Woven in Renfrewshire exhibits at the Sma’ Shot Cottages

The project’s final exhibition of 2024, titled: Artists Responses to Caring Stories, will be visiting Paisley’s Sma’ Shot Cottages from Friday, 7th September through to Saturday, 14th September, 2024.

For 9 months, four socially-engaged artists have listened and responded to the experiences of women carers – community and family-based – across Renfrewshire.

The project, led by Paisley-based cultural organisation Fablevision, was funded by Creative Scotland, National Lottery, Renfrewshire’s Culture, Heritage and Events Fund, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde as well as the
local Health and Social Care Partnership.

Lead artist t s Beall, with Audrey O’Brien, Karen Herbison and Kayleigh Sarah McGuinness heard first-hand of the heroism and resilience required to be a carer and their ‘soundings’ were translated into artworks that help to tell these stories.

An exhibition is currently installed in the dining room of the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH), Paisley, and the touring exhibition has visited the
Paisley Shopping Centre and the Scottish Parliament to raise the issue of care with MSPs.

The final stop on the circuit of the touring exhibition will be Sma Shot Cottages for two weeks in support of Doors Open weekend and to mark the final weekend of the cottages being open to the public before they close for the winter months.

The Sma’ Shot Cottages opening times are 13:00-16:00 and the exhibition will be available to view on the following days: 6-8th, 11th and 13-14th September 2024.

Woven in Renfrewshire at the RAH

The Woven in Renfrewshire touring exhibition, which is currently at the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH), Paisley,  has been the subject of a centre spread in the Paisley Daily Express. 

Coverage of the exhibition in the RAH’s gallery back in May, features details of the works by participating artists, Karen Herbison, Audrey O’Brien, t s Beall and Kayleigh Sarah McGuinness.

On 24th June, participating artists t s Beall, Karen Herbison, Dr Liz Gardiner (Fablevision), Jackie Sands (NHSGGC), Eleanor Lynch (RAH) and visiting MSP George James Adam (Paisley), spoke at the exhibition launch about the project and the vital role that art plays in life and as a means of drawing attention to the undervalued, unappreciated and often ignored – in this instance – carers.  This was brought into sharp focus during the Covid 19 crisis.

No one listening or viewing the testimony of those carers quoted in the works or accompanying film, some of whom were in attendance, could have failed but be impressed and moved by this song for the unsung.

The Woven in Renfrewshire film features interviews with the artists, carers and partners involved in the project

Symposium Day in Gdansk

The 25th June, 2024, was Instyut Kultury Miejskiej’s (Poland), turn to host the partners –  Fablevision, Scotland – Intercult,  Sweden – Wiener Bildungs Akademie, Austria – Artit, Greece and Dear Hunter, Netherlands) – as part of the Turning the Tide initiative.

This all-day symposium will bring together experts, artists, and cultural activists to discuss water-related challenges and climate change.⁠

Woven in Renfrewshire at the Scottish Parliament

Who Cares Wins

The Woven in Renfrewshire touring exhibition commences with a first stop (one of six overall) at The Gallery in Paisley’s Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) between 1-3pm, Wednesday, 15th May.  Works by participating artists, Karen Herbison, Audrey O’Brien, t s Beall and Kayleigh Sarah McGuinness, are infused and inspired by the stories of carers and what it is to care.

The works will take various forms from the physical and representative to audio and video performance but at the heart of the project is the idea of using the voices of carers, formal and informal, to lead the narrative.

Future venues on the tour will include: The Scottish Parliament; The Paisley Shopping; Centre, the RAH; and the Sma’ Shot Cottages.

Exploring Social Engaged Practice

As we all grappled with the ‘how to’ impact the narratives and realities of global climate change, this webinar explored the potential of interventionist artists employing socially engaged practices to empower local communities and amplify hitherto unheard voices.  With questions like: “What exactly is socially-engaged practice or social practice?;   What does art/culture have to offer when science can’t fix climate change?; and “Which communities/whose communities are Turning the Tide on climate change?”  Drs. Beall and Gardiner (Fablevision), experienced practitioners, address questions which  practitioners, policymakers, planners, students and the public are grappling with in respect of finding new, innovative solutions to the problems of the climate change.

