Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop – Contemporary Art Practice etc…

CAP1 ESW Residency

Published November 24, 2014

A few weeks ago it was the turn of CAP1 to take up residence at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop. Although an annual event for 7 years this was only our 3rd year in the new Bill Scott Sculpture Centre as part of our formal partnership with ESW. Since the new premises opened in June 2012 ESW and the college have had a formal partnership which has ESW designated as an Edinburgh College Employability Centre. The partnership allows students to undertake their Introduction to Sculpture course in a purpose built professional studio & workshop environment for the research, development and production of sculptural practice.

Benjamin Fallon Moving Image Presentation

ESW Curator of Research Dan Brown Introduced ESW

Modelled Clay Sculpture Experiment with Drawing

As well as the formal sculptural practice developed during the residency a number of Professional Practice events took place including wood workshop induction and a talk by ESW Curator of Research Dan Brown who spoke to the residency participants about the facilities, history & philosophy of ESW as well as the education, exhibition and residency programmes. Other events included a studio visit with studio holder Kate Ive and a talk by RSA/ESW International Residency winner Norbert Delman whose exhibition Sweat / Suffer / Success was open in the gallery space. All the talks took place in the new multi function research space at ESW which is flexile enough to have round table talks and discussions as well as presentations. Having access to the space and resources meant we were able to have our annual Moving Image event curated by #exCAPer and regular guest lecturer Benjamin Fallon which was held over two evenings at ESW.

Next May we will return to ESW with CAP2 for their Diploma Exhibition by which time the second phase of the multi £million capital project ‘Creative Laboratories’ will have been open for 6 months and we are looking forward to spending a week working and exhibiting in the new spaces.

Click on the links below to see blog posts by CAP1 ESW Residents:

Szabolcs Fricska: http://sfricskacap.tumblr.com/post/101630305745/the-week-that-we-spent-at-the-edinburgh-sculpture

Yulia Vitten: http://iuliiavittencap.tumblr.com/post/101836631621/my-final-sculpture-from-the-week-at-esw-and-small

Magdealen Gunkowska: http://mgunkowskacap.tumblr.com/post/101166933302/my-experiments-with-plaster-and-construction

http://mgunkowskacap.tumblr.com/post/101171457022

Elena Cheltsova: http://echeltsovacap.tumblr.com/post/101429925954/esw-day-3-modelling-with-plaster-thought-of

Freya Taylor: http://freyataylorcap.tumblr.com/post/100831352454/collaborative-installation-lots-of-fun-i-was

Skinny Review CAP @ESW

Published November 9, 2014

Extract from FEATURE BY ROSAMUND WEST.

PUBLISHED 04 JULY 2014

“The Contemporary Art Practice course has a fine art focus, offering students the environment to experiment, to investigate processes and challenge themselves. Says lecturer Alan Holligan, “We offer a very broad range of contemporary practices so people can specialise in sculpture, 2D practices, 3D practices or mixed practice. Usually they make decisions based on the courses they specifically want to go to, wherever that might be. They’re encouraged to work into areas that we as lecturers don’t necessarily have expertise in. I think in some courses they’re supposed to stay within the knowledge of their lecturer, which is why there’s often an emphasis on painting, an emphasis on sculpture, whereas we’re very clear that the students’ ambition shouldn’t be set by our skillset. They need to outreach that and often we have to keep up with them, which is good for everybody concerned.”

This year’s class first exhibited in the working professional environment that is the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, before transferring a pared-down version of the show to Summerhall. They’re a mixed bunch, exploring a wide variety of disciplines with varying degrees of success. Still at an experimental stage in their practice, this is to be expected. However, some students display a striking level of ambition, notably Jay Easton, who delves into the realms of technology to present work which aims to pose challenging questions. In ESW, two iPhones communicate with one another, displaying the mundane chatter between a couple. With the human protagonists removed from the equation, the relationship is reduced to two screens interacting eerily.

In Summerhall, Easton displays two QR codes, one on a slate (redolent of history, sculpture, early man) and one on a box afixed to the wall. A hasty download of a QR scanner (the technology seems a bit retro already, ironically) reveals the works to link to texts on his blog meditating on the dangers of an unconsidered embrace of technology, and the parallels of Pandora’s box, respectively.

He’s now off to GSA to delve further into his research. Like many in the Let’s Glow showcase, Easton is at an interesting point in his development. The bright prospects each has before them suggests this will not be the last we hear of them.”

