For the past week we’ve been chatting with past volunteers from Project Ability to help celebrate Volunteers Week 2023!
Today we spoke with Jonathan Kirkwood who volunteered with the Friday Aspire group in 2016! You can read Jonathan’s first blog entry here.
“Hey! I’m Jonny and it’s been a wee while since I volunteered at Project Ability. It still feels like just yesterday and really I always think of my time at Project Ability as the spark that got me to where I am now. My Fridays were what I looked forward to most each week. Spending time with the Friday Aspire artists and Val was such a positive experience and a real catalyst for me. Volunteering at Project Ability helped me step out my comfort zone and start creating art that made me feel good and that I enjoyed making.
Since volunteering at Project Ability I’ve went on to become a freelance artist, creating the majority of my work alongside my older brother, and more recently focusing a little more into illustration and design. I’ve been lucky enough to be part of some brilliant exhibitions, residencies and been given some fantastic commissioned opportunities to showcase the art I make. I’ve even found myself back at college… didn’t see that coming!
Spending time with such creative, inspiring and big hearted artists really helped me to embrace the joyful experience of making art again. I really don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much as what I did when volunteering at Project Ability. The studio is teaming with big characters and even bigger artists! Being in that environment really helped me to become more open, to stop overthinking things and to really get stuck in. It’s a no brainer if you’re looking to volunteer somewhere in Glasgow.”
