Friday in Edinburgh – What’s On Today

Craigmillar Community Arts Family Fun Afternoon and All-Weather Picnic: a fun afternoon of food, traditional games and art workshops – an early celebration of the 4th of July! 12 noon-4pm, The Jewel Miners’ Club, 56 Duddingston Park South. All welcome; a free event funded by CCA’s Art & Health Project.

Wonder Worlds! Drop in and take part in a range of activities inspired by the amazing world of MC Escher. Explore how the artist used repeating patterns, and decorate a special creation to take home using your own unique stamp design; create peculiar portraits and make the impossible possible by designing your own fantastical world-in-a-box to add to the NGS’s weird and wonderful wall of worlds. For families with children aged 4-12 years. 2-4pm (drop-in), Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art TWO, Belford Road. Entry to the MC Escher exhibition will normally cost £9/£7, but families participating in this free workshop will get free admission.

Lunchtime Concert: pianist MinJung Baek plays Brahms, Liszt and Ravel. 12.15pm, St Giles’ Cathedral, High Street. Free.

Recitals for Wrigglers: concerts for babies and toddlers. 10.30am, Stockbridge Library, 11 Hamilton Place. Tickets cost £5 for one adult + one child, plus £2.50 for each additional child, and may be reserved in advance by emailing recitalsforwrigglers@gmail.com.

Woven Tales of Land, Sea and Shore: artist Claire Coyle celebrates the launch of her new exhibition, with live storytelling from Aileen Carr, Judy Paterson and Beverley Bryant. Claire has been weaving tapestries for over thirty years; her interests come from the history of the land, archaeology and mark making, inspired by connection to place, the past, decay and weathering over the passage of time. She has also been inspired by Fife’s Kingdom Tales storytelling group. 6pm, Storytelling Court, Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street. All welcome: free and unticketed. Exhibition ends 25th July 2015.

Trina Bohan: Timelines. A new exhibition of large-scale paintings by the Edinburgh-based artist; dramatic skyscapes set against the lochs and seas of Scotland. 10am-5pm Monday to Saturday, 1-5pm Sundays, Arusha Gallery, 13a Dundas Street. Ends 31st July 2015.

In Focus: Somer Hill near Tonbridge by JMW Turner. Art historian Ailsa Turner will explore Turner’s belief that the landscape painter should ‘select, combine and concentrate that which is beautiful in nature and admirable in art‘, in relation to this tranquil evening scene. The painting confirms how successfully Turner’s response to nature embraced the quiet and reflective as well as the bold and dramatic. 12.45-1.15pm, Level One, Scottish National Gallery, The Mound. Free and unticketed.

Family Workshop: Create a Masterpiece. Join artist Erik Petrie to explore exciting art techniques and learn how to become a perfect painter and drawer, taking inspiration from the gallery’s varied collection of Scottish art. 2.30-4pm, City Art Centre, 2 Market Street. £4 per person: bookings must be made in advance via the Usher Hall Box Office, Lothian Road, in person, by calling 0131 228 1155 or online here. Please note that this is a family event; all children must be accompanied by at least one paying adult.

Blueprint: a joint exhibition by Andy Jackson and Luke Skiffington. A collective installation by the two Goldsmiths’ alumni: ‘Together, their work offers an intimate dialogue on the possibilities for painting, its divergent attitudes through its many subtleties of form, scale, colour and surface’. Opens 6-8pm tonight, then 2-7pm Wednesday to Friday, 11am-2pm Saturdays, Interview Room 11, 38 Castle Terrace. Interview Room 11 is an artist-run gallery and project space run by a voluntary committee; it is part of ForestCentre+, an arts complex situated in Argyle House. The exhibition closes on 18th July 2015.

The Scottish Gallery: New Exhibitions. (1) Vicky Shaw: Painted Abstracts – the ceramicist’s first solo show at the Gallery; (2) Deborrah Daher: Introducing – a first showcase of hand-made work in precious metals from the American jeweller; (3) Emma Calvert: Introducing – a showcase of bold jewellery combining textiles and precious metals; (4) Anne Redpath – Fifty: A Celebratory Exhibition. A major exhibition of works spanning the entire career of the beloved artist and first female Royal Scottish Academician, who died fifty years ago; (5) David Cass: Tonight Rain, Tomorrow Mud – works inspired by the devastating floods in Florence (1966), Paris (1910) and Bilbao (1983).  10am-6pm Monday to Friday, 10am-4pm Saturdays, The Scottish Gallery, 16 Dundas Street. All five exhibitions close on 1st August 2015.

Royal Scots Regiments Throughout the Great War: The Rev Garry Ketchen, Scottish Baptist Minister and Great War historian, will provide a general overview of when and where the regiments were formed, the divisions and brigades they were attached to, the theatres of war they served in and the conflicts of war they were involved in.  10.30am, Museum of Edinburgh, 142 Canongate. Tickets cost £5/£3.50 per person and must be purchased in advance from the Usher Hall Box Office, in person, by calling 0131 228 1155 or online here (transaction fee applies to phone and online bookings).

St Giles’ Cathedral Choir: O Clap Your Hands – choral music from five centuries. Organist: Peter Backhouse; Master  of Music: Michael Harris. 8pm, St Giles’ Cathedral, High Street. Admission by programme: £10/£5 (students)/accompanied children free. In aid of the Choir’s 2015 tour to Bavaria.

Crossing Countries Fundraising Ceilidh. This social enterprise enables disabled students to enjoy the same overseas volunteering experiences and benefits as others – from fundraising, planning and training to the adventure itself; its trip this year will be to Durban, South Africa. The Columcille Ceilidh Band is also a social enterprise, whose members include musicians with and without learning difficulties. 7.30-11.30pm, Colomcille Centre, 2 Newbattle Terrace, Morningside. Tickets cost £10 (price includes haggis, neeps and tatties) and may be purchased by emailing cctravellers.edinburgh@outlook.com. ‘Challenging boundaries, changing lives‘.

Ded Rabbit: animated, energetic stage action from Edinburgh’s Gaine brothers [Donal (bass), Fergus (guitar), Eoin (drums) and Eugene (sax/vocals)]. ‘Maddeningly funky, indie-pop sound’; influences include the Beatles and Queens of the Stone Age. Plus Funk DJ. 12 midnight-3am, The Jazz Bar, Chambers Street. £5/£4 on the door: please note this venue is cash only.

The Kelburn Garden Party 2015. Here’s your first chance to get away this week; music, art, poetry, spoken word, glen walks, adventure playground, children’s games and zones, laser quest, workshops, crafts, light installations, cabaret, comedy and circus shows, plus an optional Magical Mystery Cruise – ‘the ultimate after party’. ‘Fun, experimental, old school, new school, hip-shaking, beard-stroking, local, international…something for all discerning tastes’ – all in the grounds of Kelburn Castle, the site of the famous Graffiti Project. Gates open 4pm, Kelburn Castle, Kelburn Country Centre, Fairlie, Largs KA29 0BE. E-tickets may be booked via eventbrite here; prices vary. For more information, including travel and camping options, see the Garden Party’s website here. The Garden Party ends at 3am on Monday 6th July and camp sites close at 1pm that day.