Read the full article here: http://www.theskinny.co.uk/art/features/308272-edinburgh_college_lets_glow

Anjila’s Glasses: 2014 Diploma Show ESW

Published November 9, 2014

It has been a while but finally we’re getting round to some blog updates. Although there have been a few updates over and since the summer there are a few gaps that need filling so we’ll start with some images from the 2014 Diploma Exhibition Anjila’s Glasses which took place at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop in late May. The exhibition was fantastic of course and extremely well attended on the opening night and the following days is was open to the public. This year the exhibition was shorter than usual, open only 2 days for public viewing but that was due to the need to relocate much of the work to Summerhall as the students were taking part in the general Edinburgh College Creative Industries HND Diploma Exhibition at the city centre arts venue.

Mariola Albinowska & Kaitlyn Walker-Stewart

A week into the Summerhall show an additional room became available which allowed our CAP1 colleagues to show a work each from their recent projects and you can see them installing in their work in the image below.

You can see more of the CAP end of year exhibitions and the openings in this slide show:

Student Union support is always welcome!

New AIRetc: Julie Duffy

Published September 25, 2014

JD3

The AIRetc…. Contemporary Art Team are delighted to welcome our new Artist In Residence, Julie Duffy. Julie, who graduated from the HND at at the former Telford College in 2008 went on to gain a 1st class BA Hons Degree in Fine Art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD), is our eighth resident in the AIR studio.

Since graduating from DJCAD in 2011 Julie has developed new work and has exhibited regularly throughout Edinburgh including solo exhibitions at Summerhall and group shows at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop. As well as developing her solo practice in sculpture Julie has more recently been developing collaborative practices with Hayley Mathers who as well as being a former AIRetc…. is also a graduate from DJCAD.

Julie is also an active member and former studio holder at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop where she has developed a curatorial role as a member of the 2 person TANK committee which is responsible for the programming of the TANK project and exhibition space at ESW.

Julie has already made a fantastic contribution to the HND CAP course by getting involved with studio / project crits and we are all really looking forward to the working closely with her over the next few months.

Julie will be blogging throughout her time as AIR and as always you can follow her progress on the AIRetc website. In the meantime you can find pout more about Julie and her practice by visiting her website:

http://julieduffy.wordpress.com/

http://airetc.wordpress.com/

Modern Edinburgh Film School & HND Contemporary Art Practice Link up

Published February 15, 2013

Guest blogger Alex Hetherington presents: Modern Edinburgh Film School

Images Courtesy of Alex Hetherington: Modern Edinburgh Film School

Modern Edinburgh Film School – a temporary participatory film school, combining themes of the sculptural screen, film and poetry, narrative and space, event as image, and acoustics and noise as form – is curated by the visual artist Alex Hetherington in association with Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop.

It acts as a kind of prism, reflecting, connected and transparent surfaces – where one thing can be seen through another – on the activities, functions and architecture of the Sculpture Workshop’s

new building and outward to contexts, processes and activities externally, as satellite disparate engagements. It is informed by propositions and practices by a range of national and international artists demonstrating concerns between improvisational, meticulous and sensitively drawn associations in poetry, film, moving image, space and sculpture. It hopes to work as a season of projects, appearing and disappearing, being seen discreetly, at spaces and venues across the city in 2013.

Its propositions, which are elusive and allusive include a series of essays, of indicators of historical and contemporary activity, a slight curriculum: Edgar Schmitz, Anne Colvin, AA Bronson, Tom Marioni, Trisha Donnelly, Samantha Donnelly, Rachel Harrison, Martin Kippenberger, Harry Everett Smith, Marcel Broodthaers & Aurélien Froment and traits found in contributors, influencers and cameos such as Stephen Sutcliffe, Anthony Schrag, Anne Colvin, Lyndsay Mann, Hazel France, Sarah Forrest, Ute Aurand, Sarah Neely, Lauren Gault, Debi Banerjee, Benjamin Fallon, Zoë Fothergill, Raydale Dower, and others.

The project, meanwhile is informed by the free school, and alternative learning approaches, inhabiting an arc of combined themes of the sculptural screen, film and poetry, narrative and space, event as image, and acoustics and noise as form. Education here becomes an obstacle, articulating thoughts on commitment, graduation, qualification and drifting attention, and the possibilities of promiscuous coincidences, synchronicity. Meanwhile it contains two considerations of time, Modern and School, and the meanings of those in abrasion to a city with faint film vocabularies, traditions, establishment and authority and museums. In turn it contains thoughts on exhibitions, fictions and contrivances: outputs, alongside the essays are, transparent letter texts on black glass (solid film credits), zines and print, and a series of events and talks: Green Screen, Group Show, A Party for Young Artists, Edinburgh Homosexual, The Hand that Holds The Desert Down, A Library.

