Monthly Bulletin

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas and Aberdeen Archives, Gallery and Museums are on hand to help boost your festive spirit.  We’ve got two new exhibitions opening at the Art Gallery for you to enjoy – Process, Process, Process and Reading Between the Lines: Embroidered Samplers. 

Our Retail Team are on hand to help you find the perfect gift in the Gallery Shop (we highly recommend a Jellycat from the festive wonderland on the top floor or maybe an exhibition pass for Artist Textiles: Picasso to Warhol) Enjoy festive music at our pop-up performances in the Sculpture Court or take some time to rest and indulge with coffee (made by our award-winning barista, Lauren Bird!) and a fine piece in the Art Gallery café.  

We’re closed 25, 26 and 31 December and 1, 2 January but open all other dates – pay us a holiday visit!

Lauren Bird with her award from Elior's 2024 Barista & Baker competition

Artist Textiles: Picasso to Warhol
Until 13 April 2025
Art Gallery 
Adults £10 / Concessions £7 
Exhibition Pass £14 / Children 12 and under free 

This captivating exhibition arrives in Aberdeen following a major international tour. Tracing the history of 20th-century art in textiles, it explores how people were once able to engage with modern art in a personal way through their clothing and home furnishings. Artist Textiles: Picasso to Warhol showcases examples of key European and American art movements including Fauvism, Cubism, Constructivism, Abstraction, Surrealism and Pop Art, as well as the work of leading fashion designers and manufacturers. Highlights include work by George Braque, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí, Sonia Delaunay, Raoul Dufy, Barbara Hepworth, Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Henry Moore, Pablo Picasso, Ben Nicholson and Andy Warhol. The Aberdeen exhibition also features a selection of works by contemporary artists and designers such us Zandra Rhodes, Damien Hirst, Valentino and Howard Hodgkin  

Process, Process, Process
Opening 7 December
Art Gallery (Gallery 2)
Free 

How did you make that? Where do you get your ideas from? What kind of tools do you use? This exhibition by members of Aberdeen Artists Society aims to answer just some of the questions artists are often asked. 'Process, Process, Process' presents an intriguing selection of inspirational objects, preparatory sketches, cherished tools, materials and work surfaces, as well as the by-products and leftover material from an artist’s activities. Unusually for an exhibition, the finished artworks are deliberately absent.  

Presented in association with Aberdeen Artists Society. 

Reading Between the Lines: Embroidered Samplers
Opening 14 December
Art Gallery (Gallery 3)
Free 

More than a record of stitches, a sampler was also evidence of the sewer’s industriousness, obedience and virtue. These samplers from our collection provide insights into the lives of the girls who sewed them and the social, political and religious environment in which they lived in the 1700s and 1800s. 

Lunchbreak Concerts  
Thursdays, 12:45 (45 mins)  
Art Gallery (Cowdray Hall)  
Pay what you can to support our programme 

Corten Quintet
5 December

Come and chase away the winter blues on a whirlwind tour with Corten Quintet as they visit France, Latin America, and Austria before landing home with Malcolm Arnold’s Shanties for Wind Quintet. The concert also includes works by Strauss, Debussy Poulenc and Ibert. 

Thistle Quartet
12 December
Pre-concert talk – 12:00

The Thistle Quartet are Coralie Usmani and Megan Cormack (violin), Laurie Rominger (viola) and Emily De Simone (cello). Their collective performance careers have spanned an impressive array of local and international orchestras and chamber groups. Based in Aberdeen, members of the quartet are all active music educators (Big Noise Torry, Aberdeen City Council, Jazz Scotland) who are passionate about passing on music to the next generation. With collective interests in exploring and improvising through different sound worlds, this programme has been built around Ravel's String Quartet in F major.  

Granite City Brass
19 December

Closing our 2024 programme, members of Granite City Brass present a festive selection of classical and contemporary Christmas favourites for brass quintet... You might want to warm -up your vocal cords and get ready for a festive sing-song! 

Lunchtime Talks   
Wednesdays, 12:30 (45 mins)  
Pay what you can to support our programme  

Doric in the Cityscape
4 December
Art Gallery (Seminar Room)

Talk by Simon Gall, folklorist

Perhaps at no other point in Aberdeen's history has the local Scots/Doric dialect been so prominently on display in its written form in the cityscape as it is today. Folklorist Simon Gall considers its use on city signs, on merchandise, in museum exhibits, on badges, on clothing, on the walls and so on, by a range of actors from private businesses to the local authority, from festival marketers to charities, from museum curators to graffiti artists. Just as scholars suspect that the region is experiencing what they call 'dialect attrition' – the loss of certain aspects of local dialect – so the physical environment appears to be an increasingly important site for linguistic expression.   

The Explorer – Aberdeen’s last steamship
11 December
Maritime Museum (Education Suite)

Talk by John Edwards, Former Head of Collections at Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums

The Aberdeen-built fisheries research vessel, Explorer, had an illustrious career at sea and is now embarking on a new phase as a floating museum ship in Leith. John, our former Head of Collections, played an integral part in preserving the vessel and this talk will illustrate the Explorer’s role in fisheries research. 

Festive Music Pop-ups 
7, 14, 21 December, 12:30 – 13:00 / 14:30 – 15:00 
Art Gallery 

 7 December – Aberdeen Performing Arts Community Choir

14 December – University of Aberdeen Chamber Choir

21 December – Silver City Singers 

 Swingin' Christmas Classics
13 December, 19:30 – 21:30
Art Gallery (Cowdray Hall)
£16 / £12 concession 

Ease into the festive spirit with Neil Birse, piano, Matthew Kilner, saxophone and vocalists Katie Mackie and Alastair Eddie in this evening of swinging Christmas classics and jazz favourites. 

Look after you wellbeing!

Musical Memories 
13 December, 13:30 – 15:30 
Art Gallery (Cowdray Hall) 
Pay what you can 

Musical Memories is a friendly singing group for people with dementia, their partners, families and friends. Established and delivered by a dedicated group of volunteers, these sessions support wellbeing and improve brain activity, encouraging creativity and participation. 

The series is supported by Alzheimer Scotland.  

Stitching with the UFOs 
3 December, 14:00 – 16:00 
Art Gallery (Learning Space) 
Pay what you can 

Join in with the Unfinished Objects Group, affectionately known as the UFOs or, to take part in their latest stitching project designed especially for them by Andrew Crummy, creator of the Great Tapestry of Scotland.  

Join in with the group work or bring your own unfinished small craft project and use this session to meet new people.   

Everyone welcome, no experience is needed. Support and materials are provided. 

Our Aberdeen 
5 December 14:00 – 15:30 
Aberdeen Treasure Hub 
Pay what you can 

Peacock at 50
 Explore the artistic heritage of Aberdeen’s acclaimed printmaking studio as it celebrates its 50th year. We’ll look at iconic and vibrant works by founding members and artists, pioneering printmakers and influential teachers associated with Peacock over the decades.  

Inspired Gallery Meets 
13 December, 11:00 – 12:30 
Art Gallery (Learning Space) 
Pay what you can 

Christmas Paper Crafts   
Enjoy a festive social session while making sustainable, eye catching decorations using simple paper crafting techniques - perfect for re-using year after year. 

Artroom with GHAT  
7, 14 December  
Art Gallery (Learning Space)  
Free, drop in   

We are delighted to partner with Grampian Hospitals Art Trust to bring Artroom to Aberdeen Art Gallery. Led by professional artists, these weekly sessions are person-centred and welcome adults of all abilities to experiment with art making in a variety of materials.