Artwork of the Week: “Kiss” by Cameron Morgan

Our latest Artwork of the Week is Cameron Morgan’s comic depiction of glam rockers, KISS, made as part of Project Ability’s SECC project and commissioned for the SECC’s permanent collection.

Most will recognise the iconic face paint and outlandish stage costumes of the ostentatious rock band and Cameron’s oversized, close-up drawing combines acidified colours and super-smooth gloss-black hairdos that create a very pleasing excitable doodle that entertains the eye despite your personal musical taste!

Posted on 30th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  News  Trongate 103  Workshops 

ANNOUNCEMENT Project Ability Residency Programme 2012

Project Ability is pleased to announce the Residency Programme 2012, an initiative to support Scottish based artists to develop their practice within a disability arts setting. The selected artists will be resident in Project Ability’s open studios for a short and intense working period of one month to focus on a specific project towards the exhibition in 2013. The artists are provided with studio space, materials and professional development opportunities within the Project Ability community.

The awarded artists 2012 are Karly Burns (March), Lorraine Clark (April), Lauren Bryden (May), Simon McAuley (June), Suzanne Wason (July), Fraser Ross (August) and Elaine Dockery (September).

Karly Burns has just completed her second Project Ability residency; her practice explores the modern preoccupation with youth, beauty, materialism and the associated lucrative consumer culture. Karly spent her time creating a body of smaller works on paper and canvas and an interview with Karly on the progress of her residency will be published soon.
 
Lorraine Clark has been working in the Connect programme since October 2011. Lorraine is interested in developing a series of abstract works in perspex, developing new techniques and embarking on a period of research into abstract expressionism and the Bauhaus movement.

Lauren Bryden is a printmaker who uses both natural and recycled materials teamed with low tech hand-printing techniques in her ‘portable printing studio’, The Print Assembly. On her residency, Lauren will be spending an intensive period of printmaking and is interested in exploring new methods and working practices in ceramics.

Simon McAuley is a Project Ability artist working in the Connect programme and is embarking on his third Project Ability residency. Simon engages with a unique drawing tradition that emerges from an understanding of colour and texture, with marks resolving on a level surface showing the richness or flatness of the chosen colour. Line, painterly applications, ground, colour and texture; these worked surfaces depict a motion that has the potential to appear everywhere at once.

Suzanne Wason creates drawings, paintings and sculptures through a process of repetition and reproduction based around mental health issues, depression and anxiety disorders; with the image of the hands as a starting point and recurring motif representing the blight of OCD. Suzanne is currently working alongside Sandy Guy in his studio space and shop In Public and aims to use the residency to continue developing this working relationship and exchange.

Fraser Ross is an artist, designer and part time lecturer in International Product Design at Glasgow Caledonian University. During the residency Fraser will explore the varying levels of human interaction through a number of sensory objects; exploring movement, feels, smells, sounds and how this affects our own interpretations of mass production. Fraser Ross is inspired by Scotland’s indigenous plant life and is currently developing a new work entitled ‘Sense’ based around human object interaction.

Elaine Dockery is an artist and craftsperson specialising in stained glass and mosaic as well as academic qualifications in Field Archaeology, Anthropology, Sociology and Modernities (20^th century English Literature). In addition to this, Elaine also has extensive experience in community development including a fieldwork project as part of Project Payamino, Ecuador, Edinburgh Theatre Workshop’s Black Sun Over Genoa community choir and the live performance Girl – a sharing of recordings, film and photography in conjunction with Ankur Productions and the Glasgow Women’s Library in Street Level Photoworks. Elaine’s residency will follow a research period in Shijiazhuang, China and she plans to create a series of mosaics in glass, ceramic and stone based on this trip.

The artists will be exhibiting their new work in an exhibition at Project Ability Gallery in January 2013.  

Posted on 29th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  News  Trongate 103 

Project Ability needs you!

In March, John Fitzpatrick ran the Mighty Deerstalker and smashed his fundraising target raising over £700 for Project Ability.  In June, Chris Gorman is swimming the Great North Swim and hopes to raise £500.  If you are in training and planning a challenge please consider raising sponsorship for Project Ability.

