RISOTTO's RISO ROOM at The Lighthouse, Glasgow

Between 23rd March-13th May RISOTTO will be taking over Gallery 1 of the Lighthouse for a jam-packed print programme + exhibition, celebrating all things RISOGRAPH!

Throughout this period, the space will play host to a full programme of unique events. 

Highlights include:

Specialist workshops from leading movers and shakers of the print world; CORNERS (South Korea), http://corners.kr/   Atelier Bingo (France) http://atelier-bingo.fr/   and Wobby.club (Netherlands), https://www.wobby.club/ focusing on specialist prepress techniques, playful collage, and a collaborative zine workshops, respectively. 

This will be the first time these studios have delivered workshops in Scotland, offering a chance to learn from world-leading Risograph experts.

Poster Nights; our cheapest, fastest and most popular workshop will be back; and at 25 participants strong, this is as much a social as it is an intro to the print process. 

These workshops always produce a whole concoction of patterned prints for participants to take home.

Find out more about the RISO ROOM here:

https://www.risottostudio.com/category/specialworkshop/

The Word, The National Centre For The Written Word on Front Row

In times of major cuts to funding for the arts and culture, listening to Monday night's Front Row on BBC Radio 4 was a welcome treat as it reported on a new cultural venue located in South Tyneside. Last week marked the opening of The Word, The National Centre For The Written Word in South Shields.

http://bbc.in/2dQ1nQ1

"The Word forms the centrepiece of the £100 million regeneration of South Shields Town Centre. The building is brimming with exciting new experiences, activities and facilities for people of all ages to engage and enjoy, from a digital media wall and FabLab to an immersive storytelling experience and interactive touch-tables. The building will also be home to 70,000 books and OpenZone which provides digital learning and ICT to schools.

At its core The Word will celebrate the written word in all its forms through a rolling programme of events, exhibitions and workshops."

It is also a celebration of the spoken word, and there is the opportunity for visitors to add to an archive of dialect and language by writing down any words they are aware of but that are not necessarily widely known.



The building itself is stunning.

"The external appearance of The Word has been strongly influenced by the industrial heritage of South Shields with salt panning, coal mining, glass making and ship building all informing the material choices.

FaulknerBrowns Architects, who developed the design concept, likened the facade to fanning out the pages in a book with the entrance overlooking the Market Place being book-ended by two vertical spine walls. This allows the benefit of fantastic views both into and out from the building at key locations."

The main exhibition at the moment "celebrates the career and achievements of Sir Ridley Scott. Featuring a timeline of his life and movies, and focusing on six of his most famous titles including Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise, Gladiator, Robin Hood and one of his more recent movies The Martian, the main exhibition is intended as an affectionate overview of his life in film. Aimed at both visitors who are perhaps only familiar with the movie titles, to passionate fans of his work, the content uses facts, stories and vivid imagery to bring to life the world of Sir Ridley’s movies with a real ‘wow’ factor."

I am looking forward to paying a visit to what sounds like a venue that importantly values words in their various forms.

For more information visit 

http://theworduk.org/

Pollokshields Playhouse

While in Glasgow this Saturday I discovered an exciting project with huge potential. Pollokshields Playhouse is, as its name suggests, in Pollokshields, just opposite Tramway. 

It is:

"A place to share new ideas; A place to test new possibilities in your community for the future of your community. A place to celebrate, a place to meet. A place to perform, sing, dance, show, make, talk! It is is a new outdoor venue being build by the community for the community."

This project is being delivered by Pollokshields Community Council with support from a selection of organisations and funding bodies.

You can help to build the Playhouse. 

No experience is necessary. You can drop-in on one of the drop-in days to get involved with basic construction and making. All tools and health and safety equipment will be provided. Sessions will be run by BAXENDALE 

Once the playhouse is built, the community are invited to create the programme. People can come forward with ideas that they can programme in – it can be music, talks, film, performance, or creative workshops. The aim is to develop a programme that reflects the area, that brings people together, that tried out new ideas, and that takes risks.

For more information 

Visit the website: http://www.pollokshieldsplayhouse.com

Email:  letmein@pollokshieldsplayhouse.com

Call: 07827228692

Visit the Facebook Page at Pollokshields Playhouse

Follow @G41Playhouse on Twitter 

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Initiated to generate discussion about the form of public spaces within the community, Pollokshields Playhouse is a grassroots project that seeks to connect people with under-used public space. Through the temporary animation of a redundant and derelict site the project will provide a unique opportunity for testing new possibilities for the future of Pollokshields and Port Eglington."

Pollokshields Playhouse is a work in progress, and is reliant on the involvement of others to help create it.

Go inside and help to build your Playhouse on Wednesdays 12-5pm and on Saturdays 10-4pm.

