Creative Commissions
Supporting Artists, Makers and Writers
We commission new work by asking creative practitioners to respond to some element of Gray’s work, practice or approach, to produce something new that is meaningfully connected but also exists as a new work in its own right.
Throughout his working life, Gray sought to celebrate and declare his influences, seeing them as an integral part of all making. Similarly, we encourage and support creatives to respond to Gray’s work, taking inspiration from it, but making new work of their own, that can stand alone and make it a generative resource.
2024- The Armchair Monologues
Words by Michael Pedersen, animation by Ben Woodcock, commissioned by AGA.
In 2022 we commissioned the writer and poet Michael Pedersen (in partnership with Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde) to creatively respond to our collection. He produced a poem, The Armchair Monologues, responding to Gray’s famous green armchair, which he performed at Oran Mor as part of our Gray Day in 2022 & 2023 and was later published in Issue 28 of Gutter Magazine. Michael’s poem was then creatively interpreted in 2024 by Ben Woodcock, a 4th Year student at the Glasgow School of Art who specialises in Illustration.
These layers of creative responses reflect Gray’s own approach to making. Throughout his working life, Gray sought to celebrate and declare his influences, seeing them as an integral part of all making. Similarly, we encourage and support creatives to respond to Gray’s work, taking inspiration from it, but making new work of their own, that can stand alone and make it a generative resource. As Michael has said of the commission: “I fell hook, line and sinker for that Armchair—that’s to say I was both physically and conceptually drawn to it. All the visitants who’ve sat there and gulped back Alasdair’s stories—the indents they’ve left while ruminating, the creases they’ve conjured twisting on the spot. In a more gothic season, it’s a treasure trove of dead skin and stray fingernails: the potpourri of living that’s slipped down its edges. For my money’s worth, sitting on that chair and gazing upon the writing desk and his panoply of books is the closest we can become to being Alasdair.” Thanks To Michael Pedersen for the words, Ben Woodcock for the animation and to Gutter, Ross Hogg at The Glasgow School or Art and Sorcha Dallas at AGA for their support. Thanks also to Rodge Glass from Creative Writing the University of Strathclyde for supporting the initial commission.
Deborah Chu
2023 / (in partnership with Gutter Magazine)
This is our first partnership commission with Gutter Magazine, an award-winning, high quality, printed journal for fiction and poetry from writers living in Scotland and also supporting writers from around the world. For this commission we invited Deborah Chu, a freelance arts journalist and writer based in Edinburgh. Deborah has produced our first work of fiction called Present and accounted for in which she creatively exploring objects, the memories they hold and the complications of organising them when someone you love dies. This work was published within the August 2023 issue of Gutter Magazine.
Chitra Ramaswamy
2023 / (in partnership with Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde)
As part of the The Made Project module, which is part of the MLitt in Creative Writing at Strathclyde, we commissioned the celebrated journalist and non fiction writer Chitra Ramaswamy to spend time at the Archive, choosing something to respond to. She wrote a whole series of micro essays called Rich Things. For this commission Chitra highlighted the interwoven histories inspired by both the physical material within the archive and traces of which remain in the landscape outside. This brave series of essays question which histories are remembered and which are forgotten. Owning our collective history, being brave about telling the truth is crucial for us to learn, do better and collectively grow. Chitra performed a section of Rich Things at our Gray Day in 2023 at Oran Mor. She also delivered a workshop at the Archive for the MLitt in Creative Writing at Strathclyde students, discussing her own creative approach which acted as a case study for the students to then produce their own creative responses to texts, images and/or artefacts within the Archive. We are developing a project to deliver Rich Things as our first publication in 2024.
Maria Sledmere
2022 / (in partnership with Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde)
In 2022 we commissioned the poet, writer and tutor Maria Sledmere to respond in real time while attending the Making Imagined Objects conference. Maria developed these texts afterwards, as a creative response both to Gray’s own Woundscape print and to the various conference papers. At times interrogative, at times reflective or playful, these poems explore the art of the creative response, which was a key part of Gray’s model of ‘Making Imagined Objects’ (the title of the conference). Woundscape (forthcoming from Osmosis Press) is the resulting outcome from this commission. Maria also shared her process through a workshop event we hosted in 2023 where she discussed the process of making, read from and discussed Woundscape, alongside facilitating a participatory element for attendees. At this event she shared her notebooks and drafts, and then invited attendees to respond creatively through ideas of response, process and making in flux.
Michael Pedersen
2022 / (in partnership with Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde)
As part of the The Made Project module, which is part of the MLitt in Creative Writing at Strathclyde, we commissioned the celebrated poet and nonfiction writer Michael Pederson to visit us and choose something to respond to. He wrote a new poem The Armchair Monologues in 2022, responding to Gray’s famous green armchair, which he performed at Oran Mor as part of our Gray Day 2022 and 2023. This acted as a model for students who then produced their own creative responses to texts, images and/or artefacts in the Archive. This poem was published within the August 2023 issue of Gutter Magazine. You can hear Michael explain a bit more about his process on writing the poem here
Juana Adcock
2021 / (in partnership with Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde)
For the The 1st International Online Alasdair Gray Conference in 2021 we also invited poet Juana Adcock to creatively respond to Lanark to tie in with the books 40th anniversary. Juana’s starting point was responding to the artworks described within the novel and connections to Gray’s wider visual practice including his painting Eden and After and, the now demolished mural, at The Greenhead Church of Scotland. Her original poem developed into a whole series which she published as a pamphlet called, Vestigial (Stewed Rhubarb Press, 2022), and was launched during the 2nd International Alasdair Gray Conference 2022.
Find out more about Juana’s approach to this commission here.
Nick Harrington
2021 / (in partnership with Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde)
For the The 1st International Online Alasdair Gray Conference in 2021 we invited Gray’s former assistant and jeweller Nick Harrington to creatively respond to Lanark to tie in with the books 40th anniversary. Nick responded by creating a series of 5 etched, silver rings, signifying the 4 books and frontispiece in Lanark.