The Good, The Bad and the Ugly of 2022!

The story of my year in 2022 isn't happy all smiles but there were some great events and some great art along the way!

The old end of year list, a staple of any influencer, blogger or psychopath. You'll see many a tiktok montage made up of ambiguous 1 sec clips pertaining to the 'aaaamazing' times people have experienced as they lose track of the golden sands and clear blue waters they seem to endlessly swim in. Nice work if you can get it but it's not something I fancy myself although I have been lucky to travel this year. But let's get into it, 2022 the year that life came back and events returned!

The cultural calendar kicked off in February with Spectra Festival with thousands of Aberdonians taking to the streets to experience world class light installations and artworks. With both indoor and outdoor works, the queues to get into the Art Gallery and the Music Hall were impressive while the projection bikes kept people entertained with their animations of dancing crabs and sea life. 

Luke Jerram's 'GAIA' and 'Musem of the Moon' large scale earth and moon projections attracted the big crowds while Lucid Creates piece 'Together' provided some spectacle for the passive observer. It was nice to welcome friends from Edinburgh to the city and to spend the evening exploring the streets in search of artworks and enjoyed walking by the giant Trumpet Flowers honking away as kids & adults played.

Spectra is a good reminder that although  some of the installations are not to my taste, its important to have work that engages the Aberdeen public and shows the power of art as a spectacle and I love to see others engaging with them. And the benefits of being the first event since lockdowns saw people hungry to get out and enjoy the festival. They also extended beyond just the spectacular by hosting a pop up exhibition, 'Prism' at the Look Again Project Space which ran for a few weeks along with online stories by Scottish artists including musician Kathryn Joseph and Amanda Thomson which tied into Scotlands Year of Stories 2022. Spectra is set to return again this February and its good to have something to look forward to in these bleary dark times! 

A photo of Paul Mason installing his 'Trumpet Leaf' sculpture from 1985 inspired me to look closer at some of the cities public sculptures and art works. This led to a mini tour as part of the Friends of Aberdeen Art Gallery weekend back in March as we aimed to highlight and bring fresh eyes to these somewhat forgotten pieces. We had many fun groups with the trumpet leaf in particular capturing the imagination of our participants with everyone having their own take on the piece and its possible meaning. One onlooker chimed in that its a giants toe, or at least that's what his daughter calls it. 

I found myself looking at the host of public artworks created around the same time as 80's new builds popped up around the country with many well established sculptors cutting their teeth creating often forgotten works for them. Even works by renowned artists like T. B. Huxley Jones have been overlooked despite the Provost Skene's house redevelopment providing a great opportunity to raise up and celebrate the 'Sea Fantasy' sculpture which often feels sunken in the mud. It's a stunning piece none the less and even more special considering Huxley Jones lived and worked in Aberdeen holding the Head of Sculpture position at Grays.

Of course the common theme with a lot of these artworks is the fact they predate the hype of the internet where artists only need a viral video to ensure super stardom but these sculptures have brought me hours of delight, introducing me to new artists and new friends. These sculptures still have stories to share and life to give, but only if you can put the screens down for long enough.

 

March saw the demolition of the 'New' Indoor Market begin which in turn meant the loss of some prominent Nuart murals. Street art by its very nature is ephemeral, even the big murals will become ghosts of their former selves if the buildings last long enough but there's a beauty in seeing an artwork change with the light from Spring into Autumn and blending into their surroundings over the years.

Alas the market murals were to have a predestined shelf life and I watched on as the demolition crew jabbed and prodded the face of SNIK's 'We Believe' mural before moving onto Herakut's iconic piece from 2017. Although I'd made my peace with losing artworks it did sting to know that Hyuro's 'An Affective Bond' mural would also be lost with Tamara having passed in 2020 after a battle with cancer. We did manage one last street art tour featuring all the works created on the Green both Nuart and from Painted Doors with demolition starting a few days later. You can check it out here. 

