Philip wears his art up his sleeve

Philip on challenging pre-conceptions of what can be art....

"You have modeled something different to a non-arts audience. I think you have definitely opened up their ideas about art. Because you have emphasised that from the very beginning that anyone can be an artist which has probably stuck with them. You have kept saying this is art, I think it would have been different if you didn't frame it like that or they'd have seen it as kinda fun. But you always mentioned it was art and you have definitely made an impact changing the group members perception of what can be art."

Philip Malcolm, AXIS Project worker from Crossreach (the social work department of the Church Of Scotland.)

Taking over the world?

Introducing Liam McGee and Garry Whitton

Liam McGee, fourth year student at Duncan of Jordanstone college of Art and Design brought in his almost completed Tagtool. Alistair stayed behind after his shift and set up the Tagtool so that Liam and Garry could see it in action. Garry Whitton a local animator and VJ planning to use the Tagtool at the Guerrilla Gallery event organised by D-Air at Hannah Maclure Friday 2 July.

Liam's design is slightly different from ours, he has used shorter sliders and has staggered them.

The most popular library in Scotland

I told you it was good here....

Mystery photo

On the subject of what artists get up to in libraries Alex Stephenson created Mystery Photo a set of books that exist as twenty five copies in the permanent collections of libraries and archives.

The books feature ninety photographs of 'mysterious content', submitted by the general public to Nottinghamshire libraries in 2006. Alex sorted them into Dewey categories, aware that the subjective scrutiny of the Dewey Decimal system allowed for multiple readings of each image.

Alexander Stevenson

Wall2 self-portraits

I have been working away for two weeks, I returned today and was delighted when library workers Sandra and Verity showed me how they'd been using the Tagtool with the Wall2 group. They'd printed out A4 size photographs of group members and laid each photo over the graphics tablet. Each group member was able to trace their own likeness and then have their photo taken by their own Tagtool self-portrait.

Volcanos, ketamine, tea and biscuits

Confidentiality is vital in this job ...... this horse says neigh.

The LIFE group (ex substance abuse) met today, we were going to visit the Garbologist headquarters but the forecast for Perth was bad. Instead we stayed at the library, drank copious amounts of tea & biscuits, watched videos and got down to some serious drawing.

Phil, support worker from AXIS project is convinced that SKY TV would be interested in his animated graphics of planes flying over the Icelandic volcano.

Chris

9

Science and Business staff have loaded a trolley of books that are out of date, materials to build a few sculptures perhaps?

Paul Octavious - The Book Collection

Thursday

Bobby from the library's The Wall group poses for his portrait at McManus.

The LIFE group and The Spacemakers

Generally at the start of the week I support Alistair (library worker Science & Business) who runs a weekly support group called LIFE for people recovering from problems of drug and alcohol abuse. The group produces it's own newsletter Oor Paper, Oor Stories to help people understand what kind of life experiences members are struggling with...

I've met with Philip Malcolm the AXIS project worker (who refers members to the group) and Alistair to tailor a series of entertaining presentations relating to the shared experiences of participants in the group. Each session introduces a set of art linked a particular theme, such as 'rules and containment in contemporary society'.

I've included contemporary work by a variety of artists working on the international scene. Group members have been enthusiastic to talk about the questions and issues raised in relation to their own experiences. Of course not only is this new to the group participants but also introduces the workers to a body of arts work relating to the issues that link into their practice. Word got around at the Axis project and last time we met we were joined by support worker Linda Thomson. Linda also volunteers for the Vice-Versa project ( which aims to tackle street prostitution).

If this sort of thing interests you and you'd like to broaden your thinking on what can be art and who can be an artist you might be interested in a series of six Thursday evenings I'm running between 20 May -24 June called The Spacemakers - Celebrating the Art of Urban Subversion at the Hannah Maclure centre.

This is organised by D-AiR ( Dundee Artists in Residence) it's free and open to the public, but places are limited and you'll need to book a place in advance. Either come and find me in Science and Business or check out the D-AiR website if you'd like to know more.

Science and Business department

Maths, chemistry, physics, astronomy, science (not biology!), law, management, design, typography, photography, architecture, periodicals, directories, phone books, EU info, gardening, DIY, computing, economics, business..... and 26 PC's with wireless internet available.

