Tag: exhibitions

Muirhouse set to stage double arts event next Friday

Muirhouse is the place to be for culture vultures next Friday, with not one but two big arts events planned:

echoes

North Edinburgh  Arts is hosting ‘Echoes’ on Friday 12 April at 7pm

A new version of Mamma Mia  has been written by a community group fighting the city council’s plans to close  Castlebrae secondary school.

The Abba track IT, will be  sung by members of the Save the Brae campaign group during a performance of a  play that they have written called Echoes, which will express their opposition  to and frustration over the council’s proposals for the school next  summer.

Among those taking part in  the play is Kevin Finlay, chair of the Save the Brae group, who said: “I think if you go  back in history, any local issues like this have been tackled by using arts to  get points across.”

Around eight men and  women, most of whom are members of Save the Brae will perform the 55-minute play  at North Edinburgh Arts on Friday 12 April at 7pm.

Susan Heron, 54, plays Ina  in the play – a fictional character who has lived in Craigmillar all her life  and doesn’t want the school to close. Susan says the play was a “powerful statement of how Castlebrae school life was and is”.

Tickets are £3 or £2 Good  Neighbours (GN) price. To book tickets please call Box Office on 0131 315  2151

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and in the afternoon …

Travelling Gallery visits Craigroyston High School on Friday 12 April 1 – 4pm

with ‘feel-good’ art exhibition

The Travelling Gallery will be visiting Craigroyston High School on Friday 12 April, with its latest exhibition ‘Turquoise Heid’ on board. This curiously named exhibition is a busy group show of established  and emerging artists from both home and abroad.

Working in a broad range of  media including drawing, animation, film, sculpture, photography, performance,  collage and painting, the exhibition will include artists who use a playful,  childlike, feel good essence in their work, sometimes hiding darker depths but  more often making us smile. The simplicity and low-tech nature of many of the  artworks disguises sometimes complex processes and skills but also makes the  exhibition instantly accessible to audiences of all ages.

’Turquoise  Heid’ includes work by artists Matthew Barnes, Olivia Bee, Yeodoo Jung, Peter  McDonald, Alex Millar, Jock Mooney, Kim Rugg, Yukako Sakakura and David  Shrigley.

Visitors can also look out for artist Ellie Harrison’s Early Warning  Sign which the Travelling Gallery is hosting in 2013 and which will sit outside  the vehicle. Utilising the brazen marketing techniques of capitalism, the sign  attempts to grab the attention of passers-by: to remind them of the consequences  of excessive consumption and to force climate change back on the agenda. The  harder the wind blows, the faster they go! www.ellieharrison.com.

The Travelling Gallery is a custom-built, mobile, contemporary art  space inside a big beautiful bus. Supported by Creative Scotland, the Esmée  Fairbairn Foundation and the Museums and Arts Division of the City of Edinburgh Council, the Travelling Gallery brings high quality contemporary art  exhibitions and events to schools and communities throughout Scotland.

North Edinburgh Arts has arranged for the gallery to be open to  the public on Friday afternoon at Craigroyston High School. The Travelling Gallery’s visit has been  supported by the City of Edinburgh Council’s Children and Families Department.

See www.travellinggallery.com for all the  details or ‘like’ on Facebook

art bus

Malcolm Chisholm opens LOCAL exhibition

LOCAL 1Holyrood politician Malcolm Chisholm MSP was among the guests at the opening of LOCAL, a muliti-media contemporary arts exhibition, at North Edinburgh Arts last Friday. The local North and Leith MSP was impressed with the work, a collaboration between Contemporary Arts HND students from the Granton Campus of Edinburgh College ( i.e Telford!) and members of North Edinburgh’s Social History Group.

Mr Chisholm was joined by students, lecturers, members of the Social History Group and local community activists at the opening event.

LOCAL was the brainchild of course lecturers Jennie Temple and Alan Holligan, who wanted to work more closely with groups from the local community. A meeting with Community Learning and Development worker Lynn McCabe, who supports the Social History Group, proved to be the spark for the project and over four months HND students worked with members of the community group to research, develop and create their artworks for the LOCAL project.

Student Heather Lane said: ‘I was inspired by the people of North Edinburgh’s collective want for change, through their staging of protests and campaigns. I wanted to pay homage to their fight and let their message live on. Remaking the banners, placards and posters was about the overall notion of resistance against power, the protests dragging people back into the consciousness and inspiring them to become active in bringing about change, too.’

Her colleague Rhona Foster, who created artworks ‘Dog, sandwich, speech, shoes and snacks’ for LOCAL, added: ‘From the perspective of an outsider I saw North Edinburgh as having an entire culture of it’s own. As a means of research I interacted with the area and was inspired to make artworks about the people and things I encountered and engaged with.’

