REVEAL Scotland

Keith Salmon – Scottish art goes to Germany

Jamie Smith — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 12:12:19 +0000

Award-winning, partially-sighted Scottish landscape painter Keith Salmon has just returned from another successful trip to Germany. Keith spent two weeks in Speyer, one of Germany’s oldest and most beautiful cities located next to the river Rhine. Invited back after a successful residency last summer, which saw him live and work for four months in Speyer’s Künstlerhaus, Keith’s new work made its way over in October to the same venue and he and his partner Anita flew out to open the exhibition on 19th October.

Keith is clearly taken by the city’s ancient streets and architecture. Last year he drew a large sketch of the city’s Dom (Cathedral) which was purchased by a local restaurant owner. That owner has since opened a big new hotel, restaurant and wine studio on Speyer’s main street, just 400 metres from the Dom, and has hung Keith’s drawing in the dining area (see below). It means thousands of people will see Keith’s work over the next few years, bringing him much-deserved publicity.

Keith sold half a dozen of his paintings while in Speyer, a great success, and he hopes that he’s also made his own small contribution to the Scottish tourist industry – many visitors to the exhibition commented that they’d have to now visit Scotland having seen Keith’s landscapes.

More evidence too of cooperation between REVEAL artists. We’re delighted that Keith used one of Craig McGuire’s photos taken during the REVEAL photoshoot in summer 2011 on his invite cards to the German exhibition. Many people were asking who had taken the picture and Keith included Craig’s website link on the card. This is what we at REVEAL Scotland like to call ‘Value Added’.

Keith found time too to explore a little further the Rhine-Neckar region, walking one of the trails through the vineyards and hills to the south of Speyer and visiting for a day the beautiful university city of Heidelberg, nestled in the picturesque Neckar valley (left).

iKeith is now back in Scotland and can’t wait to get back to his studio in Irvine, having not painted for several weeks. The short nights and the cold are closing in these days but there’s no rest for this prolific artist – we look forward to seeing some new depictions of the Highlands in winter from Keith soon.

Visit: www.keithsalmon.org for all Keith’s latest news and images of his latest work.

Scottish Dance Theatre – Pathways to the Profession Symposium

Jamie Smith — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:48:54 +0000

Pathways to the Profession Symposium – Addressing the issues inhibiting inclusion of disabled people

‘What if arts directors and casting agents could choose from professionally trained performing talent representing the whole of our society? What if we could hear everybody’s stories and add real breadth of choice and range of life experience to the future of artistic leadership? Can we empower ourselves and collaborate to achieve that future?’
(Janet Smith, Artistic Director, Scottish Dance Theatre)
—–
19th & 20th January 2012, Dundee Rep Theatre

Building pathways into professional arts for disabled people

Scottish Dance Theatre is producing an international Symposium exploring Pathways into Professional Performing Arts for Disabled People. The Symposium is being held in Dundee on 19th and 20th January 2012. Scottish Dance Theatre is part of Dundee Rep Theatre and we are working in partnership with Creative Scotland, The Federation of Scottish Theatre, Glasgow Life and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to run this event.

The Symposium is aimed at performing arts education providers/organisations, arts industry employers, disabled and non-disabled artists – from aspiring to professional, arts and education leaders working with young disabled people, policy and decision-makers in the arts and education and other interested parties keen to be involved. It will examine the gaps and address the issues inhibiting inclusion of disabled people in the performing arts. The aim is to stimulate a shift in thinking within the sector and to move from a place of awareness to a place of action, increasing the number of disabled people involved in the arts.

The Symposium will be chaired by multi-disciplinary performing artist & writer Mat Fraser and Keynote Speakers will include Jenny Sealey, Artistic Director of Graeae Theatre Company and Co-Artistic Director of the Paralympics Opening Ceremony for London 2012, Professor Jürg Koch – Dance Program, UW Seattle and Andrew Dixon, Chief Executive of Creative Scotland. There will also be panel presentations by leaders in the field of arts and disability, live performances by professional disabled artists and plenty of networking opportunities.

