Open and accessible drawing workshops. No experience needed, for any age or ability. Only £8 with all materials provided – pay on the door
Drawing for Enjoyment returns to The Stove on the High Street in the centre of Dumfries with a focus to getting back to the essence of drawing and enjoying the meditative and restorative qualities it brings to well-being.
Covering lots of accessible subjects and methods, these sessions are perfect for beginners or for anyone who wants to develop their practice.
Starting with a ten minute demonstration at the beginning of each session with some guided handouts to aid progress through the class.
Join the For Enjoyment community and get creative in a relaxing friendly and supportive environment.
No need to book but there are limited spaces in the cafe space so don’t be late !
Open and accessible drawing workshops. No experience needed, for any age or ability. Only £8 with all materials provided – pay on the door
Drawing for Enjoyment returns to The Stove on the High Street in the centre of Dumfries with a focus to getting back to the essence of drawing and enjoying the meditative and restorative qualities it brings to well-being.
Covering lots of accessible subjects and methods, these sessions are perfect for beginners or for anyone who wants to develop their practice.
Starting with a ten minute demonstration at the beginning of each session with some guided handouts to aid progress through the class.
Join the For Enjoyment community and get creative in a relaxing friendly and supportive environment.
No need to book but there are limited spaces in the cafe space so don’t be late !
Open and accessible drawing workshops. No experience needed, for any age or ability. Only £8 with all materials provided – pay on the door
Drawing for Enjoyment returns to The Stove on the High Street in the centre of Dumfries with a focus to getting back to the essence of drawing and enjoying the meditative and restorative qualities it brings to well-being.
Covering lots of accessible subjects and methods, these sessions are perfect for beginners or for anyone who wants to develop their practice.
Starting with a ten minute demonstration at the beginning of each session with some guided handouts to aid progress through the class.
Join the For Enjoyment community and get creative in a relaxing friendly and supportive environment.
No need to book but there are limited spaces in the cafe space so don’t be late !
The Open Hoose project that lets local musicians colour outside of the lines
To find out what Free Improvisation is all about, we asked Free Improvisation’s organiser, Calum Walker, ten questions to get an insight into this unique and exciting group.
The sessions are based on the group improvisations I’ve participated in, during my timestudying. It is focused on listening and playing intuitively with a group, in a way that isopen and unrestricted by genre-specific styles or technique. A big part of it is trying new ideas and then reflecting on the outcome.
How did you get into playing music?
I’ve played guitar since I was young, but I guess I wouldn’t have thought of myself as amusician until more recently. My friends and I started a metal band when we wereyoung, and that kept us busy for a long time. Through that, I started to learn about othermusical styles and wanted to write music for a wide range of orchestral and electronicinstruments. More recently, I’ve been working to take my music further, by returning tofull time education and working in new settings.
Which musicians inspire you?
There are thousands. For guitar, I’m really inspired by Guthrie Govan’s books oncreative playing at the moment. The concept of the group sessions owes a lot tocomposers like John Cage and Terry Riley. I probably get the most inspiration frompeople I know personally. Being able to jam and talk music with great, knowledgeableplayers really compels me to practice harder.
Are there any musicians or bands that took the art of free improvisation into mainstream audiences?
There might be. Improvisation is everywhere in music but I think less stoic practices canseem a bit more abstract. It’s more popular in the contemporary jazz, electronic andclassical worlds. However, loads of songwriters and bands will have used group improvisation as a foundation for a track. It’s no different to an ensemble picking up theirinstruments and just seeing what happens, without the pressure of it having to fitparticular parameters.
Is it ever too late to start learning a new instrument or a new way of playing an instrument?
I can’t say for every case but I don’t think so. I think it can be a challenge if you have tostart from nothing or unlearn old habits. With enough motivation and time I thinkanything is possible.
What got you thinking about setting up the Free Improvisation group?
In the beginning it was based on the sessions I attended at my college. They weremuch more ‘out there’ than I had expected, but I really got something out of it. Now, thesessions are more refined to suit the interests of the group. The format is great becauseit doesn’t matter about ability levels or having specific numbers or instruments. It’s notabout shredding or proving that you’re the best, because it’s based on listening andgroup dynamics. It’s so flexible and anyone can participate in creating music in this way.
What do you like about jamming with other musicians?
It’s nice to have an objective, even if that objective is simply to be heard once in a while. The hard work and gruelling practice seems to all be worth it when you’re locked into ajam with players that share the same respect and enthusiasm.
What can newcomers expect from taking part in Free Improvisation sessions?
Each session tends to be quite different. It can be quite lively or serene. I usually comewith a few ideas I want to explore, but it’s group led so it has the capacity to go inunexpected directions. There’s always a mix of shorter exercises and longer,experimental improvisations. Lately, we’ve been looking at AV projects to create soundfor. The atmosphere is always really exciting and the group are really friendly and eager to create.
What do you see for the future of Free Improvisation?
I’m hoping that there’s still room to expand and collaborate with different mediums innew ways. There are loads of great players in the area. Free Improvisation might not betheir burning passion, but I think there is something really interesting to be gained from it.The priority is the playing, and the benefit of sharing ideas with like minded musicians.
Just for fun – is there a particularly memorable highlight of a Free Improvisation session?
