Here is the list of all the brilliant people who made Fun A Dundee Dundee what it is this year…!

Photography by sambaxterart

1.Ed Muirhead

The plan for Fun A Day 2017 for me: Paint a 6-inch square of card each day with a single colour, doodling whatever random shapes happened to appear…
Ed Muirhead is a musician, piano-teacher, trainee music therapist and has taken part in Fun A Day Dundee for 5 years. Some of his projects have combined craft and painting with song lyric writing. More of his Fun A Day projects can be found here. Ed also provided live music for the exhibition opening night this year, which was a huge hit. Here you can find more music from him.

2.Marilyn Rattray
‘The Shirt Off His Back’
Marilyn Rattray has spent her life making. Dressmaking, patchwork, Genuine Rattbags, mosaics, stained glass, ceramics, knitting and crochet, etc. She has four children and has made quilts for three of them, this Fun A Day January challenge means they will all have one now! Marilyn’s large quilt was made up of old fabrics including many family shirts, with free hand stitching, creating a beautiful quilt made with love. You can see more from Marilyn here.

3.Whimsical Lush
‘The Secret Village of Aurora’
Whimsical Lush has created a A3 illustration of ‘The secret village of aurora’. Suzanne produces unique, quirky illustrations that she features on ranges of prints, stationery, mugs and jewellery. Her work is mesmerizing, as her drawings grow so perfectly in a satisfying, and delightfully quirky way. Her drawing for Fun A Day was beautifully detailed, and was a delight to see grow over January, day by day.
Facebook, Instagram, Website, Twitter.

4.Cally Booker
‘HEX’
Hand weaver Cally Booker seized the opportunity of Fun A Day to play with the possibilities of triaxial weaving. Limiting her weaving materials to recycled Christmas cards, she set herself the challenge of making daily small-scale studies of colour and pattern. Cally is a hand weaver, textile designer, writer and teacher in Dundee. “Weaving is a craft which can be meticulously planned or improvised at the loom, and a combination of these approaches appeals to the different parts of my nature.” This year for Fun A Day Dundee, Cally has used old Christmas cards for weaving, producing bright, interesting, and beautiful forms using material that is often thrown away by many of us. Her weavings stood bright at the exhibition, thanks to the carefully matched colours of the cards and bright mounts. More from Cally here, on Twitter, and Instagram.

5.Stuart MacBean
“Throughout 2016 I ended up moving home a few times and traveling around a lot. Discovering 33 cities over 13 countries in one year came with completely different memories and experiences. Which is why I decided to dedicate a day to each of those cities, in which to remember those moments with a drawing for fun a day Dundee. The cities to days ratio almost matching was also a massive bonus. The drawings here show some event, experience or just something I can not get out of my head from those places that felt worth sharing.” Stuart works in animation, which is telling in his sketches, that are full of energy and emotion. His style draws you in, and you don’t want to leave, following his journey through, seeing who he met, and what stood out to him while he was traveling. More from Stuart here, on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

6.Mhairi Wild
‘Life of an Artist Carer’
Mhairi was working with mixed media, research, poems, books, and sketchbooks for her Fun A Day project. Her work has been intricate, thoughtful, and beautifully constructed. You can find Mhairi on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

7.Kirsty Dalton
‘Transitions’
A series of expressive mixed media collages that explore the day to day handling of dealing with anxiety and mental health. Kirsty’s collages are intimate and her distorted figures invite you to look into the colour tones, to try and understand the emotions and the story behind the work. More on Kirsty here.

8.Andrea Sayers & Sadie Sayers-Lodge
Andrea used Fun A Day to draw characters from around the house, and Sadie did whatever she felt like each day! Andrea and her daughter Sadie loved taking part in Fun A Day, using it as a brilliant excuse to explore household objects and just have fun! Andrea did many drawings based off of the practical play they had, and Sadie did many drawings of various things she has been discovering day to day. For the exhibition, they brought in all their objects, teddies, and hand made toys as well as their drawings. Our personal favourites are bread bus, and squirrel brush… More from Andrea on Instagram and on Etsy.

