Latest news with #GoMA
Glasgow Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Free exhibitions to open at Milngavie's Lillie Art Gallery
Both exhibitions, City Building by Alastair Strachan, and Young People's Art, will launch on Saturday, June 21 the Lillie Art Gallery in Milngavie. City Building features a series of paintings focusing on Alastair's observations of the world around him. His works include depictions of the tenements and streets of Dennistoun, where he lives, and the centre of Glasgow, which he frequently visits. Read more: GoMA workshop turns asylum seekers' art into postcards and tote bags Metropolis II by Alastair Strachan (Image: Supplied) The paintings, developed over the last few years, began during the Covid pandemic when his world "grew smaller," prompting him to explore his nearby environment more thoroughly. His artwork, which evolved from quick line drawings into small, exploratory collages, is inspired by simple, visual elements in his immediate environment. This exhibition is open to visitors of all ages and will be on display until August 21. Read moreGlasgow shopping centre to host Scotland's first 'shopera' Meanwhile, the Young People's Art exhibition will showcase a variety of art forms, including weaving, drawing and painting, clay work, and an installation. This annual exhibition is set to include works from young artists who attend the Saturday smARt classes at the Lillie Art Gallery and the Auld Kirk Museum. The "bright and exciting" artwork will be on display until August 31. It is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 1pm and then from 2pm to 5pm. The Lillie Art Gallery, run by the East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture (EDLC) Trust, is open Tuesday to Saturday, from 10am to 1pm, and then from 2pm to 5pm, and is closed on Sundays and Mondays.
Glasgow Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Scotland's first 'shopera' to debut at Buchanan Galleries
Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow is hosting Scotland's first "shopera," a full-scale opera performance set in a retail environment. The 60-minute, two-act performance, titled Bertha, reimagines the story of Bertha Mason, the "mad woman in the attic" from Charlotte Brontë's classic novel Jane Eyre. Read more: GoMA workshop turns asylum seekers' art into postcards and tote bags The show is written, produced, and directed by Rachel Sullivan, a composer and student at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Rachel Sullivan wrote, produced, and directed the show (Image: Supplied) Rachel said: "Having the opportunity to produce and direct this work has been a real privilege and joy. "It's my aim for Bertha to reach those who may never have experienced a production in a traditional opera venue, and change the common perception that opera is for the select few. "Buchanan Galleries has provided the perfect alternative venue, in Glasgow's most central shopping centre, for which I am particularly grateful. "I'm looking forward to welcoming the centre's guests to come and experience Bertha, whether they are seasoned fans or being introduced to the art for the first time. 'I'd also like to thank the incredibly talented cast, orchestra, and my co-director, Hannah Siddiqui, without whom the production would not have been possible, and the outstanding musical director, Chloe Lu Ye. "To have been blessed with such a dedicated and enthusiastic cast and crew is an experience is something I will never forget.' Dress rehearsals for Scotland's first ever 'Shopera' (Image: Supplied) Dress rehearsals for Scotland's first ever 'shopera' (Image: Supplied) Bertha explores the emotional turmoil and cognitive decline of Bertha Mason, set in 1808 during a period when women with mental health conditions were often misunderstood and mistreated. The opera unfolds through dramatic interactions and fragmented memories, revealing a story of survival, self-discovery, and female solidarity. Set to take place at Buchanan Galleries on June 20, 21, and 22, the event will feature a chamber orchestra of 12 musicians, four singers, immersive staging, and a haunting original score. The "shopera" will be staged at the Buchanan Street entrance of the shopping centre, opposite the Rolex store. Read more: STV presenter 'brings the sunshine' to officially open Glasgow care home Dress rehearsals for Scotland's first ever 'shopera' (Image: Supplied) (Image: Supplied) Kathy Murdoch, centre director at Buchanan Galleries, said: "We're thrilled to be hosting Scotland's first ever 'shopera' right here at Buchanan Galleries. "This is such a creative and original way to bring the arts to the high street and make opera more accessible to new audiences. "Rachel and the team have created something really special with Bertha, and we're proud to support local talent and community-focused performances like this. "We hope our guests enjoy the opportunity to experience opera in a whole new way right in the heart of the city." Tickets are available via Eventbrite for a suggested donation of £5. All proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to Clyde Climate Forest, a charity working to plant 18 million trees in and around Glasgow over the next decade.