It’s really straightforward to set up a sponsorship page with the secure fundraising site Just Giving (http://www.justgiving.com) and all funds raised go directly to Project Ability to help us buy materials and offer development opportunities in the arts to disabled artists and the wider community.

Posted on 29th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Fundraising  News  Trongate 103 

NGARN sun-catchers exhibited in Barmulloch Community Education Centre

5 large scale sun catchers have been made by a group of children who attend the Milton Dash Club, an after school club for children with a wide range of abilities..

Their impressive artwork was made over 5 short sessions in Possil Point Community Centre and facilitated by tutors Iona Grey and Susan Bryson. 10 children took part each working on 1 1/2 metres square perspex sheets.  First using colourful paint pens and then completing their designs using glossy, semi-transparent glass paints. The children drew their inspiration from nature, looking closely at flowers, trees, birds, butterflies and various organic motifs and patterns.

The final artworks are exhibited in the grounds of Barmulloch Community Education Centre.

Barmulloch Community Education Centre
46 Wallacewell Quadran, Glasgow G21 3PX
0141 558 0044 ‎

Posted on 28th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  Exhibitions  News  Workshops 

Meet the Volunteers: Ailidh MacGregor

Today's 'Meet the Volunteers' focuses on Ailidh MacGregor, who has been a wonderful addition to our team for the past six months! Ailidh has been working with five Project Ability artists who attend our Aspire and Connect programmes: Doreen, Steven, Linda, Stephen and Gerard. She has been working with each of them on a film about their work and their ideas. The films are now soon to be completed, and staff and artists would like to say a big thank you to Ailidh for all her time and efforts!

"I recently graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone in 2011 with a BA(hons) in Time Based Art where I specialised in Sound Art focusing mainly on the voice, conversation and listening. I wanted to volunteer with Project Ability as I love working with people and getting involved in different projects. Therefore I was extremely pleased to have the opportunity to be involved in a project where I could work with various people on a creative project. I have met lots of fantastic new people and have been enjoying working on a video project with five different artists from both Connect and Aspire on each of their separate ideas. Each idea has a similar basis but are all very different. I have been volunteering for around six months and the project is now nearly completed, it has been an amazing experience working closely with each person individually and helping to visualise their ideas and it has been brilliant to be involved with Project Ability."

Thanks Ailidh! And thanks to all our fantastic volunteers, past and present! 

Posted on 28th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News  Recruitment & Volunteering 

Series of outings as part of the Stay Up Late campaign

The On Your Radar group and our friends at Dates 'n' Mates are organising a series of outings to events during March and April.

When: Tuesday 10 April, from 7.30pm
Where: Arches
Tickets £4

These events are part of a national campaign called Stay Up Late.

Project Ability supports the Stay Up Late Campaign and can help participants attend these events (get in touch with us on 0141 552 2822 for more info).

To book a ticket, contact Dates N Mates on 0141 427 2957 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Posted on 27th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News 

Lennox Castle: end of the first series of workshops

Friday 23 March was the final day of the first block of workshops as part of the C-Change and Project Ability project ‘Remembering Lennox Castle’. Here is what one of our tutors, Tracy, had to say about it:

"Today was the last of our four initial workshops, with everyone continuing to be bursting full of enthusiasm. Drawings made over the last few weeks have been used to create fantastic animations, with images of foliage and the wildlife remembered in the grounds of the castle, coming to life. The work is now really starting to become personal to each of our participants, with many of our group having very clear ideas of what they want to produce in their workshop time. All sorts of media are now confidently being explored including drawing and paintings, film, animation techniques, print making, creative writing and ceramics. More memories were shared today and more and more drawings and stories created, everyone really has worked hard. The commitment to the workshops over the past few weeks has been tremendous and it has been fantastic to watch the group develop. We are all very much looking forward to the next block due to start in May."

The staff at Project Ability and C-Change have been blown away by the participants' contributions and their generosity in sharing their story. The first project Steering Group meeting is scheduled for Thursday 5th April at 13:30 at Project Ability. We will review our progress and plan the next stage of the project.

The next workshops are on Friday 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th May from 10:00 – 12:30 at Project Ability. Please remember to bring along your photographs and mementos to include on the website.

You can read more about the project on C-Change's blog.

