Gracefield Arts Centre hosting Tate Gallery collection
There’s just two weeks left to get along to Gracefield in Dumfries to catch Dan Flavin, exhibition which is currently on loan from the Tate Gallery and National Gallery of Scotland Artist Rooms Collection.
Alongside Flavin’s minimalist light sculptures in the Café Gallery is a special show of work by local school students, Natalie Wixon and Ailsa Gordon. They took part in a learning project over the last few months and have been working with Joanne Smithers, Gracefield’s Artist Facilitator.
They participated in workshops with Joanne, Ewan Sinclair, Rachel Adams, Rachel Maclean and Tessa Lynch – all young and successful artists in their field. The Dumfries students also visited Jupiter Artland near Edinburgh as part of their research. They have developed skills in making their own artwork and ways of looking at and thinking about contemporary art.
The work on display highlights their experiences which will be shared with other young people and members of ARTIST ROOMS staff at the exhibition closing party at Gracefield on Friday 14 November between 2-4pm. Everyone is welcome to come along and see what they have been up to and to catch the end of the show.
Councillor Tom McAughtrie, Chair of CCS Committee said – “This has been an interesting and engaging education project and I am heartened to see Gracefield able to make these opportunities available to young people in Dumfries and Galloway.”
Gracefield and Dumfries and Galloway Council are grateful to the Art Fund and Creative Scotland nationally and the Holywood Trust and Dumfriesshire Educational Trust locally in supporting this unique learning programme, which has also supported public events, school and college visits to Gracefield and workshops in schools.
Gracefield is open Tuesday – Saturday 10am-5pm
Admission is free
The learning programme took place alongside two major exhibitions at Gracefield this year. Between May and July, SXSW 25 included work by leading Scottish contemporary artists Christine Borland, Graham Fagen and Dalziel + Scullion. The exhibition was presented as part of GENERATION – a national project reflecting 25 years of contemporary art in Scotland to celebrate the Commonwealth Games cultural programme in 2014. It was a jointly curated exhibition with East Ayrshire’s Dick Institute and South Ayrshire’s Maclaurin Gallery.
A central aim of the GENERATION project is to engage with a new generation and bring to life the possibilities that contemporary visual art presents to young people between the ages of 12 and 25 with an extensive education and outreach programme specifically devised to fuel their imagination and increase their participation. GENERATION was delivered through a partnership between the National Galleries of Scotland and Glasgow Life, and is supported by Creative Scotland.
The current ARTIST ROOMS exhibition by Dan Flavin which runs until 15 November has also allowed for an exploration of the artwork with groups of local young people including Natalie and Ailsa. ARTIST ROOMS is an inspirational collection of modern and contemporary art acquired for the nation by Tate and The National Galleries of Scotland through the generosity of Anthony d’Offay with additional support from funders, including the Art Fund. The ARTIST ROOMS tour programme, now in its sixth year, is showing at 18 museums and galleries across the UK in 2014. The tour is made possible thanks to the support of Arts Council England, the Art Fund, and in Scotland, Creative Scotland. One the aims of ARTIST ROOMS is to engage ‘new’ young audiences (13 to 25 years old) across the UK with the ARTIST ROOMS collection and artists, in a meaningful and enjoyable way.
Admission to the exhibitions is free, and we are open Tuesday – Saturday 10am-5pm, Gracefield is located at 28 Edinburgh Road, Dumfries.
GENERATION is part of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme, which is a partnership between the Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee, Glasgow Life and Creative Scotland. Generation has ambitious goals to raise the profile of contemporary art in Scotland and to increase access and participation. It is being produced with the assistance and expertise of partners including VisitScotland and EventScotland, British Council Scotland, Museums Galleries Scotland, Education Scotland, Young Scot, Children in Scotland and the BBC.
