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| AiH's stall by the main entrance |
Writing from the comfort of my
desk with a cup of tea beside me is a far cry from what was the bustle of the
Edinburgh Art Fair (EAF) four weeks ago! Art in Healthcare’s (AiH) presence
over the course of the 3-day weekend was nothing but action-packed with little
time for sitting drinking tea and, due to the fun buzz of the occasion, nor did I
wish to be doing so. Contrarily I felt that as an AiH employee helping to
oversee our various activities and volunteers it was a real privilege to be in
attendance at the event. The EAF in itself was clearly a massive undertaking in
terms of the coordination of hundreds of different individuals and
organisations so a huge well done to Andy and Lorna McDougall who masterminded and
oversaw the project in its’ entirety.
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| One of the children's workshops in the foreground and Jacqueline Watt's demonstration in the background |
So what exactly was AiH’s role
there? Largely to provide a range of workshops for children, painting
demonstrations and talks for adults, plus the opportunity for visitors to buy
some of our prestigious prints and to learn about the services we provide as an
organisation. Additionally, we put up for sale a selection of artwork by those
artists from our Collection who had been involved in AiH’s workshops and talks
programme at the EAF, hereby supporting local artists with their own
endeavours.
In order for all of our
activities to take place, we had a superb team of volunteers and interns who
were well briefed in advance about their various roles throughout the EAF,
albeit helping with the workshops, manning our information stand, helping with the
sales of our artworks, taking photographs and video footage and generally being
on hand for miscellaneous tasks. Their help was invaluable and enabled us to
have the successful presence at the EAF that we did.
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| One happy family of participants from the art workshops! |
The childrens’ workshops were
particularly successful with artist Leo du Feu barely drawing breath through
each of his 3 per day 1hr long sessions that he ran. With thanks to Great Art for
generously donating all of the art
materials used throughout the weekend, the results were a wide selection of
colourful, lively and imaginative creations that the children could take home,
probably for sticking on the kitchen fridge! Jacqueline Watt and Alan McGowan
both ran fascinating, if very different to each other, painting demonstrations
relating to their own individual practice, and captivated their audiences with
their skills and creativity. Kate Downie gave a talk about the influence of
bridges in her art, which attracted a large number of listeners and myself and
Trevor, AiH’s Director, gave talks with insights into different themes relating
to our work for AiH. Meanwhile, Damian Callan created a magnificent ‘Art in
Motion’ over the course of the weekend - essentially a gigantic artwork he drew
of the EAF at the EAF, which is to be sold with all proceeds going directly to
AiH.
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| Damian Callan's 'Art in Motion' - one giant artwork of the EAF created over the weekend |
With over 12,000 people pouring
through the doors over the 3 days of the EAF, a record number of visitors surpassing all previous years, we felt sure that AiH had been given a fantastic opportunity to
raise awareness about themselves and gather momentum for the year of 2014 lying
not far ahead. We also felt a distinct ‘cameraderie’ between ourselves -
volunteers, interns, staff members and artists, and everyone else – other
galleries, visitors and organising staff. What a great feat to put on such a
feast for the eyes with all that artwork on display and with such a jolly atmosphere. We are greatly looking forward to
next year already to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the EAF…
You can watch a film about AiH’s involvement at the EAF by clicking here, made by one of our volunteers, Will Murray Brown.
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