Pop-up Event in Northfield

And now for a very special blog post, straight from the front lines! Saturday 16th saw the volunteers at their second and final pop-up event of the course. This time round the event was lead by Michelle Burke, a musician and  folk singer from Ireland, interested in the idea of 'the parlour' and traditional songs and memories. As well as helping Michelle prepare a wall where people's songs and memories could be collected, on the day itself the Cultivate volunteers were inside, sheltering from the cold and manning the #torrystreetview exhibition. This was the culmination of all the work Fergus has been doing in Torry over the last month, and was a chance for Northfield residents to come and see, and get an idea of the ethos of the Creative Communities programme.

Of course, half the battle with such events is the set up, and getting camera obscura from van to showroom was, as usual, a palaver!

There was also the not-so-easy task of putting the many, many obscura sketches into the correct group of four, and making sure that the right photo was attached to each, so that the photo showed the 'real life' image, and the sketch showed the artist's interpretation.

I call this one, "How many artists does it take to stick sketches on a wall?"

Then we had the comparatively easy job of displaying the Torry Street map.

 

So with the room all set up all we had to do was wait for our adoring public, although the battery on the camera had all but died by then so this is the only, slightly dodgy, photo of that we got:

A Northfield family get the chance to try out the camera obscura after seeing all the work done with the contraption in Torry.

So, to finish off, the volunteers were a great help making sure that Fergus could display all the aspects of his work in Torry, as without their help displaying all the sketches, in order, with the corresponding photos would have been too great a task. By the looks of Barney below it seems that they had a good time...

...And I'll leave you with this!

Ta ta for now!

Week 8 - Preparing for Northfield

The final event which the Cultivate team will be part of is this Saturday's pop up event in Northfield. As well as being a way for participants to come along and see what the Northfield leg of the Creative Communities programme is all about, Fergus and our own gang of little helpers will be showcasing the work they've been doing in Torry.

The flyer for Saturday's pop up event in Northfield, which the Cultivate team will be attending

This week the team had a special visit from Margaret Stewart, who is the Community Arts Officer in charge of the Creative Communities project as a whole. She briefed the team on Saturday's event and also talked a bit about the benefits of volunteers to the programme, and how they enable the programme to extend it's reach and influence.

With a better idea of what was needed on the day, the team set to work developing a wall which will be used to collect songs and lyrics that have special importance to the pop up participants. They also worked on a display for all the drawings which have been collected with the camera obscura.

Unfortunately, Linsay has been ill and wasn't able to join us this week, but luckily Barney was on hand to use his creative powers to send her good vibes from the team!

And more work, deciding on a layout for the Torry sketches.

Putting ideas into action!

Week 7 - Needles and Saws

This week our team of trainees spent some more time prepping for the Creative Communities programme. The next volunteer opportunity will be the "end event" in Torry on Saturday 16th November.

Some sketches done by Creative Communities participants using the Camera Obscura

With loads of stuff to be done in order to make the event run smoothly, each Cultivate member had plenty to do. Liz and Barney helped repair and strengthen the camera obscura itself. 

 Liz put her needle and thread skills to good use making the cloak for the top of the device.

 While Barney channeled his inner Tommy Walsh to help Fergus with the power tools.

Chuckle Brothers!

Meanwhile, Hatti was made Chief Scanner, backing up all the images the CC participants have made already.

And Laura gathered and prepared materials for the Google street view activity.

The map so far, brought to life by pictures done by participants which show a place in Torry that means a lot to them.

Of course, although the trainees are here to learn and benefit from all this hard labour, the Creative Learning team would like to thank the volunteers for their continued enthusiasm and help with the Torry leg of the Creative Communties project. You've all been stars!