Abbeyhill Primary School:
Abbeyhill Primary School: Up, Up and Away!
Abbeyhill Primary School: Surrealism for Surreal Times
Abbeyhill Primary School: Party Portal
Abbeyhill Primary School: The Aliens
Abbeyhill Primary School: Colony of Artists Family Ceilidh
Venue 38 - Abbeyhill Primary School
Windows, Screens and Greens
Five projects by Abbeyhill Primary School artists-in-residence Dave Pratt, Sylwia Kowalczyk, Romy Danielewicz, Heather Rikic and Citadel Arts Group, featuring guest-artists Caroline Brockbank and Bernie Hewitt, spanning the school windows, your screens and our urban greenspaces.
Curated by Iliyana Nedkova specifically for this year’s Colony of Artists.
DID YOU KNOW?
In 2013 Abbeyhill Primary School started with only five artists-in-residence bringing the wonder of contemporary arts to every child in and out of the classroom. Since then, over 50 resident artists have been inspiring over 200 children a year to create, exhibit and perform at the annual Colony of Artists festival weekend
Up, Up and Away!
School windows mural trail at Venue 38
Take up to the skies with this new trail of school window murals created by illustrator-in-residence Dave Pratt and his young co-artists. Pay tribute to James Tytler – the first person in the UK to fly by ascending in a hot air balloon in 1784 from nowhere else but our own Abbeyhill. Remember to take a glimpse at the school windows every time you are in the Abbeyhill area and combine this with a visit to another Tytler homage – one of Murally People’s latest Colony of Artists mural on the corner of London Road and Maryfiled.
Surrealism for Surreal Times
School windows mural trail at Venue 38.
A video tutorial (3.30 min) for your screens
The surrealists who pioneered this movement in 1924 would probably feel ‘well at home’ in these surreal times. Watch, cut and collage following this ‘stay at home and be surreal’ video tutorial by Sylwia Kowalczyk – the photographer-in-residence at Abbeyhill Primary School. Devised by the artist amidst the COVID-19 pandemic for her Primary 6 co-artists, it is packed with practical ideas for collage and montage-making – some of the signature techniques Sylwia uses in her photography practice, too.
Take a break from your screens to experience the site-specific surreal mural installation on the school windows, including a bounty of surreal poetry as some of the highlights of the artist residency which ran in-person in and out of the Primary 7 classroom throughout April, May and June 2021.
As part of POLSKI project enabling over 10 artists of Polish heritage to take up residency at Abbeyhill Primary School through a curatorial partnership with Polish Contemporary Art Organisation since 2015
Party Portal
An audio play (5 min) a documentary (8.30 min) and a short story (long read) for your screens.
The jewels are missing! Enjoy a cautionary tale of cake fights, time travel, birthday parties and old Polish legends.
The audio play Party Portal, the accompanying documentary The Jewels are Missing and the short story Crystal Animals and the Ocean Planet chart the progress of an experiment in collective performance making led by Romy Danielewicz – performance artist-in-residence at Abbeyhill Primary School.
"While the audio play is a more linear record of our work, the video functions as a sort of ‘the making of’ documentary, destabilising pedagogical or artistic authority. Shot mostly by the Primary 4 students themselves, here is a testimony of a multidirectional process and collective authorship.” Romy Danielewicz
As part of POLSKI project enabling over 10 artists of Polish heritage to take up residency at Abbeyhill Primary School through a curatorial partnership with Polish Contemporary Art Organisation since 2015
The Aliens
Live theatre performance indoors | free but advance booking required
It’s 1940: just after the Dunkirk evacuation. Can a World War shake the friendship of two Leith lassies – Lizzie Preston and Gina Ricci?
The drama company-in-residence at Abbeyhill Primary School Citadel Arts Group presents The Aliens adapted from William Haddow’s novel Leithers One Family by Laure Paterson and directed by Adam Tomkins. Performers are Alison McFarlane, Debbie Whyte, Mairi Jayne Paterson and Anthony O’Neil. Sound by Allan Rhynas. Music by Jim Bryce.
Please note that this family-friendly live performance is indoors in a COVID-safe environment with a restricted seating capacity limited to 30 people in the audience adhering to Scottish Government guidance for social distancing, wearing masks and signing up on arrival.
Date and time
Sunday, 19 September 2021
11:00 – 11:30 BST
Location
Leith Dockers Club Ltd
Academy Street
Leith
EH6 7EE
Colony of Artists Family Ceilidh
Fancy starting your Colony of Artists Sunday experience with a wee jig in the park?
Well, you can if you head to Holyrood Park Parade Ground to take part in the Colony of Artists Family Ceilidh promising fun Scottish dancing outdoors for all the family with Ceilidh caller Caroline Brockbank at CeilidhKids, accordion player Bernie Hewitt of Traditional Dance Forum Scotland and Heather Rikic – the choreographer-in-residence at Abbeyhill Primary School who has been busy devising a new dance together with all Primary 6 pupils inspired by social justice concepts, as well as ballet, hip hop and Scottish traditional dance.
Bee safe – bring your mask, dancing shoes and friends!
Date and time
Sunday, 19 September 2021
11:00 – 12:30 BST
Location
Holyrood Park Parade Ground
Queen’s Drive
Edinburgh
EH8 8HG