Scottish Art Highlights & Opportunities: December 2017

Exhibition Highlights

At Edinburgh’s Talbot Rice Gallery, John Akomfrah’s duo of installations, Vertigo Sea and At the Graveside of Tarkovsky are on show throughout December – an exhibition which reminds us of our interconnectedness and the diverse, ghostly community that shapes who we are. Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, 21 Oct-27 Jan, free

At The Fruitmarket Gallery, works by Scottish artist Jacqueline Donachie are currently on display. Central to the exhibition are Advice Bar, a freestanding sculpture and meeting point for advice sessions – available every Friday and Saturday from 1-3pm, and Temple of Jackie, a camping-trailer-cum-social-space. The Fruitmarket Gallery will host a conversation on the theme of Art, Activism and Exchange on 13 December during which the Fruitmarket Gallery’s Iain Morrison will be joined in conversation by Consuelo Bassanesi, the Artistic Director of the Rio-based contemporary art centre Despina. Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, 11 Nov-11 Feb, free

DCA have two exhibitions which opened at the weekend, both of which explore curatorial concerns with the traditional ‘white cube’ ideal for exhibiting work, and increasing audience participation: Gallery One will house Fragments, new works by Andrew Lacon which draw on the artist’s journey from Mexico in 2015, during which he transported Mexican pink marble through customs.

You can also join Lacon on 20 January for a unique day of talking, looking and making which includes exploring the artist’s practice, a walk to find and collect everyday patterns, shapes, colours and materials out and about in Dundee, followed by a casting session to create three dimensional objects based on the collected images. In Gallery Two, Kate V Robertson presents This Mess is Kept Afloat. The exhibition will also consider characteristics of materials, with particular interest in instability and dysfunction. Dundee Contemporary Arts, 9 Dec-25 Feb, free

Tramway plays host to Amanda Ross-Ho’s Untitled Period Piece, which takes its inspiration from the Charlie Chaplin film, Modern Times. Far from being a slapstick exhibition of easy laughs, Ross-Ho’s sculptural gestures are dramatic and densely layered, a tragicomedy of things. Tramway, Glasgow, 10 Nov-4 Feb

Programme Announcements

Tramway have announced their work from acclaimed Scottish and International artists in the January to March 2018 season alongside a broad range of performance and participation events – the full programme can be viewed here. However, highlights include Love (20 Jan-25 Mar) an exhibition of twelve large scale multi-media collages made between 1988 and 1991 by Steven Campbell, one of Glasgow’s most celebrated artists. These collages represent a little known experimental area of Campbell’s practice which also includes clay, plaster, papier mache sculpture, drawing, printmaking and textile design.

At a special screening Sacred Paws perform their soundtrack to Margaret Salmon’s latest film Mm, which was commissioned for Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival. The screening is part of a survey of works (16 Feb-18 Mar) by acclaimed Glasgow-based artist and filmmaker Margaret Salmon on the occasion of Glasgow Film Festival 2018. 

Glasgow International, the internationally-renowned biennial festival of contemporary visual art, brings to the fore Glasgow’s strengths as a vibrant and unique centre of artistic production and display. GI have announced their line-up of artists for 2018, including major new commissions and projects by Canadian artist Kapwani Kiwanga, British artists Linder and Tai Shani, Montreal-based artist Nadia Myre, and Glasgow-based artists Torsten Lauschmann and Aniara Omann. Various venues, 20 Apr-7 May

Learning Opportunities

Tramway presents Winter Printshop! – an opportunity to get to grips with a variety of print techniques, such as screen printing and block printing, for free, from 12-4pm every day. Tramway, Glasgow, 16-19 Dec

Further to this, Tramway are also presenting Collection of Surfaces, a workshop focusing on the planning elements of filmmaking: drawing a storyboard to plan the scenes and sounds for a film project. Tramway, 20 Jan

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop offer a programme of classes exploring a range of contemporary sculptural techniques from clay portraiture to mig welding via relief sculpture and slip casting. Find out more here. 

Out of the Blue, Abbeymount Studios are hosting a series of their own print workshops, varying from one day courses introducing print techniques, to extended evening courses – find out more about the variety of courses they have on offer here.

Stills Gallery have a variety of photography courses available including an Introduction to the Dark Room which is perfect for any artist wanting to expand their practice into photography. Stills, Edinburgh, 16 Jan-6 Feb

Calls for Submissions

Embassy Gallery in Edinburgh are looking for new committee members to support the running and maintenance of the gallery, which includes (but is not limited to) devising and delivering the annual programme of activities and exhibitions. Deadline: 7 January

Frame Contemporary Art Finland invites proposals for the Pavilion of Finland at the 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in 2019. Frame Contemporary Art Finland is seeking project proposals for the Alvar Aalto Pavilion of Finland. The pavilion is situated in the Giardini in Venice. Deadline: 10 January

Syn Festival Edinburgh invites artists to participate in the new ‘Odysseys’ Exhibition that will take place at Upper Church at Summerhall from 9-22 March 2018. Artists can submit a maximum of three works for consideration to the festival – visit the Creative Scotland opportunity for more information on how to apply. Deadline: 2 February

Berwick Visual Arts and Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival have announced applications are now open for their annual artist's residency. The residency is for a six-month period beginning in April 2018 and is an opportunity for an artist with a moving image-based practice to complete a new work. It includes a bursary of £7500 as well as private accommodation and studio space in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland. The outcome of the residency will be premiered at Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival between 20-23 September 2018. Deadline: 18 December

The Lighthouse are seeking artists for their annual Bring Your Own Beamer, specifically those who will create projections and works responding to architecture in all forms. BYOB was created by the artist Raphaël Rozendaal in 2010 as a DIY open source, non-commercial exhibition idea. Since then over 350 exhibitions all of the world have taken the idea and created their own exciting events. This will be the third time it has been held in Glasgow. Deadline: 7 January

Scaffold Gallery are looking for artists to develop new work for the upcoming Spring Exhibition. Artists will be asked to respond to the statement 'There's No Such Thing As Boredom,' producing new work that explores and challenges it through a careful and considered development process. Deadline: 14 January