Tag Archives: art

Highland Youth Arts Hub

Room13 is delighted to be taking part in the delivery of an exciting new Youth Arts Hub for the Highlands. The Highland Youth Arts Hub is one of nine hubs being set up across the country as part of the National Youth Arts Strategy, Time to Shine.

The Highland Youth Arts Hub is working to the ambitious National Youth Arts Strategy which centres around three key themes:

  • creating and sustaining engagement
  • nurturing potential and talent
  • developing infrastructure and support

In the Highlands, 12 youth and arts organisations are working in partnership to develop this exciting new initiative. The partners are:

Aros / Skye DanceEden CourtFèisean nan GàidhealFèis RoisHighland CouncilHighland Print StudioHigh Life HighlandMoniack MhòrPlan BRoom 13University of the Highlands & Islands and Youth Highland.

As the Hub develops, we look forward to engaging many more partners throughout the Highlands.

The Highland Youth Arts Hub aims to increase access to youth arts activities across the region and across a range of art forms including dance, digital art, drama, film, literature, music and visual art. We will be working together to offer more cross art form activities and to address issues like accessibility and participation.

The Hub will nurture and celebrate ambition, enthusiasm and talent in young people by improving the regional infrastructure and developing a new youth arts strategy for the area called Highland’s Time to Shine. Young people will be central to the development of the Hub. They will steer the direction of the work and make key decisions as the project will be led by a new Highland Youth Arts Forum.

The Hub is currently planning creative projects that will kick off in January 2015 whilst a new Creative Careers weekend and Annual Youth Arts Festival are in the pipeline for later next year – stay tuned and keep an ear out for what’s going on in your area!

Keep up to date with the National Time to Shine programme by following @TTSYoutharts on Twitter.

If you would like more information on the Hub please contact Lara Van de Peer on larabryce1@aol.com, the Highland Youth Arts Hub CoOrdinator for Room13.

If you are interested in becoming involved with the Hub or any of its projects, or would simply like to express a want and/or need for creative provision in your area, again, please contact Lara on the e-mail above. If, however, you’d feel more comfortable speaking with one of the Youth Arts Forum representatives please ask for contact details.

UNEDUCATED 5 Sept – 5th Oct 2014

A collection of artwork and images from the Room 13 archive are on show at the Counihan Gallery In Brunswick, Melbourne Australia.

Curated by Kym Maxwell, UNEDUCATED presents artworks and projects that explore ideas of society, knowledge and institutional learning that both provoke consideration of our role as spectators and reflect on the debate of the ‘educational turn’ in contemporary art discourse.

Read a review of this exhibition: http://primermag.net/art/2014/9/kym-maxwell-interview-uneducated

Summer Programme 2014

 

Room 13 Summer Programme will take place throughout July at Room 13 Community Studio in Caol Youth Centre.

Our workshops have been designed to keep you busy all summer  – from hour long sessions for new Primary Ones to a week of Portfolio-Building, a 2-day Printmaking Workshop plus our Open Studio sessions on Wednesdays, all based at Room 13 Community Studio in Caol Youth Centre.

We encourage people of all ages and abilities to come along and experience the studio environment, learn new skills, and just have a good time making things – come and learn new creative techniques, try out different printmaking processes, put on a play in a day making everything as you go, take a wander to look for materials and make something from what you see and find:

Ages 4 -5
·         New Primary Ones Taster Workshop (hour long sessions)
Ages 5 – 7
·         Very Young Artists – exploring materials & techniques
Ages 8 – adult
·         Summer Studio – photography, drawing, constructing, painting, looking,  printing…
Ages 10+
·         Working with Stuff – collecting, carving, cutting, gluing, sculpting, drilling, pouring…
Ages 12+
·         Skillbuilder Workshops – Tutoring in Papermaking, Felting, Plaster & Carving, Printmaking
·         Printmaking Workshop – 2 days of linocut, etching, collograph & monoprinting…
Ages 16+
·         Portfolio-building Workshop – a week (Mon – Fri) focusing on developing a strong body of work & trying new things
All Ages
·         Felt Feet – family workshop learning felting and making felt…feet
·         Play in a Day (in collaboration with Dramafish Studios) – family workshop, make the props, costumes, sets and write the play – in a day!
·         Open Studio – free, open to all, come along and use the facilities

Please download the full programme for further details, prices and a booking form.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Easter Workshops 8th – 12th April 2014

Room 13 Community Studio in Caol Youth Centre will be running the popular Very Young Artists workshop and Studio Explorer Sessions along with family friendly workshops for all ages allowing plenty of opportunity to get creative this Easter holiday!

