A cultural commons for mental health in Edinburgh

Exhibition Visits

Throughout the winter, we organised a series of gallery visits across Scotland to tour different exhibitions. The group visited Dundee V&A: Tartan, RSA: Grayson Perry, Modern One: Do Ho Suh, Modern Two: Paolozzi at 100 and Inverleith House: Silent Archive.

Creative Textile Workshop

Our Wednesday evening textile workshops have continued as participants focus on their designs for digital printing and finishing embroidering their collaborative screenprinted panels.

Foraging walk at Three Hares Woodland

In collaboration with Edinburgh Ukrainian Centre and Cait O’Neill, a group of families from the Ukrainian Community visited Three Hares Woodland to participate in outdoor activities, foraging and sharing food around a fire. It was a lovely day out amongst nature sharing knowledge of plants, wildlife and folklore in Scotland and Ukraine.

Creative Textile Workshop

In collaboration with local community group Mwamba, a group has been meeting on Wednesday afternoons in the Curious Routes space at Ocean Terminal to explore the processes of creative textile design, screen printing, embroidery, sewing and applique techniques. The group is currently working on a collaborative project to explore techniques and will move on to…

Birdwatching

After conversations with members Franco and Alex about their passion for birdwatching, we decided to collaborate with RSPB, MECOPP and the Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust to create a series of birdwatching outings around East Lothian and Edinburgh. We have visited North Berwick, Seacliff Beach, Aberlady Nature Reserve, Harlaw Reservoir, Figgate Park and St. Abbs….

Care for Carers Workshop at Suntrap

Through our Curious Routes journey we have encountered many people and organisations along the way. Franco, one of our participants, got involved with Curious Routes a few years back while he was caring for his wife. As part of his support, Care for Carers became really important through his time. We invited them to an…

Textiles along the Canal

This month we collaborated with the Fountainbridge Canal Trust to run a textile workshop on their barge along the Union Canal. Participants designed and created their own tote bags using fabric applique techniques, embroidery, stencils and spray paint.

Ceramics along the Canal – Glazing

For the second session of our collaboration with Fountainbridge Canal Trust and the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Mahboob and Amy taught workshop participants how to use glazes and oxides to decorate the fired pieces that had been created in the first session. Everyone had a great time working on their ceramic designs and are excited to…

Ceramics along the Canal

In November one of our members had a chance to collaborate with the Fountainbridge Canal Trust to share his knowledge of ceramics and clay work with patients from the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. In the first session, Mahboob showed the group how to create pattern through impressions of various found materials while sailing along the canal….

Open Day at Suntrap

In August we had the opportunity to invite local community organisations Mwamba, Care4Carers and Fountainbridge Canal Trust to come to our studio space at Suntrap for a day of connection and collaboration. We shared our skills and interests through workshop activities in monoprinting, ceramics and woodcarving, displayed recent work and shared a delicious lunch provided…

Constructing a Table

Alex has been working with artist James McLardy to design and build a table as a centrepiece for our upcoming Open Day at Suntrap.

Ceramics and Mould Making

Mahboob has been working closely with artist James Rigler to learn the processes of mould making to develop his own unique vision and practice. Inspired by his interest in botany, nature and found objects, Mahboob explores the possibilities that clay can offer.

Developing Work at Suntrap

We have been lucky to be able to use the beautiful studio and garden space at Suntrap to establish a collective studio practice and develop our work through individual projects in print, ceramics, textile art and woodworking.

Visit to Central Scotland Sawmill

We spent the morning visiting Central Scotland Sawmill to source timber for a new project Alex is developing.

A visit to Cindy Sherman : Early Works exhibition, Stills Gallery

We were lucky to catch an exhibition of seminal early works by Sherman during the Edinburgh Art Festival.

Finishing our collaborative sculpture back at Basic Mountain Studio

Following our short residency at The Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, we returned to Basic Mountain Studio to add the final details to the sculpture. The finished head!

Final work stages at ESW

We returned for a few more sessions at The Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop to complete work on our sculpture’s larger elements. We invited Edinburgh based maker, Rachel Timney Stewart, to join the brainstorm and give us a final push before we return to Basic Mountain Studio. Patrick and Franco working on the flower head: While some…

Bridget Riley Exhibition tour

It’s Time for Edinburgh’s Art Festival! We went to see Bridget Riley’s retrospective exhibition at The National Galleries.

