Film Noir exhibition at GFT

 

 

A small group of Connect artists visited the GFT's Cafe Cosmo last week to see their work on the walls.

For the whole month of January, GFT showed a selection of small work from the very successful exhibition Film Noir (first exhibited in Platform). The paintings represent scenes of black and white movies, recent or old, obscure or classic, so what better place to show them than the GFT? The show is on until tomorrow, so if you haven't already seen it, now's your chance! Let us know if you manage to guess the titles of the films...

 

 

Posted on 30th January 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Exhibitions  News 

A few quotes from our latest volunteers

 

 

As the first block of our volunteering programme 2012 is about to start, we were given a few quotes by some of our last volunteers. They are invaluable to our organisation, and we are very thankful for their time and energy! It seems like the experience was a positive one for them as well!

“I really enjoyed working with the children on a one to one basis. It was so rewarding to see how their projects evolve and come to life and see their confidence grow as well as their skills… I wanted to learn more about working creatively with children with different learning and physical difficulties. Project Ability is a warm, friendly environment with a great team of artists, which made the experience very enjoyable and valuable.”
-Michelle Roberts

“I liked meeting all the artists at the workshops, getting to know them and seeing how their art work developed over the course of the workshops. I enjoyed working within a creative environment where artists were allowed the freedom to explore and experiment with different art materials and to work at their own pace and in their own style.”
-Deirdre Anderson

“I really enjoyed the variation in the work, and the relaxed and welcoming environment working with the children and staff…..I wanted the experience of working with a professional community organisation with an excellent reputation; I knew a lot about Project Ability’s community art work and thought it would be an encouraging place to gain experience.”
-Lauren Bryden

 

Posted on 25th January 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News  Recruitment & Volunteering 

Happy Burns Day!

 

 

Happy Burns Day everyone! This is our take on Robert Burns: Doreen Kay's beautiful 'For a' that'.

Posted on 25th January 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News 

Printmaking workshops with City of Glasgow College and Art Trek

 

 

Project Ability tutor Iona Grey has been working with a group of young adults with autistic spectrum conditions from the City of Glasgow College (formerly Glasgow Nautical College), with help from Art Trek artists Cameron Morgan and John Cocozza.

During the 8 sessions they have been exploring printmaking techniques - monoprinting, blockprinting and colograph. Colourful water based printing inks have been used throughout and the students have derived inspiration from a variety of sources from Aboriginal art to sci-fi.

 

 

 

Posted on 24th January 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  News  Trongate 103  Workshops 

The Saturday positions are now filled

 

 

Thank you to everyone who applied for our Saturday staff vacancies. The standard of applications was excellent and five people were shortlisted for interview from which we selected our two new recruits.

Keep an eye on the website for more job and volunteering opportunities.

Posted on 23rd January 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News  Recruitment & Volunteering 

There are still a few places available in our Saturday classes

 

 

The new block of our Saturday visual arts workshops will start this Saturday (28 January). We still have a few places available in each workshop, but they are filling up quickly! If you are interested in booking a place, please download the booking form and bring/send it back to Project Ability, Trongate 103, Glasgow G1 5HD.

Posted on 23rd January 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  News  Workshops 

Reminder: Outside In 2012 Induction Day

 

 

Don't forget to book a place to the Outside In 2012 Induction Day, taking place in Project Ability on Thursday 26 January, 1.30pm - 4pm.

Outside In 2012 is a National Open Art competition for people who find it difficult to access the art world, whether due to disability, health, social circumstance or art process.

Come along for a chance to meet the Outside In team and an artist engaged with the project. We will tell you how you can get involved, how to create an online gallery and all about the Outside In: National in 2012 and the regional exhibitions in 2013.

For more information on the event, please click here.

Posted on 18th January 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  Exhibitions  News  Trongate 103  Workshops 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

 

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!

An extremely generous donation has arrived in our digital mailbox. We have now exceeded our target of £2500.

Thank you to everyone who donated we really appreciate your support.

 

Posted on 17th January 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News 

We’re back!

 

 

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas break, and that you are ready for 2012! It promises to be a very exciting year for us, with a great programme of exhibitions, events and workshops.

We're starting the year with a bang, with three exhibitions! Our gallery will showcase the Residency exhibition from the 21st of January, and we have two off-site exhibitions for the duration of the month, one in Mono, the other in the GFT's Cafe Cosmo.

