The Skinny posted Jac’s article about Making Space as well! Click here to see.
Article about Making Space on Arcadia Now Blog
Jac Mantle, one of the wonderful members of GWL’s volunteer team, and prolific arts critic, has written an short article about Making Space and the Discussion Event (which she attended). We are so grateful to Jac for writing such an eloquent and considerate piece. Please visit her blog to read the article, and while you are there, I would highly recommend having a look around to see what else Jac has to say about contemporary art and culture, including reviews, interviews, and theoretical critiques.
Visit Jac’s Blog here: http://arcadianow.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/making-space-glasgow-womens-library/
Jac at the Making Space Discussion Event
Making Space: The Documentary now online!
We are very pleased to announce that the Making Space film is now available to watch or download online! The film – created by Fast Forward Play – charts the progress of the Making Space project: GWL’s original aims for the project, what we were hoping for, and why it was so important; the two artists and their respective artworks; and the women who have been involved with Making Space at various stages of its life, in particular the dedicated members of the Making Space group. If you have 30 minutes to spare, please do have a look, as the film does so well to summarise the entirety of Making Space, and to capture some of its most exciting, intriguing, and symbolic moments.
We are using the video sharing website Vimeo – you do not need to be a member to use this valuable resource. Just visit: www.vimeo.com/womenslibrary/makingspace. If you have any problems with viewing the film on Vimeo, please contact us and we will try to help.
If you get any sort of spark from this film, any thoughts or flashes of inspiration, or if you disagree with what it has to say, please feel free to get in touch with us and let us know. We love to hear your comments! Enjoy.
A Film Still
Making Space: The Documentary
Please accept our apologies for the delay in getting the Making Space Documentary online. We had planned to have it up and available for download yesterday, but due to unforeseen technical difficulties, you will have to wait a little longer to view the film online. We appreciate your patience, and will be sure to let you know as soon as the film is ready.
The Film is Coming Soon!
Making Space Discussion Event
After a long wait, the Making Space Discussion Event is finally taking place (originally scheduled for December 2010, we were forced to postpone the event due to the terrible weather at the time).
This event is the culmination of Phase One of the Making Space project. We wanted to gather together a group of people to discuss issues surrounding public art, public recognition of women in Scotland, and the aims and outcomes of the Making Space project. This group includes GWL staff, volunteers and learners; artists, researchers, and people who work within the arts in Scotland – unfortunately, due to the nature of the event, and the size of our venue, it is invite-only.
If you would like to know how the event goes and what we achieve, please stand by…
(Please note: The library will be closed on Thursday 3rd February between 12.30pm-5pm. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.)
A Delayed Update
First off, apologies for the lack of posts on this blog over the last few months. The truth is, that after the enormous success of Shauna McMullan’s Blue Spine Collection exhibition and Nicky Bird’s Unsorted Donations event, the Making Space project has been on a bit of a hiatus. We’ve had a very busy summer at Glasgow Women’s Library, when after an extended period of anticipation, we finally packed our bags and boxes and moved into the Mitchell Library. We are now in the former Anderston Library, on 15 Berkeley Street; our new phone number is 0141 248 9969. We’d love to see you, so please feel free to drop by.
But have no fears, Making Space is coming back with a bang. I am absolutely thrilled to reveal that accomplished film-maker Jane McInally is currently working on Making Space: The Movie (official title not yet available)! The film will feature photographs, audio clips, and video footage of the many stages of Making Space, from the selection of artists to their final exhibitions. If all goes to plan, it will be possible to access the film from this website in the near future.
We are also looking forward to 2 events over the next couple of weeks. We are going to have a celebratory lunch for the Making Space group, to say a big thank you for all the help they gave us with ideas, feedback, and even participation in the final artworks. The group will be first in line to view the Making Space film, after all, they have been the entertaining, enthusiastic and rather essential stars of the show!
Next up, GWL is proud to host the Making Space discussion event. Since the launch of the project, a symposium has been one of the most important things on our agenda. We wanted the chance to discuss our ideas about encouraging diverse women to participate in the arts; and to voice our concerns over the lack of public/permanent representation of women’s cultural contributions in Glasgow. (Did you know there are only 3 statues of women in Glasgow? Do you know who they are?)
We have invited key people involved in the arts, in education, in policy-making and politics, and in equalities and women’s issues, as well as members of the Making Space group and the GWL staff and volunteer team. We want to get everyone together and get talking, with the help of Shauna and Nicky who will be giving presentations on their work and what has been achieved with Making Space so far. The most important aim is to show everyone how important it is for us to reach Phase 2 of the project: to create a new public artwork for Scotland!
Images of Blue Spine
The Blue Spine installation at the Mitchell Library on Saturday 19th June 2010
On Saturday 19th June, Shauna McMullan presented her Blue Spine installation at the Mitchell Library. Over 500 books spanned the Jeffrey room, each with a blue spine, written by a woman and donated by women from across Scotland.
Visitors to the Blue Spine installation
The books made a fascinating and illuminating display, covering a whole range of subjects, with fiction, non-fiction and poetry – choices both popular and obscure, and very often personal. A list of the books, and those who contributed, is available to download:
Download: Blue Spine Book List (pdf)
Download: Blue Spine Contributors (pdf)
Many of the contributors were able to take part in a photograph of the exhibit in the afternoon.
Blue Spine contributers at the installation
More images of the Blue Spine installation are available on Flickr, or you can watch a slideshow below.
Shauna spoke to Radio Scotland’s Book Cafe about the Blue Spine project – broadcast on 28th June, it’s available for listening on the BBC iPlayer until the end of this week.
Photographs by Alan Dimmick.
Nicky Bird’s Unsorted Donations
After months of research in the Glasgow Women’s Library (GWL) Archives, group discussions, individual interviews, and sound recordings, Nicky Bird is ready to present her new work: Unsorted Donations.
Unsorted Donations is not your usual art exhibition open to all; it is a unique listening experience. The GWL Archives provide a curious setting as visitors tiptoe through the maze of cardboard boxes and wooden pallets, inhaling the dust of historic artefacts, eyes gradually becoming accustomed to the shadowy light. With the use of hidden speakers scattered throughout the space, Nicky Bird violates the standard codes of Archive etiquette by embedding sound into the setting.
Suggesting the importance and poignancy of the GWL’s yet-to-be-catalogued Archives, Unsorted Donations is not only a surprising and haunting experience – it is a truly significant documentation of the lives and histories of diverse women in Glasgow.
Unsorted Donations is part of GWL’s Making Space project, funded by the Scottish Arts Council. If you would like more information about the project, please contact Glasgow Women’s Library at info@womenslibrary.org.uk or by phoning 0141 552 8345. Thanks.
Unsorted Donations invitation
Blue Spine exhibition – 19 June 2010
Shauna McMullan and Glasgow Women’s Library are proud to present the exhibition of Blue Spine in the Jeffrey Room at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow. It is a one day installation on Saturday 19th June, open from 11am-4pm. If you contributed to the Blue Spine project, you are invited to take part in a group photograph at 3pm in the Jeffrey Room.
Blue Spine is a collective project, involving contributions from hundreds of women across Scotland. If you would like more information, please follow this link: http://makingspace.womenslibrary.org.uk/2010/03/31/blue-spine-invite/
This is a free event and booking is not necessary, but we would appreciate if you could let us know if you are coming, either by phone (0141 552 8345) or email (info@womenslibrary.org.uk). Thank you.