And our feelings of loss are tempered by those of everyone who felt the loss of the market which has been an important space in the city for over a century. Many still considered the Indoor Market as the New Market despite its brutalist history, having replaced the original Victorian market that sat on the same site. I remember throwing coins in the fountain at the bottom of the stairs next to the butchers and fish mongers and only recently worked out which part of the building housed the mammoth BHS store. The possibilities for the vacant site appear endless but to make sure we don't repeat the mistakes of the past will require some vision from the council. I think we're doomed. 

April brought live music back into the fold with a trip to Glasgow to see Future Islands. It's strange to think even 8 months ago the idea of going to a gig, a busy one at that was tinged with the fear of covid and being around a large group of strangers. And not to say the fear is unwarranted, two of our party tested positive when we got back to Aberdeen so its out there and still having a negative impact on folks and a friend is still suffering the effects of Long Covid. So be kind to those who are still afraid for whatever reason. 

As soon as Sam and the band took the stage the music took over and any worries we had evaporated, at least for a few hours. With an impressive back catalogue to pull from, the band ripped through the classics like 'Seasons' and 'Tin Man' while newer tracks like 'Hit The Coast' sounded anthemic with the crowd whooping and shouting at every high kick. Sam T. Herring is by far one of the most entertaining front men of recent times but underneath it all there's some real heart too. You can check out a few bits from the gig here. Our trip also led to one of my best photos from 2022 which you can check out here. 

With the loss of our Stuck Up walls at the Green we decided to activate a few new spots around town and got sticky. We still had a few hundred spare sheets from Flying Leaps so wherever a boring blank wall could be seen, we added some colour. The stuck up project is perhaps one of my favourites from Nuart as it gave everyone the chance to have their work featured, a really democratic kind of street art. Of course Flying Leaps inject some humour and political bite as we found when we put up a mini Boris Johnson billboard on the Green. The artwork by Martin Rowson show's a cartoon Johnson with the word 'WANK' across the bottom. It appeared some people were more offended by the wank than by the utterly despicable, nae maniacal and homicidal tenure of Johnson and indeed the 12 years of austerity politics from the Conservatives which an article in the Journal of Epidemiology claims based on research evidence some 335,000 extra deaths occurred between 2012 and 2019 due austerity measures implemented by the Tories. These posters and artworks at least give us a voice to air our disgust with them and help us to empower other voices in our city.

The team at Pigs Wings felt the same and decided to turn their stairwell into a paste up mecca. With a public call out for posters, the team were inundated with work from Aberlour to Guadalajara and had some help from BFL to install them. Some of the Nuart team also pitched in to help on the tricky spots and the results are quite beautiful with a stuck up wall that Brick Lane would be proud of. Along with opening up their space the Pigs Wings team also pledged for every artist who submitted work £5 would be donated to the Northsound Cash for Kids charity initiative. So as we did with our tours on the Green, we hosted a private tour for the Rotary group and agreed to donate to the money to Pigs charity efforts. The team have been adding more pieces to the project so be sure to pop in for a scan and some scran!

May saw the Arkade Gallery transformed from 1 space into a massive 50 artist visual bonanaza thanks to Gabriel Horne and Come Together 2022! The show featured an eclectic mix of collage pieces, painting, sculpture and immersive installations along with artist films and two evenings of experimental music and a cardboard robot building workshop. It sounds like a lot and it was, a lot of hard bloody work but quite magical results as people flooded in to see the finished exhibition. A testament to Gabriel's vision but he's been slightly M.I.A. from the studios these past few months. Hopefully his energy and passion will be emanating from his studio again soon as the city needs creatives like him more than ever!

June brought a busy period with the return of Nuart Aberdeen. I was happy to be working with Martin Whatson & Nuno Viegas after meeting both at previous Nuart events and getting stuck into a busy production schedule. You might have spotted us on the recent BBC Alba documentary which takes a look behind the scenes of the festival and some of the work we do. It's fair to say there's a lot of very talented, hard working people who make Nuart Aberdeen happen and in all honesty none of us do it for attention, we do it because we love street art and we enjoy seeing how it can lift up our city and connect us to others. Of course there's work to do, it would be amazing to see the festival branch out of the city centre and I'd love to see more local street artists step up making work with strong ideas and themes. I've taken a more active approach in supporting this through the 'Revolve Wall' at our studio where we're supporting artists in their quest to paint bigger, away from the pressure of legal walls and graffiti spots and providing them with all the materials to gain hands on experience.  

