Wikipedia:GLAM/UWS Paisley School of Arts Project/Community Workshops

Group One: United Spaces
United Spaces was a community-based project created by four students at the University of the West of Scotland. The project had worked extensively with a local Paisley organisation known as Star Project. The aim of the project was to gather a better understanding of the people of Paisley and to implement these decisions into artistic endeavours. The project was intending to create a reinvention of what local Renfrewshire people wanted to see at the former Paisley School of Art. This didn’t need to be based on what people expected the building to be like this could be anything from the architecture specifications such as windows all the way to the minuscule such as the design of the coffee machines used in the hypothetical educational establishment

History
The University of the West of Scotland received funding by Renfrewshire Council through its Culture, Heritage and Events Fund to discover the creative history of the Paisley School of Arts. This involves the distribution of money for students to create workshops for which this community-based project was founded upon. The original brief for the United Spaces project was composed by one of the students. It was chosen as the best brief most suited for the task amongst the four students. In March 2021 it stated; Create and stitch one image each of what you would like to have in your imagined Paisley School of Art. It can be anything from big windows to a coffee machine, easels, selection of threads, specific shops, community spots etc. These smaller pieces will then be stitched together to create a bigger piece which will then represent a collective community inspired Paisley School of Arts/Paisley Town. The project was given a high degree of artistic freedom to create whatever the participant saw preferential it could have been a piece of poetry, writing, painting or drawing. Participants did not need to be from a formal artistic discipline, it couldn’t be stressed enough. The sky was the limit. All of these visual ideas collated would all come together to form a collective, imagined and personalised art school. United Spaces then started working along with the staff at Star Project to organise a date and time for everyone that wanted to engage in this workshop to come along.

Materials
Packs with different materials were created by United Spaces for the participants of the workshops including the likes of; glue sticks, acrylic paints, paint brushes, felt tips coloured card, plain A4 paper, Paisley print paper, fabrics, history sheet, icebreaker sheet and pack instructions. The United Spaces team encouraged the participants to utilize and recycle products in their home. Through the organisation of Star Project, the packs were delivered to each of the participants. This was very helpful as the students within United Spaces therefore did not need to spend money on postage stamps or parcel delivery. The United Spaces team made sourced high quality materials for their participants packs on a low budget of £58.82 for eight participant packs. The team wanted the participants to get the best out of the workshop and felt they would benefit from the better quality products.

Workshop
The students hosted a workshop for people involved with an organisation known as Star Project. It was decided the workshop would be hosted on Monday, 10th of May from 1230 to 1430. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the workshop was done using online software such as Zoom for both the participants and the students who were hosting the workshop. The workshop started off by using icebreakers that were created by the students to ease the people who contributed to getting into the spirit of things. This included activities involving describing people using their names and trying to suss out a lie from two truths. The United Spaces team were briefed on what the workshop would involve and what was expected from them. One student then gave a summary of the history of the Paisley School of Art. Stating from its routes as the Paisley Philosophical Institution all the way up to the present day of being known as the University of the West of Scotland. It also informed the listener about the introduction of the four other campuses that existed of the University of the West of Scotland. The participants were given a break of around fifteen minutes during the workshop for them to have a brainstorm about what they might create and also to give them a time away from the screen. After the workshop the students collected images of the participants work, with the help of Star Project. The united spaces team then compiled this together into one digital art piece. Which embraced the community and their version of Paisley School of Art. The students made every effort to make the respondents at Star Project feel welcome and accepted within a safe space and environment. The students each had a part to play in making the workshop complete and made sure that everything was told to the participants, and they were all accepted as unique artists with their own unique voices vocally and visually in an art form.