The Mackintosh Festival opens at House for an Art Lover

The Mackintosh Festival was officially opened today on Thursday at House for an Art Lover.

Article Source: The Mackintosh Festival
Last Updated: 2 October 2016 18:18

Organised every October by Glasgow Mackintosh, this year’s festival features over 40 events - many of which are free – at Mackintosh and partner venues across the city.

Each year, the festival celebrates the life of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow’s most famous architect, designer and artist – this year’s festival celebrates the Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design 2016. ‘Mackintosh the Innovator’ created by Wireframe Immersive, invites visitors to come along to St Enoch Centre for a 3D virtual reality experience that will allow them to design and interact with a Mackintosh space. Mackintosh was a true innovator and visitors are invited don 3D goggles and stand ‘beside’ Mackintosh to see how his design perspective would be applied, using today’s technology.

House for an art Lover celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and there are a host of events taking place at the House during the festival, including: an Afternoon in Song; Home to Home – a tour of the House; Mackintosh Queen’s Cross and The Hill House; a range of art masterclasses and Free House – where you can celebrate their 20th birthday with kids activities and free tours of the house.

Twenty years ago, Elisabeth Viguie Culshaw stencilled the newly built House for an Art Lover with large Glasgow Style Roses designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. For this year’s festival, Elisabeth will be getting her rose stencils out of storage to create a carpet of roses outside some of the Mackintosh venues with the help of the public. The workshops will take place at: House for an Art Lover; Mackintosh Queen’s Cross; The Hill House; The Lighthouse and in St Enoch Centre and participants are invited to learn to stencil a rose and make their mark as a true Glasgow artist for the day.

The Lighthouse will host award-winning artist’s Kathy Hinde’s musical flock of ‘Luminous Birds’ to the Mackintosh Tower; guided tours and self-led trails of the building and will show the Mackintosh Film Series in the Mackintosh Centre which will be showing Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1965) directed by Louise Annand and Mackintosh, directed by Murray Grigor (1968).

Visitors will get the chance to discover a new Mackintosh venue - The Mackintosh Club in Helensburgh. Designed in 1894 by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the building, in the town’s Sinclair Street, was originally The Conservative Club. It was recently purchased by Bruce & Nicola Jamieson who will be restoring it to its former glory. They have opened a public gallery dedicated to The Glasgow Four which will run during the festival as well as talks and tours of the building.

The Hill House in Helensburgh will show an exhibition by Arts and Crafts artist, Henry Taylor Wyse. ‘Artist, Teacher & Craftsman’, running in parallel with an exhibition of pots at the Edinburgh Museum. Wyse was an influential teacher of art and his grandsons have lent material and work by him which includes: watercolours, family tree, landscape portraits, pots, books and leaflets.

Mackintosh Queen’s Cross, Mackintosh’s only built Church, have a varied programme of events including: artist Avril Paton, who will be their artist in residence and will paint a piano to celebrate Glasgow Piano City throughout the month; visitors can also see her work The Art School; the popular Lids Open Day returns; an exhibition of architectural artwork by Minty Sainsbury; talks on architecture and design by Michael Davis and Will Mitchell; an evening of piano and violin; a guitar recital and the Church’s annual puppet show Gruff: a new take on the classic tale of The Billy Goats Gruff – great fun for all the family!

The Glasgow School of Art will host ‘Disappearing Glasgow’ by photographer and filmmaker Chris Leslie; there will be talks on the ‘State of the Mack’ by The Mack Restoration Team; Peter Trowles, the School’s Mackintosh Curator, reflects on some new discoveries about the building’s history unearthed following recent research for Mackintosh’s Masterwork; the GSA Digital Design Studio have created a digital re-imagining of the Mack and GSA archivist, Susannah Waters, will talk about Mackintosh’s Student Days and give visitors the rare opportunity to see original sketches and watercolours created by Mackintosh during this period. The GSA Walking tours and Mackintosh at the GSA tours will run throughout the festival.

Festival goers can enjoy tours of The Mackintosh House at The Hunterian and The Glasgow Art Club which is also hosting Aye Mac – a Mackintosh-inspired exhibition of work by contemporary artists in Glasgow.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum; Glasgow Museums Resource Centre and Scotland Street School Museum invite families and young Mackintosh fans to be inspired by Mackintosh at their free workshops.

Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop said: “With an exciting and varied programme of events, this year’s Mackintosh Festival looks to be one of the best yet. Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s legacy is a vibrant part of Scotland’s cultural heritage and talent for ingenuity. “The fifth Mackintosh Festival is an excellent chance to explore the work of one of Scotland’s original innovators in Scotland’s Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design 2016.”
Commenting on the festival, Ian Elder, Chair of Glasgow Mackintosh, commented: “This year we celebrate the Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design with a fantastic programme of over 40 events lined up over the course of the month including. Many of our events are free and we have something for all ages – including workshops, talks, tours, exhibitions, music and much more. We look forward to welcoming you to this fifth Mackintosh Festival.”

This year’s festival partners include: The Glad Café who will show an exhibition of work by furniture designer, Simon Harlow and a talk: Working in the Shavings of Mackintosh; Glasgow Women’s Library will host their Glasgow Girls of Garnethill walking tour and Willow Tea Rooms, Buchanan Street have created a walking tour around the city centre on Miss Cranston’s Tea Empire. The Big Mack Dinearound is back for a third year and features a range of special offers to celebrate the Festival at some of the city’s best restaurants.