It was interesting to read the 'Aberdeen, City of Culture?' article which took a dim view on international art projects while omitting many local cultural players in their appraisal of Aberdeen's creative sector. The academic arguement seems to suggest that Nuart doesn't have a legacy or local impact but this can be checked by simply walking around the city centre and speaking to locals who live with the artworks. Nuart production assistant and Grays painting alumni KMG painted two of the biggest murals for the 2021 edition of the festival, a local who's been working within the street art field for years while RGU students have written favourable articles along with the New York Times about our tours and public engagement which I'm really proud of.

I find reductionist attitudes are part of the problem we face when trying to build up our city and its cultural confidence, especially where we should be celebrating each others differences and success. Of course honest critique is required on all fronts but we should make sure it's done fairly. If were going to look at the problems in Aberdeen and the cultural sector there are many areas to explore including Culture Aberdeen, who's own recent report concluded the group has failed to achieve many of its strategic goals while others have said to me they don't understand what the group is for or who it is helping. I'm still waiting for a reply to my tweet from July 2022 about becoming a member but the New Year gives us all an opportunity to get round the table and join the discussion. 

Aberdeen Artists Society made their return to Aberdeen Art Gallery for their annual members show. Although non members can also put work in too but I generally balk at anything where you have to pay an entry fee just to be considered. Still it proved to be an interesting mix of artworks with quite a few entries from Edinburgh based creatives while many of the selected artists had multiple pieces on show including work by Bryan Angus, Ade Adesina and some incredible paintings by Neil MacDonald. Whatever that guys got in his pipe, I want some! At times the volume of artworks became overwhelming, something I don't get often and can admit my walls at home are stuff with pictures but I have a new found appreciation for a bit of white space and the hanging team did a great job, its an art in itself really.

Big shows like this provide a timely reminder that there are lots of artists out there I've yet to meet, both new and emerging and long established creatives who fly under the radar. If I achieve one goal this year it's to have a comprehensive list of artists & makers in the North East so people can see a fair representation of our creatives. Maybe even a search function where you can find all the painters or perhaps the illustrators and see examples of their work. 

August brought some big changes for us all. After 5 years of exhibitions, parties, artist residencies and more we packed up Kekun Studio in Rosemount and tumbled it down the hill to Arkade Studios behind Marischal College. A new neigbour in Rosemount brought a distinctly bad smell to the area and despite being an amazing wee space the move would give us the chance to do more projects. I'd already moved most of my studio down in 2021 and had been enjoying the vibe at Arkade (formelry The Anatomy Rooms) so when a couple of studios became free Mary & Jenny made the jump too. As Kekun we will still be running our own projects and events but Jim has also welcomed us into Arkade and it's led to some great collaborative projects which showcase Arkades potential as a central creative hub. 

The Doors Open Day gave us a chance to showcase some of our creative output with a residents exhibition in the newly fitted gallery space while everyone welcomed visitors into their studio spaces with Alan Cynic & Open Road proving they have the warmest rooms in the building. Even for myself it was great to get a peek behind the doors of the other artists in the building and to see some of the impressive work happening across the corridor in the Citymoves Studio. 

Thinking about the various challenges that the arts face across the UK, a space like Arkade offered us an opportunity to branch out a little from our usual way of doing things. Where at the old studio we'd have to hide all our stuff, essentially dismantle the studio and build a wall, Arkade offered walls a plenty and space to bring in others. Our Anatomical Life Drawing sessions are a direct result of this. Taking inspiration from the buildings past we've run a series of free life drawing classes which have been brilliant and brought together a diverse group of participants. We wanted to bring people together in our space with the goal of improving my own drawing skills but I realised keeping time, modelling and all the rest means I don't really get much chance to sketch. And for anyone imagining me in my Y fronts fear not, we let models keep clothes on and I've got a special suit for capturing those important muscle structures for the medical students who join us. We'll be kicking off again in March so be sure to pop along as everyone is welcome, no drawing experience required. 

