Spooky & Funny at Bungo

Lots on at Bungo over the next couple of weeks with a grown-ups Hallow's Eve Party on Friday (That's two days after Hallow's Eve?) a kids Halloween party on the Saturday and comedy on the next two Sundays as you can see from the above photo.

New Film Club

The Southside Film Festival has partnered up with the Glad Cafe to start a film club for autumn. They are starting off with a screening of the original 1931 Frankenstein movie in time for Halloween (Tue 30 Oct @ 8pm) then screening a monthly film in the Glad Cafe this November and December along with a special Christmas showing of Harvey.

Here's what they are screening and when:

Frankenstein (dir. James Whale, 1931, CertPG, 71mins) Tue 30 Oct, 8pm

http://t-s.co/sou04

Headhunters (dir. Morten Tyldum, 2011, Cert15, 93mins) Tue 27 Nov, 8pm

http://t-s.co/sou05

Arthur Christmas (dir. Sarah Smith, 2011, CertU, 97mins) Sat 15 Dec, 3pm

http://t-s.co/sou06

Harvey (dir. Henry Koster, 1950, CertPG, 104mins) Tue 18 Dec 8pm

http://t-s.co/sou07

For full film info visit the website's film club page.

Tickets are available in advance online at Tickets Scotland (via the above links) or in person from The Glad Cafe. Tickets available on the door half an hour before advertised screening time. Tickets are all £6 full price or £5 concession with a £1 discount for those dressed as a horror film character at the Frankenstein screening or £5 for all kids at Arthur Christmas screening.

Ghost of Water Row & Fairway Project - 5 November 2012

On the 100th anniversary of Govan joining Glasgow, you are invited to attend an event at Water Row in Govan. The Ghost of Water Row, an installation celebrates the history and industrial heritage of Govan and will be illuminated on Water Row. There will also be the Grand Opening of the Govan Fairway, a celebration of the Show People of Govan and an outdoor film and hot drinks.

The event starts at 6pm in the graveyard of Govan Old Parish Church. There will be a short talk by Historian Tim Clarkson, before a procession to Water Row and the Ghosting Installation.

Event continues in the Brechin Bar.
For more information click Here

Creative Thursday with Laura Spring

This weeks Creative Thursday interview is with Laura Spring an independent designer/maker based in Glasgow; whose current practice draws inspiration from everyday experiences such as the weather. 

SSH: Where do you work?
Laura: I work in a lovely, bright studio in an old victorian house on the Southside of Glasgow called Albert Drive Studios. It's very unique and is something quite special.

SSH: So what got you interested in textiles?
Laura: I've always loved textiles, patterns and sewing. I used to make ballet costumes with my Mum when I was younger and my Grandma is an amazing seamstress, so I think a little of it is in my genes naturally?! I decided to study graphic design at art school, so never got any formal textile or sewing training (that skill developed from a period of 5 years working in costume departments), but that's where I learned to screen print - a medium that I love.

SSH: Where do you get your inspiration from?
Laura: Inspiration comes from many sources.... observing people and the way they are/behave is just one of them which led me onto my collection about the weather. I love how Great Britain is obsessed with the weather, we talk about it all the time - especially this summer! I'm also currently interested in the relationship between the design of a print and the function of the object it adorns, so that's how my weather inspired luggage collection came about. But inspiration comes along all the time I think if you're a creative person, sometimes just going for a walk round the park can be inspiring just as much as a trip to see an exhibition. I recently saw the Bauhaus show at The Barbican and loved it! The typography used in so much of their literature is incredible! Maybe that's my graphic designer training coming out in me!

SSH: What are you working on at the moment?
Laura: There's a few things going on just now, but one of the main things I am focused on is a show I have been invited to do at The Lighthouse in October as part of their show studio series. I'm really excited about making some new work and having the opportunity to show it in Glasgow as it feels like everything I have been doing for the last twelve months has seen me take my work to London. It has been amazing to take my work down there and meet new people, but I think there's something great about showing your work in the town where you make it.