These questions form the basis of a large-scale, five-city co-operative co-Creative Europe co-funded project called Turning the Tide (TTT) – involving members of the River Cities network (www.river//cities.net) – which aims to foster ideas and discussion around artists and socially engaged practices within local communities on waterfronts threatened by climate change. 

Thumbnail image Dr. t s Beall: Chris Lesley

Cultural Planning – Growing Communities

The seminar delved into the intriguing intersection of cultural mapping and cultural planning, revealing hidden resources in various locations for incorporation into future plans.  Featuring Lia Ghilardi, a distinguished European cultural planner, as the esteemed speaker, the session included a thought-provoking presentation followed by a moderated Q&A session by Liz Gardiner.  Tailored for artists, socially engaged practitioners, cultural planners, urban planners, policy makers, community leaders, and stakeholders, the event was part of the Turning the Tide (TTT) project.  This five-city cooperation initiative, within the River Cities network (www.river//cities.net), aimed to stimulate discussions on artists and socially engaged practices in communities facing climate change threats along waterfronts.

Methodologies of Cultural Mapping

Welcome to the groundbreaking third webinar of the Turning the Tide Project, where innovation meets urban resilience.  In this session, we delve into the transformative power of mapping practices and their pivotal role in shaping our cities’ future amidst the challenges of climate change.  Our esteemed panel features trailblazers in the field: Dr. Mitch Miller, renowned artist, researcher, and educator, known for pioneering the Dialectogram Illustrative style; Marlies Vermeulen, a visionary PhD candidate and cartopologist, spearheading the field of cartopology; and Remy Kroese, a dynamic researcher, educator, and project manager, driving forward the mission of Dear Hunter & the Institute of Cartopology. 

Guiding our dialogue is Dr. Liz Gardiner, a luminary in cultural planning and the executive director of Fablevision.

Turning the Tide Tackles Climate Change

Members of the River Cities Network worked together during the exciting and hugely successful Memory of Water project.  Some of the members of that collaboration have continued working together – looking at shared challenges on waterfronts and the possibilities and limitations of artists’ interventions to support future building narratives.  In spite of Brexit, the partners have been determined to keep Glasgow and Fablevision in the frame and we are delighted to announce that the follow-on project, called Turning the Tide (TTT) has been successful in achieving a large cooperation project grant for 2024-26.  An international Climate & Culture Summit in Glasgow in April 2024 will ‘kick off’ the whole pan European project –  a platform for artists and local citizens to impact ‘expert’ dialogue with politicians, developers and planners in Scotland and Europe.  The delegation will visit Glasgow during the week of the 22 April 2024 – an opportunity to keep Scotland at the cutting edge of cultural innovation and we are determined to overcome the challenges posed by Brexit that mitigate against ongoing participation.  Led by Intercult (Sweden) with members of the River Cities Network, TTT is a creative response to the threat of climate crisis on waterfront cities: inspiring trans-disciplinary dialogue through artistic co-creation, creative cartopological mapping and international cross-sectoral dialogue.  With five partners (Intercult,  Sweden – Instyut Kultury Miejskiej, Poland – Wiener Bildungs Akademie, Austria – Artit, Greece and Dear Hunter, Netherlands), TTT’s premise assumes climate change can be impacted through cultural planning led by artists and informed participation.  Although inspired by Fablevision’s longitudinal practice over 10 years – 6 years supported by Creative Scotland and the City of Glasgow: Riverside Solidarity, 2017-19 and Memory of Water, 2019-2022 –  Brexit means exclusion from Creative Europe.  Scottish expertise in socially-engaged practice, however, qualifies Fablevision in a consultancy role.

Woven in Renfrewshire preview at the RAH

Fablevision’s ‘Woven in Renfrewshire’ is currently exhibiting at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, featuring a selection of work from our previous project, ‘Woven in Govan’ (20/21) as a prelude of what’s to come in the project.

The exhibition’s placement within the hospital coincides with the Scottish national public inquiry into COVID-19. The insights and experiences shared during both projects will feed into the conversation around women carers’ experiences before, during, and post-pandemic highlighting how things have changed and, importantly, how they haven’t.

Upon completion of the project, the insights of our participants will be presented to the Scottish Government in an exhibition in the Parliament in June 2024. 

