Project Ability Exhibition Programme April 2012 - March 2013

PROJECT ABILITY EXHIBITION PROGRAMME APRIL 2012-MARCH 2013

Project Ability’s Exhibition Programme presents artwork by artists from across the three workshop programmes, Aspire, Create & ReConnect, with a focus on representing and celebrating the work of those artists. The programme engages in a dialogue between artists, their support networks, the wider artistic community and gallery visitors. It is also a means for us to sustain a well-informed awareness of national and international developments in disability art networks and contemporary visual art.

The exhibition programme presents and promotes artists’ ideas combining learning, community, openness, collaboration, expertise and creativity. The gallery is our public face, a ground for critical discussion and also a way to celebrate the work of artists with disabilities who have a history of marginalisation and a lack of opportunities to exhibit. Our mission is to promote public understanding and enjoyment of disability and contemporary art advocating the belief that art is a constant conversation.

Project Ability Gallery is situated on the 1st Floor of Trongate 103 and presented 11 exhibitions in the period between March 2012 and April 2013 ranging from focused solo shows, ambitious group exhibitions and international exchange projects.

The exhibition programme is kindly funded by Creative Scotland, Glasgow Life and the EsmĂŠe Fairbairn Foundation.

The World Awaits (For More Info) 20 April-26 May 2012

Glasgow International Festival 2012 A group exhibition, presented in Project Ability Gallery, which brought together the work of Aspire artists Jonathan Barr, John Beaton, Robert McKenzie and Sandra Ormiston.

The Festival is one of the UK’s boldest visual arts events, bringing together exhibitions by the best international and local artists.

In 2012, the curatorial theme focused on the real, the physical and the very tangible, rather than the digital or virtual, with an emphasis on the live experience.

In response to this we exhibited text works in a number of different materials exploring the occurrence of speech as a central idea.

“Favourite show in GI!” Gallery visitor, 8 May 2012

“Wonderful! I love that days can be adventures!�

Gallery visitor, 12 May 2012

Young Talent!

8 June - 14 July 2012

An annual showcase of the artwork created by children & young people from Project Ability’s Create Programme.

Young Talent is a large festival-like exhibition taking place every summer and celebrated its12th year in 2012.

The exhibition brought together a diverse assortment of painting, drawing, printmaking, ceramics, banners & action figurines and our young artists exercised and displayed their creative ideas with multi-layered practices and methods.

“My first show!!!� Adam Masters, age 8

Let the Games Begin Part 2 21 July - 18 August 2012

An alternative exhibition on the theme of sport, victory and success in timing with the various festivals and cultural happenings around the London 2012 Olympics.

“Absolutely fantastic exhibition. Love it!�

Project Ability presented an alternative exhibition by the Aspire artists on the theme of sport, victory and success. With little thematic connection to the Olympics, the exhibition represented the temporal period in the lead up to the Games; approaching it with playful scepticism and loose association.

Lesley Nimmo Selected Paintings 7-29 September 2012 A solo exhibition of works by Aspire artist Lesley Nimmo.

Lesley Nimmo has featured in many Project Ability group shows and this exhibition was the first solo showcase of her work. A series of Lesley’s paintings were pitted next to their starting points, the source material with which she initiated her paintings from, showing her very unique viewpoint and capturing no more than the essence of the image.

Love Lesley’s work! Very innocent and bold. A joy to look at!�

Gallery visitor, 27 September 2012

A Story Well Told 5-20 October 2012

A Story Well Told was a group exhibition by artists from Leverndale Hospital, Rowanbank Clinic and Blythswood House; the result of a two year pilot project of art in health care settings with the NHSGGC Directorate of Forensic Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Occupational Therapy Services.

A Story well Told exhibited the project’s wider development and emphasised the role of art as an integrated care and development pathway. For the artists involved, it was a chance for them to explore their own consideration of identity, reflecting on their surroundings and interests out with institutional structures.

“I love this art work. A lot of work well done - a story well told.”

Gallery visitor, 5 October 2012

Our work here is never over 26 October-24 November 2012

A large group exhibition showcasing the creative talent and diverse practices of Project Ability’s former Connect artists.