SSH: Tell us about some of your recent projects

Laura: It's not really a project, but recently I was very lucky to get to return to an incredible place called Cove Park on another residency. I was awarded a craft residency there last summer and spent six idyllic weeks in the beautiful countryside with a great bunch of people and all I needed to do was make my work! It was a real turning point for me in my creative practice and has had a huge impact on my work to this day. I just returned from two more weeks there which felt like a real gift as it allowed me some time and space to do things I needed to do that can sometimes be difficult in the studio with all the day to day distractions that surround you.

SSH: What would you like to be doing in 2 years time?
Laura: In 2 years time....I'd love to be have continued to develop my business into a successful, exciting company that hopefully represents good design and great products made here in the UK. And maybe get another whippet that sleeps under the print table?

SSH: What piece of advice would you give to someone starting out in your industry
Laura: Talent is important, but so is tenacity. I'm sure everyone knows it can be tough trying to start your own business and many unexpected hurdles will appear on the way, so you have to love what you do. But I think building up good relationships is vital to success in this and probably any industry? I feel incredibly lucky to be in an industry that is very supportive of each other, the textile community in Scotland is brilliant. Textiles Scotland, The Cultural Enterprise and other designers such as Jennie lööf, Bespoke Atelier, Mhari McMullan and Hilary Grant are an amazing source of advice, support, inspiration and encouragement. Something I think we all need.

SSH: Tell us about your work with Artlink?And how does this experience impact on your work?
Laura: I work with Artlink on a freelance basis delivering a variety of workshops to various people. Sometimes these can be skills based and are often print/sewing related which is lovely to be able to pass on and share these skills with others, sometimes it's more abstract and involves more sensory based work. One of the great things about the workshops is the other artists you work with on the projects. It can be really great to be out your studio a day a week and do something where the focus is not on your own work. I think it makes me work harder and be more focused when I'm in my studio.

SSH: What is important to you?
Laura: The most important thing to me is to be happy and to wake up everyday and to look forward to the day ahead - whatever that might entail....working, seeing family or friends or hanging out with my lovely dog.

SSH: If you could change one thing about the Southside what would it be?
Laura: I really love living and working on the southside, it's a great place but sometimes the mess on the streets is too much. It's not hard to not drop litter and it makes such a difference to the community we all live in. I guess that problem isn't strictly southside though...

SSH: What is your favourite Place in the Southside
Laura: I don't think you can beat Pollok Park. It's like being out in the country in a city. But if we're talking food, then I'd have to say Cookie, I think that place serves fantastic food by fantastic people.

Laura's Exhibition at the Lighthouse opens today and runs until the 3rd December 2012. You can find out more about Laura's work and her up coming screen printing workshops on her website  and also in her lovely online shop .

Pollokshields Heritage Talks

The new series of Pollokshields lectures have just been released and they have moved them around so that people who were busy on Wednesdays can make it along too. Here's the full list

Wednesday 14 November 2012
Tuesday 11 December 2012
Thursday 17 January 2013
Tuesday 12 February 2013
Thursday 14 March 2013
Wednesday 24 April 2013 (the lecture will be preceded by the AGM)

Its £5 to get in and this includes a glass of wine.

Website : Pollokshields Heritage

Lifeguard @ Govanhillbaths

Very interesting sounding event starting at the Govanhill Baths this weekend.

Lifeguard is an intimate and immersive theatrical experience about human beings and their relationship to water and swimming. Taking place in the disused teaching pool of the Govanhill Baths from 5 to 27 October 2012, the audience will have the opportunity to enter into a multi-sensory poolside encounter with their own ‘lifeguard’. Through the narrative of a relationship between a lifeguard and a swimmer, the audience’s complex and ambiguous relationship with water is explored. A young man, under the guidance and encouragement of an experienced, older man, is taught to overcome his fear of water and to swim. However, just when the young man might be tempted to think he's untouchable, something happens which changes the lifeguard and swimmer’s lives irrevocably. Lifeguard is an intimate performance for a small audience with live performance by Adrian Howells (the lifeguard) and Ira Mandela Siobhan (the swimmer) ; movement and physical 'score' by Jane Mason; soundscape and music by Nichola Scrutton, lighting by Mike Brookes; and original film projected onto the bottom of the pool by Minty Donald and Nick Millar. The dramaturg for lifeguard is Rob Drummond. Lifeguard explores how vital and life-affirming swimming is as a life-saving, and health-promoting activity and how emotionally and psychologically 'therapeutic' water is. It also explores how water can be life-threatening and how much we fear it. 

