A disused building in Ferguslie Park has been transformed into a hub for art and creative endeavours.
Craigielea House is now home to artists’ studios and a community workspace and the hope is that the new building will widen access to the visual arts.
The former social work office on Blackstoun Road is being developed into what sculptors Laura Aldridge, Nick Evans and James Rigler are calling Sculpture House.
Their ambition is to create a new studio facility and model of artistic practice where the community has access to arts and new ways of working can be developed between professional artists and the wider community.
Disenchanted with warehouse-style studios, isolation from wider society and the lack of studio space security, the trio set about exploring different artistic practices.
Laura said: “We thought – what if there could be an alternative model for artists interested in socially engaged practice where they had steady studios and space security and could be useful and engaged with the community around them?”
The trio reached out to Renfrewshire Council who showed them a number of possible properties they could take on, and the former offices and ex-domestic residence at Craigielea House fitted the bill.
Laura added: “We liked the idea that the building had at one point been a home – it gave the sense of a welcoming space. It fit with the vision we had.”
With support from Renfrewshire Council’s Future Paisley programme, the artists were last year able to take out a lease of 20 years on the building, with them paying the council by offering creative activities to locals and maintaining the building that the community can then use.
Cultural lead officer for Future Paisley Katie Nicoll said: “The ambition is to transform Craigielea House into a community asset that delivers accessible creative activities for the community while being a sustainable base for artists to thrive in Renfrewshire. This aligns with Future Paisley’s ambitions to make this an attractive place for artists to work and increase opportunities for the community to engage and participate in cultural activities.”
The unique arrangement has the backing of the Ferguslie Park Community Council whose chair, Terry McTernan, welcomed the establishment of Sculpture House.
He said: “It’s important for the community to have access to creative spaces. Given the impact on mental health during the pandemic, many people are looking for connection, to understand they’re not alone.
“Therapeutic art seems to be an effective way of addressing this and a recurring theme in feedback.”
Liz Simpson has lived in Ferguslie Park for more than 60 years. She has mobility issues and has found it difficult to go far beyond her doorstep.
But Liz has been building relationships with her new neighbours, providing them with plants and planters and even helping out with some gardening.
When asked what she thought about Sculpture House, she said: “It’s great to see the building looking better and I like to come over the road and have a chat with them – they’re so welcoming. I’ve enjoyed helping with some of the planting they’ve been doing, too.”
Helping with the garden has encouraged Liz to consider other creative activities to try.
“I’d really like to give ceramics a go – I like statues for my garden and it would be great to see if I could give it a go,” she added.
The artists are using the initial year of Sculpture House as a pilot to test out what activities work and they want to use residents as consultants on how to progress.
Nick said: “We are always thinking about what types of workshops would be worthwhile for the community and we ask people like Liz what they would like because it’s the best way to get people engaged with what we’re doing.”
Sculpture House is already running a successful Dye Gardeners Club every fortnight with resident artist Laura Spring, where locals can come along and plant seeds that will then be harvested and turned into dyes for textile printing. They also have plans to run Clay Club evening classes with other exciting activities in the pipeline.
When looking at the long-term vision for Sculpture House, James said: “We want the building itself to become a living work of art. It’s the canvas and we want to use it to showcase the work of the groups who use the space, like the glazed ornaments hanging on the cloakroom wall that were produced by the adventure group.
“In time it would be great to be in a position to have artists commissioned sculptural work featured throughout the building to really bring the idea of Sculpture House to life.”
Don't miss the latest Renfrewshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter here