This large group exhibition showcased the creative talent and diverse practices of Project Ability’s former Connect artists. Project Ability delivered Connect - a ground breaking arts and mental health programme - from September 2009 until its closure in June 2012. The exhibition reflected on the artists’ experience of the programme retrospectively, after its closure and its most recent developments into the new pilot programme, Reconnect.

In addition to the exhibition we launched a collection of writings by a selection of the artists, Connect Stories, and two associated events; a publication launch of ‘Creative Praxis, Portraits and Dialogues from the Sensory Inter/face of Autism’ by artist Pum Dunbar and an artist talk by Simon McAuley .

“Feeling the art, feeling the space, feeling the paint, feeling the love – Loving Project Ability.”

Gallery visitors, 26 October 2012

Picture This 1 - 21 December 2013

Our concluding exhibition for the 2012 programme in Project Ability Gallery was Picture This; a group show of paintings by artists from Aspire and Create. The exhibition displayed the dynamic painting environment of the workshops throughout the year.

Painting is an important activity in the Project Ability workshops and this end of year show presented acts of painting, bringing together our artists’ sensibilities with each revealing its own rhythm and order.

“Really excellent work everyone – show looks great. Well done.”

Gallery visitor, 19 December 2012

Artists in Residence 2012 19 January - 2 March 2013 The residency was set up in 2010 to support both Project Ability and Scottish based artists by providing time, space and facilities in which to concentrate on artistic development in a supportive and engaging environment. Selected artists were resident for short and intense working periods lasting one month, exploring individual practices and integrating within Project Ability’s collaborative community. This exhibition was a retrospective look at the work made by the resident artists.

The focus of the programme is for individual research, experimentation through interaction and discussion between the artists and devised through this collaborative exhibition that takes place every year. This exhibition featured new work by Lauren Bryden, Karly Burns, Elaine Dockery, Fraser Ross, Simon McAuley and Fraser Ross.

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“Love the serenity, the art and the peaceful, soothing sounds. Great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.�

Gallery visitor, 13 Apr 2012

Big Skies 8 March - 20 April 2013

A Scandinavian exchange show by Project Ability artists and workshops in Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Big Skies was a Scandinavian exchange exhibition showing works by artists from Finland, Norway and Sweden alongside a selection of Project Ability artists.

The theme of the show was an artistic exploration and celebration of weather; its changeable nature, our fascination with it and its sometime mystic and sumblime beauty.

Exhibiting artists were Hanne Arnheim from Amalie Skrams Hus, Norway; Buster Hollingworth, Camilla Holmquist and Jens Nilsson from Inuti, Sweden; Harri Blomberg from Kettuki, Finland; Tommy Kemp, Duncan Gray, Sandra Ormiston and Fletcher Stobbs from Project Ability.

“Entices like a golden dawn.� Gallery visitor, 13 Apr 2012

Parallel Visions Creativity Explored, San Francisco 8 March - 25 April 2012 Two Project Ability artists Simon McAuley and Carol Lee were invited to take part in an exhibition in San Francisco, Parallel Visions, presented by Creativity Explored where they each exhibited a series of drawings.

This show brought together a group of artists who focus on drawing processes and repetitive mark making to create their work. A range of artwork was presented and three distinct themes emerged; abstract works, figurative ink drawings and work comprised of poetic text and number systems. This exhibition was curated by Eric Larson and Amy Taub.

“I never thought my work would be seen in San Francisco, it’s very exciting!”

Everyone @ Trongate 103 10 April - 18 May 2012 Touchbase Sense Scotland, Glasgow Everyone @ Trongate 103 was an action research project funded by Engage Scotland which involved building new partnerships between the Trongate 103 galleries and Pamis to consider how people with profound and multiple disabilities could be included in their programmes as consumers and producers of art.

The exhibition took place at Touchbase, the head office of Sense Scotland and showcased the work made on the project and included a series of photographs documenting the workshop process.

“Excellent pieces – made me laugh and smile!”

Gallery visitor, 17 Apr 2012

“Sublime work again by Project Ability!”