We hope that the Symposium will contribute towards significant change in equality of opportunity for disabled artists in the performing arts. We recognise that this is a pivotal moment to bring people together to share and learn from models of good practice, to shape the future landscape of equality in the arts and to further strategic thinking about how best to achieve a shared vision.

Scottish Dance Theatre (SDT), Scotland’s leading contemporary dance company, has done a considerable amount of work in the field of performing arts and disability both on stage as well as through the pioneering work of Caroline Bowditch, SDT’s Dance Agent for Change. SDT is passionate about broadening the debate and making a substantial difference to future practice both within Scotland and further afield.

To register your interest in participating contact SDT on sdt@dundeereptheatre.co.uk or 01382 342600.

Project Ability – Xmas Show: ‘Press to Paper’

Jamie Smith — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 10:34:19 +0000

Press to paper
Dates: 26 Nov 2011 – 23 Dec 2011
Preview: Thursday 01 December, 6pm – 8pm
Location: Project Ability Gallery, Trongate 103
Admission: Free

Project Ability’s annual Xmas Show will once again be all about prints! The exhibition will explore a variety of printmaking techniques; screenprinting, monoprinting, drypoint, linocut and lithography compiling the diverse and exciting work produced at Project Ability this year.

We will also have prints on different medium this year: ceramics, fabric as well as paper. This is the perfect occasion to find an original gift for Christmas, at a very reasonable price!

———–

Project Ability’s annual print exhibition is a culmination of the experimentation of printmaking techniques by Project Ability artists throughout the year and features work from across all three workshop programmes: Aspire, Create and Connect. The selected work demonstrates a strong commitment to printmaking and its creative possibilities. Press to paper features the work of 30 artists highlighting the years’ workshops and aims to lay a definitive frame around the creative process of printmaking. All manner of printed matter is featured in the exhibition; a selection of lithographs, monoprints, etchings, drypoints, ceramics and limited edition multiples.

The exhibition tests the historical expectations of print and each artist creates work that uses the traditional printmaking process as a point of departure to create something new; demonstrating a technical awareness with an evolving familiarity with the process and the investigative explorations of an artist trying their hand at a new medium.
——
Project Ability
103 Trongate
Glasgow
G1 5HD

0141 552 2822
info@project-ability.co.uk
www.project-ability.co.uk

Gallery Opening Times
Tuesday to Saturday
10am to 5pm

Lung Ha’s Theatre Company presents – ANTIGONE

Jamie Smith — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 10:02:03 +0000

In a war-torn land, a young woman takes a stand against her city.

Antigone’s parents are gone. Her brothers have destroyed each other in battle. And one of them has been branded a traitor – anyone caught burying his body will be punished with death.

But Antigone cannot desert that duty to her family. As defiance and division mount, surely more bodies will fall to the ground…

Lung Has Theatre Company are renowned inclusive theatre specialists and CATS award winners. Here they combine forces with members of the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland to forge a blazing new interpretation of one of the most celebrated and timeless dramatic works ever created.

Performances 2012

Thursday 15th March PREVIEW 7.30pm – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
Friday 16th March 1pm & 7.30pm – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
Saturday 17th March 7.30pm – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
Wednesday 21st March 1.30pm & 7.30pm – Platform, Glasgow

Is the dance industry ready for Deaf and Disabled dancers?

Jamie Smith — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:57:12 +0000

Caroline Bowditch has been Scottish Dance Theatre’s Dance Agent for Change for the past three years. Here she talks about playing ‘Devil’s Advocate’ – asking if it’s the dance industry or disabled dancers themselves that need to take the next great leap of faith.

My work at Scottish Dance Theatre has taught me many things. Most importantly, I’ve realised that to achieve real change as a disabled artist I need to connect and align myself with mainstream arts organisations and really see myself belonging in the mainstream. This is what is needed to begin to bring about the change I want to see from the inside out.

