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Musings News

My Time at The Stove

by Ellen Mitchell

As I’m approaching the end of my wonderful journey at The Stove, I want to reflect on my time here and how it has influenced me and my career, and brought me in to the position I find myself in today. I feel privileged to have been a part of a group that has made such huge strides to integrate art in to Dumfries and really helped to shape the town’s future in the most positive way.
In 2015 I was working as a Modern Apprentice at D&G Council’s Film Office. I was informed that I could spend the final year of my apprenticeship working for an external organisation and immediately my mind landed on The Stove. I had admired their work up to that point and was really inspired by their ethos, which at its core was a desire to connect the community through creative means and ignite a positive change in Dumfries.
My first day in June 2015 was an experience I’ll never forget. That was because of the arrival of the Rajasthani Brass Band at The Stove that day, dancing and making music in their incredible vibrant, colourful costumes. I was asked to photograph the event, and as I watched stovie members, children and the band dancing out in the street I knew I was going to have a great adventure ahead of me.

Initially my role at The Stove was to support events and help with administration. The first major project I helped to coordinate was Nithraid 2015. Nithraid is an annual festival which aims to celebrate the town’s relationship with the River Nith by holding a boat race down the river. I worked alongside the event producer booking stalls, marketing the event and managing volunteers.

I had been working for The Stove for several months when they were approached by Queen Margaret University looking for people working in the arts to fill spaces on their MA in Arts & Festival Management up in Musselburgh. Although I had no formal qualifications up to this point, the Stove team encouraged me to apply and I was very surprised when offered a spot on the course. This was a huge moment for me, as I had always considered myself non-academic. It was a time I look back at now to see a change in my self-confidence and belief in my own abilities growing.


An element of the course was a group project to produce a marketing strategy for The National Library of Scotland’s new exhibition. Within the group I handled the visual components of the strategy, and attempted to create a logo for the exhibition. I approached a graphic designer friend and asked him for the basics on Illustrator so I could attempt to make the logo properly. Following that project I spent weeks teaching myself adobe software and design online. I had found something that was creative, that I felt I could understand well and become good at!

As I was approaching the end of the first year of university, I started to reflect on where I wanted to see myself going with my career. My apprenticeship had also ended and I was getting up at 5 every Friday to travel up to Musselburgh, I wanted to make sure I was doing it for the right reasons. I found myself drawn more and more to spend time learning about design, and studying just seemed to get in the way of that. I made the very difficult decision to finish the year, and not return.

Over this time I had contributed more and more to The Stove’s design work creating posters for events, and they invited me to continue to work there one day a week as an in-house graphic designer. I must thank stovies hugely for taking this risk as it truly gave me the push to pursue graphic design as a viable career choice.

I have continued to work part time as The Stove’s designer since, pushing myself to learn to be creative and expressive in design working on many different projects. I had to find work elsewhere to pay the bills, first as a marketing assistant, most recently as a designer for a local print shop, and I have just been offered a job as a full time graphic designer at a local company.

I must say that had I not been working for such a supportive organisation as The Stove, I wouldn’t have found myself on a journey that started with me teaching myself graphic design, and having a full time role as a designer less than three years later.

I will miss every part of life at The Stove, however I don’t feel as though I am leaving because without a doubt I will be there as much as I can be as a Stove Member, witnessing the amazing progress they are making for our town through projects like the Midsteeple Quarter.

Thank you again to Team Stove!

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Musings

Who or What is The Stove? How Does it Work?

Our Orchestrator, Matt Baker is one of the original founders of The Stove Network and offers some personal reflections about how The Stove started and how it works today.

So just Who or What is The Stove? 

‘The Stove’ has existed for 7 years now. Its origins have perhaps been forgotten, and questions and assumptions naturally arise about what The Stove is now, how it functions, for whom and why?

Let me start by stating that I am fiercely proud of The Stove, and believe passionately in its potential to help people shape their own dreams and careers. I also hope that The Stove is a creative force that has become a vital part of supporting local people to re-invent Dumfries as a vibrant and prosperous place, a Dumfries fit for our times.