Creative Workshops & Studio Sessions for all ages will run from 8th – 12th April 2014 @ Room13 Community Studio Caol Youth Centre, Fort William, Scotland PH33 7DP

Download the full list of workshops here   or contact info@room13international.org for details

Room 13 Community Studio hosting Odd Numbers Project 7th/8th Feb

 

This weekend, Room 13 Community Studio will host a temporary exhibition and workshop which will recreate the experience of the Odd Numbers project.  Members of the community are invited to participate in the building and creation of a structure, which will be mainly made from reclaimed/salvaged materials.  The building of this pavilion will be led and supervised by Lee Ivett, a qualified architect who teaches at in the Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow School of Art, and who is also the project leader for the Love Milton project, which is a partner in Remaking Society.

Participants will be invited to ‘adopt’ a ceramic creature for a short time and then return it, having made a creative response.
In this way the community of Caol will go through the three stages of Odd Numbers that the community of Milton has participated in – choose a creature, own/possess/document it, then make a creative response;  all of these will be exhibited in the pavilion on the final day.

Construction begins on Friday 7th Feb and the event will conclude with a public seminar led by the University of the West of Scotland’s Artist Teacher programme on Saturday 8th Feb.
This seminar will consider the pedagogical implications of the Odd Numbers project. Creative or merely curious individuals of all ages are welcome to come along at any point to construct, create, watch or listen.

“People aren’t like Robots!” Exhibition

Room 13 Open Day

We have an open day coming up where you can come by and experience Room 13 by diving right into the middle of it all and see for yourself how a Room 13 works within a school and community environment!

There will be visits to the original Room 13 based in Caol Primary School at regular intervals throughout the day. The artists in residence and managers will be on hand and will happily answer any questions you may have about what really goes on in a Room 13. It will be also a great opportunity to bring up any individual project ideas you may have which are relevant to your community or organisation and you can book a one to one meeting to discuss it further.

Room 13 Open Day, Caol Youth Centre from 11:00am – 3:00pm on the 27th of September.

Come by for the whole day or just drop in for a chat!

Contact: admin@room13internation.org for further details on the day’s events..

InterGen Artlink Project

Inter-generational project at Room 13 Beatrice Tate

In 2012, Room 13 International has supported Room 13 Beatrice Tate in making a successful application to the Shadwell Trust. The grant from Shadwell Trust is being administered through Room 13 International to run ”Intergen Artlink” project, linking Room 13 Beatrice Tate with their surrounding community in Bethnal Green, east London.

The aim of the project is to draw together local groups that would otherwise not meet, to take part in creative and social workshops facilitated by artists Emma Conder and Bob Dawson.

Other outcomes of the project are to build the profile of Room 13 in the community and to start creating long term supportive and mutually beneficial links and relationships.

This is an inter-generational project involving young people from the Room13 studios in Beatrice Tate and and Old Ford schools and older residents from Gateway Sheltered Housing and Tower Hamlets U3A art groups.

In a series of with creative workshops, participants in the ”Intergen Artlink” project have been given the opportunity to express themselves through a range of mediums and techniques, including collage, print, drawing, poems, sculpture, books, through which they are encouraged to share and compare their cultural, generational and personal experiences, and stories about growing up and life in Tower Hamlets.

To date, both young and elderly participants have enjoyed dedicated workshop sessions in familiar territory, as well as being able to get out and about to explore the local area and coming together in unique spaces and times created for meeting and making.

Rather than impose themes, the artists have encouraged and facilitated the group to set the direction and pace of their creative enquiry. Sessions to date have involved working in sketchbooks, alone and in groups, getting to know and each other and be comfortable sharing work and ideas, collecting material and information about the local area and its history; memories; self portraits; and responding to music.

