Artists come together to celebrate Dundee’s public art

The University of Dundee will next week bring the artists behind some of the city’s most popular pieces of public art together at an exhibition celebrating their work.

‘Art for All: The Pioneering Story of Public Art in Dundee’ explores the role that culture has played in the city’s regeneration over the past four decades and will come to the end of its run at the University’s Lamb Gallery on Saturday 26 October. The team behind the exhibition will mark this with a special full-day event featuring presentations by many of the artists featured.

Among the speakers are Liz Kemp, the driving force behind the ground-breaking Blackness Public Art Programme in the early 1980s, and John Gray, who has worked on public art projects for the city council for 40 years.

Artists taking part include David Annand, Keith Donnelly and David F Wilson, all of whom designed work for the Dundee Public Art Programme in the 1980s and 90s. They will be joined by the creators of more recent initiatives, such as Adam Milroy, organiser of the annual Dundee Graffiti Jam, and Suzanne Scott, who created the Discovery Walk plaques in Slessor Gardens as well as working on the popular Oor Wullie and penguin sculpture trails.

University museum curator Matthew Jarron said, “Art for All has been a big hit with visitors, who have been keen to revisit some of their favourite pieces of public art and share their personal memories of them.

“The exhibition has sought to tell the stories behind some of the many much-loved pieces of public art in the city. This unique event goes further by giving people the chance to meet and hear from the artists themselves so we hope many of the people who enjoyed Art for All will come along.”

Art for All showcases some of the 500 sculptures, murals, paintings and other pieces of public art to be found across the city.

Over the past year, the University’s Museum Services have been leading a major project to research, catalogue and promote Dundee’s public art. This exhibition showcases photographs of artworks past and present as well as unique behind-the-scenes material such as models, design sketches and installation images.

The closing event will also see speakers from the Universities of Edinburgh, Newcastle and St Andrews discuss public art projects elsewhere in Scotland.