On a Wing and A Prayer: Gather and Respond Creative Workshop

Gather and Respond is a creative working that will allow participants to explore the university campus collecting sounds and making marks on paper in response to the environment around us. On return to the Pathfoot Building, we'll listen and reflect on what we've heard and seen and also reflect on our changing habitats in the light of human agency and our changing weather patterns.

This workshop is ideal for anyone who is interested in exploring their environment creatively and is open to all ages and abilities. You don’t need any prior knowledge or experience.

What to Expect:

· We’ll meet in the Pathfoot Building, University of Stirling for a cuppa and an introduction from the team.

· Then, we’ll head outside for the rest of the workshop to listen and collect. We’ll aim to go to some of the wilder parts of the campus, but the route will be dictated by the group.

· We’ll come back to Pathfoot for some lunch, provided by the Art Collection.

· After lunch, we’ll gather to listen to the sounds collected and look at the images created in the morning workshop. We’ll think about how these sounds and images relate to each other and how they make us feel, especially in light of the ways in which our environment is changing.

· Then, there will be time to explore ways to develop and extend our work further and think about how we might want to share it with others.

What to bring:

· A mobile phone or sound recording device if you have one.

· Warm, waterproof clothing and shoes you can explore in!

· We’ll have plenty of materials and equipment on hand, but if you have your own sketchbook that you like to use, please do bring that.

About the day: On a Wing and A Prayer: Reflections on Our Changing Habitats

This workshop is part of an exciting day of workshops and performances at the University of Stirling Art Collection exploring the intersection of creativity and environment. We invite you to come to as much or as little of the day as you like.

Programme of Events

11-3: Gather and Respond Creative Workshop

3:30-5: Drawing to Sound Creative Workshop

18:00-19:00: Performance: On A Wing and A Prayer Deeside

The day will finish with a performance of Nordic Viola's brand new album with Pete and Joe Stollery, "On A Wing and A Prayer - Reflections on Deeside's Changing Habitat." There will be an opportunity to meet with the musicians and ask questions about the project after the performance.

About the Artists

Katherine Wren founded Nordic Viola, a flexible ensemble specialising in contemporary and traditional music from the North Atlantic, in 2016. Nordic Viola have commissioned new works from emerging composers inspired by landscapes, history and the culture of the Far North and now regularly perform in the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Orkney and Shetland. In 2022 Nordic Viola featured in the Made In Scotland Showcase at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with their multimedia production ‘Sagas and Seascapes’. In 2024 Nordic Viola presented Arctic Edgelands, a collaboration between Arnannguaq Gerstrøm, Renzo Spiteri and Katherine Wren at Nordic Music Days Glasgow.

Katherine particularly loves exploring music with community groups. With Nordic Viola highlights include an international online creative workshop with young people from the Faroe Islands, Shetland and Scotland and a joint intergenerational workshop with artist Orla Stevens in Aberfoyle. She also works with Tayside Health Arts Trust and the RSNO in the community and in hospitals.

In 2019 and 2020 Katherine was shortlisted for the Scottish Awards for New Music “Making It Happen” and received further recognition when she was commended by the RPS/ABO Salomon Award for her remarkable contribution to the life of the RSNO, of which she has been a member since 1998.

Katherine lives in Dunblane and spends as much time as she can exploring the local environment by bike, on foot and on skis. www.nordicviola.wordpress.com

Orla Stevens is a Scottish artist and illustrator, based in Callander. Her work looks to connect people to nature and landscape, inspired by the importance of play, exploration and positivity that both the creation process and being in the outdoors share.

Orla’s work combines influences from screen printed textiles and folk art with her adventures outside. A firm believer in the importance of accessibility across art and access to the outdoors, Orla hopes her work encourages more ways of noticing, celebrating and protecting our natural spaces.

Through painting, Orla explores her own connections to places, mapping her memories and multi-sensory experiences. Sounds, visuals and emotions are represented through colours, marks, textures and shapes to capture a sense of place.

Collaborating across a wide range of applications, Orla loves working in multidisciplinary ways; across public artwork, screen printed textiles, album artwork, murals and beyond. Orla holds a BA (hons) from Edinburgh College of Art in Printed Textiles. Work is held in public and private collections across Europe, Australia and Canada. www.orlastevens.com

Pete Stollery is a composer and sound artist who was based for many years in northeast Scotland, where he created a large body of work reflecting his fascination with sound and how it relates to place.
From 2000, he was part of the team which re-introduced music programmes at the University of Aberdeen and was Head of the Department of Music for many years. He retired as Professor of Composition and Electroacoustic Music in 2022.
In 2004 he was part of the setting up of sound, a new music incubator in NE Scotland which runs an annual festival of new music featuring composers and performers from around Europe, as well as yearlong activity including opportunities for composers and performers of all stages. He is also artistic director of Any Enemy, NE Scotland’s New Music Ensemble. www.petestollery.com

Joe Stollery is a composer originally from central Aberdeenshire. He graduated with a MMus in Composition at the University of Aberdeen (2016) has recently completed his PhD at the same institution. He has written for a wide variety of ensembles, mostly instrumental, but also songs and chamber operas.
He was twice a finalist in the Carlaw-Ogston Composition Award (2015 & 2016) and has been commissioned by the Aberdeenshire Youth Orchestra, the Geneva-based wind band Harmonie Nautique, the Aberdeenshire Saxophone Orchestra, Inverurie Concert Band, Cappella Nova, Any Enemy, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Drake Music Scotland and Hebrides Ensemble, amongst others.
His personal interests include the local environment and its history, nature (particularly animals), myths and legends, especially mythical creatures, and the supernatural. He is particularly interested in fantastical concepts and often speculates on these things in his music, usually by finding and making connections with real-world affairs. www.joestollery.com

About the Univeristy of Stirling Art Collection

The University of Stirling Art Collection is a collection of Scottish Contemporary Art, housed in the Pathfoot Building. Our aim is to make arts and culture a part of daily life for students, staff and visitors through exhibitions, events and workshops.

This year, our exhibition explores how Scottish artists in the 80s and 90s began to respond to the changing climate.

Thanks to the Hope Scott Trust and the Vaughan Williams Foundation for allowing this day to be possible.The creation of the On A Wing and A Prayer project was made possible with support from Creative Scotland and the Hinrichsen Foundation.

Host or Publisher Nordic Viola