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The Future is Bright for Lincluden and Lochside

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Over the Easter weekend, Lincluden was treated to two days of family activities and events, when Creative Futures Lincluden and Lochside hosted a variety of creative workshops in Lincluden Abbey and Lincluden Community Centre.

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Easter Sunday saw the return of Abbey Antics at Lincluden Abbey.  Throughout the day, Medieval Monks led a series of workshops, which gave children and families the chance to learn how to weave, make pens from goose feathers, learn metal work techniques and take part in walking through a labyrinth. Dragon Egg making workshops were also held, as well as Fairy Walks and a Unicorn Quest. The day was part of ouir initiative led by Creative Futures, which focuses on bringing the Abbey back into community life, as well as giving young people the opportunity to learn about the significant heritage of their local area in an exciting and engaging way.

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On Monday, the fun continued with a ‘Hoosewarming’ to celebrate the launch of our Creative Futures project at Lincluden Community Centre. This event was a chance for the community to meet the Creative Futures team and get hands-on experience of creative techniques, as well as discuss projects and opportunities for local people in the future.

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Creative Futures Lincluden and Lochside is our new four-year project in North West Dumfries. It is an exciting and innovative project which uses creativity and local history to provide opportunities for young people within the Lochside and Lincluden areas of North West Dumfries. We aim to help local people develop their skills, develop their local area, increase their opportunities, improve their quality of life, connect with one another, try out new experiences and thrive as a community.

If you missed out on the fun last weekend then not to worry – we will be hosting another Housewarming event at Lochside Community Centre on Saturday 29th April. This will be another opportunity for local people to meet everyone and get involved with our open day of arts activities, information, food and music. For further information and drop-in sessions through the week contact [email protected].

Creative Futures Housewarming
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News

Drawing for Enjoyment Workshop returns

Following on from the success of the first Drawing for Enjoyment events late last year and the café exhibition, artist Frank Hayes brings another set of drawing workshops back to the Stove Network for a 8-week block.

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Frank commented, “The aim of the workshop is to encourage and support anyone who is looking to get more creative and learn new ways of approaching art, whatever their skill level.” Each week, participants were shown different techniques as well as being shown how to work with different materials and resources.

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Each week, Frank explained and taught a different skill, such as blind contour and observational techniques, abstract art, still life, encouraging everyone that there are no mistakes in art, only discoveries.

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Drawing for Enjoyment will once again return to The Stove for an 8-week block starting on Thursday 16th March from 5-7pm. The workshop is open to anyone above the age of 16, and a small contribution of £4 will be required, which will go towards materials and resources. For any more information, contact the blueprint100 team at [email protected], to find out more about enjoying drawing in a fantastic and creative atmosphere. Whether you are an artist or would like to try something new, Drawing for Enjoyment is a great way to spend an evening to relax.

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One Day Without Us at The Stove

The Stove Network hosted One Day Without Us on Monday 20th February, which saw the people of Dumfries come together to celebrate the contribution that migrants make to the UK saw a huge turnout. One Day Without Us, which took place all over the UK, provided people with the opportunity to express their solidarity, and explore how migration has had a positive impact on both their own lives and the lives of the wider Dumfries and Galloway community.

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Image credit: Galina Walls Photography

On Monday, thousands of migrants and their supporters took part in the National Day of Action to celebrate the vital role that migrants play within their own communities. There was a great turnout for the day, and many people and their families joined us at The Stove to share food, listen to music, watch short films, share a personal story and post messages of support on the walls.

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Image credit: Galina Walls Photography

Emerging artists platform, Blueprint100, had the opportunity to coordinate and organise the event for The Stove. Blueprint100 Curatorial Team Member, Michael Moore, commented, “To me 1 Day Without Us was all about displaying our community’s strength through diversity, with people from different nations around the world living harmoniously together.”

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Image credit: Galina Walls Photography

There was also opportunities for members of the public to share their own personal stories of how migration has changed their lives. Stories were shared on the walls of The Stove, and will be eventually collated into a zine. At 1pm, people across the nation joined together to show their support in a number of ways, by linking arms or holding hands. By encouraging people to share their stories and speak out, this event aimed to spread the message that migrants make a positive contribution to Dumfries and Galloway, enriching the fabric of everyday life in our town.

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News

New Openings at The Stove

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Image: Kim Ayres

If you have been passing the Stove over the past couple of weeks, you may have noticed Simon Harlow’s team of artists and makers are very much installed on the ground floor making final preparations towards the regular opening of The Stove, from Monday 29th of February.

