Our annual Young Talent exhibition, GOING FOR GOLD celebrates the creativity, imagination, and artistic achievements of the young artists who take part in our Saturday Create workshops.
Many of the artists at Project Ability have been creating with us since they were very young, and we welcome anyone aged 8 and over to join our Create programme. Guided by our experienced tutors, each artist is encouraged to develop their own ideas, experiment with new techniques, and bring ambitious creative projects to life.
With Glasgow hosting the Commonwealth Games this summer, sport felt like the perfect inspiration for our Young Talent 2026 exhibition. Taking the theme in imaginative and unexpected directions, each artist explores what sport means to them and the moments, memories, and achievements that excite and inspire them most. From energetic team games to archery and darts, and with swimming proving especially popular with the artists, the exhibition is a joyful celebration of movement, creativity, and young artistic talent. Finnie, the official mascot of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, has also been recreated on canvas!
Please join us in celebrating the young talent of Project Ability!
The GOING FOR GOLD reception is on Saturday, August 15th, 12-2pm.
View the Going For Gold artworks in this online gallery,
GOING FOR GOLD : Young Talent 2026 exhibiting artists,
Ross Agnew, Coltrane Brady, Jonathan Beatts, Claire Buchanan, Polly Burnett, Harriet Campbell, Greg Coultas, Ryan Coyle, Blair Deighan, John Duncan, Rosie Georgiades, Danielle Gilligan, Lee Graham, Rachel Hook, Jack Hynes, Ryan Jago, Peter Johnston, Erin Keogh, Lydia Kingsbury-Mshasha, Cat MacFarlane, Dylan Mackenzie, Vincent May, Emily McDonald, Eleanor McCarthy, Gabriel McBryan, Ben Meade, Kevin Neil, Obi Oguguo, Lindsay Oliphant, Guy Pentland, James Pert, Cora Retzlaff-Creaney, Francis Retzlaff-Creaney, Struan Robb, Emma Shearer, Lucas Shreenan, Ellis Thompson, Zoe Jane Wagner, Jack Woodlock, Gabriel Wright
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–In addition to celebrating each of our young artists with Young Talent, we are also celebrating the life of one of our young Create artists who attended Project Ability’s Saturday art classes for over a decade. Gabriel McBryan was a dedicated, talented and creative artist who very sadly passed away earlier this year.
To celebrate Gabriel’s artistic achievements, we have a gorgeous selection of just some of the many artworks he made at Project Ability over the years. His family have kindly given us photos of Gabriel with each of the artworks on display. These are treasured moments of happiness that we are so pleased to have been able to share with Gabriel and his family. Gabriel was an integral part of Project Ability’s Saturday art classes, and he is enormously missed by his artist friends and all the tutors that loved working with him every week.
Gabriel’s parents have generously written and shared the below text with us, expressing how much joy and happiness Gabriel’s art practice brought him.
‘Saturday mornings mean different things to different people. Gabriel’s Saturday mornings were all about Project Ability and having a smile on his face as the gang in the studio guided him to create incredible works of art. He loved the social aspect, too. Each time, when he arrived and saw all the familiar faces he’d gotten to know over the years, he beamed and his weekend was off to a flying start.
At the age of six, the age at which his older and younger brothers first laced up their boots and began playing in junior football teams, Gabriel first clasped a brush and began his own Saturday morning tradition. Some might well argue that, on average, he scored more winners than they did, with an astonishing array of genuinely beautiful works. Family and friends clamoured to have one to hang in their own homes. And they weren’t just being nice.
The pieces he created, some of which you can see here today, gave him an immense sense of satisfaction. He was rightly proud of the paintings, prints, drawings and ceramics that Project Ability allowed him to bring to life. He would arch his back and let out a squeal of joy when people praised his work, and you realised the magic being performed by this charity that could help a boy with such profound challenges do so much.’
This online gallery shows photos of Gabriel in the Project Ability Create studio, creating the artworks hanging in the gallery, as part of our 2026 Young Talent exhibition. We are so grateful to his parents for sharing these with us.
Project Ability’s Create workshops for young people:
Our Saturday Create studios are specifically designed for young people with learning disabilities, autism and/or complex support needs. The ratio of tutors to artists is smaller than with the older artist groups, and we welcome siblings and family to join in if they want to! Within our Create studios, we have 2 different workshops, according to age;
Create classes are for children and young adults, with 2 separate sessions for artists aged 8-18 and 18-25.
Art Matters is a supported group for older young people to meet (25+), socialise and create great artwork.
Get in touch if you would like to find out more!
Accessibility
The exhibition is wheelchair accessible.
Visit
11-5, Wednesday – Saturday
Trongate 103, 1st Floor
Free entry / wheelchair accessible toilet and lift to first floor gallery
Download our Gallery Visitor Pack
top featured image, detail of ‘Magical Pool’ by Claire Buchanan
