24 September - 15 October 2022

Mak a Laang Erm

Gaada presents our annual group exhibition, with work made in the Toogs Art Workshop over the last year by artists in Shetland and beyond. The exhibition extends out of Display and into the workshop for Doors Open Days on Saturday 24th September and Sunday 25th September.

The title comes from the popular Shetland phrase “Du’ll hae tae mak a laang erm”, which encourages us to help ourselves and take what you need.

19 August - 29 October 2022

Weemin’s Wark @ Glasgow Women’s Library

Together for the first time, artworks by Brooke Palmieri, Holly Graham, Hannah Harkes, Isabel Greenberg and Esther McManus from Gaada’s 2020/21 Weemin’s Wark programme will be shown in GWL’s beautiful space.

29 April - 31 July 2022

Critters Creepers Crawlers, Sprouting Solitary Soarers
Elie Coutts + Cameron Morgan

The Shetland installment of a two-part collaborative exhibition taking between Project Ability and Gaada.

12 March - 9 April 2022

Elie Coutts + Cameron Morgan @ Project Ability

The Glasgow installment of a two-part collaborative exhibition taking place between Project Ability and Gaada.

4 February - 24 April 2022

Surface, Sound + Sign

Brian Sinclair

Brian Sinclair is an artist who works across sound, painting and drawing. Encapsulating the energy of Brian’s practice through his favourite colours, green and orange, this exhibition celebrates Brian’s personal modes of creative practice and non-verbal communication.

19 November - 30th January 2021

CHECKPOINT
Bryan Mouat

Checkpoint is an exploration between virtual and physical landscapes, focusing on Shetland's standing stones. Unchanged through centuries, standing stones stand strong and stoic, acting as a beacon of hope for those who are lost. 

10 September - 24 October 2021

Mak A Laang Erm

Gaada presents a special group exhibition, with work made in the Gaada Visual Arts Workshop over the last year by artists in Shetland and beyond. The exhibition extends out of Display and into the workshop for Doors Open Days on Saturday 25th September and Sunday 26th September.

The title comes from the popular Shetland phrase “Du’ll hae tae mak a laang erm”, which encourages us to help ourselves and take what you need.

30 July - 5 September 2021

Git Ootside, Inner Bairn
Jennifer McLeaskintosh

This exhibition explores the artists relationship with themself and different aspects of family; children, spouse, siblings, parents: with themes of connection, communication, perspective, thought and memory.

18 June - 25 July 2021

We Axe for What We Want
Esther McManus

This exhibition presents an extract from Time in the Archive, Esther’s contribution to We Axe For What We Want, a publication which foregrounds the multiple voices and collaborations of Gaada’s 2020/21 programme Weemin’s Wark.

14 May - 13 June 2021

I will not give up on a list of things I like to stay the same without ending
Struan Haswell

The drawings, text works and badges on show have been created and curated by Struan and explore themes of camouflage occurring both in the human and natural world. The collection of hand-made badges contain statements and imagery which further draw us into his hopeful and creative world.

5 March - 7 May 2021

Reigniting Flame (Vol.1, Ch.1-3)
Rhys Mouat

This exhibition launches the first comic in the fantasy saga Reigniting Flame, by Shetland illustrator and storyteller, Rhys Mouat. This comic follows the adventures of sibling protagonists Shirifuari and Shirinuri through a medieval world of bandits, armies and dark forces, where the very fate of the world is at stake…

(Cancelled) January – March 2021

Weemin’s Wark Collective Exhibition
Glasgow Women’s Library

This exhibition was cancelled due to covid 19 restictions in place at the time. You can read more about the Weemins Wark Project here.

15 December 2020 - 24 January 2021

Eetum Peetum Penny Pie
Isabel Greenberg

In their Weemin’s Wark exhibition Eetum Peetum Penny Pie, internationally acclaimed graphic novelist, Isabel Greenberg, entwines the harmless language of children’s counting songs with two examples of witchcraft accusations from Shetland history.

16 - 29 November 2020

As long as we make it
Hannah Harkes

As Long As We Make It' is both an art installation and an invitation to a shared act. The woollen plait, extending from Gaada's flagpole, is woven from knitted yarn and dyed using pigments found in plants, following methods used by the Vikings. This object honours tradition and pays tribute to ancient craftwork and labour. The materials used reflect relationships people forged long ago, with livestock and land, relations that, in Shetland, have traditionally been dominated by women exercising economic agency.

* weather permitting

26 October - 8 November 2020

No winder you canna catch fish
Holly Graham

As part of Weemin’s Wark, Gaada presents a new body of work taking its starting point from an oral history account by Katie Laurenson from 1961.

5 – 18 October 2020

Take Nothing for Granted: Theses on History
Brooke Palmieri (Camp Books)

These "theses" draw upon the 16th-century emblem tradition, playfully pairing mottos with symbolic images for the sake of quick & dirty history lessons from below, that is, from the perspective of an LGBT+ gatecrasher who tries not to take anything for granted …