The Devil’s Advocate sessions are a series of seminars, established as part of my role as Dance Agent for Change, aimed at firing up, challenging and shifting our thinking around deaf and disabled people in dance in the UK and internationally. The aim is to give space to real discussion about integrated and inclusive dance, addressing some of the myths and the facts.

Earlier this year we opened a debate in London, held at Sadler’s Wells as part of their Connect Festival, which posed the question: ‘is the dance industry ready for Deaf and disabled dancers?’ I outlined who I considered to be ‘the industry’, i.e. all those opening the pathways to young disabled people in the arts: programmers, choreographers and training providers, through to disabled artists themselves. We also discussed what was needed in order to assess the readiness of artists for the dance industry. The main criteria we agreed on were:

 assessing baselines and starting points;
 having aims;
 developing a plan to achieve these aims;
 acquiring the necessary skills;
 monitoring and reviewing progress.

Among the panel of speakers invited to put forward their ideas and share their passion for dance were dance writer Donald Hutera, London Contemporary Dance School director Veronica Lewis, independent dance maker and performer Claire Cunningham and Luke Pell, Head of Learning and Development at dance company Candoco.

Luke Pell pointed out that “to be ready suggests preparedness”. In my four years with Scottish Dance Theatre, I have had many conversations with people about the cyclic nature of inclusive or integrated dance; the repetitive patterns of similar projects or events taking place. This made me question why, after twenty years of development, do we still feel like we’re treading water rather than making real progress? I believe two of the key factors are that we’re not quite sure where we, as an industry, want to get to and without this clear aim we have no strategy to achieve the change we want to see.

Veronica Lewis, with over thirty years’ experience in the industry, pointed out that “we’ve come from one aesthetic but now it’s becoming much more diverse”. She went on to suggest that “Deaf and disabled dancers will become part of the ‘norm’ in dance”. Claire Cunningham suggested the industry “is as ready as it’s going to be”.

Veronica’s point may be the closest to the answer. We look out as Deaf and disabled artists at the industry to see if it’s ready for us, but I also think we need to look at ourselves as artists and realise we’re already in ‘the industry’. We must be ready to accept that and be able to articulate where we want to get to. We must be clear about our own artistic visions – what we are doing to achieve them and to whom we are communicating them.

I could never have achieved all that I have in four years without the backing of a highly respected, innovative, well-recognised dance company. Scottish Dance Theatre and I have learnt many things from one another: in the end we both share similar passions for dance and art. We want to involve as many people as possible in our passion and as Donald Hutera said, in the end we all just ‘want something true’.

REVEAL: Twisty-Headed Man, An Arts Charity

Jamie Smith — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 11:58:03 +0000

Thomas Cochrane runs Twisty-Headed Man, a mental health arts charity founded in Glasgow in 1987. His policy over the years has been not to refer to the group’s mental health problems in any exhibition or publicity, as he explains to me over a bacon buttie in Partick’s Avanti Cafe.

The Twisty-Headed Man Company is a small mental health arts organisation formed in 1987. It provides high quality arts activities for people with a range of mental health problems – from alcoholism to depression, drug abuse to schizophrenia. But Tom chooses not to focus on this aspect of his company:

“The problem of having an ‘about us’ section on our website is the stigma associated with mental health problems. It’s a perennial problem: does giving ourselves a label as producing work by people with psychiatric problems help in anyone’s appreciation of what we produce? I don’t think so. We much prefer to let the work speak for itself.”

The work is multifarious and of a hight quality, all the more impressive when you consider that these are films made on next to no budget at all. ‘The Tenement Ghost’, a recent production coming in at around £300 total production costs, is a silent film that looks at domestic abuse within marriage and has been screened at the Mannheim-Heidelberg Film Festival. The Mapmaker, released in 2007, tackles the difficult subject of suicide. Artistic panache and flair are added by Alan Tanner, a comic book illustrator whose work you can see here.

