Ian Charles Scott comes from the remote North Highlands of Scotland. He studied film in London and worked on commercials before enrolling in Dundee University to study art. He emerged as the top student in the under and post-graduate programs there gaining a B.A. 1st class honors degree and an M.F.A. in Fine Art. Upon graduating he was immediately offered a lecturing post in Sunderland Art School. He has taught under-grad and post-graduate students for 20 years. Earlier in his career he taught an art therapy based course in a maximum-security prison. Scott is a nationally and internationally recognized artist.whose works can be found in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, The Aberdeen Art Gallery, The Dundee Art Gallery, The Royal Scottish Academy, The Koyo Institute, and The Dublin Art Gallery, among others. In the US his works have been exhibited in the Silverstein Gallery, the Kravits Wehby Gallery, and in a touring exhibition Conversations with Jeff Koons and Frank Gehry. He received Scotland's highest and most sought after scholarship, "The Alastair Salvasen Award" and used it to move to the United States in 1998. He started work as an adjunct at Hostos Community College in 1999 and became full-time in 2004.