Glasgow Times
4 days ago
- Health
- Glasgow Times
Refugee women in Glasgow use art to share their stories
Asylum-seeking and refugee women in Glasgow are using creativity and community to support their mental health through an art workshop at the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA). The workshop, part of a project led by the Mental Health Foundation, focused on helping participants express their personal stories through art. Menesia Keister, moved to Glasgow from Namibia in 2019 (Image: Supplied) Read more: Refugee Festival Scotland celebrates 25th anniversary Menesia Keister, who moved to Glasgow from Namibia in 2019 and now works as a carer, said: "The Mental Health Foundation projects are like a home away from home. "I can express my feelings there. "I feel safe to share my thoughts and ideas. "If it wasn't for Mental Health Foundation, I would have really struggled. "I've lived in Glasgow for five years and I love it. "The people are genuinely patient, caring, and kind, and I've made lots of good friends here. "People from Glasgow are always happy to help – Glasgow makes the people, and the people make Glasgow." The women's artwork has been transformed into a limited-edition series of postcards and a tote bag, both available for purchase. The postcards and tote bag can be purchased from the Mental Health Foundation shop at Funds raised will support future mental health projects for asylum seekers and refugees. The women are part of Mental Health Foundation programmes in Glasgow that provide mental health education, and support and encourage community involvement. The foundation says that asylum seekers and refugees are at greater risk of poor mental health due to trauma in their home countries, the journey to safety, and the asylum process. Funds raised will be used to support mental health projects (Image: Supplied) Read more: Refugee charity hits out at Glasgow's call for asylum seeker pause Ghizala Avan, senior programmes manager at the Mental Health Foundation, said: "We'd like to say a huge thanks to the women for giving their talent and time to create these beautiful artworks representing the community. "Community has great power to support good mental health and wellbeing by providing us with a sense of belonging, safety, support, and purpose. "Through creative projects like these, we are reminded that mental health thrives when people come together, uplift one another, and build meaningful connections. "As people move between places, leaving behind familiar communities and finding new ones, it becomes even more important for communities to be open, welcoming, and supportive of newcomers. "We encourage everyone to take inspiration from these women's creations and reflect on how we can all help foster compassionate, supportive spaces where mental wellbeing is prioritised."
Scotsman
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Art reviews: Solange Pessoa The Palestinian Museum in Scotland
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Solange Pessoa: Pilgrim Fields, Tramway, Glasgow ★★★ Ciara Phillips: Undoing It, GoMA, Glasgow ★★★★ The Palestinian Museum in Scotland, 13a Dundas Street, Edinburgh ★★★★ 'Scotland stole my heart,' says Brazilian artist Solange Pessoa and, for her first major exhibition in the UK at Glasgow's Tramway, she has harvested large quantities of natural materials from the length and breadth of the country. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Raw sheep's wool from the Hebrides and reeds from beside the Tay are placed next to kelp from Scottish beaches and large quantities of home-grown moss. Pessoa, 64, who has exhibited around the world, including at 2022's Venice Biennale, draws on a Brazilian tradition of working with natural things, sometimes on a monumental scale. Installation view of the Solange Pessoa exhibition Pilgrim Fields at Tramway, Glasgow | Keith Hunter Her new, site-specific installation for Tramway is Pilgrim Fields, which visitors are invited to explore using their senses. Soft, earthy aromas are much in evidence; it isn't clear whether you're allowed to touch, but people were doing so when I was there and no one stopped us. Pessoa says, in the accompanying film, that she doesn't want to explain her work, the point is 'feeling it', though I think she means that metaphorically. The materials are laid out on the floor in discrete circles: hops, marigold petals, moss, dried leaves. Black fleeces pool in the corners. Some of the circles include sculptural forms, giant seedpods, squashes or eggs cast in bronze which catch and disperse light, or ceramic, which don't. Spheres about the size of watermelons are stacked carefully next to one wall, nestled in sheep's wool. Outdoors, in the Hidden Gardens, Pessoa's Lesmititas, evocative brown pods made of soft fabric, hang from a group of pine trees and cluster on the ground beneath them. Tramway 2 works well when reimagined as a outdoor space, and this is a kind of a landscape, a patchwork of fields illuminated by natural light from the roof windows. But it also feels like a palette, raw materials assembled in an ordered way ready for an artist to do something with them. In the past, Pessoa has built large-scale sculptures and installations, and made paintings inspired by folk art and cave painting. I'd like to see what she does with these but, it turns out, this is it. