CC Artist in Residence

The Big Draw

2010-10-17T04:30:00.000-07:00

The Big Draw is a national Campaign for Drawing that happens all over the country through the month of October. This year as part of the residency I organised two events to run on the 6th and 7th of October and try to get as many people in and around the college drawing for at least 5 minutes of their day. This is no mean task, a lot of people seem scared to even try and draw, but with the pressure on those who braved it and took part came up trumps..

East Dunbartonshire Campus Big Draw

The Art Students at the East Dunbartonshire campus were a real linch pin in this event. I can only applaud their imagination and their inclusiveness of everyone who took part. Our first participant on that day was Carol Huggins, the campus manager. Says it all really. The Campus rewarded us with the sentiment of it being a very substantial event and I can only thank the staff and students and all others who chose to take part in this event.

If the big draw was an album this would be the cover.

A G66 + Live participant who came back to share some inspiration

2 of our best draughtsmen at the campus

Yes it is a dinosaur.

Pure concentration.

Some of our artists of the day and as you can see from the finished images at the beginning of the post a lot of imagination and hidden talents amongst the students and staff at our East Dunbartonshire Campus. If you would like to see the drawings in more detail we are planning to exhibit them in January at the Residency Exhibition.

Pics of the Pics

Big Draw Cumbernauld Campus

October the 7th was The Big Draw at the Cumbernauld College Campus. We had a really good and varied turn out for the day, and once again was supported in whole by the art department.

The main difference picked up on quite expertly by Steven Hart was that the foreground theme on this one was roads as opposed to water, as it was for kirkintilloch. But we also had a few recurring themes. Like a cube drawn in quite high up in the second board of both sets of drawings. Aliens (always a popular one), sheep, castles and clouds.

Input from Sweden

The work of this participating artist was probably the most commented on

Just a small sample of some of our vast array of participants on the day. Again the Big Draw was supported very well by the Cumbernauld Campus too, and as in Kirkintilloch remarks made about it happening on a more regular basis. I think that now the college knows about the big draw it would be a good thing to continue on an annual basis, both days were very succesful and rewarding in the final images created by a huge selection of creative thoughts.

This is my favourite part of the Cumbernauld Campus Big Draw

G66 + Live

2010-09-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

The G66 + Live went really well. A varied exhibition of work provided the backdrop for workshops on Sunday the 29th of August. My students from Twechar Healthy Living Centre exhibited their paintings after only 5 weeks of workshops. They all did so well in the workshops it was a great excuse to show off their work at a creative community event.

Well done to you all. Your painting came on in leaps and bounds over such a short period of time.

I put in a piece of my own too, and so did Shiela and Kelly from the art department. Eddie Kennedy exhibited and had his work snapped up as well - nice one Eddie.

Sorry no pictures of the others pieces of work but hopefully they will be able to e mail me some so I can post them up on the blog.

The 29th of August was the exhibition and event day at the East Dunbartonshire Campus. I ran some workshops as part of the day. Lots of printing and stencilling and painting using the Brightworks style of art from the barges as inspiration for the workshops. Participation of parents especially of the younger children was openly encouraged and the end results were very rewarding for all involved. An especially big thank you has to go out to Jenna, one of the colleges portfolio students for volunteering to help out on the sunday - couldn't have done it without you Jenna.

The Bright Stars workshops was a family workshop so babies to 5yr olds could participate. Family panels were created using paint and stencils on coloured paper. Very messy and very rewarding.

The workshop for older children was a t shirt printing workshop. We used shapes cut from the 1st workshops stencils to create individual designs for the t shirts. It proved to be a very family orientated and inclusive day.

Having the East Dunbartonshire Campus as the venue made the workshops much more accessable and provided a great environment to create art while surrounded by art. Having an exhibition surrounding the workshop meant that we almost became a part of the exhibit and the inspiration seemed to travel back and forth between making and viewing.

Ourspace KHCC

2010-08-23T14:17:00.000-07:00

Tonight I met with a group of young people and their volunteer youth workers in Our Space based at Kirkintilloch Health and Care Centre, to discuss photos they had taken for the See Me Photography Competition 2010. A couple of the members re took their photographs and others discussed editing of their original works. We are meeting again next week to finalise their photos to enter.

After meeting with them a second time these are some of the young people taking pictures to enter the See Me photography competition and also one of the photographs they took on the night.

They used a digital camera to take a range of photos that they felt demonstrated support to them.

They have created a shortlist of images so they can select entries for the competition. It was good fun facilitating the workshop they came up with some great ideas and compositions and gained some experience of using a digital SLR. They made group decisions on which photos they wanted to choose from and I am looking forward to seeing their final choices as entries. Their teamwork and characters were a perfect example of the theme of the competition. Good luck let us know how you get on.

Positive Alternatives Peer Education Group

2010-08-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

Tonight I met with the Peer Education Group, approximately 8 young people aged between 17 and 25. They have been working with Positive Alternatives since last October training to be peer educators. They have completed their training and have now decided to develop an educational alcohol and drug based board game as a means to help other young people learn about these issues.