9.Jennifer Smith
Photo essay on ‘accepting the tyranny of fun’. Jennifer documented January in beautiful, subtle photographs. They depict time, emotion, warmth, a story. For the exhibition, Jennifer was given lemons (a printer that didn’t work) and so she made lemonade (artwork depicting the battle of a broken printer)! Visitors loved her revenge coconut and figured out the story behind her piece with the basic objects that were presented. Check out her Twitter and Instagram for more of her work.

10.Jennifer Robson
‘Cloudscapes’
Jennifer produced beautiful, intricate, and dramatic drawings of the sky for Fun A Day Dundee. Her drawings depict the incredible bright colours that we see in Dundee Sunsets, using black card to her advantage. Her stone/ beach pieces are incredibly detailed and simply beautiful. Her work has had a brilliant response, and we expect to see more of this work following Fun A Day! You can find Jennifer on Twitter and Instagram.

11.Jill Skulina
‘Practice Makes…’
Having been fortunate enough to receive the Fife Visual Artist and Craft Maker Award to develop her artistic practice, Jill decided to use the Fun A Day opportunity to practice new techniques and try out new tools and materials. Her sculpture combined crochet with snowcrete creating a playful interaction between the two. The bright pink plastic shouts out, the crochet is soft and gentle, and the hard, cold snowcrete binds it all together. An intriguing range of experiments with her new materials, we fully encourage more of this work! More from Jill on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

12.Kate Morton
Kate decided to take a video each day in January as a new way of capturing moments/details, while learning some new skills along the way. Her videos invite us into little elements of her life in January, including the weather, traveling, dismantling of the Christmas tree, noticing small things when relaxing, making dinner, running hot water, and cups of tea. They all have a peaceful and relaxed tone to them, which is also encouraged by the slo mo effects for some of those days. She exhibited stills (below) at the Fun A Day exhibition from her video, which is also below.

13.Christine Duke
“There and Then”
To combine having fun with exercise by walking and exploring to capture moments. Christine’s project lead us through January with scenes of Dundee and further afield with beautifully subtle photographs that captured the light and reflections of the locations perfectly. For a couple of days, she also wrote out the day number using the location – being sand or stones. Christine is currently studying Jewelry design at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram.

14.Judy Scott
‘Mini design play’
Judy’s beautiful designs for Fun A Day tell the story of changes throughout a month. Her style, materials, and colour palette transform as the days go by. Her work features bright, colourful collage, limited colour designs, soft watercolour birds, and abstract, bold shapes. Judy is a screen printer and maker, as well as a textile technician at Duncan of Jordanstone. Judy’s work can be found here, on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

15.Becca Frances
Becca’s project is based on nature and walking, resulting in prints and mixed media paintings. Her work is very tactile, embracing nature into her work, while using effective materials for painting and collage. The colours that pop on each piece compliment one another when collected together. You can see more of Beccas beautiful work here and on Twitter.

16.Rosemary Head
Daily paintings and Magnus.
Rosemary produced daily paintings in a sketchbook, experimenting with colour and form. She also exhibited a series of photographs of her son, Magnus from January. You can find Rosemary on Instagram and Facebook.

17.Lucy Robertson
‘Moving to Dundee (again) / Molly the Morris Minor on tour’
Lucy is a Scottish designer, who created and took part in various activities for Fun A Day Dundee, such as building a unicorn snow dog, classes in pottery, craft, home upcycling and of course, design. She exhibited some of her beautiful designs, some crafty animal painted spoons, and irresistible badges at the Fun A Day exhibition. More from Lucy on Instagram, Twitter, and Faccebook.

18.Mai Mishima
Character image into ball (1day to 8day)
Little bit dark side of animal.
Mai’s animal drawings are lighthearted and hilarious depictions of animals desires and the dark side of animals. She began her project developing images of characters into carefully constructed fabric balls, moving into her drawings, thanks to her cats finding the balls to be the ideal shaped toy to play with! More from Mai on Instagram.

