Drummond Community High School
1-4 September 2014

The concept of the project was to combine 4 disciplines:  Bookbinding, Embroidery, Spanish and Printmaking with the overall aim to create a handmade book which would represent and reflect the individual participant's experiences of different cultures, languages, and migration in a creative way.
This was the first time that these 4 disciplines were offered together. The underlying thought was that from previous experience Bookbinding and Printmaking worked very well together. Adding the elements of Embroidery / Sewing / Stitching and Spanish representing languages would be additional puzzle pieces which would give participants the opportunity to reflect on their language and cultural experiences with the chance to bind and stitch those together through creative exploration of printmaking and bookbinding.



The Art & Cookery Project Copy for Website

This project was organised by Lifelong Learning, it united adult education students from various countries including Syrian families (refugees) who had only been recently, resettled to Edinburgh. 
Sharing food, cooking, cooking techniques and recipes made the group come together very easily, supported by two experienced Italian chefs /adult education tutors. Sharing favourite foods, learning their names in English and Arabic, was a highly inspiring and connecting process.

Using various different techniques of drawing and printmaking, the students made images inspired by both their experiences of cooking, and the stories connected to these recipes. A certain spice or vegetable or a favourite spoon to stir with brought memories of a specific time or place and these were interwoven with words and turned into a cookery book. 

Each student was offered to learn how to make a book structure to keep their favourite recipes and incorporate their images and words into the pages and covers. Each student could contribute to a collaborative recipe book as well as making a smaller book for themselves. 

Artists and adult education tutors Susie Wilson and Justine Woycicka led the art work of the project.
The project was funded and part of Transnationalizing Modern Languages: Mobility Identity and Translation in Modern Italian Cultures: a 3 year project funded by the AHRC and involved researchers at St Andrews, Queen Margaret, Bristol, Cardiff and Warwick Universities.