For two decades THMC has provided a large range of activities, which include workshops in creative writing, play writing, water colour, life drawing, graphic arts, computer arts, puppet making, photography, drama, performance and stagecraft. Skills taught range from set design and construction to lighting and stage management.

On average the company works with about 45 individuals a month – 100 a year. They have applied for one-off grants for projects in previous years but on the whole are self-funded and rely on volunteer actors, artists, designers and digital film makers.

The primary purpose of The Twisty-Headed Man Company, says Tom, is to provide a non-stigmatic environment where members can become involved in a range of arts-based activities and in the process gain confidence, develop their communication skills and build a more positive self image.

Visit THMC’s website for more information and to watch trailers and full-length films of their work.

Keith Salmon solo exhibition @ Queen’s Gallery, Dundee

Jamie Smith — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:54:38 +0000

New Paintings by KEITH SALMON

&

PAIRED UP

Two paintings each from a selected group of artists including…

Francis Boag, Helga Chart RSW, Claire harkess RSW, Martin Hill, Eleanor Carlingford, John Johnstone, Jean Martin RSW, Nichola Martin, Christine McArthur RSW, Morag Muir, Anne Skinner, Heather Soutar.

OCTOBER 22ND – NOVEMBER 11TH
The Queen’s Gallery
160 Nethergate
Dundee
DD1 4DU

TO VIEW EXHIBITIONS PLEASE CLICK HERE

Gallery Opening Times
10am – 5.30pm Mon – Fri
10am – 5pm Sat

Read Keith Salmon’s REVEAL profile to find out more about this tremendous artist.

REVEAL: Claire Cunningham – dancer / aerial artist

Jamie Smith — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:08:15 +0000

“It’s about changing the context of how people look at you – asking the question, what is virtuosic?”

You don’t get much more high-profile at present in the Scottish dance scene than Claire Cunningham. Her invention of a whole new vocabulary of dance and movement built on and around her crutches has won her numerous grants and awards, and seen her career grow exponentially in recent years. Her story is one of personal discovery, both intellectual and physical. As she puts it: ‘What do you do with a crutch?’

Claire comes from Kilmarnock. She was a soprano singer and went to University College Dublin to study music, but the course wasn’t for her: ‘the students were fantastic, but the course was awful from a practical point of view: it seemed mainly aimed at training people to teach. But Ireland was all about getting away from home and growing up’. She transferred to York in third year and says the contrast was striking: ‘The courses were fantastic, so fascinating. It was a strange feeling to wake up in the morning and want to go to class. And there was so much performance there, all the time and so many different genres.’

Back home in Scotland, Claire began trying to find her way into recital singing and chamber groups, but found there was very limited scope for making a living. In 1999 she met Gordon Dougall, director of Sounds of Progress (SOP), a musical theatre company in Glasgow. Claire sang that same year in SOP’s production, ‘Irreparable Dolphins’, which along with subsequent productions she did with the company taught her a great deal about stagecraft. She talks fondly of her seven or so years at Sounds of Progress, first as an administrator then as musical coordinator. Indeed, she still uses the wonderfully light and high-ceilinged hall upstairs at SOP to rehearse her aerial work.

It was when she met renowned American choreographer and teacher Jess Curtis though, that Claire embarked upon the journey she is currently still travelling. Specialising in a style known as Contact Improvisation, Curtis is sometimes called an ‘inclusive teacher’ but Claire feels this misses the point: ‘Jess talked a lot about turning perceived limitations into virtuosity. He’s interested in different bodies and what they can do. It’s about changing the context of how people look at you – asking the question, what is virtuosic?’

Claire admits that she felt out of place and inexperienced in rehearsals for Curtis’ piece ‘Levels of Perception’ for Blue Eyed Soul Dance Co.. It was often during tea breaks, however, that things began happening – experimenting with the crutches, testing the limits of balance and gravity. Claire’s work since has stemmed, as she says, purely from how her body has evolved. Using crutches all the time strengthens the upper body and once Claire accepted that her crutches were for the duration, she could begin to experiment and push the limits of what increasingly came to feel like an extra pair of limbs.