The Stove started as a conversation in 2011, between 10 artists and creative people working in the area. We all shared a belief that placing a community project with a creative ethos at the heart of Dumfries town centre would have a positive impact on the future of the town and contribute new opportunities for local people, when precious few existed. That was it really – a commitment to the generous way that creative people work together and how that could infuse the life of the town.

There were moments of doubt and significant obstacles to overcome on the journey: ‘how would we run a space?’, ‘where would the money come from?’, ‘how would we organise ourselves and make decisions?’… we have tackled every question and situation in the same spirit – by talking together and applying our founding values:

  • To work through collaboration (not in isolation)
  • To innovate (not be risk-averse)
  • To put people first and consider the emotional landscape of all decision-making

These values bring creative practice into all of the structures and processes that we encounter, developing a working methodology that keeps The Stove open, transparent and flexible. People are genuinely able to shape The Stove in ways that work for them and for the town.

Our values led us to the two foundations of how The Stove works:

  1. The Stove is a membership organisation, membership is free and unrestricted*. Currently we have just over 500 members who, every year, elect a Board of Directors who are responsible for running The Stove.
  2. The Board employ a very small team of core employees who take care of the day to day management of The Stove. The core team supports a much larger group of freelancers – this is a flexible and changing group of people who work on one or more project with The Stove, some of these roles are longer term and some can be just a matter of weeks connected to a particular festival or workshop.

Our doors are always open for members. They can (and do) get in touch at any time with their questions, ideas and projects. Literally anyone can work with the Stove, either in a paid capacity, as a volunteer, for the experience or just the good craic of being involved in something worthwhile. We are proud that in 2017-18 we were able to offer £212,000 in contracts and opportunities for the local creative people and small businesses at all stages of their development. Since 2011, we’ve commissioned £665,775 in total. This is all money that the vision and vibrancy of The Stove has managed to attract to the area. For every £1 of local council support we receive for local projects, we attract an additional £8.00 of income from other sources (check our ‘Key Facts’ for more info about Stove income sources and history)

It has been an extraordinary journey since that original conversation around a table at the Coach and Horses in 2011…but the Stove’s success continues to be drawn from those original founding principles of: people first, collective working, openness and, of course, creativity. Why not see for yourself and come in for a chat – it might just be a conversation that changes your life!

*you don’t have to be an ‘artist’, just interested in our mission to be part of shaping the future of our region. Check it out here

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Musings News

What we’re looking forward to in 2019!

We’re gearing up for another jam-packed year of exciting events, art and creativity to encourage, gather, educate and bring life back to our town centre so we thought we would share what things we’re exciting about in the year ahead. And, as always, if you’ve got an idea, need some space, advice on starting a project or want to partner with us – we’re here!

So here’s what we’re looking forward to in 2019 – diaries oot!

Literature

Our literature projects are all about unwrapping the potential of the written word to provoke and inspire new ways of thinking, and this year the Lowland Project will be taking a dramatic step forward with an ambitious community play. The play will be developed over the course of 2019 and will reflect our town in a transitional phase of its history. Stay tuned for more information, opportunities and events!

Nithraid

SAVE THE DATE: 31st August 2019!

Yes, that’s right – NITHRAID IS BACK! Dumfries’ annual River Festival and sail boat race held in celebration of our beloved River Nith is the biggest event in the Stove calendar and returns to the Mill Green for its SEVENTH year! Nithraid is getting bigger and better with artist commissions, stalls, performances, music, sound installations and art throughout our community, so don’t expect anything less for 2019!

Midsteeple Quarter

The Midsteeple Quarter Project had a brilliant year in 2018, rounding off with the news of the asset transfer of the former Bakers Oven to community ownership. For 2019, they are looking forward to creating an exciting programme of activity in The Oven which includes exhibitions, workshop spaces and events – all open to the public! Programme details will be shared soon, but in the meantime you can keep up to date with their news over on their website here: www.midsteeplequarter.org or by giving them a like on their Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/midsteeplequarter.