From the outset the School sought practitioners from different stages of their careers, including students in formal education, as well as those working at a professional level in contemporary art. After an open discussion on the work, and its ambitions, at Contemporary Art Practice at Edinburgh College and an open call, that followed the conventions of applying for work in that professional setting: 4 images, statement and moving image samples, two practitioners were identified to become part of the project, to attend works, and respond finally with a time-based submission for a portmanteau film for a screening at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop’s appearance at the Edinburgh Art Festival in August 2013.

All the applicants in this process responded to different aspects of the shaping of Modern Edinburgh Film School, some revealing questions on the political status of such an undertaking, others looking at the subject of the poetic and the sublime, how literature and words give potent expression to filmmaking, how the digital might inform the sculptural.

The two successful candidates are Shareen Sorour and Kaitlyn Walker-Stewart whose applications both alluded to the symmetries, echoes and architectures of film, poetry and sculpture, while containing experimental and diverse approaches to the screen, the performative, time, the object, surface and representation. While still very early stage visual art practitioners their portfolios contain intriguing enquiries.

Sharren Sarour: Outside: Inside; Still from Video. Kaitlyn Walker-Stewart: Barriers; Still from video

Modern Edinburgh Film School commences 15 March with a screening at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop and a group show, Green Screen, co-curated with Embassy, followed there by performances and talks during March, and later a discussion on this collaboration at Edinburgh College of Art.

I would like to thank Alan Holligan, Jennie Temple and Colette Woods at Edinburgh College for their continued generous support of my practice in general and the work to be carried out for Modern Edinburgh Film School in particular.

Alex Hetherington, Edinburgh, February 2013.

CAP @ Edinburgh College Review of 2012:

Published January 11, 2013

There is little doubt that 2012 was among the most eventful years for us at #cap_etc. Multiple highs have been followed by occasional but necessary lows, necessary in so much that they help us recognize and appreciate the highs.

Paul Diamond Installation copy — Here There; Exhibition by AIRetc… Paul Diamond at ESW. Click on Image for more details

In January the year began with the mixed emotions due to the departure after an extremely successful 4 months of Artist in Residence Paul Diamond who ended his time with us with a fantastic site specific project with students and an excellent exhibition of work developed and produced during the residency at Telford college. The exhibition at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop was very well received. Since completing the residency Paul has gone on to even better things but more of that later.

As January turned over to February the devastating news of Mike Kelleys untimely departure filtered through the studios promoting gasps of disbelief and sadness, we had so enjoyed his exhibition at Baltic during a field trip just a few months before. CAP student Charlie Wilkie-Sullivan who was a particular admirer of Kelleys work wrote a piece for this blog in response to the news. http://contemporaryartetc.com/?s=mike+kelley

Spirits were soon lifted however with the arrival of our next AIR resident Natalie Wilson who began her occupation of ‘the studio next door’.

Natalie’s impact was immediate as she struck up conversations with students and staff, always inquisitive and helpful Natalie had a significant impact on the

course sharing her enthusiasm, knowledge and occasional frustration for all things digital.

Spring saw us embark on the annual CAP trip to a foreign city beginning with the letter B. So far we have only managed Berlin and Basel and until Berlin stops being; the centre off the european if not world contemporary art scene, almost, unbearably cool and wonderfully inexpensive it is doubtful we will revisit Basel or see Budapest, Barcelona, Boston, or Bogota any time soon. Highlights of the trip included, finally getting more than one member of the CAP team on the trip and once again the Boros Bunker.

Natalie Doyle copy — Diploma Exhibition: Image by and of Natalie Doyle.

Spring is always a tense time in the studios as both years are working on their Graded Units and expectant applicants are hammering away at the refresh button on the UCAS website as news of interviews and offers start to permeate the building. The stress although unavoidable, was misplaced however as 2012 will go down in the CAP history books as the most successful year ever as 100% of those applying got an unconditional offer for 1 of their top 2 choices. All applicants got places on degree courses in Glasgow, Edinburgh or Dundee. 1 applicant who already had a degree in a non art related subject was offered and is doing very well on a combined master course in Art & Philosophy in Dundee.

As the tension of anticipated futures subsided thoughts turned to the end of year exhibition. Unfortunately due to the transition between the old and new buildings it wasn’t possible to hold the CAP2 Diploma Show at our usual venue of the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop. Instead the show opened at the Old Ambulance Depot in late May to excellent reviews and record attendances.

Natalie Extract — Natalie Wilson: Installation View of ‘Extract at ESW. Click on Image for more details.