Claire currently lives in Rutherglen and travels a lot. She recently completed a tour of her double-bill solo performance, ME (Mobile / Evolution). It won her a Herald Angel award for its run at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe and has put Claire at the forefront of cutting-edge dance not just in Scotland but on the European and international circuit.

REVEAL: Ramesh Meyyappan – visual & physical theatre

Jamie Smith — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:21:24 +0000

Ramesh Meyyappan has recently been awarded a year’s residency with Solar Bear theatre company. This is an opportunity to focus on developing his own skills whilst supporting the aims of Solar Bear: to raise the profile of deaf performers in the UK as well as developing a network with the wider international deaf arts community. Here, Jamie Smith of REVEAL Scotland talks to Ramesh about performance, deafness and his journey from Singapore to Glasgow…

1. Tell me briefly about your upbringing in Singapore – were you always destined for performing arts?

I have mostly happy memories as a child, although I think I was a bit of a handful. I don’t think I was necessarily interested in theatre and ‘performing arts’ but I did enjoy the attention I received when I’d perform some comic skits for the school or class – laughter always seemed like a good tonic! I think also at a young age I became aware that performing was a medium for communication – being deaf having that sort of voice was increasingly important and significant. Working in theatre sort of happened, I was given opportunities quite early on and don’t recall ever having to turn my hand to anything else. Theatre has always been there, been a part of my life. It’s odd, working in theatre itself was not an aspiration, for me it was a job like any other and with hindsight I now realise I was lucky to be given early opportunities.

2. What brought you from Singapore to the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA)?

I wanted to know what was happening in Physical Theatre and knew there were a lot of companies in Europe that I liked – so I first chose Europe and then the UK – given that I didn’t know any European language other than English.
I ended up in Liverpool because LIPA offered a course that would let me explore and study what I felt I needed to at that time. It was also a good place to be at that time as there were a few physical theatre companies based there as well as Hope Street Physical theatre course.

3. What was it like being a deaf student in Liverpool?

LIPA was good. I got opportunities to explore a wide and diverse range of experiences. The course itself was incredibly practical and in the first year I was given a little taste of everything. I also got opportunities to work with theatre companies and groups in Liverpool including Spike theatre, which I later collaborated with, and Hope Street, where I was eventually asked to lead a few workshops.

I didn’t want to take a disabled arts programme but rather a ‘mainstream class’ – it wasn’t my biggest battle in life convincing LIPA to allow me to do this, but it did require some persuading. I think before the tutors confirmed my place on the course they wanted to be reassured that they would be able to offer me the support I needed to access the course – some tutors were more confident and successful than others.

4. Where has your base been since graduating? Where does your heart lie, if anywhere!

Straight after graduating I stayed in Liverpool for a wee while. This wasn’t entirely planned but I had spent some time trying to establish myself there – getting to know people and getting involved in various projects – so it wasn’t right to leave straight away. I then had a brief spell back in Singapore before finding myself in Glasgow with my Scottish wife. Similar to the experience in Liverpool, I spent a considerable time in Glasgow trying to establish myself as someone who others could work with: I feel I’m only just starting this journey in Glasgow and have some way to go, so I imagine I might be there for another wee while.

Ultimately I’m Singaporean and my family are mostly in Singapore – so that is my home. But my heart is wherever I find myself – I don’t want to use energy yearning to be somewhere else but instead choose to love being wherever I am!

5. Your career has many strands – performance, directing, community arts, education. Do these conflict with or compliment one another? Which strands of your career do you enjoy most and how do you balance them all?

