Biography

Syme Boyd was born in Edinburgh in 1910. She studied at Edinburgh College of Art from 1929 to 1933 and was awarded a scholarship to travel to Paris, studying under the acclaimed animalier sculptor Édouard Navellier. A second scholarship allowed Boyd to travel to Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Belgium and France in 1934, returning to Edinburgh later that year when she settled in Belford Mews. She stayed there till her death in 1997, with only a brief interruption for war service as part of the London Auxiliary Ambulance Service. Boyd exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) and the Royal Glasgow Institute (RGI), as well as creating work for St Mary’s Episcopal Church in Corstorphine, amongst other ecclesiastical commissions.