The Launch of the Celebrating Creativity Exhibition

World Mental Health Day (10 October) marked 35 years of Outlook, a City of Edinburgh Council service providing free adult education for people who access mental health services. The Celebrating Creativity Exhibition was launched that day at the Wee Museum of Memory at Ocean Terminal.

The launch event featured an excellent selection of music from Ralph and his colleagues from Om Music Sanctuary, a music charity based in the West End of Edinburgh. There were also a few short speeches (including one from me) about the importance of Outlook courses and how they help students to gain skills and self confidence. There was then time to browse all the artwork, chat with students and tutors and drink lots of tea. 

I've delivered classes for Outlook for several years now, focusing on creative writing and nature studies. Specifically for this exhibition, I taught two creative writing courses, one focussing on students' memories of Edinburgh, the other using historical photos of Edinburgh (from the archives of The Living Memory Association) to inspire creative writing. I was very impressed by the stories the students wrote in these courses and am delighted with the way they are displayed as part of the wider exhibition. 

As well as creative writing, the exhibition showcases Outlook students' creative work including pottery, collages, quilting and photography. Outlook is a really important service for people facing mental health issues, yet like many other similar services, constantly struggles to get adequate funding. This exhibition, as well as being enjoyable to visit in itself, makes a powerful argument for the importance of funding services like Outlook.

Celebrating Creativity, 10.30 - 4.30, 11th - 20th October at the Wee Museum of Memory, Exhibition Space 2, on the first floor of Ocean Terminal, next to a well known coffee outlet.   

Wendy McMurdo: The Digital Mirror (art exhibition)

The Digital Mirror showcases 20-years of ground-breaking photography from Wendy McMurdo. Using digital photography and inspired by traditional games and online gaming, McMurdo explores the influence of the online world on creativity and imagination particularly in children. 

Her photos show children variously in drama groups, at computers, dressed up as robots and viewing museum exhibitions. These photos are shown alongside some of McMurdo's inspirations, including a doll's house and sculptures by the Scottish sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi. This presents online gaming as a continuum of traditional imaginative play, while at the same time allowing the viewer to appreciate the specific value of older forms of imaginative play.   

With the digital landscape changing faster than ever before, this is a very timely exhibition and well worth visiting.  

Wendy McMurdo: The Digital Mirror showing at The National Portrait Gallery until Sunday 25 October.  

Free entry.  

Celebrating Creativity - 35 Years of Supporting Mental Health through Education

World Mental Health Day (10 October) this year also marks 35 years of Outlook, a City of Edinburgh Council service providing free adult education for people who access mental health services. The Celebrating Creativity Exhibition at the Wee Museum of Memory at Ocean Terminal will showcase Outlook students' creative work including pottery, stories, collages and photography. 

I've delivered classes for Outlook for several years now, focusing on creative writing and nature studies. Specifically for this exhibition, I've just finished teaching a course using historical photos of Edinburgh (from the archives of The Living Memory Association) to inspire creative writing. I've been very impressed by the stories the students have written and am looking forward to seeing their work at the exhibition. It will be a very worthwhile exhibition for anyone to pop into while shopping in Ocean Terminal. So do pop along if you can, while you're in Edinburgh. 

I'll write more about this once I've been to the exhibition launch! This is just an advance notice so that you can put the dates in your diary.  

Celebrating Creativity, 10.30 - 4.30, 11th - 20th October at the Wee Museum of Memory, Exhibition Space 2, on the first floor of Ocean Terminal, next to a well known coffee outlet.   

Sandra George at The City Art Centre, Edinburgh

Sandra George (1957-2013) was a community and youth worker in Edinburgh and a prolific social documentary photographer. A range of her photos are now collected together in an exhibition at Edinburgh's City Art Centre. 

The exhibition groups the photos into themes including family, disability and youth-work and features areas of Edinburgh that many people, even lots of long term city residents, aren't familiar with. It's certainly a good exhibition to have on during Edinburgh's summer festivals, as hopefully it will give many tourists a view into the Edinburgh communities that they generally won't see during their visit. 

George's photos are documentary, so she focussed on capturing the people and activities around her and her relationship with her own son. Many of the photos show her ability to elevate an ordinary moment into a timeless memory.

You can read a longer review by Lee Sharrock, along with a few selected photos from the exhibition here. 

 

Sandra George: Start from the Level showing at the City Art Centre, Edinburgh, until Sun, 27 Sept 2026

Modern 2, National Galleries of Scotland

 Today I went to see the excellent Women in Revolt exhibition at Modern 2, one of the National Galleries of Modern Art in Edinburgh. I'd got there early and while I was waiting for my friend to arrive I took time to take some photos of the impressive architecture. 

The grounds offer views over to Dean Cemetery, which is one of Edinburgh's private cemeteries, so not one that I've done a wildlife survey of! 

The Women in Revolt exhibition looks at feminist art and activism in the 1970s - 1990s and includes paintings, zines, videos and other materials covering topics such as the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp, wages for housework, lesbian identity, racism and other issues. It's well worth seeing (in fact I'm going back to see it tomorrow with a different friend!) before it closes on 26 January.

Abstract

I experiment with texture, shape,
play with shades of colour,
explore the theory of art.

Never meant for show
outside the college studio
these pictures hid in storage.

While work for exhibition
never sold, too mundane
so many critics said.

But then some dealer fell in love
with my series ‘Shades of Grey’
and I am now the ‘New Sensation’.


Previously published on the Camel Saloon. The Camel Saloon no longer exists but its editor Russell Streur now edits the Plum Tree Tavern which focuses on poetry and nature and the environment and which today published my poem Watching the Skies which you can read here.

Today I also posted a selection of haiku on Crafty Green Poet. You can read them here.

Women's Work

after Jomwa Phiri

This woman will always be stirring nsima*
over a fire beneath a baobab tree
dark against a sunset sky.

Knees slightly bent, these women will forever
carry pots to and from the water well
and keep the well wheel turning.

But except the woman drinking with the men

these women move through these crowds
alone.

I remember such scenes being loud with laughter
but the artist reveals the loneliness
beneath the bright colours.



* nsima = maize porridge

For NaPoWriMo - early bird prompt - ekphrastic poetry

Jomwa Phiri is a well known Malawian painter, who I met when I lived in Malawi. We have several of his paintings round our flat and recently I discovered several more, hidden away in a drawer, one of which is now in the Crafty Green Poet Etsy shop, the others I'm going to frame and find wall space for.