Artists at the RAH Paisley

Back in October we had the privilege to host an event in the Royal Alexandra Hospital staff hub, where NHS staff and volunteers were invited to join Fablevision’s Woven in Renfrewshire team for afternoon tea, cake and an opportunity to meet the artists involved in the project!

Meet the Artists at Paisley’s Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH)

As part of the introduction to the Woven in Renfrewshire project, we are issuing an invitation to RAH staff and hospital volunteers who would like to know more about the scope and aims of the project and to meet the artists in person.

What better way to familiarise yourself with the themes of “care and carers” than to take tea and cake in the convivial and tranquil surroundings of the RAH staff hub – where the exhibition is being staged – with views extending out over the pond.

If you work at the RAH or volunteer there, we look forward to seeing you between 14:00-16:00, Wednesday, 11th October, 2023.

Woven in Renfrewshire

Following the success of Woven in Govan, Fablevision is delighted to announce the model of artists listening to stories/lived experiences of carers is now taking shape in Renfrewshire.

Woven in Renfrewshire is designed to create temporary artworks in Renfrewshire’s public realm (e.g. creative interventions, pop-up or walking events, mobile performances, posters/flyers, etc.) which will be curated as a touring exhibition (as venues including Royal Alexandra Hospital, Art Department in the Paisley Shopping Centre and the Garden Lobby of the Scottish Parliament) as well as documented and presented digitally as part of an international online exhibition platform,  The thematic focus and aim for this project is to commission artists to develop new works which draw upon broad themes of care, caring, and women’s caring roles within the current debate about a national care service.

While this project is locally-rooted and will be locally developed and delivered, it sits within the framework of an initial international collaboration led by Platform TU (Ukraine) in partnership with Intercult (Sweden).  Development work was funded by Creative Scotland, in partnership with House of Europe (via Platform TU) and Creative Europe (via Intercult) and a pilot project was delivered in Govan during 2020-23 (Woven in Govan) in solidarity with communities across Europe, as part of an ‘inter-local’ response to the experiences of women who work as carers and their experiences before, during and since the COVID-19 pandemic.  Our work in Renfrewshire will be bespoke – involving Renfrewshire-based artists and carers – but it will use the same successful model.  Commissioned artists will create new temporary artworks in Renfrewshire, in solidarity with communities across Europe, as part of an ‘inter-local’ response to the experiences of women who work as carers and their stories of how it is for them post the COVID-19 pandemic.

Socially-engaged artists who have experience working with and within local communities to collaborate on the creation of innovative, temporary artworks will work confidently and dynamically (and within a limited time-frame) alongside local partners and individuals to create temporary creative interventions in the public realm – for example pop-up events, in-person or coordinated mobile walking events, participatory works, mobile performances, window exhibitions or light-based projections, even collectively distributed posters/flyers/zines).

A panel of local people, including representatives from health, well-being and community groups, interviewed applicants and appointed three artists – Kayleigh McGuinness, Karen Herbison and Audrey O’Brien to work on the project collaboratively.  Artists will work with local partners who can provide on-the-ground support and alongside Dr t s Beall as lead artist.  Beall is a socially-engaged artist who has been working in Scotland for over a decade, and who has been working within the existing international Woven Network projects since 2020.

It is expected that all artists will respond to the overarching theme of this project by creatively responding to or representing the stories or voices of women who are working as carers in healthcare, and/or engaging with the unequal care burden of women that was foregrounded during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of this project, volunteer participants working in healthcare will be recruited (anonymously) by Fablevision, working with local partner organisations. This local team will support artists as they develop their creative works, and connect them with key workers and full-time carers who have volunteered to share their experiences and stories.  Volunteers with care experiences to share who are interested in working directly with artists can also be facilitated, and robust ethics procedures will be in place throughout the project.

Artworks will be produced and delivered in Renfrewshire, and documentation of these works will be shared digitally through existing local, national and international networks (including River Cities, Intercult, the current Woven Network social media platforms).

The timeline for the project is as follows:

Creative research and project development: June – August 2023.

Delivery of artistic interventions September – November 2023

Touring Exhibition – January – March 2024

Funders:  Arnold Clark Community Fund, Creative Scotland, Glasgow Airport’s Flightpath, National Lottery Community Fund, National Lottery Heritage Fund, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Renfrewshire Council.