By Rebecca Kerr 

Staff and students at the University of Stirling were welcomed into the ‘Travelling Gallery’ art bus on Friday October 14.

Travelling Gallery is a non-profit contemporary art exhibition on wheels. The team tours Scotland twice a year – from the mainland to the Shetland Islands – showcasing the work of young and undiscovered contemporary artists.

Parked outside of The Pathfoot Building from 10am to 4pm, the art gallery was filled with visitors keen to see their current exhibition ‘ReConnect’.

The exhibition is in partnership with Project Ability, a charity supporting people with learning disabilities and mental illness, and centres around the work of four Glasgow-based artists.

Artist Grant Glennie is featured in the ‘ReConnect’ exhibition with his collection of sketchbooks, abstract prints and short films.

He got involved in Project Ability’s art programme in 2010 after being referred by a community psychiatric nurse, and has since gone on to get his undergraduate degree in Interaction Design at the Glasgow School of Art.

Grant finds comfort in creating art, saying: “I fill sketchbooks and make art because it can help give me structure, purpose and improve my mental wellbeing.”

In order to keep the exhibition free to the public, Travelling Galleries receives funding from Creative Scotland and the City of Edinburgh Council.

The team work to bring the gallery to schools, universities and community centres across Scotland, especially focusing on underfunded areas without access to contemporary art.

Jo Arksey, Learning and Engagement Officer, has been touring with the Travelling Gallery team for almost twenty years.

She said: “A lot of the communities we go to don’t have much culture at all – no theatres or galleries – so this is the first opportunity for people to really get to know contemporary art and see what it’s all about.

“If you ask people what artists they have heard of, they nearly always say ‘that fella that chopped his ear off’ or ‘Leonardo DiCaprio’.

‘It’s such a rewarding experience to teach people about contemporary art and to see them enjoy it for the first time.”

The Travelling Gallery team make sure to include Stirling on their list of tour stops each year, after forming a partnership with Sarah Bromage, Head of the University of Stirling’s art collection.

Jo Arkney said: “We always enjoy coming back to Stirling and seeing familiar faces. We also love having a nosey at the art collection in Pathfoot that Sarah has done a great job at curating.”

Travelling Gallery are set to head to North Lanarkshire next week and will continue touring until December.