Calling all west end artists and makers – The Clydeside Collective needs you!
Glasgow’s greenest creatives are being offered the chance to showcase their work in a brand-new sustainable city centre retail space. The Clydeside Collective, due to open at the St Enoch Centre in June will bring together upcycling artists, makers and crafters – who share a passion to reuse, recycle, reclaim and resell items that may otherwise have been destined for landfill.
It follows in the footsteps of its east-side sister shop, The Leith Collective – a retail space and creative hub that opened its doors in Edinburgh’s Ocean Terminal in 2019. Glasgow is aiming to replicate its success, which features the work of more than 130 artists while offering free additional support to all resident makers through promotion on their social media channels and expert advice through their business mentorship programme. Jyustine Woycicka of Visual 2 Arts, whose work is available in the capital explains what a positive impact the initiative has had on her career. “It’s a fantastic place to grow. Being a part of it has enabled me to gradually strengthen my profile as a self-employed arts professional, gain momentum in terms of sales and effectively boost my finances.”
The vision by founder Sara Thomson was sown after her awareness grew of the ever-increasing amount of rubbish and waste at the zoo, animal parks, the beach, play parks – places she visited with her children. “It’s everywhere,” she tells me. “I realised the damage it was doing to the country and couldn’t help but think of the bigger picture and what it was doing to the wildlife. It’s actually a massive problem – way bigger than I had ever imagined. So being a creative, I wanted to teach young people how we can creatively avoid a lot of this landfill waste – which is essentially what The Leith Collective and now The Clydeside Collective, is all about.”
Glasgow has a long and proud history of inspiring artists, makers and crafters, and now there’s a brand-new venue to showcase their work and nurture their creative talent and all with an environmental edge. “Glasgow is such a creative and inspiring city, it felt like the natural choice when it came to finding a location for our second shop. The venue itself sits right in the heart of the city centre and gives us a fantastic opportunity to get our message of sustainability across to as many people as possible.” Thomson adds.
Artists interested in having their work featured in The Clydeside Collective should email Sara Thomson on: info@theclydesidecollective.com with a brief description of their work, up to five photos and a link to their website and social media if applicable.