Dumfries Music Conference

After an incredibly successful 2018, the Dumfries Music Conference are back for 2019 with another programme of events for the year, offering people the opportunity to share ideas, learn new skills and make contact with some of the biggest movers and shakers in the industry. As well as their annual flagship conference in October, DMC’s 2019 programme includes ‘DMSHE’ in April – a female takeover month which will showcase the work of women working in the music industry. Expect panel discussions, workshops and a showcase gig – all led by some incredible females working throughout Scotland! #thefutureisfemale

The Stove Café

The Stove Café is the social heart of our social enterprise to bring new life to the town centre through culture and the arts and supporting community activity and career development for local people. This year, we’re looking forward to reimagining the café and making changes to improve on the look and feel of the space (The Stove Café 2.0!). Plans are busy being made at the moment but expect a big launch party in 2019 to celebrate a new era of the Stove Café!

Visual

The Stove building is a conversational space to connect with our projects in many ways, and this year we’re planning a ‘Public Space’ Exhibition to provoke discussion and engage everyone who steps into our doors. The Public Space Exhibition will use spaces within the Stove and outdoor public spaces, as well as use creative workshops, participatory activity and conversation events to welcome artists and the community to come together as well as host evening events and discussions located around the Stove and outdoor public spaces. We want artists and the community to come together!

Performance

Behavin’? This year we’re excited to be expanding our programme of performance, live art and theatre with an exciting mini festival in the works arriving this summer! To coincide with this, we’re working with the National Theatre of Scotland on the Start Residency. For more details click HERE!


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Musings

My first year as Public Art Project Worker with Creative Futures

by Kirsty Turpie, December 2018

I began the position of Public Art Project Worker with Creative Futures Lochside and Lincluden in January this year. I was involved in the project last year as a Trainee Creative Producer, which seen me support Public Artists and attend community events. I really enjoyed being a Trainee Creative Producer so when the chance arose to become employed in this line of work I was excited and ready for it.

My challenge…to get residents in North West Dumfries engaged in Public Art projects. I was raring to go, and set up a weekly drop in at the Creative Futures hub under the name of Art in Action. The drop in ran for 5 weeks, and there were 5 local residents attending. We looked at local and international artists and public art examples and created small sculptures.

The name Art in Action has stuck and I have took it on the road to Lochside gala, a pop-up gazebo workshop in Lochside, Lochside and Lincluden Primary Schools and Nithraid.
One of the main projects I’ve been focusing on is the revamp of the Lincluden rhino statue. After research and consultation it was decided that I would offer the community a chance to create a new colourful look for the base of the rhino through the medium of mosaics. And, oh, have I fallen in love with them! I got up to speed on the mosaic techniques fast so that I could bring them to the public. In order to provide the mosaic workshops I had to do some preparation of ordering materials and experimenting. I’ve really enjoyed this part of the job. My background is in Graphic Design so I haven’t had too much opportunity in the past to work with large scale materials. So having to phone up builders yards, go to collect large pieces of wood and tile grout and having to use power tools to cut the wood to size have all been new and exciting responsibilities.

Kirsty and some of the team behind the new mosaics for the Lincluden Rhino

Another project that I have taken on through this position is the Lochside Primary School commemoration sculpture. This project has been a great opportunity to connect with the community on an ongoing basis and understand how to portray their ideas and history. In May I began working with the primary school pupils to design a totem pole featuring their memories of the school and it’s history since opening in 1962. It was lovely to hear the children’s memories and see them using paint and collage to get them down on paper. Back at the Creative Futures hub I drew up the final design comprised of six cement shapes to represent each era the school has been open. Mosaics would also be used in this design to create the children’s drawings and patterns and give the primary children a chance to learn this way of working. It is fair to say that they have enjoyed having a go. A small group of them came to the community centre and created the primary school logo out of mosaics and put it on to the first cement shape. In the summer I held a two day pop-up mosaic workshop in Lochside where families from the area took part. It is so rewarding being able to give people a chance to try something new and get creative. They always surprise me with their original ideas and creative flair.

Pop up mosaic workshops on Lochside Road


Something that has really stood out for me this year was in the October holidays when the Creative Futures team helped me to produce a whole week of art activities appropriately named ‘Art Week’. It was amazing to have the freedom to come up with a programme of events, and included in this a bus trip. Being able to organise a bus trip to be enjoyed by so many from the area and give them the opportunity to connect with public art, was truly brilliant. We took 32 people (adults and children) to Glenrothes in Fife where there are over a hundred pieces of public art. We went on a walk around the town led by local community workers who told us about the history of art in Glenrothes. It was great to hear people talking on the way back about how Dumfries could be different.