We would also like to once again thank you all for your very generous donations! We have raised an amazing £2238 during our Xmas Pound Appeal, and are very grateful!

 

Posted on 9th January 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: All  News 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

 

All of us at Project Ability would like to wish you a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Our offices will be closed from the 24th of December to the 9th of January, so if you haven't yet seen our current show, there are only a few days left to do so!

Happy holidays to you all!

Posted on 20th December 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News 

Only just over £200 left to raise in order to reach our target!

 

 

Thank you all so much for all your generous donations!

The Mono event last Thursday was a great success, with great music from Danny Saunders of Correcto, and Lenzie Moss, who very generously accepted to play for our big event. Our pop-up shop was very successful, and we sold almost 300 raffle tickets! We had a brilliant evening, so thank you all for coming.

Thanks also to Stephen at Monorail for his continued support and his great DJ set! And thanks to all the organisations that very kindly gave us prizes for our raffle: Saramago at CCA, SECC, National Theatre Scotland, Cupcake, GFT, ArtStore and Mr Ben!

We now have raised almost £2300!!! This is a fantastic amount! Our target is £2500, and the appeal runs until the end of the year, do you think we can reach it?? Every penny counts, and all the money raised will go towards providing more workshops to more people.

Once again, thank you all for your support and your donations! And happy Christmas!

 

 

Posted on 20th December 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Fundraising  News 

Help us reach our £2500 target: join us in Mono this Thursday for our Xmas fundraiser!

 

 

We are well on target for reaching our 2011 Xmas Pounds Appeal fundraising total of £2500. To date we have raised a staggering £1358 in cash donations and a magnificent £650 profit from the sale of our original xmas cards and calendars making a grand total of £2008.

We are accepting cash donations up to our close of business on Friday 23rd December and the BIG annual fundraiser complete with music, exhibition, pop-up shop and a RAFFLE !!!! is this Thursday 15th December at Mono from 8pm ‘till late. There are wonderful prizes to be won, and the money made through the raffle goes towards our Xmas Pound Appeal!

Please join us for a fabulous evening of music and laughter.

Every donation contributes directly to Project Ability’s original and innovative programme of visual art production and exhibition.

 

 

Posted on 14th December 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  Exhibitions  Fundraising  News 

Outside In: 2012 Induction Day

 

 

Come along and learn more!

Outside In 2012 is a National Open Art competition for people who find it difficult to access the art world, whether due to disability, health, social circumstance or art process. Outside In has changed the landscape of the art world. It has no set creative criteria or boundary in art process or limit on subject for the artists that choose to align themselves with the project.

Thursday 26th January 2012
1.30 – 4pm
At: Project Ability
103 Trongate
Glasgow
G1 5HD

Please RSVP to Project Ability:
By Phone: 0141 552 2822
By email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Come along for a chance to meet the Outside In team and an artist engaged with the project. We will tell you how you can get involved, how to create an online gallery and all about the Outside In: National in 2012 and the regional exhibitions in 2013.

Agenda for the day:
13:30 – 14:00 = Arrive at Project Ability for coffee/tea.
14:00 – 16:00 = Outside In overview, how to get involved, regional exhibitions and how to set up an online gallery. There is time at the end for questions and to practice gallery set up.

Outside In was set up by Pallant House Gallery in 2006 to showcase and give opportunity to artists who would otherwise be excluded from taking part in the art world.
For more information, please visit http://www.outsidein.org.uk

Image: Dannielle Hodson, Swallow

 


Posted on 13th December 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  Exhibitions  News  Trongate 103 

New in the shop: ceramics vases and birds

 

 

As part of our Christmas preparations we have hosted two ceramic workshops to create some lovely gifts for our shop. Participants from both our Aspire and Connect programmes worked with our artist Tracy Gorman to produce a range of quirky ceramic birds and vases. These pieces are currently on sale in our shop, complementing our current print exhibition, ‘Press to Paper’. Each of the pieces feature embossed clay with subtle colour rubbed in to enhance the print.

Come along and see them in all their glory!

 

 

Posted on 13th December 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  News  Shop 

On Your Radar

 

 

Many of Scotland’s leading learning disabled artists, dancers, musicians and actors live and work in Glasgow. On Your Radar is an annual celebration and showcase of their talent.

On Wednesday 7th December 2011 Project Ability, Indepen-dance, Theatre Arts and Artform took over the Tramway for a day of workshop, performance and exhibition.