They have created the components for this game and I am working with them over a few sessions to help them with the visual design of it and facilitating the beginnings of a scaled down version of the life size game.

This was the beginning of the making of their miniature ( yes this is down sized) version of their game. After meeting during the week we brought together some images and lettering to accompany their concepts of the game. Initially there was a bit of concern that they would need more help in the design but I think they have proved their capabilities in bringing it all together.

This smaller version of the game gives the group the opportunity to decide on the final look of the game, choosing the designs and colours that work best for them. Ultimately they will be looking to have the game manufactured into a durable touring game that will be a forum to discuss the issues surrounding drugs and alcohol.

There was a great amount of work put into this game before I met with the group and it was good to help them a little bit toward the realisation of a great idea. Facilitating these workshops meant helping them with accumulating materials for the mock up, assisting them in finalising the look of the game and advising them on materials to complete this stage of their design.

Well done to all involved I will be in touch to see the end product.

Croy

2010-08-18T12:29:00.000-07:00

The Croy Miners Welfare is the hub for our project and our contact group is The Croy Historical Society. The centre itself has provided us with the opportunity to create a kind of time line mural in the main hall.

This is really developing into another intergenerational project with as we have our incredibly well informed research group in The Historical Society who are also actively putting the word out to family and friends in the community about the project, and bringing in young volunteers to help with the painting.

The mural is made up of 10 panels arranged around the hall so all 4 walls are used. Each panel will depict a different era and aspect of Croy but with subject matter that the surrounding communities will be able to relate to aswell.

The outside framework of the Mural represents the Roses and Castle Style or Brightwork so readily associated with the barges that use the canal and the vibrant colours will frame the sepia toned images that will be the main pictures in each panel. I will update the images as the mural is added to so you can see it progress to a finished piece.

One of the Women of Wisdom from Kilsyth kindly came to visit and help with a little bit more painting of the mural. Bit of Cross community work.

This is the underpainting for the 1st panel of Drumglass, lots of work ahead still but everyone at the centre can start to see how the will develop.

The work continues on and after the Historical Society's 10th Anniversary exhibition I will be recruiting help from our Get Ready for Work team at the College. The Exhibition went really well and drummed up interest in the mural. I am hoping to get in touch with the local Youth Group when they start up again to recruit their help too.

The recreated village home

The exhibition and panels of the mural

This part of the exhibition will be re created on the back wall.

1st wall in progress

Twechar Healthy Living Centre

2010-07-08T14:46:00.000-07:00

Twechar Healthy Living Centre - workshops run through the summer. The morning group runs 11 - 1 and is a painting class. The groups are painting the surrounding landscape of Twechar. Some have previously made images with pastels and wanted to try a new medium, and are handling the paint very well. The landscapes have come on very quickly in the first couple of sessions.

Some of the youth workers at the centre have been joining us for the classes lending their assistance and hopefully gaining some valued experience that they can put to use in the future.

All the participants are showing great promise and enthusiasm and I am looking forward to seeing how their works develop. Watch this space for further updates on their art work.

The Youth Group runs in the afternoon from 1-3 and again I have the good fortune of having assistance from the youth workers who have a great rapor with the participants and readily join in with the art making. The younger group are building up street art style images of things they have taken part in at Twechar Healthy Living Centre.

These workshops are proving to be very colourful and bold, and the list of activities that the youths have taken part in is pretty extensive. So it is providing us with a good opportunity to demonstrate the diversity of the youths in the area as well as expanding on their skills.

Looking forward to the next workshop with you all at Twechar.

Watch this post to see updates on the work being made over the summer by the young people at Twechar Healthy Living Centre.

the novice painters develop their skills

a serious business

Do you think the hair will help?

The painting class has surpassed itself. They have made great progress and are making some lovely paintings - hope to exhibit them as part of G66 + Live. Fingers crossed they will do it.

designing tags

working on posters for the centre

end workshop

Youth workers share their skills

The workshops at Twechar with youthworkers and young people were very productive. We produced a range of posters to show the centres activities and also worked on increasing street art design skills.

some of our posters

Some of the tags

Burngreen Centenary Event

2010-06-29T06:43:00.000-07:00

I will be delivering a cameo silhouette workshop as part of the Burngreen Centenary Event. Anybody who lives in the vicinity please drop by and show your support. I will be helping people create silhouettes to take home with them, and making silhouette images with stencils for younger participants. Come along and have a taste of family entertainment with an Edwardian Theme.

Silhouettes a plenty. The Burngreen Centenial was a good and busy night, the rain stayed off and with so many different things happening at the event it was a pleasure to be part of it. The workshop concentrated on drawing silhouettes with the options of using stencils. Most of the children who took part rose to the challenge and took the silhouette subject matter beyond portraits and into animals, monsters and heros, demonstrating great freedom and expression in the work they made.