Visiting artworks in Glenrothes!

Not only the bus trip but the rest of Art Week was fantastic too. We ran the workshops 11am until 3pm and invited children to bring their own lunch. This gave us plenty of time to get artistic. Some of the local children came every day. Holding these daily workshops has shown me how much my confidence has grown over the past few years in this line of work. I now feel really confident planning and delivering workshops across many art forms.
All in all being part of the Creative Futures team this year has been brilliant in so many ways. It has given me the opportunity to run many different workshops, given me the challenge of adapting to using new materials, the chance to work on large scale projects, and learn how it is to work as an artist in a community setting. I am really grateful for the responsibility and opportunities I’ve been given, the team I’ve been working with and the new connections I have made within the community. I now feel a welcome addition to community events and people know they can come to me if they have any creative project or workshop ideas. I’m looking forward to continuing these projects and developing new ideas in the new year.

Stay in touch with the Creative Futures project by following their Facebook page here
More about Kirsty Turpie and her art practice on her Community Art page here

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Musings

Contemporary Creative Currents in Scotland in memory of Gordon Robertson

Last week we were delighted to host the event ‘Contemporary Creative Currents in Scotland’ featuring two illustrated talks by national cultural figures –  Andrew Crummy and Collective Architecture. Presented by The Saltire Society and The Stove Network, the event was in memory of Gordon Robertson who was an active and much missed member of both organisations.

The first talk was by Ross Aichison of Collective Architecture; an award-winning, 40-strong, employee owned studio across Glasgow and was established to pursue themes of participation and sustainability in architecture. They are are one of the most exciting young practices in Scotland and unique in the way that they are structured to give all who work there a say in the work of the practice. Ross gave a fascinating acoount of the design ethos of collective and two specific current projects, one in Dundee and the other in the old school site in Lockerbie.The next talk was from Andrew Crummy, an independent artist. Andrew Crummy has a unique place in the history of community art in Scotland. His mother, Helen Crummy, started the highly influential Craigmillar Festival Society which began as a grass roots festival for local children and grew to become a launch pad for household names such as Billy Connoly, Bill Patterson and Jimmy Boyle.

Andrew grew up within this amazing cauldron of creativity and gave a first hand account of the people and the ethos of the community projects in Craigmillar and the associated works around the country. Andrew himself became an artist and is best known for leading the Great Tapestry of Scotland Project which involved over 1000 volunteer stitchers and is now being housed in a specially built venue in Galashiels.Andrew wrote the chapter on Scottish community art in the book published last year called ‘Culture, Democracy and the Right to Make Art – The British Community Arts Movement’. At the event, Andrew announced that the rights to this book has now been bought by Manchester University who have made it available as a free download link here

The evening was in memory of Gordon Robertson, a man of wide-ranging and eclectic interests, which were rooted deeply in his local community in Dumfries and his upbringing but ranged across genres from painting to writing and opera. He was particularly keen on international travel and a regular on exchanges to Gifhorn (Dumfries’ twin town in Germany) whilst at the same time nurturing a strong commitment to the culture and history of his beloved Dumfries.

A collection of his paintings was also exhibited in The Stove Cafe space. In Gordon’s later years, it was his artwork in particular which held his greatest interest – his style and his different use of mediums was wide ranging and topics were diverse with particular focus on local landmarks but also featured interpretations from his travels to Germany and Iceland. 

He frequently had his paintings exhibited in venues across the community, he was very knowledgable on multiple subjects and wrote many articles on topics of historical interest and would speak at local events – he was a passionate Burnsian and therefore a ‘weel kent’ face in the local community. If you ever passed him in the street and exchanged a pleasant ‘How are you Gordon’ you had to be prepared for a long response… and more often than not you would leave knowing something that you didn’t know before the encounter started!

