Tour of Glasgow Sculpture Studios - Scotland’s Workshops Week

Scotland’s Workshops is a network of 11 visual arts production facilities all across the country. The spaces give both artists and newcomers access to an amazing array of equipment, studio spaces and unique technical expertise to create and learn about art. Come and visit during the first ever Workshops Week, 16 – 23 November 2019!

With Workshops Week, the network have launched a new website and celebrate the wealth of activity which takes place within our facilities; encouraging people to engage with what is on offer and celebrate the art created in each of our places.

Join us at Glasgow Sculpture Studios for a free guided tour led by our Director, Mhairi Sawyer. You will get an insight into our workshop facilities, studios and artist member’s practices.

Tour Time: 3pm, Wednesday 20th November

Please sign up for a free tour here.

You can find more information about the Scotland’s Workshops and the Workshops Week here.

SWAP – UK / Ukraine Residency Programme

Pictured: Yevgen Nikiforov, from series ‘On Republic's Monuments(2014-2019)’

We are very excited to host Yevgen Nikiforov for two weeks at the end of September- beginning of October 2019 in a partnership residency with Hospitalfield, Arbroath, as part of SWAP UK/Ukraine Residency Programme.

SWAP: UK/Ukraine residency programme was launched by the British Council in Ukraine and Liverpool Biennial in 2016. It connects artists and curators from Ukraine and the UK, supporting their professional development and internationalisation. The programme also gives artists and curators the time to research, reflect and explore the two countries’ vast artistic traditions.

In Ukraine, the British Council is working with the Yermilov Centre and the Municipal Art Gallery, from Kharkiv, the Museum of Odesa Modern Art, Lviv’s Jam Factory Art Center and Centre for Urban History, Artsvit Gallery, Kultura Medialna and DCCC from Dnipro City.

In the UK, British Council is working with Hospitalfield, Arbroath (from 2019-) and its partners across Scotland: Cove Park, Argyll; Scottish Sculpture Workshop, Aberdeenshire; The Pier Arts Centre, Orkney; Dundee Contemporary Arts Print Studio; Glasgow Sculpture Studios and Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop.

Yevgen Nikiforov (b. 1986, Vasylkiv, Ukraine) is an artist based in Kyiv, Ukraine. He started professional photography practice in 2005. Since 2013 he has been working on independent documentary projects. Current projects: ‘Ukrainian Soviet Mosaics’ (2013-2019) and ‘On Republic’s Monuments’ (2014-1019). The main idea behind his photography practice is to capture the essence of the place in its transition through time and shifts influenced by economic, social or natural forces. The key subject of Nikiforov’s research is the urban environment as a main ‘battlefield’ of ideological clashes, the city as a ‘map’ of invisible tensions existing in society (-es). One of the major topics of his work for almost 4 years is the Soviet cultural heritage and architecture objects left in towns all around Ukraine and the controversial attitude towards it today. Yevgen is currently hosted by Hospitalfield and will start his residency at GSS at the end of September.

More information on SWAP – UK / Ukraine Residency Programme can be found here

You can find the list of all selected artists and curators here

Creative Communities | End of Phase 1

So great to see this video giving a snapshot of all the 23 projects commissioned as part of Glasgow Life’s Creative Communities Artist in Residence programme which placed artists and creative practitioners in every ward of this city.

See what our friends in the North West have been up to, and hear Mitch Miller talk more about his working with us and the Hamiltonhill Claypits Local Nature Reserve in the Canal Ward.

 The context surrounding the redevelopment of the Claypits is complex, involving a number of agencies, local authorities, organisations and contractors. During his residency, Mitch focused on mapping out these different communities of interest, amplifying the stories and perspectives of local residents. Over the course of the project Mitch lay the ground work for the creation of a ‘Dialectogram’ – a drawing that captures the memories, experiences, and oral histories to illustrate the social architecture of the area - focusing on the past, present, and possible future uses of the site. This process entailed running collaborative drawing workshops, an Oral History Training session for local community members, and offering skills exchange with community groups.

The residency culminated in the creation of a gigantic collaborative map at the Canal Festival and a series of Open Studio events to get people talking about the issues impacting their communities and to gauge their interest in shaping further creative activity in our area.

Keep your eyes peeled for future plans!

Mirko Canesi - in residence at GSS

In September we are hosting Milan-based artist Mirko Canesi. This is the second time Mirko is in Glasgow - last year he had a solo show Contra at David Dale Gallery.

During his one month stay at GSS Mirko Canesi is going to research materials and techniques to use in a new group of sculptures involving plants and T-shirts. By using plaster, resin and silicone Mirko Canesi hopes that the final result of the residency proposal could be a sculpture (wearable or not) capable of holding water or soil for flowers and plants.

You can find more information about Mirko’s practice here and here.

Mapping Stories - Art, Ethnography, and Social Practice | Mitch Miller Artist Talk

Wednesday 14th August | 6 - 7:30pm | Glasgow Sculpture Studios

This event is free but ticketed - all welcome!

To close out his open studio at Glasgow Sculpture Studios, artist/illustrator Mitch Miller talks about his work making dialectograms – participatory artworks that blend comics, maps and ethnography. His latest dialectogram focuses on the Claypits just up the canal at Hamiltonhill as part of Glasgow Life's Creative Communities Artist in Residence Programme.

Mitch will offer insights into past works across the city, such as Red Road, the showman’s yards of the east end, and repurposed spaces in Govan, Dalmarnock, and Kirkintilloch. He will share how ‘dialectography’ came to be, and how these past experiences shaped his approach as artist in residence for Canal Ward - and how that approach is itself being reshaped by his experiences working in this part of the city.

Beyond Mitch’s story, we are interested in hearing yours - this talk is a chance to talk - about the area, about social practice, activists/advocacy and the changing shape and face of Glasgow.

Find Mitch on Instagram & Twitter @dialectographer or at www.dialectograms.com

Some useful links and articles -

’Sometimes the city lands right on top of you’ The Illustrated City - Guardian Cities | January 2019

Fair Glasgow

Inner City | Glasgow Museum of Modern Art (GoMA) | 2018-19

Barrowland Ballads