LISTINGS ART
:— Many hands
make light work
0ver the past 12 months, Elsie Mitchell has been Artist in Residence working in close collaboration with the local people oi Castlemilk, Govanhill and the Gorbals whose ages ranged from 7 to 77. The results at this year oi work in the diiierent communities oi Glasgow are on show at Tramway throughout June and July.
The title, light Work, reiers to an installation Mitchell exhibited last month in Castlemilk, in an empty unit at the shopping arcade. While many city centre galleries struggle to get 50 people a day through their doors, Mitchell’s work attracted over 1000 members at the public during its two week run. Who says ordinary people aren’t interested in art?
Mitchell eschews outdated notions oi gable-end community murals and ‘turd in the plaza’ public sculpture. instead, she chose to initiate a wide series of hands-on workshops which have produced ambitious and sophisticated artworks utilising materials normally associated with high art production - screenprinted
lightboxes, iilm/tape/sllde installations, books and videos. ‘My main aim with these projects,’ she explains, ‘was to improve access to contemporary visual art ior people who tall outwith the mainstream art education system.’
At Tramway, the results oi these projects are on show along with new work by Mitchell herseli which shows that an active involvement in the community can also produce positive results ior the artist. ‘Language’ is a 16mm iiim Installation made up of images oi people using British Sign language. The work observes the development oi BSL irom the iirst words/signs of a deai child communicating with her mother, to the iuliy developed language at an adult signer. ‘lam iascinated,’ says Mitchell, ‘by the concept oi a visual
language, a completely diiierent ionn
. oi communication to a spoken one.’
Mitchell stresses there is no hierarchy intended in the presentation oi the diiierent works and her own piece is to be viewed in exactly the same light as the work produced by the workshop participants.
In her catalogue essay on Mitchell’s Tramway exhibition, Lorna Waite emphasises this point and underlines the central theme oi the show. ‘The artist has a social responsibility to engage with social concerns and to work in collaboration with others in doing so, in the creation oi art works and structure which oppose and protest, yet support and nurture critical activity and personal seli- expression.’ (Boss Sinclair)
Elsie Mitchell, Work irom a Residency is at Tramway irom 11June.
iletwork Photographers (tilt) Fri 4 Jun—4 Jul. Documentary photo-stories which mark ten years of AIDS caring.
I GATEIIOUSE GALLERY Rouken Glen. Giffnock. 620 0235. Mon—Fri (except Tue) 1.30—5.30pm; Sat—Sun 12.30—5.30pm.
The Magic Picture Show Until Fri 4 Jun. Painting and drawings by Alexandra Gardner.
ilecent Painting Sun 6—29 Jun.
I TIIE GALLERY 53 Cresswell Street. Cracks in a Whispered Landscape Until Sat 12 Jun. New works by Richard Coley. I CYRIL GERBER FINE ART 148 West Regent Street. 221 3095. Mon-Sat 9.30am—5.30pm.
liew Acquisitions Until 30 Jun. Maclauchlan Milne. Eardley and Cowie. I GLASGOW PRINT STUOIO 22 King Street. 552 0704. Mon—Sat 10am—5.30pm. From the Edge Sat 5—26 Jun. An exhibition of the use of photography in printmaking with work from Ashley Cook. Elspeth Lamb and Rob Mulholland among others.
I GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART 167 Renfrew Street. 332 9797. Mon—Fri lOam—5pm: Sat 10am—noon. [D].
Painting Department Exhibition Gallery 1 Mackintosh Building. Until Fri 4 Jun.
I WILLIAM RAROY GALLERY 141 West Regent Street. 221 6780. Mon—Fri 10am—5pm; Sat 10am—1pm.
Peter llowson - Pictures oi the 80s Until Sat 12 Jun. Extended showing of painting. drawings and prints.
Various Orchids and Other Flowers Until Sat 12 Jun. Flower painting by Marjorie Lyon. Roger Banks and Neil Hardie.
I IIUNTERIAN ART GALLERY University of Glasgow. 82 Hillhead Street. 339 8855 ext 5431. Mon-Fri 9.30am—5pm; Sat 9.30am-5pm.
William Blake and his Circle Until 26 Jun. Selected by Honours students. this exhibition of prints centres on Blake's illuminated book Europe and includes work by Flaxman. Barry, Fuesli and Palmer. See review.
I IIUNTERIAN MUSEUM Glasgow University. University Avenue. 339 8855. Mon—Sat 9.30am-5pm. The bequest of William Hunter. a student of Glasgow University in the 1730s. who left his substantial collection of books. prints. and various other curiosities to the university.
I INTERMEOIA 65 Virginia Street. 552 8651. Tue—Sat noon-6pm.
Untitled Sat 5—26 Jun. New work by seven local artists.
I MCLELLAN GALLERIES 270 Sauchiehail Street. 331 1854. Mon-Sat 10am—5pm; Sun 11am—5pm. [D].
llext show: Peter llowson Starts 2 Jul.
I MUSEUM OF TRANSPORT Kelvin Hall. Dumbarton Road. 357 3929. Mon—Sat 10am—5pm; Sun llam—5pm. Devoted to the history of transport. a museum crammed with buses, trams. fire-engines. ships and other transportation.
