Community Groups

Lava rising from patterns of earth and rock

Lava rising from patterns of earth and rock

Inspired by the rocks under our feet in Glasgow, from the carboniferous to the metamorphic hundreds of millions of years ago. We drew and doodled from our rock collection as well as from our imagination, thinking about lava rising up through the sea to create… Read More »Lava rising from patterns of earth and rock

Spring experiments and lots of tensho!

Spring experiments and lots of tensho!

The primary school group on Saturday at North United Communities in Maryhill Hub tried Japanese calligraphy for the first time and had lots of fun! To begin with we did some short meditation together, just grounding and breathing, settling, and then touching the materials which… Read More »Spring experiments and lots of tensho!

Clouds and heart-mind at Maryhill Hub

Clouds and heart-mind at Maryhill Hub

Secondary school young people at the Friday night North United Communities group embraced Japanese writing and Shodo calligraphy. The group had some meditative time first to feel the textures and weight of the materials, such as the types of fude brushes, suzuri ink well and… Read More »Clouds and heart-mind at Maryhill Hub

Shodo calligraphy at Ruchill Community Centre

Shodo calligraphy at Ruchill Community Centre

At our first Sasakawa Foundation sponsored event in Ruchill, local children and staff tried out Japanese calligraphy for the first time, using traditional materials such as fude brushes and sumi ink to write some Chinese kanji characters. We explored a natural theme of light and… Read More »Shodo calligraphy at Ruchill Community Centre

North United Communities, Glasgow

Sights of Glasgow painted at NUC Breakfast Club

We started off sketching the main shapes of the composition – of the Clyde river and Hydro, Armadillo and Tall Ship, then added the great Glasgow icon of the Duke of Wellington with his stunning traffic cone hat ? Next the Squinty bridge, Finnieston Crane,… Read More »Sights of Glasgow painted at NUC Breakfast Club

Love is in the air, with satellites whizzing by the stars

Love is in the air, with satellites whizzing by the stars

After some relaxing doodles of love hearts to celebrate the group being on Valentines day, with some joyful Ryokan poetry, we picked up the cityscape-cosmos theme again with some smaller doodles first then prepared for a large piece. One of the group brought in an… Read More »Love is in the air, with satellites whizzing by the stars

Exploring the cosmos, with a slice of watermelon ?

Exploring the cosmos, with a slice of watermelon ?

‘Art is magic’ ‘Art is explosion’ Two quotes by the Japanese 20th Century sculptor and painter Okamoto Taro. His large sun and moon heads inspired us to develop some drawings based on the heavens and its deep connection to us in the city environment. We… Read More »Exploring the cosmos, with a slice of watermelon ?

North United Communities, Glasgow

Meditation and Qigong with young people

At Maryhill Hub on Saturday, Blair working with the NUC young people – a short session of mindfulness meditation for children with some fun Qigong moves?   ********** Workshop for North United Communities **********

Meditation and calm at Brushing Fire

Arts and culture project – calligraphy, meditation and Shakyo

Supported by the Sasakawa Foundation, we will be running some free workshops in the North, West and central areas of Glasgow for young people and adults to discuss, explore and have fun trying out Japanese Shodo calligraphy, with some meditation and mindful awareness, such as… Read More »Arts and culture project – calligraphy, meditation and Shakyo

Snowflakes and festive natural patterns

Snowflakes and festive natural patterns

In the last two sessions of Maryhill art group in 2018, with it getting closer to Christmas (and also the fact that the centre staff asked if we could make some decorations for the building) we had festive pattern themed groups. Folk seemed to take… Read More »Snowflakes and festive natural patterns