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Does the work speak (as the interpretation suggests) to 'colonial, agricultural, ecological and material histories'? Seeds have a rich story, from the very beginnings of agriculture to their genetic modification today. The role of agriculture in shaping the Scottish landscape is a huge topic, with many jagged edges. Are the giant pods symbolic of renewal and transformation? These ideas could be here, but there's nothing in the work to signal that either way. If these objects are meant to transcend being merely objects, they need a sprinkling of fairy dust from the hand of the artist in order to communicate that transformation. Instead they feel inert, still waiting to be transformed. Or perhaps I'm just not 'feeling it'. Artist Ciara Phillips pictured at her Undoing It exhibition at GoMA in Glasgow | Neil Hanna Ciara Phillips' show of new and recent work at GoMA promises to foreground the artist's process, which is a phrase which usually sinks my heart into my boots. I keep having to stifle the urge to say: 'Just go ahead and finish it, and show us the finished work!' Phillips, though, has won me over. The Glasgow-trained artist, who is now a professor at the University of Bergen in Norway, works chiefly in printmaking, ducking and diving between woodcut, etching, screenprint and monoprint, and combinations of them, working in abstraction and with images and writing. Every inch of wall in the GoMA's Gallery 3 is 'wallpapered' with prints. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad There is something delicately beautiful about the images she employs in the first room: a braid of hair and a sliver of new moon in Antidote, a single dark strand drapped over the moon in Lingerer. Ghost resonates with abstract presences and beautiful colour. The larger abstract pieces are almost pure texture: ink wiped across a plate somehow keeping its wetness, the woodgrain in a woodcut, hints of physical, hands-on process. If these works are more 'finished', further into the space she digs under the surface. Pages from her sketchbooks become large-scale prints; notes on making and to-do lists are immortalised as works in themselves. She collages text and photographs, images and shapes, sometimes adding, sometimes taking away. Ideas connect and reconnect like mind maps. Making can be unmaking too. Phrases come to the surface: 'Empathy is a political issue'; 'Being a human being'. Gertrude Stein is here, as is artist Amy Sillman and, perhaps most importantly, Toni Morrison, being incisive about what art does: '…keep asserting the complexity and originality of life, and the multiplicity of it… This is about being a complex human being in the world'. Her words draw the show together, in all its complexity and multiplicity. Phillips has bravely lifted the veil on her process and we go away understanding it - and her - rather better. Detail from Jidar, OOC, 2022 by Ghassan Abu Laban | Contributed Meanwhile, a permanent museum of contemporary Palestinian art has opened at 13a Dundas Street, Edinburgh, in the space vacated by Arusha earlier this year. Entrepreneur and art lover Faisal Saleh opened the first Palestinian Museum in Woodbridge, Connecticut, in 2018, and has held temporary exhibitions around the world, including at the Venice Biennale. The Palestinian Museum in Scotland is his first long-term space in the UK. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad As reports reach us of the worsening situation in Gaza, he aims to 'tell the Palestinian story to a global audience through its art'. The work (all of which is for sale) includes paintings by leading figures from the Palestinian diaspora, such as Samia Halaby and Nabil Anani, as well as artists from inside the West Bank and Gaza. Saleh believes the Palestinian people have been 'dehumanised' in the eyes of the West. Art, by its very nature, is a manifestation of humanity. The majority of the work speaks to the current situation: how could it not? Mohammed Al Haj's painting of displaced people was made in 2021, but it feels somehow prophetic: now the artist, who lives in Gaza, is enduring a series of forced evacuations. Ibrahim Alazza's installation All That Remains, links bundles of possessions with barbed wire. The female figure in Nameer Qassim's painting Enough, raises her crossed arms in a gesture of defiance and protest surely as old as time itself. The figures in Hamada Elkempt's Under Observation cluster on either side of a barrier wall; one holds up an empty pot. In truth, nothing here can avoid being political: not In Pursuit of Utopia No.7, Nabil Anani's monumental landscape of the verdant countryside west of Ramallah; not Haya Ka'abneh's two women in traditional dress, which is titled Spring Mourning; not Ghassan Abu Laban's wonderful painterly work of a couple looking out from a ruined building. As Toni Morrison might have said: in a context like this one, exploring human experience is a political act.
