AlterNativity at Aberdeen Maritime Museum

Photographs by Grant Anderson

http://www.grantanderson.me/

In December I was invited back to Aberdeen Maritime Museum to run another craft workshop. This time it was part of their Christmas over 18s event; AlterNativity.

I ran a wreath making workshop with lots of fun materials for guests to create their own festive wreath with.

There were loads of amazing activities going on that night including games, challenges, photoshoots, facepainting and a mini market.

I had so much fun, it was the perfect event to get in the Christmas spirit!

Summer Family Fun at Aberdeen Maritime Museum

Photographs by Grant Anderson

http://www.grantanderson.me/

This Summer I had the pleasure of running Aberdeen Maritime Museum's Family Fun workshops. For this I was asked to design four unique arts activities, aimed towards primary school children, to run over the course of four weeks during the school holidays.

Although I have assisted with art workshops in the past, this was the first time I've been the lead artist. It was very exciting (and slightly terrifying!) to have complete creative control over the planning and execution of such an event.

Working with children is always a lot of fun and this was certainly a lovely way to spend the Summer. It's so great to see kids let their imaginations run wild and also to see how proud they are of their creations.

Each activity was inspired by different exhibits displayed at the museum at the time. This was to encourage children to engage with the exhibits in a new way. Here's a short description of each of the activities;

Folded Fancies Inspired by Japanese paper crafts; have a go at designing a folded paper fan, test your origami skills or create a colourful flying carp fish.

Wish You Were Here Explore the museum's wonderful collection of objects; diving suits, a narwhal's tusk and even a treasure chest are all waiting to be discovered. Choose your favourite object and then design and print a postcard to tell someone special about your exciting museum adventures.

The Champions Cup With summer sporting contests and our exhibition News Balls Please in mind, we invite you to collage a decorative trophy to take away.

Tea Merchant's Challenge Come and see our latest acquisition; the original shipbuilder's model of the famous tea trade ship Thermopylae.
Take on the tea merchant's challenge and construct a ship from basic materials. Set sail to discover just how much tea your model can carry!

There was a lot of good feedback from the sessions which is amazing to hear! It was a great experience, hopefully I will take part in similar projects in the future!

Hello New Year

Here we go again.

I seem to blog only when feeling most reflective, which seems to be mainly at the beginning of each year..

All in all 2014 was a good one. This year I;

• Began working freelance and made great contacts in the Aberdeen art scene.
• Met some fantastic new friends.
• Set up a Book Club.
• Took a part-time jewellery design course.
• Ran Race For Life 10k in June, The Fare Challenge Bibby Offshore 5k in August, River Ness 10k in September and Wildhearts Santa Run 5k in December.
• Spent a relaxing week in Tenerife.
• Passed my mother-trucking driving test!

I've been very pleased with the way 2014 played out and would be happy to see more of the same in 2015. However I do have two main goals.

Number 1 is to firm up my career plans. 2014 was quite exploratory in terms of career and although it has been awesome by the end of this year I'd like to have a more defined path.

Number 2 is more running! This year I plan on signing up more my first half marathon. Obviously this will take more determination and training than what I've done previously and that's exactly why I want to do it. Perhaps with a bit of luck I'll be ready for a marathon in 2016!

I'll finish off my sharing some photos from the past year.

Fabric of the Land 2014

During May I had the pleasure of working with ceramicist Morag McGee on a wee project which is part of a bigger project called Fabric of the Land. The aim of this big project is to explore links between art and science. Our part in particular explored geographical ideas through ceramics.

We spent 6 days working with 50 pupils from St Machar Academy. Morag led workshops with them while I assisted and documented the events. We learned from geologists and spent time researching and gathering information with them in the classroom as well as on an excursion to Stonehaven beach. When we got back to the classroom we were able to realise these ideas working with clay, mimicking the lines and shapes found in the rock formations we visited.

The pupils were fascinated by Morag's teaching and eagerly worked away at each stage of the process.

On the final day, after painting the sculptures, came the grande finale of firing the pieces in a raku kiln. This was a very exciting part for everyone (made more exciting when Morag let us toast marshmallows over the hot kiln!).

The pieces were taken from the kiln and placed in a bed of sawdust, from here they emerged sooty and flaming. After a cool down the pieces were scrubbed clean and this is when the gorgeous glazed colours shone through.

An exhibition of the pupils work will be displayed later this month. Then later on in the year the work will be displayed among many others taking part in the project at the main Fabric of the Land exhibition.

More on Morag's part in Fabric of the Land
 http://folstmachar2014.wordpress.com/

More on Fabric of the Land as a whole
http://fabricoftheland.com/