Mostly children participated, with parents and family joining in to help make the silhouettes. Coloured papers came into play too and I really enjoyed the simplicity of the shapes that were created. I found it all the more interesting as I have been exploring simple decorative patterns and drawings in reference to the barges and the Roses and Castles artwork adorning them.

I took the opportunity to join in and made some quick silhouette drawings of some of the participants which they used to make cameo style images.

So a big hello to all those who took part and I hope to see you at future events in and around Kilsyth.

2010-06-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

The Get Ready for Work team on their first visit to the Auld Kirk Museum, Kirkintilloch, to see an exhibition of photography. The subject matter and styles are incredibly varied, and so it seemed the perfect place to go to get the group thinking about what they would like to photograph. Back on Tuesday for a bit of a presentation by Peter McCormack, Museum Curator.

We are working together to create an ongoing collage that will change and grow over the duration of the residency. The collage will be exhibited at the Kirkintilloch campus throughout the residency in its ever changing state.

The piece of work will build from using photography and drawing in a direct response to the surrounding landscape, how we percieve it and how we can change our perception of it.

Some of the team followed up their visit to the exhibition with a return visit which was accompanied by a guided tour by the curator of the Auld Kirk Museum, Peter McCormack.

We got to look round the stores and Peter told us about some of the history of the surrounding area.

We had a good walk around the museum and into Peel Park looking at the Lion Foundry's water fountain, a similar design can be seen at Burngreen in Kilsyth, and hearing a little about the roman history in the area.

Peter also gave us some insight into the type of objects that make their way into a museum and selected a range of exhibits that demonstrated past lives for us to have a look at.

One of the most interesting aspects of this was the everyday objects that appeared in the collection. They demonstrated ingenuity and a change in attitude within society that would change quite ordinary and practical things into oddities and curios. Some items fell into these brackets through changes in sensibilities and some through changes in ways of living. The most interesting question had to be what qualified an object to become of museum worth.

I also met up with some of the team in Glasgow at Tron 103 and the Gallery of Modern Art.

We visited Streetlevel first to have a look at some photography. The team very interested in the photo montage work that they saw there. A good tie in to their own photo montage and also showed them the level and quality that can be achieved on an artistic level.

Glasgow Print Studios is always a good place to visit. It has such a large variety of artists works and techniques on display and is always a good place to inspire questions and ideas about visual art.

The Gallery of Modern Art was also one of our destinations and again provided various styles of art and demonstrated very clear themes and ideas behind the artwork. It provided a good ground for discourse and hopefully inspired those who attended the visits.

Calander House

I met with the team on one of their excursions to visit the Alan Davie Exhibition in Falkirk.

They took the tour of the working kitchen and had a good look around the house itself as well as visiting the exhibition.

The curator of the Park Gallery was kind enough to to talk to us about the exhibition.

I also had the good fortune to meet up with my former art teacher from Kilsyth Academy Dougie McInnis.

And here's the last I saw of them (that day I mean) before they headed off to the Falkirk wheel.

We ventured back into glasgow for a show at The Project Rooms at Tron 103. Before going to the Project Rooms we got a chance to have a look at Glasgow Independent Studios Group Show which was on in the foyer in Tron 103, and got to play with Giants' giant kaleidescopes.

And if you have never had a chance to do this before here is what they look like on the inside.

The artist exhibiting at the Project Rooms was fellow Glasgow Independent Studios member, Peter Murray. Peter kindly agreed to talk to the team on their visit about the work on display at the exhibition. This was a very valuable talk to the group, as Peter is a self taught glasgow based artist and as such demonstrated to the group an interesting and alternate route into the visual arts.

Eddie Kennedy admiring Peter Murrays work

Explaining techniques and themes

Peter Murray answering questions about his exhibition

Being able to have a talk with the artist who created the show really brought the work to life for the team.
These were the works on exhibit by Peter Murray.

A varied selection of Peter Murray's work in watercolour. The team really liked this exhibition, there is a very minimalistic approach to his painting where every mark is economical, none are wasted yet there is a thorough translation of the environment through the eyes of the artist.

2010-06-14T06:57:00.000-07:00

Forth Valley Visits with NC students from the college.

Best points were definitely the diversity of work on show, crossing between fine art and design. Good diversity of subject matter too and techniques. All useful for the NC students who were very responsive to what they saw - in particular an interactive piece - lots of white linen, John and Yoko and a bed. Lots of written and drawn add ons from the Cumbernauld College NC students, and staff.

Shadow Puppetry.

Costume, textiles and craft.

Installed and inspired.

Illuminating

'Seeds Falling'

2010-06-01T04:30:00.000-07:00

This piece of work is currently on show at the Tron 103 as part of Glasgow Independent Studios Group Show. The get Ready for work team at the East Dunbartonshire campus is meeting with me there today to go and see an exhibition by self taught artist Peter Murray currently on in the Project Rooms.