There’s been a few interesting moments. We did an exercise where one of the groupmembers read lines from Karl Pilkington’s books, and the group would use the text as astimulus for music. The most memorable parts of the sessions are in those momentswhen it all comes together and you can sense that everyone is really into the soundthat’s being collectively created.
Open Hoose is a project at the heart of the Stove’s community venue. Ideas are given the space, time, resources and support of the Stove Network to launch ambitious projects to galvanise and gather our communities together. From climate cafes to bread clubs, jam nights and creative writing groups, Open Hoose offers an eclectic mix of different activities for everyone to take part in. Find out more about groups like this one on our Open Hoose page, here.
The Stove is delighted to launch the Open Hoose once again.
After a successful pilot between January to March 2022, where we worked with our community to realise 10 new projects and events ran with, for, by and about Doonhamers.
Open Hoose is a project at the very heart of the Stove’s community venue work. Working with us, new (and established) community-led, grassroots projects are given the space, support, resource, and training to take even the most radical of ideas to the next level. From bread-making groups, to LGBTQIA spaces, Climate activism and creative writing, Open Hoose is a supported project, tailored exactly to fit the individual (or group’s) aims.
Working with the Stove’s creative, production, café and technical teams, new initiatives are trialled and developed through our community venue programme. We have been able to provide free meals and drinks service, technical support, creative development and partnerships to help give ambitious ideas the space, time, support and encouragement they need to develop.
It’s pretty vital to what we do. We believe wholeheartedly that our culture is nourished from the grassroots, not from the top down. That’s why our motto ‘Grow your own culture’ is intrinsic to just about everything we do here, and Open Hoose is at the core of this.
Absolutely! We want to hear from as many people as possible. So whether you’ve never been to a Stove event or consider yourself a true Stovie, it doesn’t matter. We’re interested in you, your idea and why this opportunity is right for you.
Can a group that’s already established apply?
Yes. It doesn’t have to be a new idea. Established groups that are already working are encouraged to apply. So whether you’d like to have your activity in the town centre or could do with some support to try out something new, we’re all ears.
How many projects will be taken forward?
We want to be as flexible as possible with the type of support we might be able to offer. With our current cohort, we have identified spaces within our monthly programme for new Open Hoose projects to be considered, but we’re also open to hearing ideas that may not require the space, from podcasts to street art.
How do you consider proposals?
We take a broad and open view of the type of project we’re able to support. Though some key considerations are worth bearing in mind before submitting:
How does the project seek to engage with the community?
Is there a cause or activist drive behind the idea?
How realistically to support something given our current capacity and resources.
A Month of Charity Shop Diving & Clothing Regeneration
February 14, 2022
@
12:00 pm
–
3:00 pm
If you’ve been looking for an outlook for your creativity, look no further! We’re in need of all the budding fashionistas, under the age of 30, for our own Dumfries & Galloway twist on Project Runway. Come and rummage through the treasures of Dumfries’ High St charity shops and then spend the rest of February regenerating and reinventing the pieces into a new, community made, fashion collection. Join a collective of like-minded individuals interested in fashion, textiles and sustainability – no experience required, just a desire to get stuck in and think outside the box!!
This is a 5 session event, participants are advised to attend all sessions in the series. All session dates are listed below:
SESSION 1
Saturday 5th February 12-3pm – CHARITY SHOP DIVE
Get a taste of what’s to come and join in with our charity shop rummage. We’ll meet at The Stove, discuss our project desires and collective #vision before hitting the shops and collecting the starting goods! What’s better than shopping I hear you ask? Shopping with someone else’s money! As a group, we’ll have a budget to spend on our starting charity shop finds, so no need to bring anything other than yourself and some excitement to get us through!
SESSION 2
Monday 7th February 5-7pm – CREATIVE PLANNING
Here’s where the ‘real work’ starts! We’ve got four weeks to turn these charity shop garments around and reimagine something new entirely! We’ll start off this session by curating our garments and materials, drawing and planning our project outcomes and initiating textiles test ideas of potential processes. Mood boards, concept ideas, visualisations…we’ll be doing it all…
SESSION 3
Monday 14th February 5-7pm – CREATIVE MAKING: TESTING & DEVELOPING
This week we’ll be in full making mode, developing and producing our community fashion collection through textiles and fashion upcycling processes. Sharing skills, we’ll be looking into all the different ways we can manipulate the garments we have to generate our desired outcome. Embroidery, stencil screen printing, patchwork, embellishment and maybe even some knitting (??) the possibilities are endless, and our minds are open!
SESSION 4
Monday 21st February 5-7pm – CREATIVE MAKING: THE MEATY ONE
There’s no way round it, there’ll be lots to do and much sewing, cutting and sticking(?!) to be done to get everything ready in time. Seeing the creations come to life we’ll be making sure everything is looking runway ready in no time. Think ‘Great British Sewing Bee’ with no tears or stress but lots of laughs and creativity!
SESSION 5
Monday 28th February 5-7pm – CREATIVE MAKING: THE FINISHING TOUCHES
It’s all hands-on deck for the final push to get this community fashion collection off the ground! As well as finishing off the collection itself (sewing in all those pesky threads!!), we’ll be solidifying the overall project aesthetic and creating visualisations to influence a final photoshoot before all is revealed at the Creative Spaces showcase in March.
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