Past Group

Re:Create is a collaboration between the public in Edinburgh and artists with the purpose of exploring contemporary visual art.

This involved groups and individuals coming to Stills, Edinburgh Printmakers and Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop to find out about what we do, to get to know some of the artists we work with and spending time creating their own artworks – either using photography, digital media, printmaking or sculpture – or all of them!

So far, Re:Create has worked with over 2,000 people in Edinburgh and we’re always looking for more!

If you are interested in working with us either on your own or as part of a group, please contact engagement@stills.org

Over the years, Stills has worked with Edinburgh groups Artlink, Columcille Centre, Dosti, Stepping Stones, Garvald Centre Edinburgh, Granton Literacy Project, MECOPP (Minority Ethnic Carers of Older People Project), The Orchard Centre, The Rock Trust, Saheliya, Waverly Care Solas and Whale Art Agency and artists Chris Dooks, Paul Gray, Carrie Maginn, John Morrison, Leena Nammari, July Read and Mairi Taylor and many more...

Re:create 2 will concentrate on three artists Caroline Douglas, Aimee Bogacz and Alice Betts and continue to explore ideas by artist Leena Nammari and Douglas Flockhart.

Re:Create artists will be trained in Stills, EP and ESW specialisms and through a programme of research, training, critical mentorship and masterclases concerning social engaged practice in order to develop their artistic practice while collaborating with groups and individuals. Through this process we will be creating a new model for public engagement with contemporary art between artists and audiences:

• by developing artists’ working practice to become more sensitive to and skilled in meeting participants’ needs
• by providing creative activities, which are more closely focused upon artistic practice and which enable the participant to have a greater level of insight into, and therefore confidence in the methods and works of the artist.

These activities will further enable Stills, Edinburgh Printmakers and ESW to share resources, training and expertise, while increasing opportunities for collaboration with audiences, artists and the public. And by further embedding this work within our creative programmes, participant needs and customer focus will remain integral within our organisations.

Children and their grandparents from Whale Arts joined artist Douglas Flockhart to develop a film inspired by their recollection of childhood games. The project took place at Stills and the final film was shown at Whale in the end of March this year and at the Filmhouse in summer 2009.

Artist Leena Nammari lead a digital photography project for a group of adults from the Welcoming Project and children from Tollcross Primary School. Exploring the theme of multicultural society children and adults worked in collaboration to produce pictures that were exhibited at Tollcross Community Centre from Wed 27 February 2008.

Slide show: 

Participants; Zoe Croy, Terri Lawson, David Lonnie, Stefanos Kokkoris, Elliot McNaughton, Christopher Robertson

Artist Morwenna Kearsley led an introductory workshop in the darkrooms at Stills for six participants from Edinburgh Young Carers Project.

Morwenna introduced the group to the exciting possibilities of creating photograms using traditional black and white photographic techniques. For three hours the participants explored image making using a variety of different materials producing individual images to take home as well as digitaised copies to display on their personal social networking sites.

"This is amazing - I'm enjoying this so much!", Course participant

Slide show: 

Salt of the Earth Schools Photography Workshop & Exhibition
During November 2009, 36 Higher Art & Design students from 6 Secondary schools worked with the National Museum of Scotland (NMS) and Stills, Scotland’s Centre for Photography to take part in a portrait photography workshop based on Craig Mackay’s Salt of the Earth exhibition at NMS. Run by professional photographer Leanora Olmi, the workshop was designed to provide students with a clearer understanding of portrait photography and to contribute to the expressive aspect of their Art & Design portfolios.

The students spent their first session in the National Museum of Scotland, where, following a technical introduction to the Single Lens Reflex cameras being used, they worked in pairs in locations throughout the museum, taking photographs of their partner. Taking their friend’s personality as the basis for the portrait, the photographer had to direct all aspects of the shoot including selecting the location, the use of props and costume, the pose and expression they wished their model to strike as well as lighting, composition and framing. This was followed by a session at Stills darkrooms where the students were able to hand print their images and learn about the equipment involved in this process.

Following the workshop, students, their teachers and family & friends attended an exhibition of their work in the Museum of Scotland. This provided a perfect opportunity to celebrate the work of these talented young people as well as a chance for them to compare and critique their work.

“Thanks very much for the great opportunity the pupils had at the photography workshop. They got a lot out of it and loved it. The feedback was very positive.”

“The most enjoyable aspect of the workshop was using the cameras and exploring the museum.”

“Only having 6 frames was a great way to emphasize taking good photography….you need to prepare more”

“The most enjoyable part of the workshop was exploring light and different angles and learning a bit more about how to work a camera as well as being creative.”

Slide show: 

Have a look at our Flickr site for more images of the workshop.