The OA Depot is a great venue that has some really strong shows throughout the year, is affordable, well supported and we would certainly recommend to anyone looking for a mid sized exhibition space in the city.

Soon after the show however the disappointment that we couldn’t exhibit in what had become something of a spiritual second home faded as staff and studio reps were invited to the opening of the brand new Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop and it was announced that after a 7 year informal partnership with the CAP course at Edinburgh’s Telford College the 2 organisations had signed a formal partnership agreement which would establish ESW as an Employability Centre for CAP students studying at Edinburgh College guaranteeing students full professional membership, supported access to the workshops facilities, exhibition and professional practice workshops and opportunities. This milestone deal with the course will last for 10 years! Not a bad way to end the 2011/12 academic session!

More good news followed as we attended the fantastic degree shows of many former CAPers throughout June.

ESW Growth Project — CAP1 Growth Project Collaborative Construction & Exhibition at ESW . Click on Image for more Info

In July and August things took a slower pace but soon picked up again with the influx of a new CAP1 group who were madesuitably welcome by the CAP2 devised and executed induction week project! Billed as a tea party it turned into a something more akin to riot in a charity shop! Excellent!

It wasnt long before we were taking advantage of our new parnership with ESW as AIRetc… Natalie Wilson exhibited the work she had developed and produced during her residency with us. The show, only the second ever in the ESW Eduardo Paolozzi Project Space was beautiful and articulate. A very fitting outcome to very successful residency.

Talking of fitting outcomes, I did say we would come back to our previous AIRetc… Artist, Paul Diamond, who started work as the Graduate Studio Assistant at the University of Edinburgh’s world renowned School of Architecture in October.

Gregor Morrison; Development Detail. Click on Image for more Info.

October was also the month in which CAP1 started their 7 week project at ESW. After 7 years of working with successive CAP1 groups in the old ESW building, which wasnot without its charms, you can be assure it was an absolute pleasure to be in a building with floods of natural light and heating. The outcomes which were exhibited in a staff student collaborative exhibition and review by 2 of the CAP1 participants can be found in the post immediately below this one or by clicking HERE

The third and final AIRetc… Participant for 2012 Gregor Morrison arrived at the the start of October and has been vigorously carving, drawing and printing away in the studio next door ever since. His energy and enthusiasm for printmaking with the the FAD12 students has been infectious providing group and 1-1 support to a range of students. We hope to have news of an exhibition of Gregor’s work very soon.

If anyone is wondering why no mention has been made of the momentus October 1st event that was the merger of the 3 colleges into the newly formed Edinburgh College.

North Edinburgh History Group and CAP2 discussing the work produced for LOCAL. Click on Image for more info.

The truth is that other than the momentary consideration being given changing the name from CAPetc to CAPec the truth is that so far at least the course has been unaffected. Whether that remains the case or not, remains to be seen.

The final months of the the year were packed full of activity in and out of the studio particularly particularly for the CAP2 students who participated in an new LOCAL

project. The premise of the project was to engage with the Political, social and geographical history of the area local to the Granton Campus of the college and to produce artwork in response to the engagement and subsequent research. The, ongoing project involved meetings and presentations for and by the North Edinburgh Local History Group at the North Edinburgh Art centre in Muirhouse. News on the next phase of the LOCAL project will be announced very soon!

Rachael, Kirsty & Rhona at the opening of their exhibition 'Crit'. Click on the image for more info! — Rachael, Kirsty & Rhona at the opening of their exhibition ‘Crit’. Click on the image for more info!

Not satisfied with the with the already significant demands of Year 2 of the course the CAP2 group took it upon themselves to initiate an exhibition of their work entirely unsupported by the college or the staff. Having been inspired by the previous CAP2 group who graduated in June the show, entitled ‘Crit’, took place once again at the Old Ambulance Depot. The show was a genuine triumph and testimony to the groups talents and ambition.

So, thats about it really in terms of the high points of the 2012, there have been many, indeed the only thing missing has been a wedding! Perhaps this year…………?

Alan Holligan, Edinburgh, Jan 2013

Students review Employability Centre experience at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop.