Another community I've enjoyed seeing grow and develop has been the creative writing groups with Leopard Arts helping to provide and platform and focus for many artists. The Leopard Arts team hosted their annual Samhain event with artwork and live music and poetry on the night where the curtain between worlds is said to be visible, spooky! I couldn't see much through the smoke in the Blue Lamp to be fair but I didn't need to as the poets we're fantastic and the music was fun, a perfect evening celebrating local creativity across the arts. 

The Revolve Wall Project project has developed from our move to Arkade which utilises the old Kekun gallery boards giving them a new lease of life and also giving us space to work with local street artists and friends who fancy having a go up scaling their work. I painted the first piece which the university buffed but the wall was filled with colour again thanks to Craig Fisher and Airhead pictured. We've got a few artists lined up so far for 2023 and look forward to welcoming friends from Glasgow & Edinburgh to the project as well. 

Speaking of friends my year was made infinitely better after meeting Jevgenij Trofimenko aka Jev's Scoot Aboot Adventures. Jev initially got in touch to check if the sculpture tour was scooter accessible. With a few small tweaks to our route I was happy to inform him it was and that I could assist with any bumps along the way. This in turn led to conversations and a discovery that we both love visiting exhibitions and seeing art so we hooked up to visit a handful of shows from the Suttie Art Space to the Sir Duncan Rice gallery in Old Aberdeen. For years I'd been dreaming about starting an art group with the sole focus of visiting as many exhibitions as we could squeeze in. With me and Jev making it to 4 in a day I was convinced it was a good idea and that other people might like to join. And we hosted out first Art Club meet up and walk on the 8th October.

We've had a great response with meet ups in Old Aberdeen to check out the Barbara Rae exhibition in November and visited the Jerwood Art Fund show and Mark McCracken's brilliant exhibition at the Arts Centre. Having Jev onboard has been given me an insight into the issues many face around accessability to cultural spaces which shouldn't really be an issue and yet we missed a few things over the winter due to a lack of access for scooter and wheelchair users. Strangely many older buildings like the Art Centre have practical solutions to their access issues and even the University campus in Old Aberdeen had a load of handy access points for us to use although some of the old cobbled pavements challenged Jev and his scoot driving skills but apart from one slight curb outside Kings we made it around our route.

But accessability takes many forms and it's not just the physical side as technology gives us opportunities to engage across platforms. I do balk a little at the idea of strapping a go pro to my napper and narrating our adventures. If it would help others to feel part of the day then its worth it but I'm trying to uncentre myself from projects so events happen more oragnically from the group and is informed by what they would like to see and do. Part of the idea behind the Art Club was to help people who might be feeling isolated or struggle to engage with art because of barriers like feeling awkward in a gallery space. By having a group we can head into these spaces and challenge the galleries to engage with us. Peacocks and Aberdeen University have both been fantastic with staff taking the time to explain their exhibitions while other spaces have been new to our group and they've been encouraged to visit again on their own.

And although my intentions were always about helping others I've realised that perhaps I needed the Art Club as much as anyone else. With many of my close friends now living out with Aberdeen I found really great new friendships thanks to my creative endevours. I'm looking forward to building on the work we did in 2022 and opening up the Art Club to trips further afield, workshops and seeing how else we can support and grow our creative community.  

The Little Kicks released their 5th studio album, People Need Love and provided my Autumn soundtrack. In fact I'd go so far as to say it's my favourite album of 2022. The band returned to stages across Scotland for a run of live dates accompanied by a string quartet. The whole album is an honest account of lyricist Steven's thoughts and struggles from the last few years, tracks like On and On cutting to the core with recurring phrase 'I keep replaying that moment in my head' we don't know which moment it is for Steven but we've all had them, moments that leave a mark on your soul, sometimes for the good, sometimes for bad. I think being a comparable age with the band the thematic tone of their music is much aligned on an emotional level with me and the stage I'm at in my own life. There's a lot of wisdom in there but also the acknowledgement that there's a lot still to learn. It's a far cry from the music being made by the 20 something hedonists but it's still got a groove that will get your feet moving. The album also features some cool interchangeable artwork featuring lush abstract paintings. 