I think anyone who works in the arts finds they may feel quite insecure – aware that often in the arts your shelf-life is limited or that what you do doesn’t always keep you busy. I’ve been incredibly lucky in that I’ve had opportunities to diversify and not just be an actor or performer. I don’t think there is much conflict between the various strands; each has its own challenges and rewards. I wouldn’t say I enjoy one strand of work over another – I’ve got to put equal effort into whatever I’m doing otherwise it wouldn’t be beneficial to me or those taking part.

6. You won an Unlimited commission for the 2012 Olympiad – tell us briefly about that and the work you are producing / have produced for this.

The Unlimited applications came at a perfect time for me. Previously, I’d been given an opportunity to present a scratch performance (idea) by National Theatre of Scotland. I used the opportunity to explore the adaptation of The Baron in the Trees – the feedback I got from the Scratch was positive and I knew at that point that the idea could be developed so much more. I wanted to work with a wonderful producer called Chloe Dear from Iron-Oxide. It was just at that time that Unlimited were inviting submissions – perfect! The commission provided a budget that allowed me to be adventurous and even risk taking with the performance: looking at using aerial techniques and choreography within the performance and extending my own visual performance vocabulary.

7. You have just been appointed as artist in residence at National Theatre of Scotland – how exciting! If you can, tell me about what plans you have for this role.

This is a wonderful question that perhaps you should come back and ask me in a few months – big dreams! Can I just add though that the residency is with Solar Bear, although other companies such as National Theatre of Scotland are supporting the residency, though not in a monetary way.

Basically, I will be working with Solar Bear throughout the next year and very generally aim to not just raise awareness of ‘deaf theatre’ in Scotland but develop a wider audience for visual work, making people more aware of the potential of deaf artists. This brief I know is quite broad and general but is certainly worth the effort.

I suppose I aim to achieve this by developing working relationships between deaf and hearing people within the performing arts, looking for and creating opportunities for collaboration. I will continue to explore visual possibilities within performance, to make theatre that includes deaf performers accessible to mainstream audiences – or at least those who are interested in visual and physical theatre.

There is quite a big deaf performing network internationally and Solar Bear need to be part of this. Hopefully, this can happen by exploring options for performance at deaf festivals or bringing companies and individuals from overseas to Glasgow – then the deaf in Glasgow will become part of that network. There are plans at the early stages for workshops and performances that will be led by deaf artists.

This September we will have our first performance (work in progress) – working title ‘Smokies’ – as part of the Arches Live. It is inspired by Mick Jackson’s ‘The Pearce Sisters’, a dark story about two sisters living on a remote island who smoke fish and whatever they find in their nets – including men!

8. Scotland seems an exciting place to be at the moment for disabled artists and for the inclusive arts practice. Do you think Scotland is or could become a world leader in disability / inclusive arts and why?

What is exciting is the number of disabled and deaf artists who are creating work and having that supported. I do think Scotland is fairly inclusive given the opportunities that exist through funding. However, I think we still have to work on ensuring deaf and disabled artists get an equal platform for their work, and are employed a lot more in mainstream work. I believe the quality of disabled work in Scotland is good enough for mainstream stages: when venues programme work because of its quality and not in a tokenistic way then I think Scotland can absolutely hold its head up and say, ‘Look!, we are leading the way‘. I think we are almost there – just a few wee steps to go!

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You can find out all the latest news on what Ramesh is doing at his website: www.rameshmeyyappan.com

Young Talent 2011 – Project Ability

Jamie Smith — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:59:45 +0000

Young Talent, now in its eleventh year, is an exhibition of artwork created by children and young people with disabilities. This year, we have a vibrant and eclectic mixture of painting, drawing, printmaking, ceramics and textiles. Young Talent 2011 is a colourful playground of artwork showcasing different techniques and visions, full of innovation, adventure and a reminder of the unlimited creativity of children and young people. For more information: www.project-ability.co.uk

Dates: 08 Jul 2011 – 20 Aug 2011
Preview: Thursday 07 July 2011, 6pm – 9pm
Location: Project Ability Gallery
Admission: Free