Summer Party 2015 – The Whisky Bond

A big thanks to everyone who attended The Whisky Bond & GSS Summer Party on Saturday. There was an amazing turn out with hundreds of new and familiar faces passing through the building and area throughout the day and evening.

In the daytime, many groups and families participated a variety of workshops including GSS Saturday Sculpture Club’s casting workshops with artists Lauren Printy Currie and Sarah Rose.

Artist Kate V Robertson and the RSPB hosted a creative workshop in the community garden outside. Participants got taught basic woodworking skills and got to build their own bird boxes and seed bombs, whilst learning more about the birds found in their gardens.

Owl Project‘s collaborative artists Simon Blackmore, Antony Hall and Steve Symons concluded their Canal based residency for Creative Cargo showcasing performative and sculptural work with music making machines, interfaces and objects which intermix pre-steam and digital technologies.

Visitors sat and cheered by the canal watching ‘Displacement’ – various attempts to pull a canal barge loaded with 10 tonnes of timber along the water using an assortment of ‘engines’ including a Clydesdale horse, artists on bikes, kayakers and even a team of children and dogs – all part of Then/Now, a public art project run by artists Neil McGuire, Minty Donald and Nick Millar as part of the Artworks to Unlock the Story of Glasgow’s Canal project.

Artist Beth Shapeero led a group on a short walk to the Hamiltonhill Claypits to see ‘Residents’, her new semi-permanent installation which will remain in situ until October 11^th.

My Bookcase hosted a notebook making workshop where guests learned how to make their own little notebooks by re-using printed material from The Whisky Bond community.

In the Let’s Blow workshop, Natty Glass let guests try their hand at glassblowing.

Fionnuala McGowan & David Farrer from Mobile Print Studio ran printmaking sessions in the GSS assembly space for anyone who wanted to try their hand at making some colourful screen prints.

The Creative Cargo barge was back again this year. Visitors learned how to make horns and amplifiers using recycled materials and clay in the Making Instruments workshop with artist Alys Owen. Later in the day the barge made a 1 hour voyage to Applecross basin so guests could enjoy a cruise on the canal.

The lovely folks at Piece not only served delicious sandwiches and coffees all day but managed to find a dry(ish) spot in the evening to cook up some tasty delights on the infamous TWB barbecue.

…and the bar opened just in time for the rain.

At 5pm, the preview for ‘pleasant setting’, Marysia Gacek’s solo exhibition of new work created throughout her one year Graduate Fellowship opened in the GSS gallery space.

The sold out PechaKucha: Society by Design curated by Sarah Drummond kicked off in The Distillery at 7pm, seeing a host of great speakers take to the stage to discuss the principles of design and how they are applied in different sectors.

Many people stuck around in the busy bar area for more drinks, gin tasting with Open Source Distillery and to dance into the night to tropical tunes played by Duncan Harvey.

Huge thanks to everyone involved and all those who came along, we hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did!