Artlink and SEASONs at Lochend Secret Garden

We celebrated the beautiful weather and joined forces with SEASONs group and the team at Lochend Secret Garden, for an excellent day of walking, foraging, eating and listening to music together. We were joined by horticulturist and knowledgable forager, Chris Macefield who led us on a foraging walk around Lochend Park. In the meantime, Franco…

Work continues at ESW

When the base of the sculpture was ready, it was time to start working with colour and materials. Each group member was working on a different aspect, discussing decisions on the go and learning from each other. Maggie used her exquisite kniting skills to design and make the eyes for the flower’s head. We also…

Curious Routes @ Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop

We were looking for a place where we can work on the new sculpture. In June, July and August 2019, our two-weekly sessions took place at The Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, where we could get a lot work done using the metal workshop and education space. First, we did a day of metal work with technician…

New collaborative sculpture

We are excited to work on a new collaborative sculpture! It is based on a drawing by Yvonne and we are planning to use all the skills in the group to create a large scale sculpture for a future event. Watch this space for developments!

Experimenting with stencils

After a short break, we were back at Basic Mountain studio. Patrick introduced the group to a technique he was working with – using stencils and spray paint. We created individual works using this technique. It was fun to see how each person has a distinct personal language.

Design Exhibition Scotland

We ventured out to Lyon & Turnbull Edinburgh to meet with the curator of Design Exhibition Scotland, Susanna Beaumont, to discuss this show that blurred the limits between art and design. We were lucky to bump into James McLardy, who is working with Artlink regularly. James talked to us about his work featured in the…

A trip to Jupiter Artland, June 2019

We headed to the green hills of Jupiter Artland to enjoy a sunny day, impressive site specific works and a story telling session with SEASONS group members. We were accompanied by a local guide who led us to a comprehensive tour throughout the park. It’s always great to get out of the city and…

Life Drawing session with Sarah McWhinney

Artist and musician Sarah McWhinney led a life drawing session at Basic Mountain studio. We engaged in short and long exercises to capture shape and movement, experimenting with graphite, charcoal and ink as mediums.

Bookbinding session #2 with Cassandra Barron

We returned to the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens Cottage for a second bookbinding session. Armed with our tools, and suppied with a tantalising array of materials, we learned some binding techniques to make custom sketchbooks and booklets.

Paper marbling and Monoprinting

To complement our bookbinding sessions, we tried our hand at paper marbling at Basic Mountain Studio. The prints are achieved by using oil based ink in a tray with water; the design floats on the water and covers the paper dipped in the tray. It was interesting to see how many different designs can come…

Felted portraits

Ellie introduced us to needle felting- and we thought it would be great to felt our own portraits with it!Franco proved to be a popular subject- he made his own portrait and another one was made with love by Yvonne- whisk and all. Felt-a-thon at Basic Mountain studio

A visit to Tramway

We travelled to Tramway in Glasgow to see Pia Camil and Robert Anton’s Exhibitions. While Camil’s show was an immersive installation inviting viewers to physically engage with it- Anton’s work was more enigmatic and intimate: Both exhibitions were interesting in terms of how the artists used ready made, disposed of material and up cycled it…

Fishing in Cramond 13 May 2019

We were out and about on a beautiful sunny day to try our luck fishing in Cramond. While some of us chose to stay on the shore-Others got their waders on and ventured into the river! Alex was in his element as usual. So was Franco who even managed a catch! We enjoyed the beautiful…

First Green Court event, 16th June 2019

Green Court was initiated by Luke Padfield and has been developed with support from Artlink, UN House Scotland and Scottish Environment Link. The Green Court is an improvised, interactive, moot environmental court. We discuss fictional examples of environmental issues based on real-life situations in a mock courtroom setting. This first session of the Green Court…

Bookbinding session #1 with Cassandra Barron

In Curious Routes, we always start a creative process by sharing ideas, having conversations and drawing inspiration from each member’s unique style and interests. having a go at bookbinding allowed us to experiment with different techniques we would like to utilise to engage in some self-publishing! We invited Cassandra Barron, an Edinburgh-based artist who arrived…