The Project
Earlier this year, Creative Electric, an Edinburgh group led by Heather Marshall that aims to provide accessible arts activities to the Edinburgh community, consulted with a group of young people about the issues they are faced with when it comes to mass media, identity and individuality. Through this consultation the group decided they would like to explore these issues by way of a photography project. And in such a digital world, the young people pointed out the present 'perfect photo' trend for taking photos on such social networks like Bebo, Myspace and Facebook; digital photography allowed the opportunity to endlessly delete photos they didn't like and keep trying for the 'perfect photo'. They felt the element of suprise was lost.

So the group looked into alternative ways of taking photographs and photography trends and decided on a Lomographic photography project that would allow them a unique photography experience that would challenge their current perceptions of what a photograph should be.

Of those consulted few had used instant cameras and none had used lomographic cameras.When the concept of Lomographic photography, in particular fish eye, was explained to the group many of the young people were excited, intrigued and the majority stated that this was something they'd like to try. So when exploring the '10 Rules' from the Lomographic Society, the young people were particuarly interested in the very different concept of 'shooting from the hip', a far cry from today's digital camera LCD screens so readily used when taking a photograph.

Social Context
In todays society we are given an image that we are meant to adhere to. The media presents us with perfects bodies and those that are not deemed perfect are featured in magazines with red rings highlighting their imperfections. Creative Electric believes that this is damaging to young people. Being a teenager should be about having fun and experimenting with different looks. Its hard enough being a teenager without the media implying that the way you look is wrong.Lomographic photography moves away from the idea of the instant, perfect photograph and instead replaces it with a fun, experimental one.

The Workshops 
Over a course of six weeks the participants on the workshop have been given the chance to explore more traditional ways of taking a photograph through 35mm black & white film photography, developing and printing in Stills' darkrooms, as well as shooting medium format colour film and learning some digital post processing techiniques like film scanning.

Slide show: 

Participants: Christine Barwick, Sarah Caltieri, Andreas Gartner, Anne Henderson, Robin Marshall, Fiona Powell and Rita Simpson.

Led by blind photographer Rosita McKenzie and delivered by five experienced artists, Revealed project has opened innovative creative opportunities for visually impaired people in Edinburgh

Inspired by the surroundings of Edinburgh and the participants’ own experience of the city they inhabit, the workshop introduced participants to photography through a series of practical sessions and critical discussions at Stills.

The work created will be exhibited at North Edinburgh Arts from 8 to 26 July 2009. Aiming to celebrate and raise awareness of participants’ abilities and challenge sighted people’s perceptions, Revealed exhibition offers a range of fascinating visual experiences of the city.  

The photographs exhibited are accompanied by tactile interpretations, created by Camilla Adams, as well as sound recordings, created by Rachel O’Connor and Jules Rawlinson, which will make the exhibition accessible to all audiences.

Revealed podcast, recorded by artist Jules Rawlinson. Right- click to download.

Revealed podcast 2 recorded by artist Jules Rawlinson. Right- click to download

Revealed podcast 3 recorded by artist Jules Rawlinson. Right- click to download

Revealed podcast 4 recorded by artist Jules Rawlinson. Right- click to download

Revealed podcast 5 recorded by artist Jules Rawlinson. Right- click to download

Insight radio interview with Rosita McKenzie and Maria Harper.

Revealed Exhibition

Dates: Thursday 9 July 2009 - Saturday 25 July 2009

Exhibition Opening: Wed 8 July from 6pm to 8pm

Click on the thumbnails above for a slideshow of exhibition images.

Location: North Edinburgh Art Centre - 15a Pennywell Court 
Edinburgh EH4 4TZ

Open: Mon & Tue 9.30am - 5pm, Wed, Thurs & Fri 9.30am - 8.30pm, Sat 10am -12pm

Revealed Exhibition at RNIB

Dates: Wednesday 23rd September - Tuesday 20th October 2009

Location:RNIB, 12/14 Hillside Cresent, Edinburgh EH7 5EA

Open: Monday - Friday 9am - 4pm

For further information please contact:
Rosita McKenzie @ rositamckenzie@blueyonder.co.uk / 0131 657 3955
Maria Harper @ engagement@stills.org / 0131 622 6200

Artist Leena Nammari lead an introductory project to digital photography for women from ethnic minority backgrounds based in Edinburgh. Saheliya, a Black and Minority Ethnic Women's Mental Health organisation, and Stills have an exciting and interesting collaborative history in developing creative projects together, to see more past projects please visit the Ricochet website. 

The Queensferry Care’s Sunshine Club had the chance to create a film about their lives in an exiting film project led by Stills artist Douglas Flockhart. The film, which shows the working life of 3 of the participants, enabled the rest of the group to act as crew members during the process.

Watch this space as we will soon be uploading documentation of the project and the finished film.