A team of artists from Project Ability had prepared a GIANT painting depicting the new transport museum (thereby linking the work to the Tramway) and its surroundings. This was installed on the day and added in situ while performers from Theatre Arts used the imagery as inspiration for physical theatre.

In the studio next door Indepen-dance danced to music performed by Artform to celebrate winter festivals.

After lunch everyone came together and shared their work. Over sixty people took part in this day of celebration and everyone reported that they had a fine day.

 

 

 

Posted on 12th December 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  News  Workshops 

First Light Film Workshops are back!

 

 

Project Ability are pleased to announce the return of First Light film workshops for 14 to 25 year olds with disabilities from January 2012.

The workshops will be running on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, from 18:00 to 20:30, for 8 weeks from 10 January to 01 March 2012. The provisional date for film screenings is 10 March 2012.

Each class of 8 participants will have the opportunity to create 2 comedy shorts, up to 90 seconds in length, based on the following film ideas, created in collaboration with young people from previous film workshops:

Tuesday Class (14 to18 years)

‘Wizzy’
Wizzy and his friends are an accident prone bunch and never seem to miss trouble when they are out and about. Whether they are being locked in prison when a silly joke gets out of hand or getting lost on the bus there is always plenty of humour and camaraderie to get them out of any situation.

‘The Lowest form of Whit?’
A short sketch illustrating some comical Scottish slang, common misunderstandings and double meanings.

Thursday Class (18 to 25 years)

‘The Empty’
A comical yet cautionary tale of a house party gone wrong.

‘Disability Mockumentary – the media portrayal of disability’
A witty mockumentary style film with a light hearted look at the serious subject of how the media portrays people with disabilities. The young film makers will look at just how far the media's portrayal and public perception of disability has come in recent years and whether any real ground has been made in the representation of people with disabilities in TV and film.

The cost for the 8 week workshop is £40. Bookings can be made for these workshops by completing the attached form and returning it to Project Ability, Trongate 103, Glasgow G1 5HD by no later than Thursday 22 December 2011 (please note we can not accept telephone or email bookings).

Places are booked on a first come, first served basis and we expect these workshops to be very popular, so please book early to avoid disappointment.

 

Posted on 12th December 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Film & Animation  News  Workshops 

Plenty of great prizes to be won at our Xmas fundraiser!

 

 

A great way to support us and help us reach the total of £2500 for our Xmas Pound Appeal is to join us at our big fundraising event at Mono on the 15th December from 8 pm. There will be music, art and laughter, as well as a raffle with great prizes, a pop up shop with original art work and a donations tin. We have now reached over £1060.00!!! This is all from cash donated in person and through text giving. (Text PABL11 then an amount up to £10 to 70070.).

Raffle tickets will be sold at the door on the night, £1 for one or £4 for 5. You could win one of these wonderful prizes:

A huge thank you to all the organisations that very generously donated a prize for our event!

Enjoy a good night out and know you are contributing towards a good cause!

 


 

Posted on 7th December 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Fundraising  News 

Screenprinting workshops

 

 

Eight artists from our Connect programme were invited to take part in a screenprinting workshop, tutored by John Fitzpatrick.

For some of them, it was the first time they explored screenprinting. They tried their hand at different techniques, like multiple colours, duotone or tritone. Each workshop was over a full week (with four people per workshop), during which the artists developed their ideas, explored the techniques and then proceeded to the actual screenprinting.

The results are beautiful, with elements of portraiture, landscape and a few abstract works. They can be seen in our current show Press to Paper, running until 23 December.

 

 

Posted on 29th November 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News 

Wonderful raffle prize from the SECC for our Xmas fundraiser!

 

 

The SECC has very generously donated 4 tickets for their panto towards our raffle/fundraising event, taking place in Mono on Thursday 15 December, from 8pm til late.

This year, they will show Robinson Crusoe and the Caribbean Pirates, with John Barrowman in the title role of Robinson Crusoe and Glasgow pantomime favourites, The Krankies, as Captain Crusoe & Jimmy Crusoe! After the succes of their previous panto and their use of 3D effects, the show’s producers have created brand-new and even more spectacular 3D for this production! What a prize! Perfect to put you in a holiday mood!

Many, many thanks to SECC for their generosity!

Raffle tickets will be sold at the door on the night, £1 per ticket or £4 for 5.

 

 

 

Posted on 29th November 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Fundraising  News 

Meet the Volunteers: Lauren Bryden

 

 

This week, meet our fantastic volunteer Lauren Bryden.

