Hello and welcome to another Deen Scene where ill be writing about up coming events of cultural significance in Aberdeen along with a look at past projects, artists we're enjoying, music, creative talks and more from the North East & Beyond!
Kicking things off with the good folks at Leopard Arts, Aberdeen's newest cultural start up. The team at Leopard are interested in a broad spectrum of activities and have produced some great posts with a nice focus on local writers and poets. Along with the written word the team also enjoy exploring the local music and art scene, carving out fresh avenues for culture in the city. Next month will see the team celebrate with a special 'Paper Anniversary Exhibition' which covers all areas of creativity and its open for submissions so now is the time to put pen to paper, dip the brush in some paint or to film that improv dance piece! You can keep up to date with whats happening via Leopard Arts on Facebook and via their website here. It's great to have some fresh faces unlocking the cities hidden talents!
I've been trying to map out some new ideas for 2021 and how I operate, what's my focus, what is the blog trying to do? Some of the answers to these questions lie in what I've already done and indeed I found a lot of value in going back to my first few blog posts to see what my original aims were which in turn led to the discovery of some unseen photos of artists Craig & Brian (check em out here). This led me onto looking at some of the videos I've made over the years and how they capture those particular moments in time and a personal favourite features Craig Barrowman for the Look Again Festival in 2017. We spent a day filming as Craig wheeled around a giant circular mirror for his 'Through The Looking Glass' project taking it to various locations around the city. Since I first met Craig he's been an inspiration and its been great to see his work develop and grow over the last decade and with a recent return to the North East we'll hopefully be seeing a lot more of him!
After 4 years together I finally wrote a blog post about painter Mary Butterworth. Its often easy to overlook incredible talent when its sitting next to you but it's been important to take a subjective look at Marys work and to highlight some of her achievements. Our meeting was a reminder that despite my best efforts to be connected and engaged with the local art scene, there's always going to be cracks and artists that fall by the way. But part of 2021 is going to be about trying to fill those gaps and to cast the net a bit wider via the new Aberdeen Culture pages on facebook & instagram. Where this blog is about my personal take on things and about events I've been too, the new pages can act as more of an umbrella along with having multiple people feeding into it to keep it fresh.
Looking beyond the AB10 we recently tuned into the first Glasgow Illo G illustration meet up with a discussion about murals and street art with Amy Whiten & KMG. I've been hesitant about jumping into online events but I do enjoy seeing KMG speak about her work and if you dont know Amy, she's one half of Team Recoat and a total powerhouse. The event provided some great insight into the numerous projects the duo have worked on along with heartwarming stories of wet walls, dripping paint and how to truly engage with different communities. This is hopefully the first of many such online events so be sure to check in the Illo G for more!
And speaking of trying new things have you watched MoC On The Turntable Episode 1 yet? I've been experimenting with livestream vinyl DJ sets on YouTube although it looks like ill be moving these over to my Mixcloud page but hope to do some art chats still on YouTube. Whenever I play records there's always a lot of stories or feelings associated to the music and particular songs. So as a way to share some of the stories I've started the On The Turntable series and will be speaking about these connections to various records from my collection which is quite eclectic. Episode 1 will give you a good idea of what I mean by that. I'll be working on getting the next episode filmed and up in the next few weeks but you can learn more about the series via my previous post here and watch Episode 1 above.
Also have you heard the new sounds from CS Buchan?! It appears the FitLike Records founder has been secretly recording a new double album 'Where Have All My Friends Gone? Volume 1 & 2' and its brilliant! I've written a full review for the album which you can read soon but in the meantime I suggest paying to download both volumes now! And remember, never look a horse in the eye, sage advice from Charley a man who knows about farm animals. Download both albums here.
I'm gonna jump from the Deen Scene to the Zine Scene with my short video above. Much like my vinyl series I'd started to look at my collection of zines and had big plans for regular videos exploring some of the artists zines and books I've collected over the years. From super limited editions to stuff you can get online for a couple of ££s, its about looking at these items for their inherent value and appreciating the people who take the time to make them. I'm in the process of working on more episodes but I'd love to hear about your own zine collections and recommendations are always welcomed.
It'd be remis not to give a shout out to Rabbie Burns with Burns Night just a few days ago. I stumbled across the 'Burns Broke' project from a few years ago with a load of Burns inspired artworks including a few pieces by Scottish artist Calum Colvin. You can see all of Colvins 'Burnsiana' works here and you can find large format prints of his work on display at Aberdeen Art Gallery.
For the eyes & ears I suggest checking out the Creative Me Podcast for a cool overview of artists & makers in the North East. Headed up by Ikar, the podcasts presents an informal chat with creatives about their work, projects and a load more, all with a really nice down to earth vibe. Ikar has recorded almost 100 podcasts to date with plans for a lot more in 2021 along with heading up 'We Are Here' a new platform to highlight and support BAME artists in Scotland. Ikar has been a real inspiration and in his own words is good people. Click on some of the podcasts above to tune in!
Aberdeen Culture & North East Scotland is a new venture which aims to help share some of the amazing artists, makers, organisations, musicians and general creative goodness from the North East. There will also be a good mix of content including older historical bits along with architectural features, hopefully creating a lot of interesting cultural highlights. The page will be run by a number of people and is open to input from the public also as this will help to uncover more of the forgotten and perhaps unknown culture that exists in Aberdeen. You can follow the new pages on Facebook & Instagram.
