The Week in Scottish Art - kennardphillipps & more

Dundee gets first place this week, with an opening from Theo Shields tonight (Tue 1 Sep) from 7-9pm. Oak and Iron, Shields' solo show that’s fresh from an Edinburgh outing, will combine his Scottish hardwood and recycled metal abstract sculptures with accompanying video documentaries on the skilled craftpersons who assisted him to make them. The exhibition continues at Generator Projects until Wed 8 Sept.

Also tonight, Stills gallery in Edinburgh hosts political artists kennardphillipps who will preview the work made over the course of August in their War on War room. The public were invited to make artworks in the room with collage methods, responding to current and pressing issues. This evening, they will present the finished installation in Stills from 5.30-7.30pm, along with the contributors who made the work.

Tomorrow in the CCA in Glasgow, America artist, filmmaker and social worker Joey Huertas screens a range of films from across his career since the early 90s. Huertas' films document experiences of “race, gender, a healthy economy and legal realities” in America and so are “constantly shifting between private and public concerns”. Tomorrow’s screening takes place from 7pm in the CCA Cinema, tickets are £4 (£3).

This month's First Thursday late evening at Trongate 103 takes the form of the opening of Surface Tension, an exhibition by artists Lorna Macintyre, Susanne Ramsenthaler, Karen L Vaughan and Catherine Cameron, at Street Level Photoworks. Surface Tension's artists each use ‘intuitive processes to produce tactile, lyrical and multi-layered artworks'. The exhibition continues until 8 November.

In Edinburgh this Friday, Reunification Collective present Etc… at Gayfield Creative Spaces. It’s a group show of artists with concerns that vary from “schoolchild humour” to “having patience ... as a temporal notion into the physical world.” The eight artists are from recent graduate classes of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee art schools. This Friday, the opening event takes place from 5pm; Gayfield Creative Spaces is at 11 Gayfield Square.

Moving on to Saturday, the delicately formed metal sculptures of current exhibitor John Chamberlain are contextualised by Jon Wood, the Research Curator at the Henry Moore Institute. The talk begins at 2pm and costs £3 (£2); tickets can be booked in advance here. Later in the day, new space Bargain Spot host Bartholomew’s Waltz: “a pretend feast day in celebration of forgotten celebrations.” As such, there will be one night of “visual and sound art collaborations,” and there’s promises of excessive decorations, “improvised music, devised performances,” as well as a ceilidh and a lot of food. There’s an invitation to drop by during the day, if you’d like to perform in the evening. It takes place from 7pm this Saturday, is BYOB, and organisers request that you make a free booking, which can be done over here.

Over in Glasgow, the GFT hosts Transfigured Time this Sunday, with an introduction to the work of Maya Deren by emerging artist Kathryn Elkin. Elkin’s work is often a mixture of performance, music and film with particular interest in the interstices and in-between moments. She will be talking about Deren’s practice and “efforts to advance the cause of independent cinema”. Four of Deren’s avant-garde 16mm films will be shown as part of the event. Tickets are priced at normal GFT rates and can be booked via the usual channels; the event kicks off at 8pm.

Away from the cities, you'll find the Hospitalfield open weekend at the arts body's base in Arbroath. This Sunday, there will be talks from writer and critic Maria Fusco, curator Jenny Brownrigg and artist-writer Giles Bailey. The subject is the relationship between art and writing, and the different places writing can take place with the practice of artists, as well as the approaches of art-interested writers. The full events programme can be viewed online; make your free bookings here.