Published December 12, 2012

Last month the current CAP1 students along with Alan & Jen Ferns spent 7 days working together with our new Employability Centre partners at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop below is a review of the experience and the resulting exhibition by 2 of the participants Subie Coleman and Josh Waterson

My personal experience of the ESW is a positively good one, ah really enjoyed the time spent practicing/learning in this fantastic space, I like very much the open feel it has. From our first visit there the staff made us feel very welcome, keen for us to feel at home there and we were given a right good informative introduction/tour of the

building and it’s ample facilities. I found the building itself fair impressive, well designed for multi-purpose practice, spacious both inside an out. Throughout the weeks we (HND CAP1) spent at the ESW I especially enjoyed the plaster work an assembling, dis-assembling and re-assembling the structure/installation for the exhibition. It was brilliant working together in this way, pulling together, liftin’ , shiftin’ ,learnin’ and finally bringing it all to it’s collective, considered an constructive conclusion… ‘GROWTH’ FANTASTICO!

I thought the way we were led and at times encouraged to lead ourselves through the process was most ambitious a bit risky even, though highly successful. Congrats to Alan an Jen on this score. I think the partnership works as an excellent means to introduce the students to a real working environment allowing us to explore and expand upon our ideas towards work an practice, giving us access an a great opportunity to make use of the building and it’s facilities, opens the door to the working world of it all. In short, a most encouraging, productive an exciting experience! Thanks very much!

Subie coleman

Upon the evening of the 13^th of November, both artists and curious laymen alike were affably welcomed with warmth of spirit (and wine to further warm the respective spirits of it’s guests) to admire and discuss the fruits of HND CAP1’s extended appointment at the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop.

A coalescence of individually, incongruous forms captured the attention of all who ventured into the exhibition space. While the installation may at first have seemed merely a cumbersome mass-obnoxiously interrupting the sanctity of the capacious and incontestably peaceful, white room in which it was housed, with time, nigh every cynic was silenced as the exhibition’s charm unanimously took hold of almost all those present! It’s charm resided in it’s artistic continuity. Aesthetic trends appeared in the multifarious works of the students of CAP1. Amongst other discernible collective inclinations, circular forms seemed to hold precedence amongst many students’ work, hence circular forms were quite deliberately reflected in the construction of the exhibition environment. The stimulus point from which all students’ work was derived, was the theme of ‘growth’. Having been mindful of this, the spectator was made quite aware of the altogether animate nature of the installation-almost extending various limbs upwards, as if some mock collection of sprouting trees (the predominance of wood in the structure emphasised this notion of literal, organic growth). The structure and it’s constituent, individual sculptures groped horizontally as well, in such a manner as to suggest obstruction-perhaps even to intone that caution should be taken when entering the exhibition space; as the structure seemed to gesture pointedly towards the doors with it’s long, crooked, lower limbs (furthermore, close to the entrance, there stood a large, yellow, industrial gate-indicating perhaps that something arcane, if not at least guarded, lay within the room).

The college’s profitable affiliation with the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, granted the students (for the length of their 7 day tenure as guests of the establishment), access to a wealth of facilities and materials, as well as complimentary induction to the safe operating of specialist equipment. Everything offered to the students was greedily consumed-be it application of imparted knowledge from members of the workshop or license to materials alike. The works of the students’ were the result of a week’s worth of thorough artistic considerations. The first few exercises we undertook as a class comprised of an intensive inquest into a somewhat cannibalistic, homogenous method of production, whereby an initial drawing fueled a set of sculptures, that then fueled another few drawings to finally provide reference for a final sculpture. Naturally, our area of inquiry became gradually more focused, as we each and all, abstracted and in so doing, developed our own particular conceptual brand of growth. As the students became acquainted with the techniques inherently employed in the production of plaster casts, clay modelling and the cutting and joining of wood, the potential for a greater breadth of sculptural exploration came to be rather enticing. Despite liberal artistic boundaries, practical strictures remained. The finished installation was the result of just one day’s collaboration between students and lecturers. This reviewer will not indulge himself the writing of screeds upon screeds concerning thoughts and opinions on the individual works on display as not only were the works so incomparably diverse, they were all just as good as each other.

The evening was irrefutably successful. All whom attended left in raptures; speaking highly of the occasion-many making excited mention of the somewhat overshadowed developmental work of the students’ that proudly adorned the corridor and the stairwell that led to the main exhibition space! This reviewer presumes that he, alongside his classmates, will undoubtedly treasure the memory of the night for many a moon.

Josh Waterson

Telford College Partner in The Big Arts Give Christmas Challenge 2010

Published December 8, 2010

Telford College and Contemporary Art Practice partner Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop (ESW) is one of only six Scottish charities selected to participate in the Big Arts Give Christmas Challenge, UK-wide campaign supported by the Scottish Government and Arts & Business which aims to raise £3m in total by increasing the incentives for supporting the arts.

