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!
Level Access in rear of building through adjacent close to left-hand side of the Cafe (facing the front of the building). To ensure your experience with us is as best as it can be, please do let us know if you have any specific access requirements and we’d be happy to help. Please email Kevin or Sal on: [email protected] or phone 01387 252435 and speak with one of our team. We are able to provide walk-throughs of the building before attending our events as well as assign seating before your arrival.
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 !
Level Access in rear of building through adjacent close to left-hand side of the Cafe (facing the front of the building). To ensure your experience with us is as best as it can be, please do let us know if you have any specific access requirements and we’d be happy to help. Please email Kevin or Sal on: [email protected] or phone 01387 252435 and speak with one of our team. We are able to provide walk-throughs of the building before attending our events as well as assign seating before your arrival.
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.
