The Mac after the Fire - an Archive, an Appeal and guess WHO!

News about "what happened next" following the fire at the Mackintosh Building at the Glasgow School of Art (GSA)

• The Macintosh Appeal
• New Trustees are Peter Capaldi and Brad Pitt
• Graduation and Degree Show 2014

The Macintosh Appeal

Last week The Glasgow School of Art formerly launched The Mackintosh Appeal. The aim is to raise something like £20m to allow the GSA to commission the work that needs to be done following the fire in the Mackintosh Building.  (Click the link if you would like to support the appeal via the Big Give)

New Trustees

I am seriously impressed by who the GSA has got to be Trustees of its Appeal!

The GSA confirmed last week that both Peter Capaldi (the new Doctor Who) and Brad Pitt are to lend their support to the Appeal by becoming Trustees.

• Peter Capaldi was born in Glasgow and is an alumnus of GSA having studied graphic design there.

"I hope we can come together to help raise the funds to restore the Mackintosh Building it to its former grace. 
It always seemed to me, when I studied there, both as a student and as a child in Saturday morning art classes, an exotic place of the imagination…. all nooks and crannies, guarded by stern ancient statues and full of artistic possibilities. There is no greater symbol of the artistic spirit of Scotland than the Mackintosh Building. But more than that it is a symbol of where art belongs, rising as it does out of the heart of a great city. A mighty castle on a hill, it is a part of me, and of all Glaswegians.” Peter Capaldi


• Brad Pitt is well known for having a major interest in both architecture and furniture design - both aspects in which Macintosh himself excelled. He has very much admired Macintosh Building for some time.

"I’ve been doodling ideas for buildings and furniture since the early 1990s, when I first discovered [Charles Rennie] Mackintosh and Frank Lloyd Wright." Brad Pitt

A Message to The Glasgow School of Art from Peter Capaldi from The Glasgow School of Art on Vimeo.

Glasgow School of Art graphic design alumnus Peter Capaldi with a special message to students and friends of the Mackintosh Building, following the fire just before Degree Show 2014.  It includes an immortal line (and yes, he did say 'Cher'!) ;)

Bryan Ferry was already a Trustee of the pre-fire Appeal to fund the renewal of the existing Macintosh Campus.

The Mackintosh Appeal will be run by The Glasgow School of Art Development Trust.  Current Trustees are:

• Colin Grassie (Chair)
• Peter Capaldi
• Kelly Cooper-Barr
• Dr Kenneth Chrystie
• Bob Downes
• Ken Ross OBE
• Bryan Ferry CBE
• Dr Muriel Gray
• Prof Tom Inns
• Douglas Kinnaird
• William Bradley “Brad” Pitt 

The Mac Photographic Archive

A website - The Mac Photographic Archive - has also been set up by Lizzie Malcolm, an alumnus of the GSA which enables people to post their photographs of the interior from when they knew or visited the building.

The Mac Photographic Archive Website

Here's how it works

• anybody - students, alumni, staff, and tourists - can post
• it's a documentary record of the interior of the building - so only post photos of the INTERIOR
• you can identify and tag photos to specific rooms on each of the floors

The unfortunate fire at Glasgow School of Art on 23rd May 2014 destroyed much-loved parts of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh building on Renfrew Street. In an attempt to document the building for posterity, this website allows anyone, students, alumni, staff, and tourists to upload their personal record of the school.

...... it is the intention of this website to concentrate on gathering a comprehensive record of the interior of the building, from the people who have used it since its completion in 1909. Users can tag their photos with the floor and room in which the photograph was taken, estimate the date and annotate accordingly.

Graduation and Degree Shoow 2014

In the meantime, all those students who were affected by the fire graduated last week.  This Flickr site provides an insight into the work of this year's graduates

A gallery for each programme across our disciplines in fine art, design and architecture. Degree Show is the annual exhibition of work by final year undergraduate students and is open to the public from 14-21 June 2014.

Previous posts:

• Major fire at Rennie Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art 24 May 2014
• Mackintosh Building Fire Fund 27 May 2014