Citymoves kicked off their Dance Live festival with incredible performances by Clare & Lesley and Joseph Toongas 'Born to Exist'. The 5 day festival featured a host of events across the city centre and explored and showed cutting edge performances of contemporary dance both in the studio and out on the streets. The latter provided an opportunity for passive viewers to step into the dancers shoes. 

Over the last year I've developed a new appreciation for the work that Citymoves do in our city, witnessing first hand the hard work that goes into running their space but also the support they provide to different communities across Aberdeen. A recent preview of a community performance the team has been choreographing of The Lion King had me and fellow studio residents almost in tears as the inclusive class demonstrated their routines. We could all learn from Citymoves and I look forward to exploring more of their work in 2023. 

Our own desire to do more and to provide support to those in our communities led to conversations at the studio which in turn led my partner Mary and Jim of All In Ideas to put in a successful funding bid to ACVO's Spaces for People fund. The result is SNUG, a new project space located in Arkade Studios. The concept is simple, a warm welcoming space where people can come and enjoy a free hot drink & biscuit, pick a book off the bookshelves and pitch up on the sofa for a few hours of quiet reading or take advantage of the free art materials located up the back and have a go at being creative without the pressure to share it with anyone. 

Of course we wanted to try and tap into peoples creativity so there's a series of free artist led workshops funded thanks to ACVO with a wide range of artists from across the city who are keen to share their skills and knowledge. We've had everything from collage making to pom poms and its been really special to meet and engage with a new community of people, many saying they needed a space like this. I always think back to Kilau when it was on Belmont Street and how it provided one of the few spaces in town where you felt like you could just exist without the pressure to keep buying coffees to justify your place. With everything that's been going on the past few months it was super important to remove any potential barriers people might have coming to visit the SNUG and I think Mary, Jim, Jenny and all the artists involved have helped to shape the space into a warm and inclusive creative snug! 

December provided a chance to shut down a little. I did this last year after an incredibly stressful time and found it helped a lot with my overall wellbeing. No Christmas shopping or markets, no running around trying to find the perfect gift, just me letting my mind unwind and allowing the stresses and strains of the past 12 months to float away. That said I still wanted to get off my sofa and checked out some new music thanks to Ica & Jim.

Incubata showcased musical talents from across Scotland as part of We Are Here Scotland's second event in the city. The night featured live sets from Danny Cliff, Evye, a DJ set from Vagrant Real Estate with a few special guests. APA have been working with We Are Here on programming more events for 2023 and together they offer an important platform for Scotland's vast talents and voices from our bipoc communities. I mentioned to Ica the other day how Aberdeen and the arts seems to be taking a hit lately but local music producers, hip hop and drill artists are emerging onto the scene and making real waves across the UK so something is working.    

Studio boss and longtime friend Jim Ewen recently got back behind the drum kit and his new / old band Titans brought some reggae vibes to Cellar 35. Their debut gig was a busy affair with the small bar swamped by punters while the Titans and support DJ Burning Bush kept people skanking throughout the evening. This might be the first time I've ever used skanking in a blog post!

The year finished up with a ridiculous 4 day trip across Europe with friends to see a host of exhibitions in a 'now or never' last dash. We set off from Edinburgh on the Friday, had a jolly around Yorkshire Sculpture Park before heading to Dover. On the Saturday we crossed in France then drove up to Belgium to see the Atomium and the Invader 'Rubikscubism' show. We fought our way through the world cup madness to get on the road ending Saturday in Dusseldorf, Germany. Sunday we visited the 'Wonderwalls' exhibition which had 1 of everything. Banksy, Obey, Futura, Dondi, Phil Frost, a real who's who of graffiti and street art history not to mention a whole room of Kaws and Bearabricks. We headed over to the Kunst Palas to see the Christo & Jeanne Claude exhibit featuring the Arc Wrapped which we visited in 2021. We jumped on some e Scooters and hit up the Mondrian exhibit at Kunstsammlung and laughed at the upside down piece that made headlines after staff discovered it was hanging up side down. The artwork is also hanging by a thread to I understand why they don't want to move it. After that it was back on the road in a mad dash to get back to the UK and up to Leeds so John could get to work on time. Of course we hit delays at Calais followed by extreme weather around London with snow drifts engulfing the M25. But we made it. By Monday night I was back in my bed and getting ready for work on Tuesday. It was all a dream I think. 