This project is ongoing, and will culminate in 2013 with an exhibition of the groups work inspired by their collective and individual experiences.

In their own words:

“At the start of the project the idea was to individually and collaboratively make work about the member’s collective experience and personal memories of Bethnal Green (London), the local area, and what it meant to the participants.

However over the course of the project it has become clear that these unique spaces and times created for meeting and making; are more about getting to know each other, to chat and to share, with the common thread of ‘creativity’ and ‘making’ as a constant presence and activity from the start.  The creation of art works and sharing in processes have become the foundations and the spring board on which the participants are connecting with each other and learning about each other.  The artists have adjusted the themes and focus of the workshops accordingly.

The first workshop in 2012 was all about meeting each other and showing our art work. In their own studio during preparatory workshops,  both groups had been working on sketchbooks and pieces about themselves and their lives. We had been collecting material and information about the local area and its history; memories and experiences, photos, actual things, sketches, word and rubbings. So people brought  pictures of themselves in as children, or brought in things or pictures of things that are important to them. In small groups or couples, however they naturally formed, we looked at each others work; talked about what it meant, or how it had been created, and shared a cup of tea and a beautiful spread of cakes! Some of the participants started to create collages from the materials that had been set out; working together.

Our second meeting was to be a joint group trip of the Senior art groups and children from the Room 13 Old Ford school, to a local exhibition of historical and recent photography of the area.  Both groups had sessions with the artists in preparation for the trip. The Old Ford Room 13 children had thought about the meaning of place, and about what home means; we did some collaborative mapping of their local area.  The seniors enjoyed the exhibition and were able to see the changes in the local area. Unfortunately The Old Ford School group were unable to join the trip at the last minute.

Our next session at Ruth Court had the theme of self portrait and use of clay. Each group had preparatory workshops practising to create clay busts, or enjoying the properties of the clay and experimenting with mark making and imprints. All the participants got stuck into creating sculptures straight away; chatting and helping each other.  Everyone was pleased to see familiar faces again; there was ‘banter’ and a real celebratory atmosphere! There were some interesting pieces created which were all photographed and the clay recycled.

Our most recent session in March 2013 was very soft and tranquil; as everyone appeared to be comfortable and at ease with each other. It also maybe have been due to the theme of the workshop which was music and responding through drawing and with our bodies. All the groups had been working creatively in response to sounds in run up sessions to the workshop; including the Old Ford young artists, who were unable to make the joint inter-generation session again.  For the workshop we hired a jazz singer and guitarist. While they played the group made marks, and danced with charcoal taped to bamboo lengths, on paper covering the ‘dance floor’ creating a collaborative and unending response to the music.

We are looking forward to the next meeting of our groups and excited to see how the relationships we are all developing will create opportunities for everyone in the future.”

Emma Conder
Lead Artist, Intergen Artlink Project.

Richard Demarco Visits Room 13

We were delighted to welcome Professor Demarco and Terry Ann Newman, Deputy Director of the Demarco European Art Foundation, to Room 13 studios in Caol on 13th June 2013.

Professor Richard Demarco, founder of the Demarco European Art Foundation is an artist and promoter of the visual and performing arts. Since the 1960s, he has been one of Scotland’s most influential advocates for contemporary art, promoting cross-cultural links, presenting international artists within Scotland and establishing outgoing connections for Scottish artists across Europe.

Recently, Professor Demarco attended a presentation by young artists from Room 13 studios in Lochaber which was held in the Scottish Parliament. Following this, an invitation was extended to visit the original Room 13 in Caol Primary School.

Demarco was struck by the similarities between the ethos of Room 13 and the teachings of his late friend and colleague, Joseph Beuys. He appeared to revel in the work of the young artists and said he was ‘overwhelmed’ by the experience.

More photos of Professor Demarco’s visit to Room 13 are posted online.

 

Room 13 Delmar’s Embroidery Evening

Room 13 Delmar attended an evening at the Veterans Administration Hospital in which Ilene Berman, lead artist of Room 13 Delmar, sat in the waiting room and shared her talents and stories with the residents of the hospital. It looked like a fantastic way to spend time with some lovely embroidered tokens being created. Looking forward to hearing more exciting news coming from Room 13 Delmar.