GSA Project: Charlotte Hayes

‘At the start of the year, I had the opportunity of working alongside the Aspire group on Fridays at Project Ability. The communal working environment is really encouraging to make work freely. With the artists, I have been painting, sewing and making ceramics. In my own practice, I often look at social structures and symbiotic relationships between animals as a way to think about traditions formed by humans. To begin collaborating, I looked at folk festivities, such as May Day celebrations and cheese rolling with the Aspire artists.

Johnathon and I recreated scenes from the film The Wickerman, by painting on fabrics and making ceramic bees which we planned on turning into a mobile. I thought making flags alike to the type which would be carried in a traditional parade would be a fun collaboration. At the IASSIDD exhibition opening in the Project Ability gallery earlier in the year, a small group of the Aspire artists volunteered to draw portraits of the public. This gave me the idea to put on a workshop with John, Doreen and Cameron drawing self-portraits or portraits of other people. We then turned these drawings into flags using scrap fabric. I am hoping to put on this workshop again with more of the artists, in order to create a collection of the flags. The flags may be shown in a parade on midsummers day, as this is traditionally a day of celebration of the summer solstice. We could walk from the Project Ability studios to Glasgow Green, where the artists could draw portraits of the public and have a big picnic with the flags on display.”