Family and personal health issues have been a recurring theme in 2022 and led to me taking a break from online life at the end of 2021 with hopes of being more active after the New Year. Of course mid January I got a call from my dad telling me Granda Reid has had a stroke and is in hospital. At 91 he'd lived a relatively happy and healthy life up to this point. Of course looking back there were signs that things maybe weren't as rosy as my grandparents made out but when asked if they needed help or needed anything the answer was always 'No, were fine'. So if you have elderly relatives check in on them and do it regular to see if they need help. I don't think my grandparents would have let the mask slip if it hadn't been for grandads condition. 

The majority of 2022 was filled with visits to check up on them both, often cooking and helping with basic tasks which had become too much for the pair whilst also trying to support my dad through a difficult time. It seems pointless now to blame the services we expected to help us during those months but I fear our story of let downs is all too common across the city. But in between the fights with social services and social workers I had some truly special moments caring for both my grandparents. It was tough and exhausting, it made me ill 3 times in 6 months but I pushed through and was able to be present and to hear stories about their lives that otherwise would be lost. A favourite saw Granda Reid taking out his new bike on a romantic date with Grandma along the railway line only to be caught in a flash downpour. Of course he made the choice to cover his new bike with his raincoat instead of covering his beloved. He often joked that the bike eventually ended up in the scrappy while he still had my grandma so maybe there was some wisdom in his choice that day. 

Alas the years upheaval took its toll on them both and my granny Rena passed on my birthday in July last year. It was bittersweet to know she was at peace but my birthday will forever be a marker for her passing. And my granda George put up a good fight despite the odds, holding on to see his 92nd birthday but ultimately passing last week. I held his hand for many hours through the night on his last day, each little squeeze letting me know he was ok while I took comfort in spending those last precious hours with him. Although the last year has been tough ill remember my grandparents as they were, happy in their house with the electric blanket on for us in the back bedroom and a tray of biscuits ready to serve up, granda Reid opening the door with 'Jon, hello come away' the note of happy suprise in his voice. I will miss them both. 

And now we're here with a new name and a new logo, 2023 and everything & nothing has changed. There's so much more I could write about, both personally and within the art scene, good & bad and there's a heap of cool things I've overlooked or forgotten to include but that's ok. We managed to squeeze a lot of good into a short space of time and hope 2023 will afford us more time to focus on helping others. But it should also be the year of honest critique and building better foundations for the artists coming up and for the people in our city who could benefit from a dose of creative activity in their daily lives. To misquote Landry the creative city should allow 'ordinary people to make the extra ordinary happen' but maybe it should allow ordinary people to feel included, valued, seen and heard along with the artists who didn't attend art school or university and are often missing from the conversations about what our city of culture looks like. Maybe the key word for 2023 is listening, to each other and to those who we hope to help in our art spaces and our wider communities. We finished strong on that front in 2022 and I want to keep up the momentum in 2023.

I'm letting go of the bad stuff from 2022 and carrying forward the good work we did. Helping people to engage with their creativity without cost and without fear of not being good enough, celebrating the friendships forged over sharing a pencil & a piece of paper and being open to the discussions about how we can do things differently, where our blind spots and biases lie and how we do better for everyone. That applies to projects I run and this digital space which I hope to grow into a useful tool for promoting the arts in Aberdeen in all its creative forms but also including new voices who can expand our output, diving into new territory and adding an important critical element that I myself struggle with but so many have told me is essential if we want things to change. I'm excited for what the year holds but also sad that ill be ending the month with a funeral for a special man. But his kindness will endure. 

Wishing you all a good one for 2023 and thanks for the continued support!