94 year old Thomas McGoran's Exhibition, Cinema City at the GSA
- 2 years ago
The Reid Building, The Glasgow School of Art, 162 Renfrew Street, Glasgow G3
The Glasgow School of Art is showing beautiful drawings of Glasgow’s celebrated (and many now lost) cinemas. The drawings were made by artist and former cinema projectionist, 93-year-old Thomas McGoran.
Interviews with Thomas about his time as a spool winder and projectionist in the hey-day of movies, when Glasgow was cinema city, and his work as an artist.
with exhib curator, Sarah Neely.
with Professor Bruce Peter - a leading expert on historic cinema design.
Glasgow, Cinema City: ‘here and there in a dear green place…’ Thomas McGoran
1 October to 11 October 2022
Mon - Sat, 10:00-16:30
Exhibition Reception, Friday 8 October 2022, 17:00-18:00
Reid Ground Floor Corridor, The Reid Building, The Glasgow School of Art
This exhibition brings together drawings by Thomas McGoran, a talented Glasgow artist now in his nineties who, although has had few chances to exhibit his work, has been working diligently throughout his lifetime to create an exceptional body of work.
The work exhibited includes architectural illustrations of Glasgow, originally conceived of as part of as an illustrated guide to Glasgow, created with accompanying commentary by handwritten by McGoran, as well as a collection of drawings of Glasgow cinemas which were commissioned by Cinema Memory and the Digital Archive (CMDA), a three-year research project looking at memories of cinema-going in 1930s Britain. By the end of the 1930s, Glasgow was a true ‘Cinema City’ and boasted more cinema seats per head than any other city in the world.
The CMDA builds on an earlier project conducted by Annette Kuhn in the 1990s which looked at memories of cinema-going in the 1930s Britain. Thomas McGoran, who was interviewed as part of Kuhn’s original project, is the only known participant from the original project who is still living. He was interviewed at his home on 30 November 1994 and 22 February 1995. Both interviews are available, along with 170 hours of additional interview material, on the CMDA website.
The exhibition will also include other works commissioned for the CMDA project, including a cinema memory box – a new digital installation created by the theatre company, imitating the dog, and a new film about Thomas McGoran by Marissa Keating.
Thomas McGoran:
One of nine children, Thomas McGoran was born in Ayr in 1927 and the family moved to Glasgow in 1930. His father was a labourer, his mother a housewife. He left school at the age of fourteen, and his first job was as a spoolboy (rewinding films after they had been projected) and eventually he went on to work as a film projectionist. He then worked for British Railways for thirty-three years, before retiring after being made redundant at the age of sixty. It was at this time that Mr McGoran began developing his talent as an artist. His work has been exhibited in Glasgow and a selection of his paintings can be viewed at the artuk.org
The Glasgow School of Art is showing beautiful drawings of Glasgow’s celebrated (and many now lost) cinemas. The drawings were made by artist and former cinema projectionist, 93-year-old Thomas McGoran.
Interviews with Thomas about his time as a spool winder and projectionist in the hey-day of movies, when Glasgow was cinema city, and his work as an artist.
with exhib curator, Sarah Neely.
with Professor Bruce Peter - a leading expert on historic cinema design.
Glasgow, Cinema City: ‘here and there in a dear green place…’ Thomas McGoran
1 October to 11 October 2022
Mon - Sat, 10:00-16:30
Exhibition Reception, Friday 8 October 2022, 17:00-18:00
Reid Ground Floor Corridor, The Reid Building, The Glasgow School of Art
This exhibition brings together drawings by Thomas McGoran, a talented Glasgow artist now in his nineties who, although has had few chances to exhibit his work, has been working diligently throughout his lifetime to create an exceptional body of work.
The work exhibited includes architectural illustrations of Glasgow, originally conceived of as part of as an illustrated guide to Glasgow, created with accompanying commentary by handwritten by McGoran, as well as a collection of drawings of Glasgow cinemas which were commissioned by Cinema Memory and the Digital Archive (CMDA), a three-year research project looking at memories of cinema-going in 1930s Britain. By the end of the 1930s, Glasgow was a true ‘Cinema City’ and boasted more cinema seats per head than any other city in the world.
The CMDA builds on an earlier project conducted by Annette Kuhn in the 1990s which looked at memories of cinema-going in the 1930s Britain. Thomas McGoran, who was interviewed as part of Kuhn’s original project, is the only known participant from the original project who is still living. He was interviewed at his home on 30 November 1994 and 22 February 1995. Both interviews are available, along with 170 hours of additional interview material, on the CMDA website.
The exhibition will also include other works commissioned for the CMDA project, including a cinema memory box – a new digital installation created by the theatre company, imitating the dog, and a new film about Thomas McGoran by Marissa Keating.
Thomas McGoran:
One of nine children, Thomas McGoran was born in Ayr in 1927 and the family moved to Glasgow in 1930. His father was a labourer, his mother a housewife. He left school at the age of fourteen, and his first job was as a spoolboy (rewinding films after they had been projected) and eventually he went on to work as a film projectionist. He then worked for British Railways for thirty-three years, before retiring after being made redundant at the age of sixty. It was at this time that Mr McGoran began developing his talent as an artist. His work has been exhibited in Glasgow and a selection of his paintings can be viewed at the artuk.org