First up is Mark McCracken, a “Postdigital” artist who creates portraits of popular culture icons and is showcasing a unique printing technique for the first time.  Each week he’s been pinning up a new local “Icon” at the gallery, exposing and laying bare his process for open critique along the way, which is a pretty brave thing to do.

Mark’s exhibition runs until 30 April, here’s what he has to say about his work.  Video by Fraser Denholm.

Five Minutes With… Mark McCracken from Fraser Denholm on Vimeo.

Self-explanatory title.  New exhibitions opening on Saturday (previews 6-8pm on Friday, all welcome) are:

The Obsidian Isle by Gayle Chong Kwan and Kin, a Gray’s School of Art pre-Degree Show, um, show.

That is all.

Cardboard and electronic beats, together at last.  The concept is quite simple; spend the day constructing forts from cardboard, then listen to electronica emanate from them at night.  Sarah J Stanley (live electro set), and DJs MWX & Digital Stitch will come if you build it, in a Field of Dreams kinda way that is…

Unashamed copy/paste from press release below.  Looks interesting.

The Aberdeen public will get the opportunity to be the first to see new work by American artist and ceramist Ehren Tool.  A former Sergeant in the US Marine Corp and Gulf war Veteran, he left the service and began his studies at The University of California, Berkley, graduating in 2005 with a Masters Degree in Fine Art. Having exhibited extensively across America, Germany and France and with work on permanent display at the Pentagon, Ehren, based in California, has teamed up with Scottish arts collaborative Stray Dog to bring his first UK exhibition to Aberdeen.  ”Humble Occupation” will run from 20th to 26th February and will feature an installation of his signature ceramic cups finished with images, carvings and text that present ongoing realities of war and conflict shared by many.

Over one hundred cups have been made and shipped over from California.  Jim Ewen of Stray Dog says “It’s a privilege to present new work by Ehren, even more so as it was made especially for this exhibition in Aberdeen.  Ehren is an artist recognised at an international level and it is our hope that the public will visit the gallery to view his thought-provoking work that resonates as much now as when he first started.”

An exhibition which opens tonight (Friday) at Limousine Bull.  ”Asmita Sarkar and Katarina Chomova have left home and are making art in an alien place. One of the dominant themes of the show is how marks, patterns and gesture depict pleasure and pain, hopes and fear.”

A quick heads-up about this:

“Temporary Art School is a one month live project happening throughout the city of Aberdeen in March 2012.  A group of people living and working in both Aberdeen and Glasgow have come together to put on classes and workshops which experiment with what an art school can be, and continue a long tradition of self-organised education.  The school is free and no previous experience of art education or training is required.”

You can sign up for some of the classes which have limited spaces now, although there will be open-to-all drop-in sessions every Friday during March.

Find out how to get involved and much more on the Temporary Art School Site.

The project will also be documented and shown at The Pipe Factory as part of  the Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art in April/May.

I’d imagine we’ll be featuring this again nearer the time…

Alternative art, craft and design fair Tea Cosy is back, and with 26 Scottish makers of nice things peddling their wares, it’s a pretty good bet for picking up Christmas gifts a lot more interesting than the usual TV-advertised, celebrity-endorsed pap that we’re currently being bombarded with.

There’s also a Peacock Visual Arts print shop, live music, and the chance to make some (free) DIY stuff courtesy of Gray’s Art Material Shop (who’ll also be providing a gift-wrapping service for the ham-fisted).

Peacock Visual Arts‘ open exhibition is back after a two-year break, and while there will be plenty on show from established artists, the most interesting stuff may well be from those of whom we know very little.

It kicks-off from 6-8pm on Friday 11 November with an open-to-all wee shindig, complete with mulled wine and mince pies.  Hmmm, sounds suspiciously Christmassy.  A full six weeks before Christmas.  Ach well, might as well start as you mean to go on…

Screenprint: “Evermore” by David McCracken

DanceLive is Scotland’s only festival of contemporary dance, taking place across Aberdeen and Shire and featuring companies from around Europe, there’s a varied programme of events, performances and film screenings on offer.  Browse the programme here then check out the festival’s website for ticket details.

From Wednesday 19th October | Academy Shopping Centre | Free

This was going to be yer usual post telling you about an art exhibition at The Academy shopping centre that opens on Thursday;  it’s called Maps, and features work loosely-based on the noble art of cartography by Donald Watson, Sophie Ormerod, Naomi Leckie and Anna Geerdes. Kick-off is on Thursday evening (at 6.30pm, with the promise of a free drinky for the liggers) and it runs until the 24th of this month.  Here’s the Facebook event page for it.  Fantastic.  Under normal circumstances, that would be it, the usual benign “whatsonery” that is our wont.

Something else may pique your interest however, namely the location of the aforementioned artsyness, because, my wee friends, the day before (Wednesday 19th October) sees the grand opening of another exhibition in the same space.  Aye, the shortlisted designs for the Union Terrace Gardens thing are being unveiled (no doubt accompanied by mucho fanfare, flag-waving and Christ knows what else). They’re being quite protective about it too, as this excellent Aberdeen Voice piece  on how yer-nae-even-allowed-to-take-photos-of-the-f**king-thing demonstrates.  Unbelievable,  prescient given last week’s events at the picturesque Braehead “retail destination” too.

For interest, here’s an email that the project’s PR fluffers The Big Partnership have been firing round various organisations (found via a simple Google search)

Good afternoon 

I am writing from The BIG partnership PR consultancy on behalf of ACSEF regarding the transformation of Union Terrace Gardens.

The City Garden Project has secured interest of globally renowned, award-winning architects and their designs for the Gardens will be unveiled on 18th of October with an exhibition opening its doors to the public on 19th of October 2011. I wonder if it would be possible to deliver a number of leaflets to your organisation for your customers and staff to peruse and take away detaining this information?

We are confident that the designs will inspire the public, capture their imagination and put to rest the negative perceptions which have surrounded the project to date.

The overall ambition of the City Garden Project is to transform Aberdeen’s city centre by creating a new, green and vibrant heart that will become a destination for residents and the catalyst for the regeneration of Union Street and its surroundings, ensuring that we attract new investment, business and people.

This is a project of national significance that is instrumental in helping Aberdeen become a 21st century world energy city. It has the potential to put Aberdeen on the cultural world map and make sure that we continue to punch above our weight in economic contribution to Scotland and the UK.

Following the public exhibition, the jury will select a winning design in mid-November, after taking consideration of the feedback from the public and recommendations from an expert technical panel. In December, the winning design and TIF business case will be put forward to Aberdeen City Council. The council will then decide if the project is to proceed to planning.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards

I’ll leave you to deconstruct that at your leisure.  See you on Wednesday.  Don’t forget your camera…