From the 29th, The Stove will be open Monday to Saturday, 10am – 5pm, including drop-in information point and cafe space on the ground floor. The cafe at the Stove will be run by Angela and Colin Green, who will continue to run their current business, Mrs Green’s up the street. The Stove will offer a place to drop in, meet, exchange and find out about current events and activities as well as a space to enjoy hot drinks, cakes and lunches. We hope that if the cafe is successful that we can extend opening hours to include more evening provision, and the space will also support our evening events – such as Brave New Words and Reel to Real Cinema, which will continue.

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Plate designing and food discussion workshop with the Open Jar Collective

The drop-in space will function as a place to visit to find out about the Stove and our upcoming programme, as well as a location for workshops, meetings and small scale activities. More details on this space will be announced online, or drop by from the 29th of February to find out more.

The first floor will continue as our project space, with pop up events, workshops and activity taking place. Find out more about our programme here

The second floor is made up of our own digital suite, workshop, and small offices, currently rented out by the LGBT+ Group, Blueprint100, several local artists and guitar teacher David Bass.

If you would like to find out more about how you can use the stove cafe and drop in space, for projects, ideas or events find out about how to submit ideas to us here

Final tweaks to the new designs for our cafe furniture, being produced in partnership with Maklab
Final tweaks to the new designs for our cafe furniture, being produced in partnership with Maklab

The refurbishment of the Stove cafe and interior is being led and created by Simon Harlow of Silo Design and Build. Based in Glasgow, Simon was selected from our design commission call out, and has led an exciting process exploring how to design a functional and beautiful space, using a range of local materials and skills. More about Simon and his design practice available online here

Silo Design & Build from Make Works on Vimeo.

Would you like to help out with the final works on the interior? We are looking for volunteers to help with furnishing and painting here

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News Project Updates

Thinking Differently About Our Town

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Dumfries is a town at the gateway to Scotland. Famous for its relationship with Rabbie Burns, the town is the nodal point of the region (Dumfries and Galloway) and has a strong heritage past, and an even stronger cultural potential.

Cities, towns and villages throughout Scotland are reimagining their centres and what function they serve within their urban setting.

Inverness is creating different artworks along its River Ness ranging from simple signage installations through to engineered viewing platforms; Oban is reinventing its waterfront and becoming a hub for the Hebrides; Helmsdale has centred its village around arts and heritage with a wonderful cultural centre that is growing leaps and bounds; and even rural Scotland is getting involved in the act with initiatives such as the Scottish Scenic Routes, Spring Fling and the North Coast 500 aiming to reinvent the landscape that they find themselves within.

Dumfries has a similar ambition to reinvent, reimagine and reactivate its high street, its town centre and its entire region. The Stove Network working in collaboration with Lateral North and creative organisations throughout Dumfries would like to invite you to contribute your ideas for a future Dumfries and ultimately towards creating new ideas within the town to showcase the heritage, cultural, environmental, industrial and creative communities that thrive within Dumfries.

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Join us to design these interventions, contribute your ideas and find out about the Dumfries you don’t know; yet.
If you’re someone with a passion for the town of Dumfries, and a commitment to being part of its future, then join us for the Cultural Wayfinding Workshop on the 15th July at The Stove. Full information about the event can be found here.

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Musings News Project Updates

Reclaim The High Street – Sign Language

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It’s interesting how obsessions grow. A current obsession is for signs, hand-painted and home grown. We’ve been holding onto our sign-free frontage, The Stove as under new management and a growing, changing space in the town.

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The face of our high streets and high street signage has of course changed dramatically, with the introduction of mass-produced, nationwide branding and the loss of independant retailers bringing a change to the landscape and language of our streets.

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Even RS McColl’s had nice signs at one point! (Look closely)
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My Product Will Enrich Your Status In Life from Mobstr

Also popping up in our social media stream this week has been the phenomena of ‘ghost-signs‘: the remenants of old signs, shops, businesses and brands, gone and almost forgotten within our urban landscapes. At first thought we couldn’t place too many in the Dumfries-scape, but on closer inspection are starting to see them cropping up around town:

This one on Buccleuch Street, double layered signs? Anyone with any notions of what these signs may have been, or any other good sites around the town please get in touch!

Where are we going with this? That is of course, all to be revealed. Guid Nychburris Day is fast approaching, and over the next week the town will be gearing up for the annual festivites on the 20th of June.

We will be holding a hands-on sign-themed event and workshop during our first Saturday Drop-In, so drop by between 12 noon and 4pm on Guid Nychburris Day and get involved! It will be suitable for all ages and abilities and free to participate!

Keep an eye on our events calendar for more details here

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You Couldn’t Make It Up from KidAcne
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