The Centre will be hosting a Pop-up Mall Art event this summer which includes painting and line drawing classes with internationally acclaimed artists, ceramic clay sculpture classes, free-style art sessions, and an arts and crafts gardening club for kids.

The event is part of our Summer Smile campaign which is designed to capture shoppers’ smiles in the mall. Visitors can join various art classes, including painting with Cassandra Harrison and line work drawing with Livingston-born Gregor Louden, whose giant murals are currently featured in the mall as part of a recent art exhibition.

Artist and art teacher, Cassandra, who has exhibited throughout the UK and USA, trained in Fine Art and Art Education. Cassandra’s painting classes will take place on 19^th, 20^th and 21^st of July offering shoppers the chance to have fun with art whilst learning a bit of art history at the same time.

Gregor’s work also previously featured in The Centre’s ‘Frog Trail’ in 2017 and his ‘All Roads Lead to The Centre’ mural for the exhibition was inspired by his hometown and takes people through local places of interest from his childhood including Livingston Skateboard Park, the Kirk of Calder and Houstoun House.

The former James Young High School student has travelled the world exhibiting his work in many major cities including Philadelphia and Berlin, coming a long way from the murals he designed at Livingston Skateboard Park when he was in his teens, which has inspired his work to this day.

Gregor’s line drawing classes will take place at The Centre on 30^th and 31^st July.

Ceramic artist Helen from Helen Michie Ceramics specialises in mixed media painting and creating impressive raku, porcelain and stoneware artworks. Helen will be running classes on 12^th, 13^th and 14^th July where shoppers can learn about different hand-building techniques and make tiles, pinch and coil pots or a modelled sculpture using air dry clay.

Free-style art sessions will also be taking place over the summer where shoppers can pick up an artwork pack at the Customer Service Desk and pull up a chair at one of the easels and design their own masterpiece.

For young budding artists, there’s ‘The Little Garden’ arts and crafts club which will be taking place every day until the 11^th July. They can also pick up a Gardening Trail Sheet from the Customer Service Desk until the 31^st July and search for gardening artworks in shop windows dotted around the mall, ranging from colourful plants and welly boots to trowels and a bright pink watering can, to be with a chance of winning a £25 Gift Card.

All activities and classes are free, with the option to give a donation to two local charities The Centre is supporting; Craigsfarm Community Hub, who organise art, meditation and wellbeing classes for people in the community and West Lothian Youth Action Project who provide support for young people and run a weekly Food Bank.

Classes take place from:

11am – 12noon

1.30pm – 2.30pm

4pm - 5pm

Dates of classes:

The Little Garden – Arts and crafts club: until Monday 11^th July.

Helen Michie – Clay Sculpture Classes: Tuesday 12^th, Wednesday 13^th and Thursday 14^th July.

Cassandra Harrison – Painting Classes: Tuesday 19^th, Wednesday 20^th and Thursday 21^st July.

Gregor Louden – Line Drawing Classes: Saturday 30^th and Sunday 31^st July.

Free Style Sessions – Artwork packs will be available to pick up from the Customer Service Desk – Dates TBC.

Please note: Places are allocated on a first-come first-served basis.