August 2020

Peter Liversidge Flags for Edinburgh flag bearing, Arusha Gallery, Dovecot Gallery and Ruth Ewan and Tam Joseph posters

By Holly

It was lovely to come together for the first time since lockdown, even if we were only able to be a much smaller group. It was a beautiful sunny day and we met outside Arusha Gallery on Dundas Street, the meeting point signalled through the waving of Peter Liversidge's Flags for Edinburgh 2020 - HELLO flag, which we enjoyed spotting all around the city as part of Edinburgh Art Festival's summer offering.

At Arusha Gallery we saw the fab exhibition Bodily Objects, which showcased the work of radical feminist artists. I especially loved seeing Rose English's Quadrille film - the recording of a performance piece at Southampton Horse Show in 1975, in front of an audience who were there to watch the equestrian events - a comment on the fetishisation of women's bodies in society. We then moved onto Princes Street Gardens for our picnic where we were able to catch up with each other, and have a look at Peter Liversidge's HELLO Postcards - DIY Art creativity kit which the group took home with them. We then moved on to Dovecot Gallery to see Mid-Century Modern: Art & Design from Conran to Quant which included furniture, fashion, textiles, lighting, ceramics, and printed material which defined the interior design and style of post-War Britain. The retro textiles were amazing - patterns I'd love to have in my flat!

Whilst we were there we also got to check out the Dazzle jewellery exhibition - an unexpected bonus of our visit, the group were in awe of the contemporary designs, unusual materials and intricacy of the pieces. It was also lovely to be able to see a weaver in action in the tapestry workshop as well to top it off! We finished up our day by walking towards the Meadows, on the way we saw artist Ruth Ewan's poster work Sympathetic Magick, which had had an interesting intervention placed on front of it by a member of the public - a fly poster about the plight of refugees, which felt apt in relation to the poster's socialist proclamation.

The day was rounded off at artist Tam Joseph's poster The Handmade Map of the World, where we and lots of other visitors attempted to take in the artist's absurd switching of names of countries, and what boundaries between nations mean for humans. A great day out, and I hope many more are to come!