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.

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.

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 (at 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 roles within the current debate about a national care service.

While this project is locally-based, 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 spotlighted 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.