Lauren recently graduated from the Glasgow School of Art in Textile Design and later went on to complete a Creative Start-up Programme at Ico Ico. Throughout her studies, Lauren has gained a variety of experience delivering art activities to many groups including young people with challenging behaviour and additional support needs. Lauren was keen to extend her experience in this field by volunteering at Project Ability. She has been working with us for 10 weeks, supporting the artist’s and young people in our Saturday afternoon classes. Her input to the classes has been very much appreciated by both the artist’s and the children she has worked with.

Thanks for everything Lauren!

Posted on 23rd November 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News  Recruitment & Volunteering  Workshops 

Xmas pound Appeal Update

 

 

In four weeks we have raised a massive £783.

This is a considerable amount of money and we are thankful to every person who has been kind enough to donate. This money will help us provide more visual art workshops and film classes to more people.

‘Gives you something to get up for in the morning, mixing with other people, gives you the opportunity to do things that if you didn't come you wouldn't take on” - participant on the Connect programme. Connect is our specialist arts and well-being programme for people with mental health issues.

“My seascape picture has worked out beautifully and I feel confident that I have achieved something.” – young person attending the Saturday Art Class.

You can help us reach our target of £2500 by donating money – cash, cheque or card or through JustTextGiving (text PABL11 £10 or any other amount of your choice to 70070), buying our original xmas cards and 2011 calendar, purchasing original art work from the gallery (Project Ability takes a 40% commission on all sales) and publications and gift items from our shop and coming along to our fantastic fundraiser on the 15th December at Mono.

“Keep up the awesomeness!” - Create participant.

 

 

Posted on 23rd November 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  Exhibitions  Film & Animation  Fundraising  News  Shop  Workshops 

Stephen Reilly’s Prague Highlights

 

 

Artist Steven Reilly went to Prague and made a large collage on the theme of Space: the final frontier. Here are his comments on the event:

"Prague was very nice but it was very cold. We went on the trams. We saw a church with a fancy clock. We went out for lunch and dinner to fancy restaurants. The hotel was very big. We climbed a big hill.

There were lots of people at the conference and we watched people talking when I wasn’t working on the collage. I was interviewed by people from Denmark, and Czech television was passing and took pictures. There was people from Germany and Denmark and Mathew from England.

It was a long journey and we went on two planes."

 


 

Posted on 21st November 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  News 

Winter workshops: Introduction to Film

 

 

 

There will be a new block of Introduction to Film workshop for 6-12 year olds with disabilities, from Wednesday 23 November.

* Time: 18:00-19:30
* Dates: 23 November - 14 December 2011 and 11 January - 1st February 2012. Note: there will be a break in the middle for Christmas.
* Cost: £40 for 8 weeks

To book a place, call us on 0141 552 2822 and ask for a form. Places are given on a first come first served basis.

Posted on 16th November 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  Film & Animation  News  Workshops 

Free Visual Arts Workshops for schools with Project Ability

 

 

We are pleased to announce the opportunity for school groups to participate in an exciting 2hr flag making workshop. Funded by the Inspiration Festival 2011, pupils will have the opportunity to create their own colourful canvas flags inspired by the different Commonwealth nations.

This opportunity is open to Primary Schools only and places are given on a first come first served basis. Maximum group size 12 pupils. Workshops can take place at our excellently equipped and fully accessible Trongate 103 workshops or our tutors can travel to the school for a classroom based workshop. Workshop dates and times are negotiable.

To book a place for your school please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call us on 0141 522 2822.

 

Posted on 16th November 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News  Workshops 

Xmas Pound Appeal update: over £500 already!

 

 

We have reached a staggering £512.50 – in 3 weeks!!! We are truly grateful for every pound and pence donated, thank you.

Our xmas cards are also selling well. This year's top seller is without a doubt Skye McLaughlin’s “Birds”. There are only a few packets left. Well done Skye! All proceeds from the sale of xmas cards and calendars will be added to our Xmas Pounds Appeal helping us reach our target of £2500.

Click here to see how you can help!

 

Posted on 15th November 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  Fundraising  News  Workshops 

Project Ability was in Prague for the Conquering Public Spaces International Conference

 

 

Prague is a beautiful city - in mid-November it was cold with brilliant blue skies and blinding sunshine. Check out artist Steven Reilly in his shades!

We were in Prague at the invitation of the film and media organisation Inventura to deliver a presentation about Project Ability, our practice and our success at promoting artists with disabilities within a contemporary arts market to the “Conquering Public Spaces” International Conference as part of the 6th annual “Normal Festival”.

