Dundee Cinéma les Auteurs #dundeewestend

Dundee Cinéma les Auteurs is a unique 3-day event dedicated to celebrating the creativity bubbling within our city.

It offers a platform for filmmakers of all levels to share their stories with a local audience.

It is taking place at The Vine, 43 Magdalen Yard Road.

You can read full details at https://sites.google.com/view/dundeecinema - all welcome!

West End Community Groups’ evening

Last night, as part of  West End Christmas Fortnight, we had an excellent community groups’ social event at the Vine in Magdalen Yard Road.

Some of last night's audience

It was a great opportunity for folk from residents' groups, local churches and other faith groups and other voluntary organisations in the West End to meet and discuss their activities.

Grateful thanks go to the Vine for their help and to Eddie Small who is gave an interesting and informative talk on “Darcy’s Dundee.”

West End Social Event at the Vine

As part of West End Christmas Fortnight events, we had an extremely well-attended social event at the Vine last night for representatives of West End community groups, local churches and charities active in the local area.

Susan Keracher, Art Curator at The McManus, gave a very interesting talk on the paintings of the Vine collected by George Duncan, MP for Dundee from 1841 to 1857.

Many thanks to Susan for this, Peter Menzies, owner of the Vine, Sharon Dickie of the Christmas Fortnight team and Natalie Mackland, West End Communities Officer, for making it such an enjoyable evening for everyone.

Here's a couple of photos from last night's event :

Susan delivering her talk about the art of the Vine

Some of the audience

A Midsummer Fete at the Vine

A marvellous Midsummer Fete at the Vine!

In aid of ABR Scotland - bringing new hope to children and young adults with cerebral palsy and other brain injuries.

Saturday 24th August from 7pm - only £1 entry (under 5s free).

Roll up roll up for ...  live music/ luxury raffle/ face painting/ transfer tattoos/ vintage clothing £3 sale/ lemonade stand/ massive cake and candy stalls/ bottle ,bear and gift tombolas/ the best games & crazy good prizes/ tasty BBQ/ drinks bar/ special Starbucks stall and so much more!

Photography and Art Exhibition this Saturday

Details below of a great event at the Vine in Magdalen Yard Road this Saturday!

Magdalen Artists' Crafts and Paintings Day

As WestFest 2013 drew to its end after a great week of events, I had the pleasure yesterday of visiting Magdalen Artists' Crafts and Paintings Day at the Vine in Roseangle.

In addition to the art exhibition that has taken place throughout WestFest, there were excellent crafts on sale yesterday - see below.     Remaining artworks will be on display at the Vine for some time yet, so there is still the opportunity to view and buy some of the art works.

Crafts and Paintings Day - a WestFest event

During WestFest, the Magdalen Artists have their exhibition taking place at the Vine in Roseangle, opposite the Roseangle car park. 

This Saturday, the exhibition is on all day along with a crafts fair - don't miss it!  

A high quality PDF of this poster can be downloaded here.

Visit to Magdalen Artists at the Vine

As part of WestFest's Big Sunday yesterday, Magdalen Artists' exhibition at the Vine was opened and I had the pleasure of visiting the exhibition.

It is well worth a visit and is open each day this week and all day Saturday (when there will also be a craft fair).    Some photos below from the exhibition:

Magdalen Artists during WestFest!

Don't forget that WestFest 2013 starts tomorrow with Big Sunday on Magdalen Green!

Magdalen Artists are having an exhibition at the Vine throughout WestFest - details below:

You can download a high quality PDF of this poster here.

WestFest Spring Fair

On Sunday - March 17th - Dundee WestFest is holding the Spring Fair and Pop-up Café at the Vine, 43 Magdalen Yard Road - in Marquee accommodation in the grounds of this beautiful neo-classical building. 

The event will run from 12.30pm – 4.00pm and the café will be serving hot drinks, home made soup and cakes.

Various entertainments will take place during the day including:

* Freya hand-prints cards and limited edition prints, sometimes with a fleck of gold of silver for a bit of glam. Her work features anything that catches her eye, Chickens, flying men and tins of fish have all been printed, and there's plenty more where that comes from.

* Victoria Gazeley, local artist who will be selling small artworks and homemade craft works. What she strives to capture in her art is each animal's individual personality and how their characteristics can be compared to those of humans.

* Emma McDermott, specialised in jewellery and metalwork, and stained glass technics, combines both crafts to create glass jewellery. Each piece of jewellery is individual as they have been fired in my kiln and the results are always unpredictable.

* Anna Day, Director of Literary Dundee, and Chris Collins, book designer, presents the first Playroom Press book, Dundee 123, a counting book for cool kids using Dundee’s landmarks.

* Jim Stephen, wood turner, makes a wide variety of things, such as fruits, clocks, bowls, etc.

* Margaret Rae makes handmade jewellery and accessories : lacy scarves/snoods and corsage/brooches.

* Georgia Clayton makes hand-knitted hats, inspired by the colours and textures of Scotland – hence the business name “Highland Hues.” – and combining new, recycled wool and other materials. All are named with evocative titles such as Heather Moor, Mossy Brae, Sea Holly etc. She also does all-inclusive kits so that you can knit your own hat.

