International Yarn Day 2018

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Well hello there. Sorry for the absence which was slightly longer than I’d been anticipating but I’m back with a bang. As you know I’m a big fan of shopping local and love my local wool & fabric shop Gold … Continue reading →

Postcard Art Exhibition and Launch of “Suspend” by Weirdfolk

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This weekend there’s a wee exhibition opening in Glasgow. When I say wee I mean that all the art is postcard size, as with each artist submitting up to three pieces it’s certainly not going to be small in any … Continue reading →

Glasgow International Art Festival & the year of fun

With over 200 artists exhibiting in around 75 venues across Glasgow for Glasgow International there was so much opportunity to get lost in art this April.

Those of you who follow my blog will know I’ve declared 2016 the year of fun and I certainly had fun going round the various exhibitions.

I loved all the textiles on show. From skateboarding clams to weaving and national identity it all made me smile.   

   
I surprised myself by enjoying The Circus Between Worlds which was a selection of performances pieces created by artists working in Glasgow and Newcastle . Normally I steer away from performance art but I was curious to see Helen Shaddock‘s piece.  Sometimes it’s good to things that scare you just a wee bit.  

   The festival certainly helped feed my imagiation.

  
    
Some exhibitions are on until 22nd May so there’s still some time to catch them.

Step out of your comfort zone

 This is a tale of how a Yelper (me) stepped out of her comfort zone & had a night of pizza & fun.

As some of you might know I’ve suffered from periods of depression which has left me with social anxiety. Often I have to force myself to go out even if it’s something I want to do. I want to melt into crowds and feel more comfortable talking to small groups. I get so nervous before social events that I often feel physically sick but have tried to hide it. Ever felt like that?

The thing is, I’m a sociable person & don’t want to sit at home every night. So when the chance to be a judge for a Yelp pizza battle came up I knew I had to step out my comfort zone.

  

Along with 30 other hungry Yelpers I went to La Favorita on Gibson St, Glasgow and headed downstairs.

I was really nervous (almost chickened out of going) but our hosts, Briony and Lainey, immediately put me at ease and I was seated beside two lovely, chatty Yelpers. After feeling awkward for about 5 minutes I started to relax and had a fun night.

I won’t go on about the pizzas – you’ll only get jealous & hungry – but five local pizza makers worked hard while we sipped on Menabrea and blind tasted their creations.

Here are some of my dreamy pictures of the contenders:
  
  
  
  

And who won? Well there was a surprise with La Favorita (pic 3) and Paesano (pic 1) tying joint first. Bloc, Firebird and Mora all came second though to be honest, I’d recommend all of them as they were all tasty making judging difficult.

The other winner was me as I had a fab night, had a laugh with some fun folk and can take pride in knowing I didn’t let into my demons.

So the next time you want to hide under your duvet don’t! Book yourself onto that embroidery course, join that book group and start Yelping.

PS what do you mean that you don’t know what Yelp is? Have a look here  —-> http://www.yelp.co.uk

Knit For Unity

 
There’s a new knitting group in Glasgow which aims to bring together women from across the globe to make practical items whilst having a good old banter.   

   
I’ve been lucky enough to be able to attend the first two meetings and had such a fun time. As winter had set in – thanks Storm Abigail – we’re currently making scarves, cowls and hats with the recipients still to be decided. Ashley has created a beanie style hat she’s called the Hope Hat. It’s easy to knit so even if you can’t make the meetings I’ll pop a link into this post and if you make one for yourself why not make a second and send it to us? I’ll ask Ashley for an address to send it to.
  Knit For Unity meets every Monday between 12pm and 3pm at Maryhill Integration Network’s office within Maryhill Community Cenue on Avenuepark Street, Glasgow. Currently they have no funding for a crèche but as you can see from the photos the children attending enjoyed learning how to knit. 

The pattern for the Hope Hat can be found here on Ravelry  or on Ashley’s blog Make It Glasgow.

Streetart inspired by the Turner Prize

A few weeks ago I was going past Tramway, which is currently hosting the Turner Prize exhibition when I noticed some strange behaviour.

Two men were having a good look at the demolished building across the road. With them were several ladders tied to a homemade bike, a generator and some tools.

Today, as I went past again, I was able to enjoy the fruits of their labour.   

   
     
 

*** UPDATE ***

I’ve just found out that this work was a collaboration between Baxendale and Recoat.

Up #Periscope then save to #katch

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As you know I like my social media & can be found lurking on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter bumbling along, sharing things that I hope are sometimes of interest to you. Recently I heard of Periscope which is a relatively … Continue reading →

Inside a pipe organ and Riverside Museum

In my last post I mentioned that as well as getting into Kelvin Hall to see how the building is progressing we also went to Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum and Riverside Museum.

The purpose was to create copyright free media for Wikimedia Commons and was organised by Sara Thomas who is Scottish Museums Wikimedian in Residence. It was really fun and although my camera didn’t like the low lighting inside the pipe organ (yes I really did get inside it) I managed some ok photos.

