Gaada explores diverse new avenues in Shetland’s art scene

Gaada was founded on the firm belief that art is for everyone. The organisation, which is a not-for-profit community interest company, is primarily led by a team of experienced local artists who are alumni of the Royal College of Art and Glasgow School of Art. They are supported by a board of executive and non-executive directors and an advisory board that include local community members and national art professionals. Gaada can thus draw on expertise from right across the UK.

They’ve made it their mission to work with communities throughout Shetland to develop the potential that’s so obviously present. This work is led through an ambitious visual arts programme, which includes exhibitions, printmaking workshops, creating editions, and developing local resources. They also provide weekly one-to-one workshops for artists with additional or complex support needs. These long-term sessions provide a regular space for an individual creative practice to emerge. Being artist-led also means Gaada can extend their creative support to wherever artists need it most, including help with applications, and preparing for exhibitions.

Thanks to funding from the Shetland Charitable Trust, six annual bursaries are offered to Shetland-based artists who want to use the workshop resources to develop their practices Gaada has also been awarded funding associated with the Covid pandemic, which has allowed them to continue their important work during a very difficult time.

I went along recently to hear more about the project from Amy Gear, one of the directors, and Vivian Ross-Smith, programme co-ordinator.

After graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2015, Amy returned to Shetland to continue developing her art practice. Graduating at the same time, Daniel Clark – now another director at Gaada – remained in London as a technical instructor role at the College, but he moved to Shetland in 2018, when they secured the Auld Methodist Kirk in Burra. Crucially, it offered the possibility of creating the isles’ only visual arts workshop, offering much needed development space for Shetland artists.

Within Gaada, they’ve assembled an impressive range of equipment that currently supports high-quality printmaking including intaglio, screenprint, risograph, and relief printing. They intend to incorporate ceramic facilities in the near future.

In 2020, Vivian, who had recently graduated from her Masters at Glasgow School of Art, joined the team, adding her knowledge and experience within both arts and care.

Amy recalls: “One thing that we really wanted to do was create space for the huge talent in Shetland. There are so many artists, some of them making work in their bedrooms, who didn’t have a space to discuss their work or share what they were doing. We wanted to support artists who maybe didn’t have access to the ‘art world’. We’re really pleased with how Gaada is developing. We focus on building durable and lasting relationships with Shetland artists and community groups. We try to focus on under-represented groups in Shetland; for example during Covid, Gaada supported the organisation of Shetland Staands, an island-wide demonstration of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.”

Gaada’s first major project, Weemin’s Wark, was a dynamic programme of community workshops, cultural research, artist exhibitions and publishing activities funded by Creative Scotland. It sought to increase the visibility of women’s contributions to contemporary island culture and worked closely with local equality activist group, ‘Up-Helly-Aa for Aa’.

Alongside projects, Gaada also runs core activities such as Peer Group, a programme of group sessions for Shetland-based artists to share, discuss, and develop their work. There are also public and private workshops exploring print techniques. Artist editions can be purchased from Gaada’s online shop. Struan Haswell’s “What a tea-towel can be used for” is an example of a recent edition created during his One-to-One workshops. There’s even an honesty box outside where people can buy editions and zines as they pass the workshop.

Many people have become involved with Gaada, ranging from the six people who come along to the workshop for one-to-one sessions every week to the 89 people who joined a recent Zoom meeting about the Weemin’s Wark project. “We reach hundreds of folk from all over the world,” says Amy.

In fact, Gaada’s reach is extraordinary, Quarantzine, a series of free digital zines published during the 2020 Covid-19 Global Lockdown included the work of over 500 people from across the world, ranging from Pasadena and Melbourne to Brussels and Moscow. The Gaada artworkers don’t see Shetland as being on the periphery; they see the islands as a creative hub. “Just because we’re a peerie island doesn’t meant that we can’t reach artists from all over the world – which is exciting!” Much of this reach is possible through social media; in Gaada’s case, that mostly means Instagram, and their page has more than 2,300 followers.

Gaada’s doors have had to be virtual for those who’ve been most vulnerable during the pandemic, including people with disabilities. But Amy emphasises that they’ve remained open. “We never stopped our work with artists, we just changed how we work and sometimes that has meant moving to digital means.” Vivian says, “In Shetland, we’re pretty geared up to share things in a different way, because we are seen as outside an art ‘centre’. We have to communicate really openly; and that’s why digital communication comes quite easily to us and why Gaada has managed to reach so many folk. We’re keen to disregard this feeling of us being on the periphery and ensure Shetland is acknowledged as an active place in Scotland’s art scene.”

Amy explains: “When we started Gaada, we almost had a blank canvas – what do we want the art world in Shetland to look like?” Until Gaada was established, there wasn’t a workshop space like this in Shetland, so there were no rules. Amy says that one of the aspirations was that it would be open to all: “we didn’t want it to be just for professional artists, we wanted it to be for aspiring artists as well and anyone who was interested in developing skills in art.”

Vivian adds that as “we [Gaada staff] are all artists. We could think what we wanted to see in Shetland’s art scene and develop it for ourselves as well as for other artists”.

Vivian points out that art is often seen as people making and selling paintings or objects, “but actually a lot of art is about experiencing something that you normally wouldn’t experience; it’s also about gaining skills and making space for conversations. Gaada is an arts workshop where you can come to develop skills, discuss your practice and build supportive relationships with artists and the arts community in Shetland.”

One of the ways Gaada can provide that support is through what Daniel calls ‘creative brokerage’, acting as a contact point between people who want to commission work and the makers; and that helps build confidence among the makers, as their work becomes publicly visible. Gaada can make contacts worldwide that can help Shetland artists, because, as Vivian says, “we’re part of the wider art world; we’re Shetland-focused but our reach is much bigger.” It obviously helps, too, that those involved in Gaada have worked elsewhere in the UK and have built up many connections over the years.

As Amy observes, “it’s a very creative community, Shetland; what I love is that when I get the bus to town, the bus driver’s a boat-builder.” As she explains, the place seems to be full of folk who can draw, or knit, or paint. “It’s an incredibly hands-on community. It’s sometimes hidden, but we hope we can provide a space for folk to get excited by what they make!” And she emphasises the diversity of Shetland art and artists. “Everybody thinks it’s just about seascapes and birds, but it’s far wider.” As an example, Shetland illustrator and storyteller Rhys Mouat has been working on a fantasy saga, Reigniting Flame, of which the first volume has just been published.

Vivian says that “islanders often wear many different hats, have a huge variety of skills and do lots of different jobs, which is just part of the islander way of being and it’s fantastic when you think about it creatively.” What’s more, as she says, the arts are an entry point for people coming to live in Shetland, “whether it’s the music at the Folk Festival, the art or craft, it’s the creative side that pulls a lot of people here.”

Vivian and Amy both hope that what Gaada has done will encourage more young artists from Shetland to see the opportunities that exist in the islands, and come back here once they’ve studied elsewhere.

What of the future? The team are awaiting funding for an exciting new visual arts programme while developing their long-term plans for a fit-for-purpose visual art workshop and project space in Scalloway. In the meantime, they will continue to expand the activities and opportunities they offer to reach even more people.

Clearly, Gaada is already enriching lives and releasing potential. In doing so, it’s part of the jigsaw that makes up Shetland’s quality of life and which, in turn, makes these islands more attractive as a place to live and work.

We’re fortunate to have such an inspiring and accessible project so close at hand.