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Families sitting at tables in Gallery 1 doing creative activities
Learning

Creative Fun at Spring Holiday Pop-up 2024

Take a look at the prints, artwork and fun created at DCA during the school holidays

Our Spring Holiday Pop-up has come to a close for another year but what a great two weeks we had in Gallery 1, Create Space and DCA Print Studio! 

Our Learning team and local community groups did a great job of filling the spaces with activities, creative materials, books, soft play and more, with the Print Studio team helping to create some amazing stamp sets and screens for all the printing fun. 

Over the two weeks we welcomed over 2,000 people to our drop-in sessions, mural making and print workshops, and watched as the walls inside and outside of Gallery 1 filled with colourful artwork. From cut out vinyl characters and scenes to portraits, bird boxes and even a cardboard version of the DCA building, we loved seeing everything you created. Here's a little look at a selection of your vibrant artwork...

Published

Mon 15 Apr

Written By

DCA Learning

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Birdhouse made from paper with text written on it saying 'Welcome LayLay'
Photo by Erika Stevenson
Child adding a drawing of a unicorn to the gallery wall
Photo by Erika Stevenson
Childrens drawings on the wall of DCA Gallery 1
Photo by DCA
Mural making wall covered in vinyl artwork
Photo by DCA
Family screen printing tote bags in Create Space

Over 350 people joined in with our Family Print Labs, Print Play sessions and Print Your Own Tote Bag workshops. 

There was so much fantastic work created during these, from colourful tote bags featuring Dundee landmarks to prints made using lego blocks. Families also got to try printing with fruit and veg, printing with packaging, press printing with polystyrene tiles, stamp making, different types of Gelli plate printing, printing with wood block letters and tin foil monotype printing, all with great results.

 

I loved the printing class, I liked the paint colours.

It was really good, I really liked it. My Favourite part was doing the ruler printing.

Child looking happy holding a tote bag with a print of DCA on it
Photo by Erika Stevenson
Lego printing blocks and stamp kit
Photo by DCA
Scene of a landscape with a city made up of building stamos
Photo by DCA
Two prints made using vegetables hanging up to dry
Photo by DCA
Table covered with stamp making supplies and artwork that says 'Anna' surrounded by hearts and flowers
Photo by DCA
Cardboard version of DCA building
Photo by DCA
Child making an artwork using stamps
Photo by DCA
Three children holding up paper dolls
Photo by DCA
Wall covered in vinyl artwork

Our Mural Making activity was a hit yet again, and the wall outside Gallery 1 quickly filled up with vinyl artwork. Children and adults really enjoyed working with this colourful material, taking their time to create some very intricate scenes and characters.

I enjoyed adding to the mural.

Had fun cutting and sticking. Thank you.

Wonderful! We've print played with a 7-month-old and a 3-year-old, cut vinyl, cut, glued and caused chaos in the 0-3 corner.

I made a love heart and a smiley face out of the sticky paper. My sister made a flower and a P. My brother did a car and a H. I also did my name.

Vinyl artwork of a sunshine
Photo by DCA
Vinly artwork of a boat and a mermaid
Photo by DCA
Vinyl artwork of a pink bird
Photo by DCA
Vinyl of DCA building with a monster sitting on the roof
Photo by DCA
Vinyl artwork of a cartoon bear holding a flower
Photo by DCA
Vinyl artwork of a caterpillar wearing shoes and a hat
Photo by DCA
Artwork created by community groups on the walls of Gallery 1

Taking over Gallery 1 also provided the opportunity to show work made by schools, community groups and families that our Learning team have worked with over the past year. 

Displayed across the walls were artworks created by people of all ages from Amina Muslim Women's Resource Centre, Art at the Start, Arthurstone Youth Group, Dundee International Women's Centre's Flourish Parenting Group, Craigie High School, Claypotts Castle Primary School, Hot Chocolate Trust, Options in Life, ScrapAntics' Family Club and Tayside Healthcare Arts Trust. 

You can find out more about these different projects in our Spring Holiday Pop-up notes that were created to accompany the display.

Excellent Place. Great exhibition, lovely staff, play and colouring activities.

Loved looking round.

Prints and art made in Projects with local groups
Photo by DCA
Wall with continuous line portraits
Photo by DCA
Banners created by Dundee International Women's Centre
Photo by DCA
Artworks of Dundee landmarks
Photo by DCA

Spring Holiday Pop-up Notes

Download our notes from Spring Holiday Pop-up 2024 to find out more about the projects that our Learning team carried out with local community groups.
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265 KB (PDF)
Collection of helloDCA cards on the wall of Gallery 1

As well as artwork, the walls also filled up with some lovely feedback as visitors shared their experiences. Here's a few that really made us smile:

Something for everyone from babies to adults. A welcoming creative space. Children were delighted to see their own artwork valued.

I loved doing lego printing and using shapes to make a tomato. My tomato kind of looks like a radish.

I love it! My fave part was when I got to make my name and then put it on the wall.

Awesome, I got to make a castle.

Fun art to take home! Great ideas to try at home. Kids loved it.

The art made my day

We enjoyed our time in the pop-up. Lots of activities and materials available. My 4-year-old loved designing his own character and my 1-year-old loved the soft play. Staff very friendly and helpful in enabling my child to carry out his creative ideas. Thank you.
Person creating a gelli print on a table covered in artmaking materials

We were delighted to have 16 local artists involved across our Spring Holiday Pop-up programme, helping with workshops and drop-in sessions. And thanks to funding from by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, we were able to create a new role of Art Helper. This was promoted to participating community groups and as a result, we welcomed five Art Helpers from Amina Muslim Women's Resource Centre to join the team for the second week of the pop-up. 

Here's what they had to say about being involved:

It was heartwarming to see parents and little one’s bonding over art, creating memories that will last a lifetime. I'm so grateful for this experience!

Working over the holiday with DCA was another amazing experience to have fun being involved in creative art, socialising with parents, and helping children.

This project is funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

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