The Art Department

and last December they created a pop-up theatre space on the third floor and welcomed thousands of panto lovers to see Cinderella.

“We were working on an art exhibition in the town and a piece of art had mistakenly been delivered to the old Co-op Department Store,” explains Outspoken Arts

Scotland Creative Director and proud Buddie, Steven Thomson. “They called us and asked us to collect it, but we’d have to be quick as they were closing, for good!

“Since opening in February 2022 – we have welcomed more than 50,000 visitors for 256 days of activity. We have been running free Creative Learning Workshops, led by local artists, with the help of funding from Renfrewshire Council.

“We also hosted Accord Hospice’s 40th Anniversary Art Exhibition last August, the first time it had been held outside of the Hospice.

“One of the major successes of last year was the inaugural Big Art Show which opened in August. We put out a call for entries and were astonished to receive over 1200 artworks.

“When I came to collect the piece of art, a member of staff told me they were handing over the keys that week – I saw the space, fell in love with it and immediately thought that Outspoken could move into the space and run our successful creative learning workshops and be able to offer exhibition space in the town to local artists and makers.

“I approached the landlords of The Paisley Centre and they agreed to give us the space rentfree for two years as we are a charity.

“We moved in last February and started running workshops straight away.

“We share the space with PACE Youth Theatre who are on our third floor, they run workshops and classes and are currently running The Enchanted Forest. We knew Grant and Jenny and had worked with them previously and decided to go into partnership with them.

“PACE hadn’t put on a panto for two years

“Just under 1000 artworks were selected, making the show the biggest visual arts show in the town’s history.

“The show ran until November and sold over £35,000 of artworks.

“Our free workshops are run through Eventbrite and each season we launch a new set of workshops – often these are themed to go alongside exhibitions we are running.

“The workshops are led by local artists and themes can be anything from drawing and painting to sculpture; weaving; photography; collage; costume design and much more. We want to encourage as many people as possible to attend. Classes and all materials supplied are free.

“As we are a fully accessible space, we have welcomed people of all ages and abilities along to workshops. “

“We also set up a new pottery shop called ‘The Nation’s Teapot’ and we’ve been selling vintage pottery and new ceramics and glassware from local artists,” added Steven.

“We have a phrase we use daily in The Art Department and that is ‘art is for all’ it shouldn’t be elitist and should be all-inclusive.

“Following on from the feedback from attendees of our workshops, we have helped improve their mental health – some people were indoors for two years due to COVID, and these classes are helpful as they allow the participant to be creative, meet new people, learn a new skill, and produce a piece of work at the end.”

So, what’s next for the Art Department?

“This September, we are hosting ‘Inspired’ – a reboot of the long running Inspired Art exhibition for young people under 25.” said Steven.

“We are immensely proud to be hosting this event and can’t wait to welcome the young artists of Paisley to The Art Department and see what kind of work they produce for the show.

“We have a call for entries out now for The Big Art Show – which will be back in August and before then, Accord Hospice will be back for their annual art exhibition and sale in June.

“On the lead up to this year’s Sma’ Shot Day in July we will have a series of weaving workshops with Hector Dyer called The Big Weave where we are inviting the people of Paisley to help make massive looms to celebrate our weaving history.

“We’ll also have The Good Shout – a banner and placard making workshop with Lil Brookes. This workshop celebrates the workers triumph over their bosses who were stitching them up and not paying for the Sma’ Shot warp threads in their textiles.

“No two days in the Art Department are the same. We love being creative every day and meeting some great people. Seeing the work produced at our workshops fills us with so much pride and the people who take part have become part of The Art Department’s extended family.

“Paisley is well known for producing some of the world’s finest artists and we hope that we can encourage the people of Scotland’s biggest town to show us their artistic flair.” website: www.outspokenarts.org

Facebook: @outspokenartsSC and @ArtDeptPaisley and @bigartshow

Instagram: @outspokenartssc