19.Sandra Cassidy
Sandra used the English Paper Piecing usually technique associated with quilting to create flat images. Using the same shape throughout the month, Sandra created patterns using various fabrics, and just let it see where playing around with the patterns and shapes took her. Over the month she built up her project, taking photographs of her experiments in form, colour, and composition. You can find the rest of her stunning quilt work here, Instagram, and Twitter.

20.David Kendall
‘Everyday Things I’ve Done’
Each day David used mixed media and a simple frame to his advantage. His self portraits are just that – pressing his face against paper, a stick that depicts a nice walk, the small remnants of the Christmas tree – all tell a story past what is being framed. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing what new piece David had to tweet each day, whether it was a painting, an object, or his iconic self portrait, made using a polystyrene box, bottle caps, and lids alongside his painted overalls. You can see more of David on Twitter.

21.Lorna Romanenghi
Lorna’s Fun A Day was the reapropriation of Christmas waste, creating pieces of jewellery /body adornment from it. Her use of materials was the perfect transition from Christmas into the new year. She makes the most of the old, unused Christmas decorations and has fun with them in January. Her exhibited sketchbook showed how each delicate, and personal adornment was to be worn, using handwritten tags, bright shiny decorations, and ribbon to form her work. More from Lorna on Twitter.

22.Claire Fenech
Claire used photography to narrate the time she spent in Colombia throughout January, producing small, matchbox sized depictions of her travels. Photos and travel receipts fold out from within the boxes, encouraging you to take a closer look and explore the locations and sights as she did.

23.Jo Barcas Buchan
‘Embroidering one word a day on upcycled fabric’
Jo’s embroidered piece is a lovely tribute to having fun throughout January. The small scale of each piece of fabric and quote being hand stitched together, is a beautiful depiction of doing something fun each day. More from Jo on Twitter.

24.Ellie Fiddes
‘What I can do with a shed skin from a six foot Boa Constrictor?’
Ellie was presented with the shed skin of a snake, and decided to use Fun A Day Dundee as a means for getting creative with this new material. The scales inspired crochet, acrylic was used directly onto the skin, texture was introduced for a mask, colour and form tested alongside fabric, and the exploration of the form of the skin when applied to a sphere. Ellie exhibited all of these onto two canvases for the exhibition, which at first are not telling of the natural material, until you get close… More by Ellie here.

25.Kirsty Baxter
‘Abstractions: Quick portraits’
Kirsty exhibited some new portrait work last year at Fun A Day Dundee, and has since worked on her new interest, producing more abstract and bright portraits, using pastel and watercolour, which reflect cubism portraiture. You can find Kirsty on Instagram.

26.Sarah Johnston & Rebecca Jones
‘Painting collaboration’
A series of collaborative abstract paintings. Spending two weeks on a painting and swapping to directly add to each other’s work. Sarah and Rebecca’s work blends perfectly together to create two refreshing pieces of work with intriguing forms and colour. Sarah can be found on Instagram, and Rebecca on Instagram as well.

27.Suzanne Shaw
‘Winter Blanket’
60” x 14” Mixed Media
Recycled, vintage, stitched textiles.
Time worn wool blanket with birch bark, dyed linen serviettes, cut and deconstructed to form squares and strips for the printed word.
Tired worn fabrics match the weary decay of last years growth. Birch is a symbol of new beginnings, purification. The cleansing of the old, making way for the new. Hand stitch mimics the slow rhythm of winter.
The piece reflects Suzanne’s thoughts each day, walking the surrounding fields.
Her blanket is a delicate, and beautiful piece of work, using text and light hand stitching to convey the slow rhythm of winter and the month of January.

28.Theresa Lynn
“Moving Through (small sketches)”
31 small framed sketches
Theresa’s sketches allow movement to form when combined together in a natural and organic way. Theresa hung each frame, working off of each sketch, allowing the drawings to speak for themselves. Alone, each one is beautiful in itself, the colour and expression of the markings fitting perfectly with the old frames that they are presented in. More from Theresa here.