There are 4 levels within the pipes all accessed by ladders like the ones shown. It’s tuned monthly and is literally powered by the wind being sucked in. Other photographers on the workshop got some cracking photos of the inner workings so check out their Wikimedia Commons page as I’m sure they’ll be uploading them very shortly.

If you’ve not seen it from the outside here’s a wee look at it. It was built in 1927 and is the largest working pipe organ in the world not in a church. The wood is walnut and the pipes are fake (sorry) but they do look good. Grab a sandwich and listen to the organ recital which happens daily at 1pm.

Our day ended with a trip to Riverside Museum which people often call a transport museum. True, there are loads of different modes of transport on display but with 8 different exhibitions every year it’s so much more. For those wondering the walls are painted either pistachio or lime 🙂

I love the Glasgow street which even has its own weather system, cat & pigeon.

Of course the outside is also beautiful and we were lucky to see a bit of a Bollywood film being shot as well. The zig-zag design is a lovely nod to the ship building past on the River Clyde and the roofs of the shipyards that once dominated it.

Oh! While you’re at the Riverside Museum do go on the Tall Ship at the back which is free so please give a wee donation on your way off.

I’ll put more pics up on Flickr and you can get more info here

• Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum
• Riverside Museum
• Wikimedia Commons
• Frayedattheedges on Wikimedia

Sneak preview inside Kelvin Hall

Do you remember going to Kelvin Hall for the shows? Or when the Transport Museum was there? Or maybe even playing badminton or basketball there? Built in 1927 it started to show its age by the time it closed but luckily it wasn’t sold for private use but kept for an ambitious redevelopment.

On Friday I was lucky enough to get a space on a photography trip to see inside Kelvin Hall during its construction as part of a project by Scottish Museums Wikimedian in Residence, Sara Thomas. We also went to Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum and Riverside Museum butg more about them in my next post. The aim of the day was to create more copyright free media about various museums in Glasgow that anyone can use.

Wikimedia Commons is a media file repository making available public domain and freely-licensed educational media content (images, sound and video clips) to everyone, in their own language. It acts as a common repository for the various projects of the Wikimedia Foundation, but you do not need to belong to one of those projects to use media hosted here. The repository is created and maintained not by paid archivists, but by volunteers. The scope of Commons is set out on the project scope pages.

The redevelopment is being completed in stages and we looked at stage one which will not only house public exhibition areas, a Glasgow Club gym and dance studio but space for Scottish Screen, The Hunterian, National Library of Scotland and Glasgow Museums.

Remember the stairs to the side of the building? Well this is what they currently look like. They will create an indoor street with exhibition space & I know they are in touch with the show(*) community to get old images from carnivals past. Yes, those trick mirrors will be back and at the end of the avanue thery are constructing a huge screen for archive footage to be displayed on it.

Some parts still look like they could be part of a horror movie but I was pleased to see they are keeping as many original features in the building as possible. Windows have been taken out, repaired and replaced while brickwork / supporting beams have been supported during the reconstitution and will be very carefully released at the end.

I should also say that most of the stairs have been created by hand. Due to the nature of the building they couldn’t bring in pre-made staircases. Each one took about a fortnight to create and of course they still have to be finished and made suitable for the public.

The new top floor, which didn’t previously exist, is going to be stunning. It has a glass roof and will house offices for either Scottish Screen or National Library of Scotland, storage rooms for The Hunterian and a huge public dance studio.

Sadly we’re going to have to wait until autumn 2016 to see the finished building but already it is looking amazing. I’ll put more photos on my Flickr stream so you can get a better idea of how it looks.

You can find out more info here

• Kelvin Hall Project
• Wikimedia Commons
• Frayedattheedges on Wikimedia Commons

(*) “shows” is a local term for fun fairs and carnivals. There is a strong tradition in Scotland of the shows being run by the travelling community.

The Making Room Pt.1

Earlier this year I really lost my creative mojo. No matter where I looked I just couldn’t find it and it was really getting me down. Think it must have been on a world tour but it’s back & I’m feeling good.

Recently I heard that WASPs Glasgow were creating a month of arts events that ranged from talks to taster sessions. Well what’s a girl to do but sign up 🙂

On Saturday I went to the first of the two sessions I’d signed up for, block printing. The taster session was taken by the talented and lovely Megan Held who showed us the basics of printing.

We started with potato printing. Haven’t done that since school and it was a lot of fun. We all procrastinated that our repeat designs weren’t good but once we popped on the paint and started playing with the designs we could see the potential.

After that Megan showed us the basics of how to create a design for a repeat block and we made a Lino cutting. Several test runs on paper and fabric were duely tried and finally we took courage and made either towels or bags.

I opted for a bag which turned out a lot better than I thought it would, even the splodges of paint looked fine. I’ll add some embroidery to it in the near future and show you the result.

We all had a really fun afternoon & were chuffed with our results. I think a lot of the sessions are sold out but have a look just in case there are some spaces.

The Making Room: http://utter http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/the-making-room-wasps-studios-7900939119