Happy summer fae all of us at Gaada. We will be taking a short break from 3rd - 24th July to recharge all of our creative energies. Although the workshop may be closed, you can still visit our current exhibition of colourful collages by Helen Tulloch, which is open 24/7 in our outdoor exhibition space, Display.

Before we head off for summer break, we wanted to share the wealth of happenings at the Toogs Artist Workshop. We have had such a busy year so far, and we can’t quite believe that we’re not even half way through!

*Helen Tulloch’s exhibition, It’s All Okay*

Weekly Workshops and New Editions

Our weekly workshops continue to flourish at Toogs. With each week, artists who attend these sessions are learning new creative techniques, and expanding on their own personal art practice. We have included four new artists editions to the Gaada Shop which utilise the foil-press and RISO duplicator.

Workshop Upgrades

The team has been hard at work making a more organised and accessible workshop space. We have recently aquired a new exposure unit, and have been refining our screen printing area for use in future projects! We have also replaced our old RISO printer with a new 2 barrel machine, making printing more efficient.

Exhibitions in Display

Over the Spring and Summer months, we have had two amazing exhibitions in our outdoor space Display. In May, Sammy Paloma opened her exhibition Bog Lore which explored themes of morality in metaphors of bogs and folklore. We also featured Helen Tullochs artwork in her exhibition It’s All Okay with her colourful collages. Helen’s exhibition will be up until August, so please come along the outdoor space to view it before it’s gone!

Workshop Bursaries

We've had a busy time continuing our Workshop Bursaries which enable Shetland based artists to access specialist facilities and one-to-one support to explore new ideas and new ways of making at Gaada. Our recipients of this year created a wealth of inspiring work in the studio. Sammy Paloma explored photopolymer etching, printmaking and riso in her workshop bursary, Elouise Spooner explored riso and produced a zine of her diary entries, Laura Hughes explored riso with the beginnings of her own tarot card designs, and Stuart Thomson explored AI generated art and produced a zine of his research. Read more about the workshop bursary recipients here!

Projects

Gaada has been busy publishing Safeland 2022’s Microcomissions. Safeland creates spaces to explore the margins of place and community – placing more emphasis on uncovering the unrecorded and overlooked histories in Shetland. We have recently published two of five microcomission outcomes from artists Jen Hadfield with Kokkilorie, and Julie Dennison with Da Holmliwatters. These publications are limited and are currently being stocked in the Gaada Shop.

We also hosted a number of artists from around the world in Toogs Artist Workshop. Artist Cameron Morgan from Project Ability had an extremely productive day in the studio where he was drawing and printmaking. We also had the pleasure of hosting Rosalie Schweiker for a week long residency, where she created a wealth of work resulting in a zine. Finally, artist Miriam Sentler hosted the successful Brigði collaboration day with Shetland artists, as well as utilising the RISO facilities in the workshop for a future project!