Posted on 26th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  Film & Animation  News  Trongate 103  Workshops 

Artwork of the Week: ‘Telephone’ by Pauline Jackson

From the archive, our latest Artwork of the Week is Telephone by Pauline Jackson, exhibited in Young Talent 2011. The Red Telephone Booth is the subject of Pauline’s striking painting and depicts the vitality of the phone box as it was once stood; a proud symbol of British street architecture and echoes the phasing-out of our analogue past.
Pauline will be showing new paintings in our forthcoming Young Talent exhibition in June 2012.

Posted on 23rd March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  News  Trongate 103  Workshops 

Outside In surgery days at Project Ability

Would you like to join the growing number of UK artists who are promoting their work on the Outside In website with an option to submit work for the forthcoming Outside In exhibitions but don’t know how to get started? You can now book a “surgery” session at Project Ability.

We are running one-to-one help sessions on Thursday the 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th April.

We can help you photograph your work, load the picture onto the site and write a personal statement. You can submit 2 works to the Outside In selection committee. Project Ability will store the work in our Centre until the selection has been made.

There are three time slots available on each day 1-2pm, 2-3pm, 3-4pm.

Please contact Project Ability on 0141 552 2822 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to reserve your slot.

There is no charge and you do not need to attend Project Ability’s classes.

Posted on 20th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  News  Trongate 103 

John’s Deerstalker run raised an amazing £725.50 for Project Ability

Our Connect tutor John has ran the Mighty Deerstalker to raise funds for Project Ability.  The Mighty Deerstalker is a 14km race, at night, with a series of obstacles along the way, including two very high walls just before the finish line!

'It was BRUTAL!' he says, 'it was tougher than last year as it was a lot colder. My legs are still sore!'. But John survived to tell the tale, and even managed to finish the race in 2 hours and 32 minutes - 8 minutes less than last year! He also managed to smash his £300 target: thanks to your very generous donations and his efforts, John raised an amazing £725.50!!

Posted on 20th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News 

Big Splash 2012

Join Project Ability and other NGARN organisations in the newly restored Maryhill Burgh Halls for an evening of free arts workshops and performances for all ages. Come along to get a taste of what arts activities are on offer in your area and get a tour of the Halls before anyone else!

Let’s Make the Music and Dance workshops
for under 5’s and their families
from 4.30-5.15pm and 5.30-6.15pm

Drama, circus, singing, glass painting, craft, dance and henna workshops
all from 5-5.45pm and 6-6.45pm

Food and performances from 6.45pm.

Maryhill Burgh Halls 10-24 Gairbraid Avenue Glasgow G20 8YE

For more information and to book transport contact NRFG on 0141 557 1123 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Posted on 20th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News  Workshops 

We are now taking bookings for the next block of Aspire art classes

We are now taking bookings for Aspire art classes. Our next block starts on Monday 16th April.

The Aspire programme is for people with learning disabilities who enjoy the arts, want to develop new skills and work alongside like minded people.

We have a team of expert tutors on hand who provide opportunities to develop your skills in painting, printmaking, ceramics, textiles, glass and more.

For further information contact Project Ability on 0141 552 2822 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Posted on 20th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  News  Trongate 103  Workshops 

Artwork of the Week: ‘Titanic Sinks’ by Edward Henry

Next in our Artwork of the Week series is Titanic Sinks by Edward Henry. Edward has a unique artistic style and with a cartoonish hand, has captured that ill-reputed moment of the Titantic’s demise. An oversized iceberg, already-blue people in the water and the liner sinking in the moonlight depict the tragedy almost 100 years since it happened.

Posted on 16th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  News  Trongate 103  Workshops 

Meet the Volunteers: Julia Scott

This week, meet Julia Scott, who volunteers in our Create programme.

"I first discovered Project Ability when I moved here, 4 years ago. I knew then that I wanted to be involved somehow. Currently I volunteer in the Create workshops with children aged 5 – 12. Working there is the most extraordinary, (in the literal sense of the word) and solid point in my week. There is something genuinely magic and yet totally regular happening simultaneously there, that is very hard to describe. It is awe-inspiring. The children are totally unguarded and honest, which next to the culturally learned behaviour of most adults makes them totally radical to be around. The children respond so genuinely to suggestions, that I am very aware of my affect on a person or a situation. Every week is a reminder of the potential of interaction.

