SSAVISION 2009


Juteopolis Update

On behalf of the council and myself I wanted to thank all of those SSA artists who took the time and the leap of faith to complete a cube that contributed to Juteopolis, our collaborative sculpture which was showcased at Vision building during our Annual Exhibition this year. It was a lovely moment when I got to open little tissue wrapped parcels containing cubes and started one by one to lay them out. I was still receiving cubes in the post a few days before the show closed and the last cube was laid on the last full day.

The piece was a great success in many ways as first of all it provided a focal point which in turn became quite a talking point during the run of the show. Secondly, it gave a platform for all our artists to share common ground with everyone having the same brief and raw materials to work with. Thirdly, the context and uniqueness of the project allowed us to generate interest from our very generous sponsor Leslie Knox, Chief Executive of Alliance Trust, Dundee who so unreservedly gifted us £6000.

Since we had accumulated the cubes of 126 artists our next thought was what to do with them all? Indeed. Juteopolis had now played a part in an award winning exhibition and was also the catalyst for our highly successful Jute Bag Project for schools which in itself became a collaboration with Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Award winning museum Verdant Works/ Dundee Heritage Trust (www.rrsdiscovery.com) and The Natural Bag Company. Juteopolis has also been the focus of a six week project for second year Interior & Environmental Design students at Duncan of Jordanstone. Brian Kelly who is Education Officer at Verdant Works and I have been acting as clients overseeing a project to design a hypothetical exhibition based around jute and using Juteopolis as a point of reference. It seemed that the most natural home for Juteopolis should indeed be Verdant Works, Dundee.

An approach was made to Dundee Heritage Trust and I have pleasure in telling you that Juteopolis will be exhibited next summer at Verdant Works and is being afforded a home there as part of their permanent collection. This is great news for SSA as Juteopolis will have another life which contributes to the raising of our profile and provides an opportunity for continued visibility outside Edinburgh and also for input in associated educational workshops. I will be looking for some volunteers to help out with some childrens` workshops which will be about making their own cubes and constructing their own Juteopolis.

So..... to all of you out there who took a cube home but were not able to complete it, now is the time to dust off that cube which is probably propping up a table, masquerading as a book end or covered in stray paint daubes and finish it off! I am very grateful for the 126 that sent in their cubes but I really want this to grow, develop and stay fresh and the way to do that is by adding to it. There are still hundreds of cubes out there so pretty please help us in further contributing to what has been such an important initiative.

There is a possibility that a collaborative piece of some kind may happen for next year in the RSA although it is very much in an embryonic stage at this point. If this is going to happen we will be in touch with members by e-mail and through the website sometime before Xmas.

Thanks to all cube workers once again, your enthusiasm and creativity is much appreciated!

Louise Ritchie, SSA Council Member