We were joined by colleagues from Europe, Israel and Australia and a large number of organisations from England. Some organisations we already knew and had worked with on previous occasions such as Brighton based Carousel who manage the Oska Bright Film Festival while many more were new to us. Also from Brighton were the Rocket Artists who we have been making plans with to collaborate on a project in 2012 (watch this space!) and Arty Party from the West Midlands who screened their fantastic animation “Let me in” and who have been working with artist Tanya Raabe.

The conference focussed on how people with disabilities were using film and media to express themselves and claim their right to be heard in today’s society. It also included representation from organisations working in dance, theatre, performance, music and the visual arts.

The conference was held in Prague’s magnificent Central Library and Project Ability artists Valerie O’Regan and Steven Reilly set up in the foyer and delivered a drop-in collage workshop on the theme of “space: the final frontier”.

 

 

 

Posted on 15th November 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  News 

Highlights from My Residency in Wales - By Edward Henry

 

 

 

Today, it's Edward's turn to talk about the highlights of his residency in Wales. Both him and Cameron Morgan had a wonderful experience and only had positive things to say!

"This was my first time in Wales, the scenery was great and I enjoyed doing the art work even though the workshop was a bit smaller than Project Ability’s. I painted from my imagination and lots of birds which is my favourite subject.

I would like to go back again and see the people at Celf. They became good friends.

My work came on and was a great success. I produced eleven works of art and sold one.

There were hills and mountains and we saw Kites in flight – they are a bird of prey and this was the first time I have seen them. We saw a lot of sheep and on the train journey we saw lots of pheasants. The train journey there and back was great although I almost got left behind on the train and ended up in London.

I worked with Cameron in the studio every day even without the staff which gave me a chance to produce good work as there wasn’t any distractions.

I hope the people from Celf can see my exhibition and the people in the town of Llandrindod Wells come to see it.

It was a good experience being in a new place on my own; shopping and cooking in a different place was a good experience for me."

 

 

 

For more photos, please click here.

 

Posted on 14th November 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  News 

Meet the Volunteers: John Cocozza

 

 

For Meet the Volunteers this week we have John Cocozza, a very familiar face over the years at Project Ability and one of the founder members of Art Trek. John has been involved with our organisation for many years and as well as constantly producing new pieces of art within our Aspire programme, he also contributes in lots of other ways. He and a number of his fellow Art Treker’s have been manning our gallery for several weeks now, meeting and greeting visitors.

‘I’m really enjoying it and it helps to get me out the house. It gives me a chance to do my ideas too and draw them.’

In between meeting our visitors, John quietly sketches in his sketch pad, this role allows him to explore new ideas for his own art work too. So not only do our visitors have an opportunity to talk to one of our participants first hand, but also see the artist at work!

John and all of our volunteers' hard work is greatly appreciated and very much enhances the service we can provide, so a big thank you to you all for your contributions!

 

 

Posted on 9th November 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  Exhibitions  News  Recruitment & Volunteering 

On Your Radar

 

 

On Your Radar is back! The day of celebration of Arts and Disability in Glasgow will take place in Tramway this year, and be a collaborative effort between 4 organisations.

Come join Project Ability, Theatre Arts, Indepen-dance and Artform for a day of performances, exhibition and worshops.

Wednesday 7th December 2011

  • 10am - 12pm: workshops
  • 1pm - 1.45pm: performances
  • 1.45pm - 2.30pm: social time

Places are limited, so make sure you book in advance: just contact us on 0141 552 2822.

Posted on 9th November 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  News  Workshops 

Xmas pound Appeal update

 

We have received some fantastic donations this week, and after only two weeks the appeal has reached £300.00

If all of us were to give even just £1, we would have no problem reaching our target of £2500! Just text PABL11 £1 (or any other amount of your choice) to 70070, or click here to see how you can donate.

After the successful sale of books at last week’s First Thursday, Stirling Books have agreed to keep a stock of quality second-hand books in the shop through to the end of the Collected exhibition on the 19th November. Project Ability will receive a third of sales proceeds.

You can also contribute by purchasing our original Christmas cards and calendars.

We really appreciate your support and all funds raised goes towards our year round arts programme of classes, workshops, exhibitions and events for people with disabilities.

Thank you all!

 

Posted on 8th November 2011 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  Fundraising  News  Trongate 103  Workshops