Who we are

Sculpture House Collective is a Scottish Charity run by its lead artists overseen by a small board of trustees. Acting chair of our trustees is Hadrian Garrard. Hadrian founded the arts organisation Create London, renowned for their groundbreaking work in public art commissioning and policy. Hadrian is currently the director of the William Morris Gallery, London Borough of Waltham Forest. Also on our board is Alexia Holt, director of Cove Park, a unique residency in rural Scotland for national and international artists. Our local community is represented on our board by Karen Campbell, director of Ferguslie based grassroots charity Pals of the Privies. The artist’s collective, who also hold a seat on the board, are led by artists Laura Aldridge, Nick Evans and James Rigler. Each has a wide range of experience running grassroots arts organisations and delivering educational projects, public art projects and commissions. Nick, Laura and James are joined by Sculpture House studio holders; Laura Spring, Morvern Mulgrew, Coral Brookes, and Kate V. Robertson, all professional artists with over 2 decades of experience working at the forefront of the visual arts in Scotland.

We are actively recruiting to our board to expand and diversify our governance skill base.

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Sanding casting activity

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Our Story

Sculpture House Collective was founded by three artists, Laura Aldridge, Nick Evans and James Rigler in 2021. During the pandemic the precarious nature of artist’s incomes, studio accommodation and employment opportunities were exposed. Since then the cost of living crisis and austerity have continued to hit artists hard, with recent research by Glasgow University (2024) showing that artist incomes in the UK are at an all time low, causing many artists to quit the profession. Meanwhile, many communities in Scotland do not have much access to artists or to artistic opportunities. James, Laura and Nick know from their own experiences working as artists in a variety of social settings that participating in creative activity brings massive benefits in terms of widening opportunities, improving mental and physical health, and enhancing wellbeing.

Sculpture House Collective is a project born out of Nick, Laura and James’ interest in bringing these two issues together. Sculpture House provides a place for artists to develop a secure, sustainable and inspiring home for creative activity, whilst also making this home accessible to those who would not normally see the benefits of art, creativity or making. We are developing our venue, called Sculpture House, into a sustainable community asset providing low cost, long term facilities and space for artists and communities alike. Meanwhile our funded programmes provide freely available creative activity for local residents and project partners as well as fairly paid employment opportunities for artists. Seed funded and underpinned by a strategic partnership agreement with Renfrewshire council, Sculpture House Collective provides studio accommodation for our in-house team of 7 professional artists.

Our team of resident artists fundraise to provide a wide range of free, high quality creative workshop activities for young people through partnership working with local schools, nurseries and an after-school club. We provide opportunities for the whole community by hosting workshops, open days and social events. We provide dedicated, appropriately supported access to artistic services for adults with additional support needs who might struggle to access creative activity elsewhere. Artists delivering these activities benefit from relevant, rewarding employment opportunities and peer support. In addition to our own funded programmes we generate earned income for our organisation by providing commissioned sessions for local authority partners including the Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership and Renfrewshire Youth Services. Other earned income is generated through public art commissions and community consultation activities, with a proportion of the fees generated for this work covering Sculpture House Collective costs and overheads.

Our organisation is unique in bringing professional artists and communities together in the way that we do. Our facilities are in high demand and with appropriate professional support provide empowering opportunities for participants of all backgrounds and abilities to produce high quality outcomes. The sense of pride and achievement our participants get from bringing the objects and sculptures they have made home is proving life-changing for many.

PHOTO-2024-10-23-15-39-56

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Sanding casting activity

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