My practice is predominantly performative, it involves voice, music, movement, ceramics, film, and text. It is self-reflexive and critical of the cultural environment in which it is situated, it is also very responsive to my communities. I intend to challenge preconceived ideas and conventions regarding expectation, behaviour and value, in relation to art and music. Often I use the relationship between the performer and the audience to explore these ideas. It is therefore important that I am very responsive to the situation; spending every Saturday morning in heavy negotiation with the children is encouraging me to take more risks.

Alongside my art practice I am in several bands, Thoth, Gropetown, Fem Bitch Nation and Palms, I play drums, guitar and sing. I also co facilitate a voluntary ran organisation called Glasgow Open Dance School (G.O.D.S) who provides a space for people to learn, teach and partake in movement related workshops, in Glasgow, for free. G.O.D.S value collective learning and responding to your body over individual excellence and technique, and anyone is encouraged to come along."

A big thank you to Julia for her time and energy!

Posted on 14th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News  Recruitment & Volunteering 

The First light Screening at GFT was a great success!

The First Light Comedy Shorts premiere at the GFT last Saturday was a great success.

It was fantastic for the young filmmakers and their families to experience their 90 second cinematic creations on the big screen. All of the filmmakers involved worked really hard and should feel very proud indeed! A big thank you to all the children and young people involved, as well as to tutors Kate and Allan, you all did a wonderful job.

Keep an eye on the website, we will upload the films soon!

Posted on 13th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Film & Animation  News 

Have you uploaded your work on the Outside In website yet?

Project Ability in Glasgow and Perth Museum and Art Gallery have been chosen as the exhibition venues for Outside In: Scotland. Outside In is a national project which aims to provide a platform for artists who find it difficult to access the art world either because of mental health issues, disability, health, social circumstance or because their work does not conform to what is normally considered as art.

Artists are invited to create galleries via the Outside In website and if they wish they can choose two pieces of art work to be up for selection for the exhibitions. The Outside In website allows artists to have a gallery and an online presence where their work is shown to the public and comments can be made on their pages. Having selected work for the exhibitions, it will be considered for possible inclusion in the Outside In: National exhibition at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester opening in October 2012, and considered for the exhibitions at Project Ability and Perth Museum and Art Gallery in late 2013.

For further information please take a look at the website: http://www.outsidein.org.uk

Image: David Beals 'Suburban Landscape'

Posted on 12th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: Artists  Exhibitions  News 

Week two of ‘Remembering Lennox Castle Hospital’ workshops

The second workshop of the 'Remembering Lennox Castle Hospital' project took place on Friday 9 March. One of our tutors, Zeynep, wrote the following:

"We continued to work on the visualisation of the surroundings of the castle. Drawing trees, birds, the hills, the view on approaching the castle... There is an interesting work happening around recreating an ambulance that we are hoping to use in the film animation. The animation has kicked of with Cameron and Rena! We now have the first scene of our animation opening with a view of the castle through some leaves.

This week we also had couple of people working with clay and started making 3-d objects. Others have continued painting and drawing both from memory and photographs of the castle. We will keep building on these images in the next 2 weeks."

For more photos of the project, please visit our Facebook page.

Posted on 12th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News  Workshops 

Artwork of the week: ‘Palace in India’ by Stephen Reilly

Introducing the first of our new showcase, Artwork of the Week with Palace in India by Steven Reilly! A lively and unique depiction of the wonder of the Taj Mahal; Steven’s style of painting captures the architectural beauty of one of the world’s most beautiful monuments, built entirely of white marble, and his use of colour appears to reflect the palace at dawn or sunset.

Come and see Palace in India on show in the exhibition The Highway Code, until 14 April, in collaboration with artists from three Canadian organisations on the theme of transport and travel.

Posted on 12th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News 

We have a lot of new items on sale in our gallery shop

We have replenished our gallery shop with plenty of lovely new artworks and crafts, all handmade in our studios in Trongate 103.

As well as our usual postcards, books, prints and stained glass jewellery, we have a series of new ceramic tiles by our Friday group artists, responding to the transportation theme of our current show 'The Highway Code'. We also have a new series of LP clocks, with titles like 'Dangerous Times' by Cher, 'Ride on Time' by Black Box or 'For the Good Times' by Perry Como!