29.Annie McLean
‘SMALL TALK’
Annie’s main project in 2017 is about communication and connection using non-verbal forms (i.e. art). Hence the title of the Fun A Day Project. She produced a painting for each day of January, experimenting with all styles, ideas, works, thoughts, colours, techniques, to produce a wonderful collection of work that will kick start 2017 for her. Each painting is because of something that she has seen, or done. For example, a few pieces are produced after asking her children for a certain colour or number in order to challenge herself to produce something she may not have. More from Annie here.

30.Hayley Whelan
‘January walks in Dundee’
Hayley is an artist in residence at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, producing incredibly light and effective photography of the urban landscape. Her photographs depict the unknown corners, angles, architecture, life, and form of the city overlooked. Check out her work here, and on Twitter.

31.Penelope Matheson
‘I Sink; therefore I am.’
(An exploration of the wonderful world of art college sinks)
Penelope documented the world of art college sinks, which themselves are a work of art. Covered in paint, various art materials, splattered walls, ignored notices, the life of art college sinks tell the story of the art making process. Penelope documented her photographs into a wonderful book for the Fun A Day exhibition.

32.Judith McDowall
‘Marbling Mayhem’
“Spending a little time each day experimenting with new ways to marble, starting on up-cycled prosecco/cava bottles, not knowing where it will end!” Judith McDowall is a textile designer and maker, making women’s and girl’s clothing, and accessories using vintage, up-cycled, hand dyed or printed fabric. Judith’s project for Fun A Day Dundee this year, was to spend a little time each day experimenting with new ways to marble, starting on up-cycled prosecco/cava bottles. We love that many projects are open to change during the month which we believe helps projects develop past January and into new work. By the end of January, Judith moved into marbling candles, heart brooches, jars, candle holders, and then produced two beautiful, bold paintings using the marble effect. More from Judith on Instagram, and Facebook.

33.Abigail Smith
‘31 memories’
Acrylic on paper with collage.
Abigail submitted 31 memories in the form of painted collages the size of postcards. Her work allows viewer interpretation, allowing us to guess what each piece may mean, while enjoying the satisfying collection of bold colours and shapes. More from Abigail here.

34.Eilidh Morris
Imagination Art -Impulsive art creation, no actual plan, just creating in the moment!
We find Eilidh’s drawings for Fun A Day to be incredibly entertaining, creative, with vivid colours to attract. One piece depicts ‘the duck at the beach laughing with human legs’. More from Eilidh here and on Instagram.

35.Unknown Picture Photography
We were pleasantly surprised to receive updates on Connor’s charming photographs for Fun A Day, from different locations in Scotland throughout January. They are a breath of fresh air, drawing you in, eager to see more and go exploring yourself. There were several Fun A Day Dundee projects using photography, and each one different in tone, purpose, and feeling. Connor’s photographs contain a lot of depth in each picture. Many viewers questioned whether the images were manipulated, as he managed to capture the scene so well! You can find Unknown Picture Photography on Facebook.

36.Leonie Garrett
Landscape-based gouache painting
Leonie produced an incredible piece of work for her Fun A Day Dundee project. Using her garden as inspiration, she painted a square block every day, inspired by her view, resulting in a large painting made up of many small paintings. Each block fitted together, using magnets on a metal back board, having the work piece together, just as it was produced.

37.Little White Desk
Clare Stansfield
‘2016’
Clare produced portraits of those we lost in 2016 for her Fun A Day project. Each block, hand drawn using posca pens, is a wonderful tribute to the people who inspired her. For many, 2016 was a notable year for celebrity deaths. Clare updated us throughout January with her drawings, keeping viewers guessing the names of those drawn, providing the dates, and occupation only. This added a fun element to viewers online, as well as those at the exhibition, as many of us recognised the certain actor/ comedian, but weren’t sure of their name. Her work also highlighted many of us to people we may not have known previously, especially her last portrait; Dr Donald Henderson, an American epidemiologist who led the international war on smallpox that resulted in its eradication in 1980, an achievement that was credited was saving tens of millions of lives. More from Clare here, on Twitter, and Instagram.

