Local activists joined HND Contemporary Arts students from Edinburgh College Granton Campus and North Edinburgh Social Hostory Group members for an arts and activism workshop at North Edinburgh Arts earlier this week. Full report to follow, but see below for some images of the event:
Holyrood 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 can be seen at North Edinburgh Arts until 23 February
Tuesday – Friday 10am – 8pm
Saturday 10am – 1pm
Free admission
An Edinburgh College lecturer has helped Team GB win a prestigious award at the World Championship for Young Roofers.
Bob Coutts, Roofing Lecturer, from Edinburgh College Granton Campus mentored the team of young roofers during the three day competition which took place in Lucerne, Switzerland and the fantastic effort from the team in during a freestyle roofing task saw them win the President’s Prize award.
The team impressed the judges with its creative natural slate work on a pitched roof with a dormer shed, beating off stiff competition from 11 other countries including Switzerland, Germany and Austria.
As well as the freestyle section, which is optional for team, Team GB entered two teams in the Pitched Roofing and Waterproofing categories and was narrowly pipped to a medal where Switzerland who took home the top prize in both.
Bob, who has been a lecturer in Roofing at Edinburgh College for over 35 years, as well as mentoring the GB team since 2002, said: “A big ‘well done’ to all of the young GB roofers who took part this year and they should be very proud of the work they completed and taking home this fantastic award.
“Being involved in projects and competitions such as this, helps students broaden their skills set and open their minds and creativity to different ways of working and thinking in the sector they are interested in. The competition really sets the bar in allowing students to see what they can achieve and it is a great boost for the students and indeed Edinburgh College.”
Since he started mentoring Team GB in the World Championship for Young Roofers, Bob has represented Edinburgh College and Great Britain in Russia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Belgium, South Africa and Ireland and has helped secure two bronze medal s in Dublin 2002 and Cape Town 2005 and a Gold medal in Belfast in 2010.
The affiliation with the championships has ensured that Edinburgh College now has a stellar reputation throughout Europe as a leading education body.
Now in its 24th year, the World Championships for Young Roofers is organized by the International Federation for the Roofing Trade (IFD) and the competition sees team from all over Europe compete in three categories; Pitched Roofing, Metal Roofing and Waterproofing or Flat roofing, as well as an optional freestyle category where the teams can compete for the President’s Prize.
This year the event was hosted by the Swiss National Federation of Roofing Contractors and in order to test their skills to comply with Swiss specifications the UK team were given the opportunity to train in the host country for two weeks, helping them adhere to the national standards and use of unfamiliar materials and methods..
