Guest Blogger – Meet Our Creative Learning Young Volunteer

This week our blog has been written by our Creative Learning Young Volunteer Amy. Amy joined us in November 2018 after working with the team on two creative projects with her Creative Writing Group and our blog is a great opportunity for her to share her volunteering journey with you.

I wanted to volunteer at The McManus because I like to help, give ideas and learn about The McManus’s Creative Learning activities. I was interested in learning and how being creative can be used in a job.  I have a small learning disability that effects my focus and sometimes I wish I didn’t have my disability.  Volunteering at The McManus has brought me out of my shell and it’s taught me how to be myself around other people. It’s opened a door and I’ve met some fantastic people like the Creative Learning Team, Curators, Visitor Assistants, Freelance Artists and Retail Staff.  Nicky Welch who is my support worker came with me to The McManus a few times until I felt confident to go on my own.

I enjoyed painting and observing tasks that were going on. I learned a lot from like using the guillotine to slice paper for The Wednesday Writers coming in the afternoon. I observed a school from Blairgowrie and they made theumatrope toys inspired by the Victorians. I got a behind the scenes look at some of the administration that The Creative Learning team does which support’s their work with young people, communities, schools and families. I got a shock at how much The Creative Learning Team have to do!  In the future I would like to work here because it’s a great atmosphere and I enjoy being creative.  

Youth Action Volunteer V’s The Beast From The East

This week our blog post is reaching you slightly later due to The Beast from The East hitting Dundee and Angus! Don’t worry, the team are back together again, and a few snow sculptures later, are working full steam ahead for our 2018 Year of Young People program.

Today we are profiling Kerry McAlpine, our Youth Action Volunteer. Kerry has been part of our Youth Action Group and volunteering with us since May last year.  This post has been written by Kerry to highlight her experience and achievements here at the McManus Galleries.

The first time that I’d heard about Youth Action was from a class mate from college. I wasn’t sure what the sessions were called but I knew it was a studio space and I thought that going would help me with my application to art college. I went along with two of my classmates to see what it was all about. My initial visit helped me to see the museum as a way of learning about Dundee’s history and this helped me to feel more settled in my new city.

College then ended and I thought I’d take a year out to build on my portfolio, gain work experience and to work in my job to help me save up for university. I approached Cheryl McDermid, the museum’s Creative Learning Officer to see if there was a possibility of volunteering with the Creative Learning Team and I was thrilled to be taken on as the team’s Youth Action Volunteer. I wanted to challenge myself and learn new skills that may lead to further opportunities and my experience with the team has definitely helped me with this!

Kerry Drawing in our Landscapes and Lives Gallery

Fish Screen Print by Kerry McAlpine

Working within the team as a volunteer had helped me to gain confidence, to gain experience of working with new people and to get lots of experience of working with hard to reach groups, school pupils and visiting families. I have been faced with many challenges. I vividly remember the day ninety  school children came to visit the museum and participate in a creative workshop. I stood at the top of the spiral staircase and could hear the sounds of chattering and excitement before they were even in sight! It was a brilliant, although slightly exhausting afternoon and I left feeling a real sense of achievement having connected so many people with our collection in one afternoon!

A few of my favourite moments volunteering within the Creative Learning Team are working in a print making workshop for Ancrum Primary school that explored the River Tay and helping younger visitors write their New Year Wishes for 2018 First Foot at the McManus. My volunteering has helped me to learn about the positive impacts that Creative Learning has for visitors and how art, collections and learning can make a visit fun for both kids and adults.

As an artist, I feel that my experience of volunteering at the museum has had a massive impact on my personal practise and I now frequently use the museum collection as a starting point within my own work.  It has also opened my eyes to many career possibilities within a museum and gallery sector which I had never even considered before!  

In less than a year I’ve worked with thousands of people, ranging from little babies to a gentelman of 104 years old.  Volunteering at  The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum alongside the Creative Learning Team has taught me that you are never too young or too old to engage with the museum, learn something new, make friends along the way and try something new!