Govanhill Baths, a Edwardian swimming pool and wash house, was closed 11 years ago and is now looked after by Govanhill Baths Community Trust whose aim is to preserve and conserve the baths for the public benefit. The National Theatre of Scotland and The Arches are reinstating the training pool for the purpose of this production. The production will also include other swimmers, some of who will have learned to swim in Govanhill Baths during the course of rehearsals.

An exhibition entitled Water Water Everywhere will also be on display in the baths for the duration of lifeguard. This installation has been created by the local community, including St Bride's Primary School, Cuthbertson Primary School and Govanhill Voices community choir, working with the National Theatre of Scotland.

Adrian Howells says: "Since my childhood I have always been strangely drawn to, and fascinated by, swimming pools. I love swimming and the sensation of my body being buoyed up by the water and I find it thrilling to watch other bodies - diving, cutting through the surface and especially moving underwater, always graceful in their suspension. I'm intrigued by the fact that swimming is such a solitary pursuit, but we're so often doing it surrounded by other people, constantly part of a transient community. And I'm attracted to the layers of paradox that co-exist within the environment of a public pool: they contain ideas of both public and private behaviour; they're intended as centres of pleasure and abandonment, yet they're also places which are highly regulated and sanitised; they promote a celebration of life and living, yet the risk of drowning and death is an ever pervasive threat. Hence the need for, and constant presence of, a vigilant lifeguard. The full creative team is Jane Mason, choreographer; Nichola Scrutton, composer; Mike Brookes – lighting designer and Minty Donald and Nick Millar, film-makers; Rob Drummond, dramaturg.

LISTINGS INFORMATION

Venue: Govanhill Baths, 99 Calder Street, Glasgow G42 7RA 

Dates and Times: 5 to 27 October (no Sunday performance) at 19.30pm 

Matinees: Saturday 20th & 27th at 2.30pm Ticket Prices: £12 full/£9 concs and previews (5th & 6th October) 

Further info: www.nationaltheatrescotland.com and www.govanhillbathstrust.com 

*limited capacity production so early booking is encouraged

Audience info: Audience members may get wet. They will be invited to change into their swimsuit or other appropriate poolside clothes prior to the performance. They will be provided with a clean t-shirt, towel and flip-flops. Safe, secure changing rooms are available and staffed during the performance. Changing facilities are available from 7pm. Audiences are asked to arrive in good time to change ready for a 7.30pm start. Valuables/bags/coats etc will need to be left with an attendant in the changing room and will be supervised at all times. Latecomers can’t be admitted. Lifeguard is suitable for everyone 12 plus.

Room Service @ Pollok House

This looks quite interesting.

James Rigler produces objects that respond to the built environment around us. Working predominantly in ceramics, the language he uses speaks about the space his work occupies. He is preoccupied with forms, colour-ways and patterns from the canon of architectural history and interiors. At Pollok House Rigler will respond to the grandeur and formality of the house in its heyday. Through out the main house, gardens, and servants’ quarters  Riglers’ interventions create new narratives and offer an alternative interpretation of the house and its contents, encouraging visitors to look again at the many features and details throughout the house and gardens that make Pollok House such a gem.

Opening Times: daily (9am–5pm)

From the NTS website
The China Closet in the servants' quarters will be re-tiled with a graphic motif reminiscent of 1950’s Capri as Georgian Scotland, adding colour to a place that has been reserved for the pragmatic and utilitarian.

The Gazebo adjoining the formal garden and front lawn will have a frieze added, echoing the house exterior’s detailing of wildlife and natural fauna, repositioning and restyling the manner in which architectural features magnify the incidental in the world they inhabit.

A pair of objects in the Main Hallway reference a bird cage or a lantern and pay homage to the unusual ceiling rose – a flying eagle grasping a pendant light – and nod to the hand-painted wallpaper upstairs, as well as the feathers that adorn the stucco and exterior walls.