Drylaw’s Ian Moore, a member of the Social History Group, said: ‘It’s a fantastic exhibition with some amazing creations – the students have shown great imagination. The banners in particular brought back many memories – it’s incredible how some of these fights and campaigns are still relevant today.’

LOCAL 2

LOCAL 3

LOCAL 6

LOCAL 7

LOCAL can be seen at North Edinburgh Arts until 23 February

Tuesday – Friday 10am – 8pm

Saturday 10am – 1pm

Free admission

Warm welcome for Muirhouse photo exhibition

Borga Prada Garcia’s eagerly-awaited photographic exhibition opened at North Edinburgh Arts Centre on Tuesday. Friends, colleagues, local residents and at least one of Borja’s photographic subjects came out in strength to support the ‘Welcome to Muirhouse’ event.

Borga spent the best part of a year photographing people and buildings in Muirhouse and Pennywell while studying at Telford College, and the ‘Welcome to Muirhouse’ photo-essay for his Photography HND achieved top marks.

The project became a labour of love, and Borja’s affection for the people he met during his time in the area shines through the images on display at North Edinburgh Arts. It’s taken a lot of work over the last few months to get the exhibition open, but Borja is delighted that his work is on view in Muirhouse.

“I am so pleased that the exhibiiton is here in North Edinburgh Arts Centre. I wanted my pictures to go on display in Muirhouse before they go anywhere else and for local people to see them first – it was important to me”, he said.

Borja wanted to portray Muirhouse in a positive light, and his work achieves that. “I was aware of the very negative image of Muirhouse, but I found it a fascinating place with many warm and welcoming people who I now call friends. It’s too easy to just make assumptions about people and places: I hope I show the real Muirhouse – the place and the people who live here – in my images.”

Borja decided not to make a formal speech to open the exhibition. “I am still working on my English language and I would prefer the occasion to be informal and friendly. I thank everyone for coming, of course, but yes, I will let the photographs tell the story themselves.”

Welcome to Muirhouse can be seen at North Edinburgh Arts on Tuesday – Friday from 10am – 8pm and from 10am – 1pm on Saturday. Until 30 November.

OneOak: new exhibition at Botanics this month

OneOak is an educational project devised by the Sylva Foundation, a charity working to revive Britain’s woodland culture. The fascinating exhibition follows the full life story of an oak tree, and features no less than fifty items crafted from that one oak tree.

The exhibition opens in the John Hope Gateway on Friday 12 October and runs until Sunday 2 December. Free admission.

For more information on the OneOak project visit www.sylva.org.uk

Anne Frank Exhibition at Craigroyston High School

Craigroyston Community High School has been chosen by the Anne Frank Trust to host the Anne Frank Exhibition.  This very special and moving exhibition explains the background to the rise of Nazism, interspersed with personal photos from the Frank family album.

The guides to this interactive exhibition are Craigroyston S2 students who have been trained to lead visitors round the exhibition.

The aim of the Anne Frank Exhibition is to promote positive attitudes, and respect differences through learning about the life and tragic death of Anne Frank.

The exhibition is on now and will run until Friday 14 September. The guided tour will last no longer than 30-40 minutes, conducted by our guides in the assembly hall in Craigroyston Community High School.

Please contact the school to make a booking during the school day for your guided tour. There is also an open session on Tuesday 11th September between 4 pm – 7 pm – there is no need to book this session.

If you would like further information please contact myself in school or call 477 7801.

L. Broatch

(Acting Curriculum Leader of Social Subjects)

Local dads off to Holyrood!

Malcolm and son

Two local men will feature in a photographic exhibition at the Scottish Parliament next month. Dads Alex Newport and Malcolm Borthwick and their families are part of the ‘In Dad’s Shoes’ exhibition being staged by the father’s group Dad’s Rock.

Wester Drylaw’s Alex and Malcolm, who lives in Granton, are members of a North Edinburgh group set up specifically for dads. Based at the Haven Project in Craigroyston Primary School, the father’s group is run by Circle Scotland’s Nick Smithers.

Alex and family

Nick explained:  “The exhibition comprises of photos of all kinds of dads and their children, telling their own stories through photos and with words. The images show a variety of differing stages of being a father, ultimately the aim is to highlight positive, caring images of dads and their children. The exhibition has been on view at Eteaket during July and August, and, complemented  with added new material, will go to Holyrood next month.”

Previously on display south of the border following an official launch at the House of Lords in June, Dads Rock and Fathers Network Scotland worked in conjunction with Dads House to bring this unique photo exhibition to Scotland. It’s hoped that the display will continue to tour Scotland after the Holyrood exhibition.