* Liz McCarthy paints semi-abstract landscapes. “Although most of my paintings are rooted in reality by the beautiful Angus countryside, I do enjoy putting my own personal spin on what I see, and interpreting in a more imaginative way. I am particularly excited by the abstract harmonies that I sense in my subjects and in colour harmony and composition.” 

*And more to come...

* Plus a special guest: Garden Gate Plants ... Andrew Morrison will bring hardy garden plants and an attractive range of brushwood animal planters.

See you all there!

Super Saturday activities across the West End ...

In the middle Saturday of West End Christmas Fortnight, it was great to see lots of activities across the West End, including:

* The West End Christmas Fortnight Primary 5's football competition.    It was a great event with 5 teams participating from three of our local primary schools - Ancrum Road, Blackness and St Joseph's.   Here's some photographs and a video from the tournament that was kindly sponsored by Good Health and Fitness and run by Riverside Community Sports Club:

And the winners are St Joseph's Primary School who won the final against Blackness Primary School.   Here's the winning team, having received the cup from Murray McDowell of Good Health and Fitness:

Best goal scorer was Ben Garrick - Ben received a gold football boot award from Murray:

* Christmas Fayres.    In addition to the Harris Academy Parent Teacher and Pupils Association (PTPA) Christmas Fayre that I also had the pleasure of attending (see right), it was also great to see other fayres taking place in the West End this morning.

Firstly - see below - the Pennycook and Sinderins Courts Sheltered Housing had a very well-attended Christmas coffee morning at Pennycook Court. It was a thoroughly enjoyable event and good to see so many local residents supporting this.

Secondly - again see below - the Magdalen Artists have their Christmas Exhibition of Art and Craft taking place at the Vine in Magdalen Yard Road.   This is open again tomorrow from 10.30am to 4pm.

Pennycook Court Coffee Morning:

Magdalen Artists' Christmas Exhibition:

West End Christmas Fortnight - Magdalen Artists

Earlier this month, I updated residents about the Magdalen Artists' exhibition as part of West End Christmas Fortnight.    This takes place at the Vine - 43 Magdalen Yard Road - next weekend.

As a taster, here's some of the art that will be on show:

Toadstool by Fiona Moore

 

Untitled by Jim Petrie

Storm in a Teacup by Pauline Murray

Untitled By Pat Edgar

Winter Wood by Liz McCarthy

Magdalen Artists at the Vine

As part of the forthcoming West End Christmas Fortnight activities, Magdalen Artists are exhibiting again at the Vine - its great to see this taking place and details are given below:

You can download a better quality PDF of this poster here.

Magdalen Artists - an update

I recently did an update on www.dundeewestend.com on the Magdalen Artists who have had an exhibition at the Vine as part of WestFest 2012.

With thanks to the Artists, here's ten of the paintings on display:

Blue Vase by Jim Petrie

Duntrune Wood by Liz McCarthy

Lochnagar by Liz McCarthy

By Pat Edgar

By Pat Edgar

Road and the Miles to Dundee by Pauline Murray

Tay at Sunset by Fiona Moore

Two Birds by Jim Petrie

Two Poppies by Fiona Moore

View from the Close by Pauline Murray

The exhibition ran only during WestFest week and had a good attendance, especially on the Saturday.   Although the public exhibition has ended, during June, if you go to the Vine during office hours (43 Magdalen Yard Road), it will be possible to be shown round the paintings.

And ... some more photos from the Twisted Tea Party ...!

Further to my article yesterday about the WestFest Royal Twisted Tea Party that we all enjoyed on Saturday, and with thanks to Ed Thompson for the photos, here's the finalists for the Best Queen competition!

But the winner just had to be Graham McAulay-Sillars!

WestFest Royal Twisted Tea Party!

Had an enjoyable time at the WestFest Royal Twisted Tea Party at the Vine yesterday - a great start to the build-up to WestFest 2012.

Here's a couple of photos!

Magdalen Artists at the Vine

The creative force behind the new exhibition of drawing and painting in the Vine is a group know as the Magdalen Artists. 

Consisting of five artists (pictured right), they return to the beautiful setting of the Vine to show their work in an exhibition aptly themed “Summertime”, to fit in with WestFest.

Having exhibited their work together on a previous occasion, in the Vine, the exhibition has an overall cohesion with its fusion of styles and subjects.   This is not to say that the artists work in a similar style but that the styles complement and interlace to create an impression of unity.   

To begin with, there are Pat Edgar’s semi abstract pieces with their imaginative use of texture and warm colours.    Liz McCarthy paintings bring a calm and relaxing feel to the exhibition with her use of soft tones and sensitive media handling. 

Fiona Moore’s work, which encompasses a variety of approaches from her hyper realistic pastel studies to her charming painted pieces. Pauline Murray, whose colourful and detailed work take in a range of subjects from the Orient to much closer to home. 

Finally, Jim Petrie, whose tremendous sense of colour, grabs the viewer's attention to his abstract compositions and playful subject matter. 

Overall, this is an exhibition which should not be missed.

The exhibition runs form Monday 11^th June until Saturday 16^th June 2012 in The Vine, 43, Magdalen Yard Road, Dundee.     Opening times are 2.00pm until 4.00pm.