What we do

Gaada is an artist-led social enterprise which develops creative support alongside meaningful and cricital art activities in Shetland.

Our current focus is providing inclusive access to equipment, resources, and expertise through Toogs Artist Workshop.

From Toogs, Gaada extends an ambitious place-based cultural programme which includes workshops, events, exhibitions, and publishing.

Toogs Team

Daniel Clark

Daniel is an artist whose personal practice navigates his experience of neurodivergency through print, sound, and moving image. He is a graduate and former Technician of the Royal College of Art. His work is part of major UK art collections such as the V&A Word and Image Collection, and the British Library Sound & Moving Image Archive.
Daniel co-founded Gaada out a shared passion for creativity, collaboration, and inclusivity, and builds upon his two decades of experience in DIY artist publishing. His role supports all aspects of the organisations day-to-day running, with a focus on curation and the development of Toogs Artist Workshop.

Amy Gear

Amy is an artist and writer. She has an MA from the Royal College of Art (2015) and a BA from Gray’s School of Art (2012). Amy has exhibited internationally and worked as a lecturer and print technician in art schools across Scotland. Amy is a Trustee of the Scottish Contemporary Art Network (SCAN).
Amy co-founded Gaada in 2018 and applies her creativity and imagination to all aspects of the organisation, with a focus on strategy and advocacy.

Jono Sandilands

Jono is an artist and self-described graphic adventurer making work at the intersection of printmaking, digital technologies, design, interaction, and play. He has an MA in Printmaking from UWE in Bristol.
Jono’s role focuses on supporting all aspects of the growing Toogs Artist Workshop and Gaada’s artist publishing activities.

I am a neuroqueer artist whose work is interdisciplinary. My passions are activist art, creativity, music, human connection, comedy, witchcraft, social justice, gaming, food & drink. I am lucky to have an Honours degree in Contemporary Textiles & a Postgraduate diploma in Art & Social Practice. As a disabled person I use my creativity and artistic mindset to weave art into my daily life; it helps me find equilibrium & reminds me that art is so much more than something to be bought or sold.

Helen is a curator and writer from Shetland who lives and works in London. She is the CEO & Artistic Director of Cromwell Place, She has an extensive CV, including: former Director of Art Night, Turner Prize Jury 2023, numerous international curatorial positions; visiting lecturer for Royal College of Art, Goldsmiths, and Slade. Helen is part of advisory boards for a-n and Art Quest. Her writing regularly features contemporary use of Shetland Dialect and has been widely published.
In her role at Gaada, Helen provides wide ranging organisational guidance on a voluntary basis. She uses her place-specific understanding of Shetland to support the organisation in planning for the future.

Alex is an artist and educator based in London. She currently teaches ceramics at City Lit, London Sculpture Workshop and Westminster Under School. Alex graduated from the RCA with an MA in Ceramics in 2015. She has since worked as a technician and established several workshops for teaching ceramics across London. Alex has exhibited her work internationally and was a finalist in the 2017 British Ceramics Biennale.
Alex brings a wealth of practical artistic experience particularly in workshop and educational settings. She also provides HR support and organisational diligence to Gaada in her role as a voluntary non-executive Director.

“We are all citizens first and foremost. For many people there are barriers to expressing and developing their artistic expression, Gaada is at the forefront of changing this”

Jane is a founding trustee of Shetland Community Connections, a Lecturer, a Board member of both Shetland Health Board and Shetland Health and Care Partnership. Jane has national and local experience in shaping Health & Social Care policies and reviews and has a particular interest in the independent living movement and Partners in Policy Making. Jane believes every citizen has the right to access resources that contribute to their individual development and well-being, thereby increasing the diverse richness of the creative landscape of Shetland and beyond.

Jane has been a vital source of guidance since Gaada began, and continues to play a key role in supporting the organisation’s development.

Belladonna Paloma is an artist & witch living in Shetland, UK. She paints, tattoos, makes games and writes poetry. Her work is inhabited by toilet gods, crossroads, boglands, grief rituals and necromancers all in devotion to the beings we mistakenly name ‘waste’.
Her work has been exhibited by: IMT Gallery, London (2023); The Overkill Festival, Netherlands, in collaboration with Uma Breakdown (2023); Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, in collaboration with Rabindranath Bhose and Oren Shoesmith (2023); and Gropius Bau, Berlin, in collaboration with Daniella Valz Gen (2023).
She is deeply invested in DIY artist-led culture, running The Viriconium Palace (with Lucie Akerman) from 2016 - 2019, a project-space and experimental design-studio; and from 2014 - 2019 she was the co-director (with Tom Prater) of Doggerland, a publication and research project around artist-led culture in the UK.
Website / Computer Games

Karl is a sociology lecturer and writer from Shetland, now living and working in Edinburgh.

To date, his work has centred around widening access to higher education, comic books and their fandom, imposter syndrome, sociological fiction, and activism against the gender inequality of the Lerwick Up Helly Aa fire festival – including participating in Gaada’s Weemin’s Wark project.

Elsewhere, Karl has acted as a social affairs consultant on two editions of the Collins English Dictionary.