an example of someone proving the point that art exists to heal the self-inflicted wounds that we are adept at making as society or as individuals."
The full article contains 479 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