LINK:

Sakura Adachi's Cave bookshelf

Meanwhile.... in the murder/mystery section...

Once upon a time...... in the library

I've started to recognise some of the locals and noticed a few people are regulary spending all day in the library ( I've become one of them). I can see the attraction, the heating is on, it's dry and no one tries to sell you anything. In these wintery economic times the Central library is a place of respite for many a Dundonian. What has struck me since I have been here is that inequality and disadvantage dominates a lot of the library users existence. Despite Dundee having been the focus of substantial investment, the ‘trickle down’ effect appears to have impacted little, as low wages and part-time employment can create similar effects as unemployment itself.

Image : Dina Goldstein

I personally can't say enough good things about the library. The best thing is it gets you away from home ( if you have one) it offers a place to hang out. It's popular, there are always people wanting to access the Internet (for free). It routinely offers all sorts of events for children and adults alike, and has special multipurpose spaces for music, children’s activities, visiting speakers and creates supportive environments for vulnerable users.

It's a place of escape, and if you really want a distraction ...you can always get lost in a book*.

*DISCLAIMER We can't promise it will magic away disadvantage, discrimination, abuse and poverty in your life but it might offer a welcome distraction.

LINKS:

Dina Goldstein's Fallen Princesses

Dundee Central Library Facebook page

Tower

I've been on the look out for artists who make work with books and I found this which is based in the hall of the main library in Prague. This popular sculpture dominates the space, it's a giant tower of books - a monument made out of old novels from the library. It rises more than 5 metres in the air. In the bottom, there is a mirror, creating the effect of a deep well of wisdom.

Introducing the Tagtool project

Last Wednesday I set up a 'taster' session at the library to introduce the staff team to the Tagtool project.


The Tagtool is a live performance instrument for drawing and animation.

It's similar to a musical instrument but it plugs into a projector instead of a sound system.







The great thing about the Tagtool is that people with little or no computer experience can feel at home with it immediately. It can be used by anyone who can hold a pen.

Everything you see is created on the spot by the artist.

Kerri, a youth worker from Grey Lodge Settlement picked up the pen and made this flower which was animated by Alistair from Science and Business. It just took about three minutes to make.


















Ida from the Local History department started tentativly saying, "Im no good at drawing you know" but after playing around with the colours for a few minutes she didn't want to come off.





Anyone who knows Ida will know colour is very important to her. The vibrancy of colour created by Tagtool made the tool very appealing.


Eilidh, arts and philosophy student from Duncan of Jordanstone dropped by. Despite living in the city for 18 months it was the first time she had been in the central library.

Eilidh met with some of the staff and we tried out projecting on ourselves and drawing to music.


Shona and Margaret managed to escape from of the Children's Department to try the Tagtool.

They'd like to see it used to enhance the activities in the children's area like storytelling sessions and baby rhyme time. With this in mind I invited local illustrator John Paterson into the library, his style of drawings would really suit the Tagtool.

You can see more of Johns work here. John is currently working on an online anti-bullying project creating animated characters for children to relate to.

Later in the week John and I met with Shona in the childrens department, together we discussed the possibility of projecting live drawings on the frosted glass windows to accompany story time.

Another option would be to make the tool available to children to animate the storytime sessions themselves.


We set up the tool for ten year old Harvey to try out.

In a matter of minutes Harvey was making his own football animations

Background info on Tagtool

...finally when Harvey had gone to bed, John made a late night attempt at a spaceship....

More from Ninja librarian...

Grey Lodge's AAAA project

Last week I met with Jackie and Kerri from Grey Lodge and various library staff to see how I can support their work with a group of six young people from St Johns who will be participating in Grey Lodge's AAAA project next term starting on 23 March.

Grey Lodge work with young people from Morgan, Braeview and St Johns one day a week over a period of six weeks. The photo from last Friday's Evening Telegraph shows S2 pupils from Morgan Academy with their end of course certificates.

Domino

In a world where the library is overrun with computers.....

For the kind, friendly, hard working, much put upon staff based in the Science and

Business department, who spend a large proportion of their day logging people on

and off computers.