38. Caged Crinoline
Lillias Chisholm
Lillias project over January was to make a red queen dress – and she did just that! She also included full hair, makeup and accessories & managed to wear it to an event. Her progress was documented on Instagram, and in youtube videos here.

39.Fiona Scharlau
Little Weavings
Fiona have fun during January using a bag of wool oddments and homemade cardboard looms. She produced a beautiful, and brightly coloured tie dye fabric and attached all her small weavings to it as her final piece for the exhibition.

40.Jane Prior
‘A Diary of Ways To Have Fun’
Jane found ways to have fun during January by drawing pictures, colouring in, collage, cutting out and folding up, taking photos, writing stories, and much more! Her work for the exhibition included her brilliant handmade portfolio, full of a variety of works, all waiting to be framed, developed, even just looked at. This was pieced together with a pin board that laid out her month day by day in calendar form for viewers to peek at.

41.Jo Helfer
Jo went walking for Fun A Day Dundee and documented her wanderings using photography and traced mappings of where she went. Many of her photographs were in a low light that really conveyed the cold, dark winters we face in January, while still be a positive motivator through walking and exploring. More from Jo on Instagram.

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Non exhibiting Participants

42-Caroline Simpson and Connor Cassidy
Connor’s project – ‘Superhero a day’, where he is creating and drawing a different superhero and a logo for them.
Caroline’s project – ‘Love is all around’, I am focusing on all things love and/or that bring me happiness in life. I’m planning on getting crafty in all ways, drawing, sewing, knitting etc and just doing something different everyday / every other day. Caroline and Connor thoroughly enjoyed Fun A Day Dundee this year, unfortunately they weren’t part of the final exhibition, but we’re looking forward to their fun projects again next year!

 

43-Clare Hogwood
Experimenting with digital art inspired by illustration and minimalism. Clare can be found on Instagram.

44-Sally Melville
Sally’s project explored the life of her favourite artist, Frida Kahlo, including mixed media on canvas, collage and photographs.

45-Allyson James
#walkaday – notice something beautiful (take a photo)
Allyson used the walk a day to give her some peace of mind and reflection, and the focus of something beautiful to reassess values, and notice the little things in life. More from Allyson on Instagram.

46-Aylson Stewart
‘It’s all fun and games until someone takes your hashtag away’
Aylson’s project was making 31 digital collages using the most recent image on Instagram with #fun.

47-Nicole Hoskin
‘Doors of Dundee’

48-Lee
Drawing

49-Nicole Baudon
Drawing a day furthering interest in portraiture.

50-Angela Jones
Map diaries.

51-Lauren Herd
Little Victories
As an artist living with bi-polar disorder, I regularly begin projects
with huge vigour only to lose momentum and self belief during
depressive episodes. By completing unfinished projects for Fun A Day
and celebrating these little victories, I hope for a
sense of achievement and  to gather motivation for  creative works in
2017.

52-Kim Tiong
A Month through the Eyes of Me
The idea is that from time to time memory is often lost. If I can capture fun times everyday for a month through my camera this will deepen mine and perhaps other people’s memory too since it’s so subjective.

53-Kim Kermath
Drawing 30 second mini sketches of something that could be turned or used as something else.

54-Gerry O’Brien
Pairings, 31
My FAD challenge to myself is to make a still life (a ‘natura morta’) drawing a day.
Each drawing will be contained on an A3 page.
Each drawing will contain one living and one non-living element.

55-Pam Kelly
A sketch a day over January as a pictorial diary

56-Elizabeth Armour
Making sure that I take some time out to have a bit of fun, observed through photos, drawings, whatever takes my fancy! I don’t have a specific project, I’m using it as a reminder to take some time out once a day through a usually difficult month. More from Elizabeth on Instagram.

57-Nicola Donnelly
Reading a chapter of a book a day

58-Fiona Skinner
Experimenting with different hair styles and techniques. Documented in photographs. More from Fiona here.