I EWAN MUNOY FINE ART 48 West George Street. 331 2406. Mon—Sat 10am—5.30pm.
Summer Mon i4 Jun—12 Jul. Works in oil and watercolour inspired by the sea and the Scottish coast by Cade11. Fergusson. Peploe. Whistler and others.
I 90’s GALLERY 12 ()tago Street. 339 3158. Mon-Sat noon—6pm; Sun noon—5pm.
Matt Ewart Until 23 Jun. Vibrant and expressionistic new paintings including figure studies. landscape and seascape. I PAISLEY MUSEUM ANO ART GALLERY Abbey Close. 887 1007. Mon—Sat 10am—5pm; Sun 1—4pm.
The Faces Until 19 Jun. Jeff Torrington. Bill Forsyth and Sandy Stoddart are just three well-known Scottish figures captured on film by Michael McDonough. Renfrew District Council have commissioned the show from this Paisley- bom artist as a portrait of Scottish culture in the 90s.
I PEOPLE’S PALACE MUSEUM Glasgow Green. 554 0223. Mon—Sat 10am—5pm; Sun 11am—5pm. [D]. Cafe.
Once a museum for the working class. now a repository for all sorts of ephemera
connected with Glasgow‘s history — everything from old cigarette packets to suffragettes’ campaigning material. Making Glasgow’s Future: Training ior a Trade Until 11 Jul. Text. pictures and objects examine the traditional trades as well as skills related to the computer age. Tir llan 0g Until 4 Jul. The life and times of Angus Og by Ewan Bain. A celebration of this popular cartoon character.
I PROVANO’S LOROSIIIP 3 Castle Street. 552 8819. Mon-Fri 10am—5pm; Sun
1 1am—5pm.
The only surviving medieval house in Glasgow. built in 1471. Period room
dis lays range from 1500 to 1918.
I UEEN’S PARK SYNAGOGUE Falloch Road. Battlefield. 632 1743. Open Sun 2—5pm. Worth visiting to see 22 pictorial stained-glass windows by John K. Clark. based on the symbolism ofJewish festivals.
I SCOTLAND STREET SCHOOL MUSEUM 225 Scotland Street. 429 1202. Mon—Sat 10am—5pm; Sun 2-5pm. Cafe. [D]. Designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and now home to archive material on education in Scotland from 1872 onwards. Reconstructed classrooms give a flavour of Victorian. Edwardian. Second World War and 1960s schooldays.
I SPRINGBURN MUSEUM Ayr Street. 557 1405. Mon-Fri 10.30am—5pm; Sat 10am—4.30pm; Sun 2-5pm.
Springbum: 0n the Edge oi a City Fri 4 Jun—4 Jul. The history of Springbum as seen through the family snapshot.
I STRATIICLYOE ARTS CENTRE 12 Washington Street. 221 4526. Mon—Sat 9am—5.30pm; Sun 1 1am—5pm.
AS I See It Fri 4 Jun—4 Jul. Photography from Singapore.
I STREET LEVEL 279—281 High Street. 552 2151. Tue—Sat Ham—5.30pm. Borderlands Sat 5 J un—3 Jul. Contemporary photography from the Baltic States of Estonia. Latvia and Lithuania revealing the effects of the collapse of communism. Also at The Cottier. Hyndland Street. 552 2151. Tue—Sat noon—8pm.
Paul liesbitt, the winner oi a recently announced liational Art Collections Award, talks to Beatrice Colin about the success oi the exhibitions programme at the iloyal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh.
: .x “we
was converted ior use as the Scottish liational Gallery at Modern Art, but by 1984 they had outgrown the space and the Botanics regained control oi the house. So we had this great space, built in 1777 in the middle oi the garden and ior the first time there was
' the possibility at it being used ior
exhibitions relating to the garden — one of the world’s great scientiiic institutions. We could have gone down many diiierent routes, but I have a background as an artist and a scientist and personally don’t agree with art and science being totally separate, because I believe that they’re so closely linked. l’ve been pursuing a programme oi exhibitions which enables people to make the link between art and science within the context at a wonderiul garden. Both stem irom a iascination with nature. ‘We have an enormous audience,
almost one million a year, who visit not only Edinburgh but our other specialist gardens across Scotland. The important point is not only the sheer number but the iact that visitors come irom all walks at life, both to enjoy an exhibition and to experience the beauty oi the gardens. Lots at people won’t visit an art gallery or a science museum, but they will come to a botanical garden and it’s an incredibly poweriul way to introduce people to art and science. We hopeiully entertain, enthral and inionn by combining the best oi both worlds. ‘We’ve started to bring artists into
the garden to work here. That way artists meet scientists and scientists meet artists and we begin to break down the barriers between them. We don’t want to be typecast as doing one kind oi thing. I’m quite happy to show 18th century botanical drawings with an exhibition oi contemporary sculpture ior example. I love curating exhibitions because you can create an g opportunity ior visitors to enjoy them entirely as they see iit.’ ; Paul liesbitt is curator oi exhibitions at the Royal Botanic Garden, I
Edinburgh. The List 4—17 June 1993 59