His death at the age of 82 earlier this year will leave a void in the community and his enquiring mind along with his ability to retain a vast memory of historical knowledge even in his later years will be sadly missed. However, the small selection of his work which was exhibited will allow his memory to live on and is a fitting lasting legacy to a very special Doonhamer. 

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Musings News

Welcome Jordan!

Hello! I’m Jordan – the new member of the Blueprint100 Curatorial Team and I am over the moon to have been offered this position.

I am originally from Edinburgh, but I moved to Dumfries in 2012 and have called it home since then. I am love with this town. I am in love with the river. I am in love with the possibilities this place holds. I am in love with the way it makes me feel. Like many, I want to make Dumfries a better place – because not everyone loves the place we call home and this feels unsettling. I am eager to create arts opportunities for young people across the region but most of all, I want to create a place in which we are not ashamed of.

For the last four years, I have been studying Contemporary Performance Practice (CPP) at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS), in Glasgow. I graduated in July with a First-Class Honours Degree and I still cannot quite believe that happened!

Glasgow, is my favourite Scottish city (at the moment anyway – I change my mind like the weather!!) I think it’s true what they say – people truly do make Glasgow and many of the things that happen there are so diverse and beautiful that I can see why people never leave.

For me, Glasgow was not all roses and rainbows. The course was tough (but also awesome and life-changing and thought-provoking and full of magic. I will be forever grateful to have had that experience, you can find out more about my course here: https://www.rcs.ac.uk/courses/ba-contemporary-performance-practice/).

I recognised in my third year that the fire that burns within me was dimming in the city. I didn’t feel like I was suited to living full-time in the bright lights and the busy streets. I guess, as cliché as this sounds, I was feeling lost and uncertain. I felt a yearning for something more, something that I wouldn’t feel like I was drowning in. I wanted to be a part of something, something I could change. Something where my voice was heard. Something where my arts practice would not go to waste, although I wasn’t entirely sure what that was yet. I didn’t realise that all I ever wanted was right in front of me – at home, in Dumfries.

Looking back, I wish I had known that these feelings were completely fine to be feeling. I put more pressure on myself at the time because everyone around me seemed to be on a different thought process and figuring out their arts practice and really “getting it” and I wasn’t. I began to experience some mental health issues and my course soon fell to the bottom of my priorities.

I love to party – that is still true today. But a couple of years ago, this became an escape mechanism for me and I never wanted the party to stop. I decided that I was going to leave the course at the end of third of year and not complete my honours. I did not care at all and although (spoiler alert!) that point of view came to bite me in the bum in fourth year (stressss!) I am not angry at myself for feeling like that because I know it was genuinely how I was feeling – and we should not beat ourselves up for our emotions, or else we are all doomed. It was a part of me figuring things out.

On my course, we do our dissertations in third year (instead of fourth, because our final year is full of other fantastic modules) so before leaving, I had to complete my dissertation. I am extremely interested in conversation and the way it is used to make and create art. I entitled my dissertation; Conversation as an art form – when is conversation art?

Cutting a very long story short, during this time, my mum became very unwell and my life really changed. I had to commit to being in Dumfries whilst juggling a dissertation and end of year show and a million other uncertainties and things were happening at once. It felt like the world was caving in and I have never felt so alone… but, as some person once said, when the going gets tough, the tough get going… and that’s what happened. I did a lot of growing up. I completed my dissertation, I completed third year, I became a carer, I overcame some heady stuff and cried loads and loads and loads. I’m actually crying right now as I type this! It’s good to cry though.

My mum made a miraculous recovery that has made me believe in angels and all things other. I knew I had to complete fourth year and entered my final year at RCS determined and ready. My mum and I even made a show together named Kin; a memory that I will cherish deeply for the rest of my life.

Right now, I am committed to community arts practice and particularly interested in the therapeutic role of creativity; my ongoing work resides in community development. I am determined that if we all take a little more time to care for each other and the place in which we live, we will begin to feel much more connected to each other, contributing to better mental health.  I hope that my Blueprint100 journey allows me to implement this and I look forward to (hopefully) being a part of your journey too.

So, that’s a little bit about me! If you want to get in touch, I would love to hear from you! My email is [email protected]