Until Friday 31 December, all donations made through the Big Arts Give website will help ESW raise funds for the New Sculpture Centre

The Big Idea

To create a purpose-built sculpture centre in Edinburgh providing the facilities and services needed by artists to support them at all stages in their careers and to provide a valuable public resource which will enable people of all ages and ability to learn about contemporary sculpture.

ContemporaryArtETC.. has a long standing and highly productive partnership with ESW allowing our learners to produce and exhibit work in a professional, supportive and highly respected organisation. The new purpose built sculpture centre, the only one of its kind in the UK, will allow us to take the partnership to to a new level and we need your help to make it happen and secure this exciting future.

A limited number of donations and match funded and all money raised will go towards the cost of building the new sculpture centre.

If you would like to support Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop please make your donation through the Big Arts Give website by following the link below:

Big Arts Give Christmas Challenge

Telford’s Partners, Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop Receives £3m Arts Investment

Published October 27, 2010

Edinburgh’s Telford College’s are delighted to hear that its partners at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop have heard yesterday, 26 October 2010, that they have won a £3M Arts Funding Prize from the Scottish Community Foundation.

The anonymous donor funding the prize has given the Scottish Community Foundation – a charity that specialises in supporting philanthropic giving – the green light to award £3M to the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop to create a world class research and production facility at its Newhaven site.

Telford’s Fine Art Curriculum Leader and Board Member of Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, Alan Holligan said:

“Edinburgh’s Telford College has had a long relationship with the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop so we are therefore delighted to hear of this generous investment to develop in north Edinburgh a state-of-the-art sculpture centre. There is nothing like this currently anywhere else in the UK and it will give our learners the opportunity to continue to develop their industry knowledge and skills in a creative environment alongside professional artists and creative and cultural entrepreneurs.”

The Creative Laboratories will provide a mix of indoor and open-air workspaces around a central courtyard. Together with the sculpture centre, the Laboratories will create a vibrant cultural hub of benefit to the whole city. The addition of viewing areas and a café will open up the space to visitors. The primary purpose of the competition was to fund a building of exceptional architectural and cultural merit within the City of Edinburgh, which will enable residents and visitors to the city to experience or participate in the arts.

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop’s Creative Laboratories beat off stiff competition for the prize from the Scottish Book Trust and Edinburgh College of Art. Designed by Sutherland Hussey Architects, the Creative Laboratories will be a unique new building situated alongside Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop’s new £5m sculpture centre.

Director of Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, Irene Kernan, said:

“This is an amazing opportunity for Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop which will enable us to fulfill our ambitions to create a world class sculpture centre in the city. The Arts Funding Prize represents a major investment in future generations of artists and will be a major resource for our local community in Newhaven as well as the city as a whole.

“The partnerships Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop has with Telford has been hugely successful and the Creative Laboratories will now allow us to expand our partnership and to further develop interdisciplinary practices and provide graduates with the stepping stones to a career in the arts.”

Professor Bill Scott Chair of the Board of Directors at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop said:

“The working partnership with Telford and Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop demonstrates collaboration at its best – Edinburgh’s Telford College was the first college to really connect with Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop and the development now of the Creative Laboratories will offer huge learning experiences to students.”

Chair of the Judging Panel, Bob Benson said:

“The panel felt Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop’s proposal offered the most inspiring combination of exciting architecture and cultural impact. Its Newhaven location will expand the artistic geography of the city, and create a unique cultural venue in this part of Edinburgh.

“Along with offering our wholehearted congratulations to the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, the panel would also like to commend the Scottish Community Foundation for the smooth running of this award. It ensured the best projects were put forward for this prize and enabled the donor to make a high profile contribution to Edinburgh’s cultural landscape while preserving their anonymity.”

The Centre is expected to open in 2013.

www.edinburghsculpture.org

www.scottishcf.org

www.ed-coll.ac.uk

ESW MICRO RESIDENCIES 2010: Call for proposals

Published February 7, 2010

Closing date for applications: Friday 5 March 2010

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop’s Micro Residency programme was created to give artists time and space to develop their research and practice in an unpressurised environment which encourages experimentation.

The flexible nature of the programme allows participating artists to explore new ideas and processes outwith their normal practice; benefiting from Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop’s facilities, staff support, and encourages networking / peer critiques between themselves and Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop’s artists.

The Micro Residencies promote interdisciplinary practice and include events that enable the public to meet and talk with artists. The Artists’ Collective, FOUND’s work, Cybraphon, subsequently won a Scottish BAFTA in 2009.

