FEATURE LIST
completed, but so far only the middle floors are in operation and the artists have been putting up studio partitions themselves as there
is no money left to pay joiners. There
are plans to turn the ground floor into a sculpture and metalwork
studio and the old bread oven with its
tail chimney may be converted to a potters‘ kiln. Although everyone agrees that it is economically unviable to leave two floors empty. there is little WASPS can do without an immediate and sizeable injection ofcash. Mr McCray estimates that the second phase of the development
will cost a further £100,000 but hopes
it will be completed by 1990.
Rents in Patriothall are £2.50 per square foot. and the studios. lined with creamy Victorian tiles. if not plusher. are less ad hoe than their counterparts in King Street. The wide doors and enormous bakers' lift are particularly useful for shifting heavy pieces ofsculpture and big canvases. Aseetic hardliners may feel that the showers planned for ‘phase two‘ are a needless luxury. but Mr McCray. who is exploring the possibility ofcombining studio space with living accomodation in places like Irvine. says: ‘We don‘t think discomfort generates better art. and we want to get rid ofthe artist-starving-in~the-garrett image.‘
In Dundee. again with a loan from the SDA. 60 artists are moving from the Forebank school. which was the first ever WASPS building. to the three storey Meadow Mill in Blackness. The British Rail lease for WASPS‘ Aberdeen studios ends next year, and new premises for at least 20 artists are urgently required. An ideal location was found on one
ofthe quays. but the Harbour
Board. which owns the roofless
L property. now filled with mummified
pigeons. could not guarantee to make it watertight. In the long term WASPS hopes to
spread its network ofspaces to
smaller towns like Glenrothes, Irvine and Dumfries and further
? north to Inverness and the islands. 3 Apart from SPACE in London. which now accommodates over 250
artists in short-term housing and has a two-year waiting list. WASPS is the biggest organisation of its kind in Britain. Despite costly delays and a chronic overall shortage ofarts funding. Mr McCray is ‘optimistic‘ about the future. ‘I think the SAC is keen to see us expand because we fulfil such an important role in the
Scottish art world.‘
In 1984 SPACE set up a national committee — The Art Space Federation — so that studio collectives throughout Britain can discuss issues like rates, tenure. charitable status and organise the exchange of exhibitions. The next meeting takes place on Saturday February 15 at the Posterngate gallery in Hull. details from SPACE tel: 01 278 7795. For further information on existing and planned provision of workspace for artists in Scotland contact WASPS‘ administrator Lily Strago on 041 552 0564, or write to her at 22 King Street. Glasgow.
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HILARY I’ATON
HILARY PA'I‘ON
PHILBRAHAM Pi—iii'fa'R'AHA.
From the top — lett to right: “The Lovers' (1985) by Donald Urquhart; Donald in his liing Street studio which he shares with Jeweller Lindsay McCaulay; Alistair Magee in King Street. now working on a series at paintings about the aggressive tone at Christianity in the Third World - ‘Peopie are anaesthetised by traditional religious imagery'; Exterior at the Patriothall Studios in Stockbridge showing the old bakery chimney; Phil Draham, Edinburgh artists' representative. in his new studio; Ian McCall. one olthe 70's ‘gable end’ painters now worlring with vacuum fennel perspex and metal in King Street; Facade oiWASPS new Glasgow premises in East Campbell Street near the Danes where Jacki Parry, John iaylor, Elspeth Lamb, Dominic Snyder and others will have their studios.
The List 7 — zoréb—‘I