Plaster Casting workshops at St David's and St Patrick's Primary schools

Last month I spent a couple of days in 2 different Primary Schools doing plaster casting workshops with the pupils. The workshops formed part of North Lanarkshire's Cultural Festival, Encounters. They were developed to coincide with my exhibition at Motherwell Theatre and Concert Hall.

The children were great to work with, full of ideas, enthusiasm and were very well behaved. At the end of each day we had a group discussion about the work they had made, what they had learned, what ideas they now would like to pursue and so on. Everyone had enjoyed the activities and had done something they had never done before. I felt a real sense of achievement knowing that it had been such a positive experience for them, and I was really proud of the work they made.

At the beginning of the day I talked to the groups about the process of casting, and showed them examples of other artists who make work by casting.

Pupils made their moulds using cardboard covered in parcel tape, and then created a boundary with clay and poured the coloured plaster into the shape.

Everyone was eager to get their hands in the mixing bowl!

They watched attentively as I showed them how to do each stage of the process.

I hope that I get the opportunity to do more workshops of this kind, and so please do get in touch if you are interested.

Plaster Caster workshops as part of Encounters Festival

October is the month of North Lanarkshire's cultural festival, Encounters. I was asked to develop and lead a plaster casting workshop for school children in conjunction with my exhibition at Motherwell Concert Hall and Theatre.

Over the past couple of days I have been leading the workshops, first based at St David's Primary School, Airdrie and another day at St Patrick's Primary School, Coatbridge. I was working with children in P6/P7 classes, and had just under 20 students each day.

Both days went really well; the children were well behaved and all immersed themselves fully into the activities, producing some excellent work.

I began the workshop by introducing myself and talking a little about my art practice. I then explained what we would be doing in the workshop, showed examples of the materials we were going to be using, and handed round some of my work. I showed them documentation of other artists who have used casting, and simply explained the process.

The children were given a square of corregated cardboard and asked to cover it with parcel tape. They then used clay to make a boundary wall to form the shape of their mould. Working in small groups, the students made different colours of plaster and poured the plaster into their moulds.

The students made a variety of colours of plaster, and they all got a chance to engage in ever stage of the casting process. In addition to pouring the plaster into their cardboard and clay moulds, I had also given them a range of plastic containers for them to fill and had covered some tables with sheets of baking paper for them to pour and drip plaster onto in a more freestyle fashion. I showed them all how to remove the cast from the mould as they would need to do it the next day once the plaster had dried properly.

I ended the session with a question and answer session where we discussed what they had learned, how they had found the workshop, whether they had enjoyed it and so on. They also asked me questions about being an artist.

I am delighted that the children responded so well to the workshop, and the teachers were also very pleased with the workshop.

I am looking forward to receiving an email from the teachers with photos of the children holding their casts once they had been removed from the mould.

Animation workshops at Yorkhill hospital

I have now started leading a series of animation workshops with young people at Yorkhill hospital in Glasgow.

The hospital has a room called zone 12, where young people can go and spend time with other older patients and do fun things. It is run a bit like a youth club, with a range of activities on offer, and there is a supply of DVDs, games and books that the youths can borrow.

I have been brought in to show the children how to create their own animation, and we were  given the task of producing animations addressing the issue of recycling.

The first session went really well and the kids had a great time. It is pleasing to know that spending an hour with them can cheer them up no end.

Motherwell Concert Hall and Theatre

This afternoon I had a trip to Motherwell to meet with Anne-Louise Kieran, the Visual Arts Development Officer for North Lanarkshire Council. Anne-Louise has invited me to exhibit my work at Motherwell Concert Hall and Theatre later this year, and asked if I would be interested in running a couple of day workshops with children to coincide with my exhibition.

Our meeting today was to discuss the practical issues relating to the exhibition such as install and destall details, insurance, framing the work, and also discuss the workshops.

The current exhibition is work by artist and printmaker Bronwen Sleigh. Her work is "an exploration  of tangible spaces."

"She undertakes this investigation through a process of photography, model making and etching which in its final presentation creates an abstract notion of the original space."

My exhibition will run from 4 September 2013 until 30 October 2013.

GIAB 2012 Workshops announced

Bookbinding workshops:

A number of workshops will be run during the GIAB 2012. The workshops incur a small fee to cover materials.

Please book your place by emailing us at: glasgowartistsbookfair@gmail.com

Saturday 28th April – Japanese Book Binding with John Heron



Sunday 29th April – Rubber Stamp workshop with Stephen Fowler



Box Making For Books and Other Objects with John Heron



Each workshop is £10 per participant

More events to be announced shortly…

For more information please visit http://www.giab.org.uk/index.php/workshops