“FOUND used the ESW micro-residency to develop and prototype ideas that would eventually become Cybraphon. It was ideal for trial and error work as ESW put no pressure on us to create a ‘finished’ article as such. It also gave FOUND our first studio proper and led to us taking up another studio space for a year with ESW.” Ziggy Campbell, FOUND

Each Micro Residency lasts one month. Selected artists will be given one of the ESW studios and access ESW’s workshop equipment free of charge. A fee of £150 is awarded to successful applicants for production costs, and ESW will organise and promote a public event at the end of the residency.

ESW are currently inviting applications for the months of April, September, October and November 2010. On the application form, please indicate which month(s) you wish to be considered for.

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop,

25 Hawthornvale, Edinburgh EH6 4JT

Tel: 0131 551 4490

2010 micro residency application form

DIALOGUES 2010: Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop Call for Artists

Published October 23, 2009

2010 Dialogues

Call for artists

Deadline for completed applications: Friday 27 November 2009

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop invites applications from artists for the 2010 exhibition, Dialogues, at Patriothall Gallery, Edinburgh.

1 to 21 April 2010 at Patriothall Gallery, Edinburgh

The aim of the Dialogues programme is to support the production and presentation of new work, broadening the perception and understanding of contemporary sculpture practice. Through the juxtaposition of conflicting or complementary artworks, a catalyst is created to spark unexpected, innovative or new developments between the artists.

A fee of £400 is available per artist, and ESW staff will provide support and practical assistance throughout.

The Artistic Programme Committee (APC) selects the artists and is made up of artist members of ESW elected by ESW’s membership. The APC comprises: Ailsa Lochhead, Ian Scott, Duncan Robertson and Derek Sutherland, and is chaired by ESW Assistant Director, Gordon Munro.

For full information and an application form, please e-mail admin@edinburghsculpture.org or phone 0131 551 4490

www.edinburghsculpture.org

Private View of XX – Collective at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop Tonight

Published May 29, 2009

localhost:10076/ in association with Edinburgh's Telford College are delighted to announce the opening of XX – Collective at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop this evening.

XX – Collective is the first ever HND Contemporary Art Practice Grad Show anywhere in the world and is the culmination of the collective efforts of the qualification development team, teaching staff and most importantly students over the past 4 years.

The exhibition features , painting, video, sculpture, drawing and performance by 9 artists each of whom present their unique view of the world.

Opening at 6pm this evening the exhibition will run daily from 10 – 6 until Wednesday the 3rd June

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop @ WASPs presents: Lyndsay Mann and Ewan Robertson

Published November 12, 2008

TBG&S Installation, Dublin 2008 Casimir in Monoceros, 2007

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop presents a two person exhibition featuring new work by Edinburgh based artists Lyndsey Mann & Ewan Robertson will open tomorrow night 13th Novemebr at Patriothall Gallery, Stockbridge.

Lyndsay Mann and Ewan Robertson share a sensibility in their approach to materials, each following diverse areas of research which leads to both multi-disciplinary processes and practice.

This new recent work by Ewan Robertson further explores interests in physicality: it’s material nature; constituents; fabric and status lying somewhere between the experiential and the physical, between object and installation. Drawn together from individual strands as diverse as mechanical music, the LA coastline, vehicles and props in non-violent action, linear systems / events / narratives, the work has a slow-burn feel and has almost self-formed into a singular sense or entity speaking about presence, silence and shadow. Like a newly uttered visual sentence it seems caught perpetually in the moment before thought condenses and meaning is fixed. It feels like a momentary clearing in fog that quietly subsumes but shows light traces of its tangential origins.

Lyndsay Mann’s work explores the most fundamental aspects of our experience: desire and dread, faith and futility. She follows simultaneously intuitive and pragmatic routes within her enquiries, often employing labour intensive processes in her work; using simple and inexpensive materials to suggest an environment of appropriation and a submission to process, manipulating familiar materials removed from their common context simulates a ritual. Mann’s writing, which is integral to her practice, falls somewhere between a manifesto and a self-help text, taking the form of suggested hypotheses or personal statements, neither definitive nor absolute. Abstracted from larger texts, she creates mantra-style sound bites within the works. Most recently she has developed this through sound recording during her residency at Stills gallery.
For Mann, combining multi-dimensional elements of her practice creates a dialogue which the viewer interrupts and becomes party to, assigned a role within the created dynamic to produce event, experience, and witness.

Opening: Thursday 13th November 6-8pm

Dates: 14th-30th November
Exhibition open: Thursdays to Sundays only
Opening times: Thursdays & Fridays 12-6pm, Saturdays and Sundays 12-5pm

There will be an artists’ talk on Sunday 23rd November from 2-3pm at WASPS, Patriothall.

Entry to the exhibition and talk is free.

