Highlights from the Alasdair Gray Estate Collection: works on paper, painted over 15+ times, a rescued ledger documenting a changing Glasgow, and new responses uncovering hidden histories. Find out more on our website!

Did you know The Alasdair Gray Archive cares for 8,500+ items across two unique collections- the Alasdair Gray Estate Collection & our AGA Collection, we'll be sharing highlights that continue to inspire our innovative model for research, commissioning and learning.

Thanks to @creativescots.bsky.social Open Fund for Organisations, @heatherparry.bsky.social & Kirstin Innes ave been exploring AGA & @aowensarchive.bsky.social through writing, workshops and new creative work. Here Heather shares the impact this residency has had on her practice.

Thanks to @creativescots.bsky.social Open Fund for Organisations, Heather Parry & @kirstininnes.bsky.social have been exploring AGA & @aowensarchive.bsky.social through writing, workshops and new creative work. Here Kirstin shares the impact on her practice. Photo: Alan Dimmick.

Celebrating another brilliant student placement biography! 🎉 Erin Love explores the life of artist, teacher and musician Ian McIlhenny in our Alasdair & Others series. Read it now via the link in our bio. Thanks to Craig McIIhenny for all his support. Design by Eva Casey.

Sharing another fantastic student outcome: a beautifully researched Alasdair & Others biography of Hugh MacDiarmid by Jack Anderson. Discover how MacDiarmid shaped Alasdair Gray's creative vision. Read now via the link in bio.

Over the next week we'll be sharing highlights from our recent student placements. First: a new Alasdair & Others biography of Dr Joe Murray by Kirsten Blackburn, exploring his 18-year creative partnership with Alasdair Gray. Read it via the link in our bio!

A new addition to The Alasdair Gray Archive: the engraved silver quaich presented to Alasdair Gray by Whitehill Secondary School Former Pupils’ Club in 2018. His only accepted formal award, it now joins our living archive.

Matthew Arthur Williams: Holding Ground is now on view at The Alasdair Gray Archive until 31 July. A new photographic exhibition exploring memory, place and artistic persistence. Copies of Rich Things available.

Week 6 of our Writing in the Margins group explored plot and structure, discussing Gray's The Star and @aowensarchive.bsky.social’s McIntyre (Lean Tales). Great discussion throughout—we're looking forward to next week! 🙏 to Saskia McCracken for facilitating!

Something new has landed on the Scottish Artists Archive Network website - a curated library of advice, skills, guides, and suppliers specifically for artists archives. www.scottishartistsarchivesnetwork.org/resources?ut...

Resources | Scottish Artists Arc

scottishartistsarchivesnetwork.org

We’re excited to share a recent addition to The Alasdair Gray Archive: Joe Murray’s donated working materials from collaborating with Alasdair Gray, offering a unique insight into Gray’s creative process and publishing legacy.

A pleasure to welcome artists Jacqui Parry and Sarah Forrest to the archive today. Jacqui knew Alasdair through @glasgowprintstudio.bsky.social, while Sarah’s multidisciplinary practice explores language and perception. Thanks to both for visiting!

Our Custodian @sorchadallas.bsky.social was honoured to write the obituary for Gray’s friend, museum curator and academic Beth McKillop for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Beth McKillop obituary

Museum curator and scholar with a special focus on Korean art

theguardian.com

Welcome to Day 1 of our AGA x DJCAD Online Exhibition! 🎉 Celebrating the talented 4th Year BDes (Hons) Illustration students, whose inspiring archive-based work explores the creative legacies of Alasdair Gray & Agnes Owens thealasdairgrayarchive.org/news/aga-x-d...

AGA X DJCAD Online Exhibition - The Alasdair Gray Archive

AGA X Fourth Year BDes (Hons) Illustration students at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design

thealasdairgrayarchive.org

Week 5 of Writing in the Margins explored how kitchens, workplaces and family life reveal the wider world. Huge thanks to guest writer @kirstininnes.bsky.social and everyone who shared thoughtful work proving big stories often begin at the kitchen table @aowensarchive.bsky.social

Over the past two months, we've loved welcoming Eva Casey as our Graphic Design & Content Creation Intern through @glasgow.ac.uk Creative Connections. Thanks for your creativity, hard work and enthusiasm, Eva—we wish you every success!

✨ Facilitator Spotlight: Lorna Gallagher inspired children to explore Alasdair Gray through creativity, play and archive-making. Our City, Our Stories sparked discussion, imagination and new ways of learning. 💙

PLEASE SHARE 🙏 Matthew Arthur Williams: Holding Ground opens tmrw at The Alasdair Gray Archive. A new photographic exhibition exploring memory, place and artistic persistence. On until 31 July 2026.

Our City, Our Stories 📚✨ inspired North Glasgow pupils through hands-on archive workshops exploring family, culture & identity. By creating personal archive boxes, they celebrated creativity, community & local heritage. 💛

✨ Our City, Our Stories: Exploring North Glasgow Through Alasdair Gray ✨ Young people, teachers & communities explored Alasdair Gray through creative workshops, storytelling & archive-making—sharing memories and building local histories. Supported by GCC Area Partnership fund.

‘Our City, Our Stories’ connected young people and communities with Alasdair Gray through creative workshops, storytelling and archive visits, exploring North Glasgow’s history, identity and shared narratives.

✨ Delighted to welcome members of the Scottish Records Association today! We shared highlights from The Alasdair Gray Archive and @aowensarchive.bsky.social, explored our collections, and celebrated the importance of preserving Scotland’s stories. 📚

New acquisition for The Alasdair Gray Archive: a unique tile from Alasdair Gray’s SPT Hillhead Underground mural, believed to be the only surviving example. Now on display at AGA. Thanks to Nichol Wheatley for supporting its acquisition.

Scotland is for everyone who chooses to make it home. We stand with those targeted by racism in Glasgow and beyond. There is no place for hatred or exclusion here. All Kinds of Folk, Folk of All Kinds.

Meet Gayathri, a Technical Art History Masters student at the University of Glasgow, who catalogued Alasdair Gray’s materials during her placement. She explored his use of unconventional materials and gained insight into his interconnected artistic practice.

Join @sgsah.bsky.social supported researcher David Lothian for a guided tour of The Alasdair Gray Archive through a neurodivergent lens, exploring Gray’s art, writing and personal items in new ways. Link in bio.

Delighted to welcome P5s from Garnetbank Primary to the archive on Thursday! They explored original items, learned about Alasdair Gray, wore handling gloves, and built on classroom sessions through hands-on discovery. Get in touch to book your school visit today!

Wonderful to welcome Christy Mearns, Deputy Lord Provost of Glasgow and @scottishgreens.org councillor, to the Archive today. A champion of culture, heritage and public spaces, it was a pleasure to share AGA’s work and plans. Thanks for your support!

It’s World Environment Day! 🌿 Alasdair Gray’s love of nature shaped much of his work. From Biodiversity: A Cabinet of Curiosities, his collaboration with Siobhan Healy, to the posthumous Garscube Links commission, his words championed protecting the natural world.