Featured Events in Ladybank in August, 2025 (August Updated)

We are delighted to welcome back Lorna Fraser, renowned ceramicist. Please have a look at her website to see examples of her beautiful work. This is an intense, inspiring one-day workshop that runs from 9 till 5. Here is the description in Lorna's own words: I am an Edinburgh based artist whose porcelain work is inspired by the infinite array of forms in the botanical world. My work explores the sculptural quality of plants, responding to their structure whilst selecting favourite composite shapes in order to create ceramic “hybrids”. Current work investigates the magical world of tiny mosses and lichens. Using a hand lens, these often overlooked plants can be observed up close, revealing incredible shapes and structures. During a residency on the Isle of Eigg I discovered a huge variety of different species colonising just one boulder. Magnified, they offered up a miniature landscape of wonder which inspires my work. I would like to start this workshop by making a short visit to the local Monkstown Wood in Ladybank, which is a ten minute walk from the Off The Rails Arthouse (there is a car park if you prefer to drive). Using a hand lens we will discover the tiny treasures that the wood has to offer, mosses carpeting the forest floor as well as lichens colonising trees and stones. On return, I will share with you how I make my work, chat through my process and show you some of the techniques and tools I use to work in a small scale. I will support and guide you to create your own bespoke hand-built pieces using beautiful porcelain clay, inspired from the woods or your own reference material. The emphasis of this workshop is to work in a small scale, taking our time to consider the form we are constructing. This workshop is open to all levels from beginners to the more experienced. All completed work will be fired by me in my kiln and available for you to collect approximately 2 weeks after the course - either from my studio in Edinburgh or from Off The Rails Arthouse. I will supply all tools and materials, although if you have a hand lens or a magnifying glass, please bring them along. Image Title: Rising from the Cracks Credit: Shannon Tolls Information Source: Off The Rails Arthouse | eventbrite

Following on from very successful workshops on botanical printing, we are delighted to welcome back Elisabeth Viguie Culshaw for a weekend specialising in indigo dyeing and pattern making. Elisabeth is a well-known textile artist working with Indigo and an Indigo plant grower in Scotland at The Indigo Plot, her natural dye garden well worth visiting in the Glasgow Botanical garden. In this weekend workshop she will help you understand the mechanism of vat making and Indigo dyeing to create patterns on cloth. On day one we will learn about the Indigo pigment and how to create a blue dye vat from it. We will learn to select material and prepare it and various forms of resist that will help us create patterns. On day two after we will experiment on samples before creating some larger pieces made of recycled cotton and linen. Fructose and synthetic vats will be set up and samples of recycled material (cotton and linen) will be provided. Please bring on day one one or two small items of clothing you will be able to dye on day two. (tee shirts, scarves). They need to be clean, but not necessarily white. You don't need any prior knowledge for this workshop but please wear old clothes and bring some gloves together with a plastic bag to take home your wet dyed clothes. If you wish to take home a share of the vats, bring a clean plastic bottle, we will share the vat content at the end of the workshop. (up to 4 liters). Information Source: Off The Rails Arthouse | eventbrite

Join Jo Perkins for a fun, intensive weeklong exploration into colour and the landscape. Working mainly in acrylic with some added mark making in other media, you will be using the countryside as inspiration while you experiment with expressive mark making and let loose with colour! Starting the week with a dive into colour mixing and colour choices, you will investigate what colour means to you and gain more confidence to work on creating your own palette. The class then moves onto gestural mark making to loosen up your self-expression and start to develop your own visual language. The week is studio based meaning you will be using your own images to inspire your work. Learning to take what you need from a static image or sketch, looking closer at the structure of the landscape and interpreting it to inform final abstracted, expressive, colourful paintings. Ideal for painters of any experience level, Jo will help you explore the landscape, loosen up your technique and play with colour! Jo Perkins is an artist and teacher based in rural Scotland making bright, joyful paintings in response to her local landscape. Fascinated with colour and how it makes us feel, Jo often explores saturated palettes that reflect both her emotions in regard to the landscape and the changing seasons. You can see examples of Jo’s beautiful work on her website. Jo is also a highly experienced and inspiring teacher who will demonstrate her technique and also work one-to one with you. Information Source: Off The Rails Arthouse | eventbrite