ScottishPower Renewables Box
The Community team at Glasgow Science Centre were honoured to facilitate a collaborative design project between ScottishPower Renewables and the young participants of the Creative Pathways programme ran by community art charity, Impact Arts.
Further to the success of the Paint Outside the Box project, we wanted to continue bringing life and colour to some of the dull and vandalised infrastructure around our space. The EV charger box, owned by ScottishPower and adjacent to our car park seemed like a great next step.
Design Process
Our partners at ScottishPower kindly funded the materials we needed and set us the challenge to design artwork with a “Green Energy” theme. Our community team worked with the young artists to explore the science of energy, engaging the group in exciting learning opportunities such as a land yachts challenge and exploration of Powering the Future on floor 2 of the centre.
Using their new knowledge of green energy they developed a collection of colourful and beautifully stylish designs that perfectly represents the future of green energy in Scotland. The imagery included depicts Wind, Solar and Tidal energy, all renewable energy sources in this sustainable industry.
Once everyone had created their own artwork, the images were scaled up on the smartboard to help place them within the overall design.
Painting the box
The young artists were supported by their artist and youth worker, Katie and Fraser to bring their final ideas to life and to paint the electrical box. The young people showed great artistic skill and enthusiasm throughout and we couldn’t be more pleased with the beautiful final results.
Next time you’re passing be sure to look out for it, we hope you love it as much as we do!
It can be difficult getting young people to engage with the topic of renewable energy but the community team pulled all the stops out making the topic as interesting and relevant as possible.
Our group started by learning about the different types of renewable energy and the types which are specific to Scotland. They then interpreted what they had learnt creatively, each coming up with different visuals which represented renewable energy to them.
The team worked together really well – encouraging each other, explaining things and helping each other to understand a quite complicated topic. We combined our images to make sure everyone in the group had the opportunity to contribute to the final design. I don’t think the importance of this project settled in until we actually started painting.
Once they were suited and booted in their overalls and PPE they realised that their artwork was going out into the public and would be their for years to come. This realisation spurred the group on enormously and they worked incredibly hard making sure the final design was exactly as they wanted it.
This has been an excellent project and a fantastic opportunity for our Creative Pathways group. They’ve learnt about the importance of sustainable energy, how to work as a team, and how STEM and creative arts can collaborate to reach new audiences. The boost in confidence we’ve witnessed in them is incredible.
They’re proud of the work they’ve created and they have a lasting and public reminder of their growth and achievements. A big thank you from Impact Arts to the Community Team and ScottishPower.
Katie Falco, Creative Lead at Impact Arts
Partners
We are grateful of the support of our partners Impact Arts and ScottishPower Renewables in this collaborative project.
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