Crochet taster session

We were joined by designer Cyd from Needlemaker UK to get our hands around the basics of crochet. We are keen to use this technique to create a large collaborative sculpture. As we shared that we are interested in crochet as a sculpture technique, Cyd introduced us to the work of OLEK (Agata Oleksiak), a…

Eco Print Workshop at Bridgend Allotments

We joined forces with Eco Printer Elisabeth Viguie Culshaw to create dress and props for our “Green Court” event in Edinburgh. Eco printing refers to the act of directly applying plants to textiles to alter colour, apply colour and create interesting designs. “ Natural dyeing” is a component, as everything used is natural, such as…

Soul Food Sisters collaboration

As part of our women’s group; Yvonne, Adele, Vic, Chelley, Archane, Dorothy, Anna, Maggie, Fiona, Sue, Anne and Annabel wanted to come together around their shared interest in expanding their culinary knowledge, keenness to share skills and interesting stories in social and relaxed settings. We approached Soul Food Sisters in Glasgow as their ethos matched…

Macramé Making

Yvonne’s Granddad used to work as a fisherman at sea and she talks fondly of his incredibly weathered face and all the different knots and knot making skills that were necessary to his trade. She has always been interested in the various craft based textiles such as knitting, crochet, weaving and embroidery using more traditional…

New Collective Spaces

The Collective gallery have just opened it’s doors to it’s new home on Calton hill on Edinburgh’s iconic City Observatory site. A few of us brave enough to battle the horizontal rains and winds on top of the hill that day went to go check it out. We chattered to Katie Reynolds the learning producer and…

Thinking & Taking inspiration from others

We often like to take inspiration from practicing artists, going to see exhibitions, and discussing our ideas about the artwork and how it relates to things going on around us that we’re interested in. Here we are at Emma Hart’s current show BANGER at The Fruitmarket Gallery. Emma Hart BANGER The Fruitmarket Gallery 27 October 2018…

Outdoor Sketching & Meeting like-minded Folk

We like to frequently take ourselves out of the studio to sketch outdoors, meet others and chat ideas while on walks in the great outdoors. Here’s one day’s adventures on Blackford Hill, The Royal Observatory and Hermitage of Braid Local Nature Reserve. We came across The Lodge Coffee House whose owners were super friendly, gave…

Sketching at Drift

Ellie, Alex, Lee, Adele, Franco, Maggie and Vic love drawing and wanted to get outside to sketch in the elements. We’d heard of new cafe venue Drift in East Lothian with amazing views of the Bass Rock and out to sea so we went to check it out for ourselves…

Jupiter Artland

We take our inspiration from many things…here we are soaking up a bit of arts and culture at Jupiter Artland.

Women’s Group & PROCESSIONS

Women from Artlink’s Curious Routes and Artlink’s Glasshouses arts for mental health projects came together to design and make banners in celebration of 100 years of women voting in the UK in collaboration with Processions public art project. PROCESSIONS was a once-in-a-lifetime mass participation artwork which celebrated one hundred years of votes for women. Processions was…

Bangour Fishery

We’ve been sharing Chelley, Diane, Alex, Ian and Franco’s love of fishing with some newbees to fly fishing at Bangour Trout Fishery in West Lothian. Erm zero fish caught but what a beaut of a day!

Hidden Door Arts Festival

Ellie and Lee and Curious Routes are doing some research around video projection and thought we’d visit Hidden Door Festival for some inspiration. We’re deciding whether to make our own wooden screen for projecting onto… Hidden Door is an arts organisation which aims to open up urban spaces as a platform for new and emerging…

OFF THE GRID – Kitchen Sink Film Season

Ellie & Lee are passionate about film and wanted to showcase some of the films they love to a wider audience. They have called their film group OFF THE GRID and want to show a series of Kitchen sink dramas from the 1950’s and 1960’s. The first in OFF THE GRID’s film season is Tony…

Broxburn United Sports Club Collab

We wanted to take our Common interests on tour!.. so here we are at Broxburn United Sports Club with their over 50s group Alive and Kickin’. We shared our passions for birdwatching and walks with Franco & Alex, mono printing with Ellie, Songwriting with Lee & Peter, Cooking with Franco & Kevin, Textiles with Dorothy,…