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop at WASPS, Patriothall in Stockbridge.
WASPS, 1D Patriothall, Off Hamilton Place
Stockbridge, Edinburgh EH3 5AY

Magazine 08 @ Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop

Published August 13, 2008

MAGAZINE 08: Positive Critical Imagination is an exhibition of work by an array of international artists curated by David Arlandis and Javier Marroqui at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop. The show is the third part in an ongoing curatorial investigation looking at artists who offer concrete solutions to social problems. Alongside the exhibition is a series of workshops and seminars discussing the concerns of the exhibition details of which can be found at www.edinburghsculpture.org

The project features work by:

Superflex and Copenhagen Brains, Elske Rosenfeld of Big Hope, Oliver Ressler, Andreja Kuluncic, Recetas Urbanos, Wochenklausur, Société Réaliste and Marta de Gonzalo & Publio Pérez Prieto.

The exhibition is open until the 24th of August, Thursday to Sunday, 11am to 5pm

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop launches fundraising campaign

Published July 12, 2008

Yesterday saw the launch of a public appeal by Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop (ESW) fundraising campaign. ESW has already secured 90% of the funding needed to realise their vision for a world class contemporary visual art facility with 30 artists studios, specialist research, development and workshop spaces as well as project and education spaces which will further enhance their already successful community and outreach programmes

If you would like to know more about the new building and ESW’s or if you would like to support directly support the project by making an online donation then please click on the following link.

http://www.edinburghsculpture.org/new_build.html

Last of the Public Artists

Published May 16, 2008

We are delighted to announce that the Private View of the last ever HN Public Art Diploma Exhibition will Take place on Friday the 23rd May 2008 at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop Please see below for details.

During the installation we will bring you upt date news and images of progress and events.

Funding boost for Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop

Published April 7, 2008

Leith-based contemporary visual arts facility Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop (ESW) has been awarded a major boost towards the development of a purpose built facility in the recent funding round of Scottish Arts Council National Lottery Capital Awards.

Iain Munro Head of Capital at the Scottish Arts Council, said: ‘When we decided to consolidate our funding for the next three years into one funding round, we wanted to support exciting and ambitious projects that will contribute to the development of Scottish artistic and public life for many years to come. Providing development funding for this project will now allow Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop to examine its proposals in more detail, looking at things such as business plans and sustainability as well as its architectural ambitions to develop a leading international centre for sculpture and contemporary art that will excite, inspire and transform the lives of both artists and the local communities.’

The new facility will provide up to 30 studios and 3 purpose-built workshops as well as a dedicated education area and accommodation for visiting artists. A general project space will allow for experimentation and artists’ professional development as well offering a programme of public events and exhibitions throughout the year. At present the building has 15 studios, a single workshop and one general public space and the organisation is struggling to cope with demand.

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop (ESW) Director, Irene Kernan said ‘This is a marvellous opportunity not only for Edinburgh but for the visual arts sector throughout Scotland. This will be the first building of its kind in the UK – a purpose-built sculpture facility supporting young and established artists which also will be open to anyone interested in learning about or making visual art. Our aim is to create a centre of excellence for sculpture and contemporary visual art which will attract artists working in Scotland and throughout the UK as well as internationally.’

ESW has been working with award-winning Edinburgh architects, Sutherland Hussey to develop the first stage of the project and will continue consulting with artists and the local community as the project develops.

All the staff and students here at Contemporary Art ETC.. are delighted by the news and we look forward to our continued collaboration with ESW.

http://www.edinburghsculpture.org/new_build.html

http://www.sutherlandhussey.co.uk/

Telford Graduates Feature in Contemporary Exhibition “Trans Loco”

Published November 18, 2007

Two graduates from the HND Programme at Edinburgh’s Telford College feature in an exhibition of contemporary art the Patriothall Gallery in Edinburgh. Lesley Martin and Nicola Rodger graduated from Edinburgh’s Telford College (ETC) in 2004 before gaining direct entry to the 2nd year degree at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA).

“Trans Loco” brings together the works of four artists who graduated form ECA earlier this year. All four artists have worked collaboratively in the past and and are close friends sharing ideas through discussion and practice whilst also developing their personal interests.

List of Artists:

Lesley Martin, Francesca Nobilucci, Jenny Outhwaite, Nicola Rodger.

The exhibition is open daily at the Patriothall Gallery, Stockbridge, Edinburgh, until the 28th of November

The exhibition is presented by the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop

http://www.patriothallgallery.co.uk/

http://www.edinburghsculpture.org/

http://www.myspace.com/edinburghsculpture