Cinema visitor, 17 May 2012

Duncan Gray Landscape Series 17 May - 7 June 2012 Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow A solo exhibition of paintings by Aspire artist Duncan Gray to coincide with the GFT’s Green Film Festival 2012.

INSIDE OUT North Norway Arts Festival Gallery Nord-Norge, Harstad 23 - 30 June 2012 The Arts Festival of North Norway is an international event dedicated to international outsider art. For the festival, Project Ability were invited to present a series of drawings by late Aspire artist Robert Reddick; an artist who was devoted to drawing, creating many intricate drawings, layered with line, text and loose arrangements.

The Language of Situation Platform, The Bridge 3 August-28 September 2012 Since 2009, Project Ability and arts and community centre, Platform have teamed up to present an ambitious annual painting exhibition for their expansive central wall space.

The Language of Situation was one such ambitious exhibition by Project Ability’s former Connect artists which incorporated logos, signage, symbols and advertisements rendered in paint, constructing patterns of thought moving from the real to the symbol.

This landscape of signs amassed to an abstract configuration of colour and shape with different views of the imagery that is encountered in everyday life depicted large scale and potentially limitless.

Film Noir, Trongate 103, Glasgow 11 - 30 September 2012

Following its Platform debut in 2011 and then an exhibition in Glasgow Film Theatre in January 2012, Project Ability then presented a selection from the original exhibition in the foyer exhibition space of Trongate 103.

Lennox Castle Stories Trongate 103, Glasgow 22-27 October 2012 Lennox Castle Stories is an ongoing project which captures the memories of the people who lived in Lennox Castle Hospital. It has been a chance for ex-residents to tell their stories of what life was like in the hospital and their triumphs and successes since leaving.

This exhibition which took place in the exhibition space of the Trongate 103 foyer was the first in a series of events to celebrate the launch of the project. The exhibition was made up of some of the works made through the project and an introduction to the Lennox Castle Stories website.

“Very different, nice colours!!!�

Gallery visitor, 7 January 2012

Rachel Hook Mono, Glasgow 7 December-9 January 2013 Project Ability presented a solo exhibition of work by Create artist Rachel Hook in our annual MONO showcase.

Rachel works in our Create programme and is a painter of insistently elaborate shapes which she precariously balances on stark white paper or paints onto brightly layered canvases.

Prosjekt RĂ… Various Venues February 2013-March 2014

Galleri Vox International Outsider Art Postcard Exhibition displayed original postcards including a selection made by Project Ability artists.

The exhibition was launched in Galleri Vox, Bergen, Norway in February 2013 before embarking on a tour around various venues throughout Europe.

Side by Side London Southbank Centre 15 March - 5 April 2013 Project Ability presented works by Tommy Mason in the exhibition Side by Side at London’s Southbank Centre. The event has been brought together by Alice Fox and the Rocket Artists, University of Brighton, to collaborate with other artists and arts organisations to develop an international inclusive arts exhibition, symposium and associated publication.

“Providing creative opportunities between artists with and without learning disabilities through artistic collaboration and facilitation for the purpose of challenging existing barriers and promoting social change.“

“I think this is one of the most amazing places in Glasgow. Every time I come here, there is something new and encouraging and I always leave feeling inspired.

Please continue with your inspirational work and creative programme; because it really does enrich Glasgow’s artistic world.”

Gallery visitor, January 2013

Off-Site Exhibition Programme In addition to the gallery presentations, we also exhibit in various venues around Glasgow and in a number of national and international platforms including London, UK, San Francisco, USA & Bergen, Norway, developing a broad and diverse off-site programme.

Project Ability’s ambition is to think of our exhibitions, workshop programme and audience development strands as being integrated. This is particularly evident in the way that our team works with exhibitions,projects and events. We aim to conceive the whole of our organisation as a learning mechanism and a way of acquiring knowledge continuing to develop a wide support network of collaborators for its exhibition programme nationally and internationally.

Project Ability Exhibitions Report 29 April 2013 Š Project Ability 2013 www.project-ability.co.uk info@project-ability.co.uk