Next time you are in the area, come see us! You might find a great present for someone, and our current show will put a smile on your face!

Tuesday - Saturday, 10am - 5pm.

Posted on 7th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News  Shop 

Meet the Volunteers: Janice Curless

This week, our Meet the Volunteers series focuses on Janice Curless, who volunteers on Saturdays for our Create visual arts classes.

Janice graduated from Grays School of Art in Aberdeen in 1998 with a BA(hons) Fine Art.  Since graduating she has gained much experience working with a variety of groups to support others to make art.  One such organisation is Mindspace, an arts and health project in Aberdeen, where she was responsible for designing and delivering a programme of activities to inspire their participants to be creative.  As well as this she also works for Thistle Housing Association as a workshop leader, planning and leading art workshops for children.

Janice says of her own practice:

“Through the arts we have the opportunity to express our impression of life in a memorable way. I create images which reflect a personal space and time and esteem people and places of choice. I draw inspiration from close observation of my immediate environment.  

 From 2008-2010, I was artist in residence at a health centre in Inverurie and I lived just outside a small village called Tarves. I was surrounded by a very arable landscape, where the fields all had a function. It was interesting to watch the slow process of growth and harvest, which bettered my understanding of this place and its relation to the wider production and distribution market.

 What I enjoyed the most was the amazing 24 hour skies and an uncultivated field - a small patch of land which separated my house from the village. The field became imprinted in my memory through regular everyday experiences, the wildness of the subject adds to its complexity and I found it refreshing to observe something which was indigenous to the landscape.

Perseverance and patience are essential for each new creative project contains different challenges. The inspiring influence of people and music allows passion to drive what I do and goes towards making a piece of art more interesting. I am currently producing new work on a botanical theme for an exhibition at House For an Art Lover in August this year.”

Janice has been a much appreciated addition to our Saturday Create workshops where she has supported our young people to develop their own practice.  The donation of her time has benefited both the workshop tutors and the participants alike.

Posted on 7th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News  Recruitment & Volunteering 

Project Ability artist designs the Glasgow Inter School Poetry Slam trophy

For the past eight years Project Ability has provided individually designed, hand crafted trophies for the Glasgow Inter School Poetry Slam .

This year the trophy is a hand moulded Perspex piece with vinyl lettering which was designed and made by Lorraine Clark, a Connect artist. The trophy was presented to the winning school in the Mitchell Theatre on Friday 3th March.

For more photos, please visit our Facebook page.

Posted on 6th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News 

SECC showcases work by Project Ability artists at their International Confex 2012 stand

Last summer, 10 Project Ability artists took part in the SECC project, during which they were commissionned to create a series of artworks about what the SECC meant to them.

The works selected will be shown in 2012 in the SECC, and become part of their permanent collection. In the meantime, the SECC team has already put some of the works to good use: they will be showcasing some images by William Smith and Patrick Butterworth at International Confex 2012 as part of their stand display.

Ben Goedegebuure, Director of Sales at the SECC said: "Project Ability provide an amazing service for people with disabilities by using art as a medium to capture and encourage creativity, imagination and emotion. As a venue that plays host to a vast array of creative activity - from conferences, meetings, exhibitions, through to concerts, plays and special events, we want to make sure our space reflects and represents the creativity abundant on our doorstep."

Posted on 6th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News 

The ‘Remembering Lennox Castle’ project has started

After the successful launch of 'Remembering Lennox Castle Hospital' on Friday 24th February, the first of a series of workshops took place at Project Ability on the 3rd of March.

Over 30 people have signed up to attend regular workshops and share their memories of the 'Castle'. On the first day the group was divided in smaller groups, allowing participants to chose their prefered way of expression: some people were comfortable being filmed or recorded, others found that drawings and a more visual approach worked better for them.

The workshop focussed on the castle and it surroundings: first the woods, then the building, then inside the building. Everyone remembers the woods and everyone shares a sense of being hidden away behind the trees - out of sight, out of mind..

Posted on 5th March 2012 by PA Editor : permalink
Categories: News  Workshops