A NEW exhibition by Scottish artist Claire Barclay is now open at the MAC in Belfast to mark 10 years of art at the city centre theatre and gallery space.
Specially created for the MAC Galleries and supported by the Arts Council for Northern Ireland, Thrum runs until July 3.
"Historical links between the west of Scotland and Northern Ireland provide a framework for this new body of artworks," explains Barclay, who is known for creating large-scale installations utilising a range of traditional media including installation, sculpture and printmaking to explore materials and space.
"More specifically, deep-rooted connections relating to textile production, like Ayrshire 'whitework' embroidery, linen cloth production, and indigenous dress have informed choices within the sculptures."
Hugh Mulholland, senior curator at the MAC comments: "Claire Barclay creates meticulous sculptural works which respond to particular environments.
"Combining hand-made and machine-made elements, her work evokes a strong sense of place, memory and emotion. In this exhibition entitled Thrum, Claire has made work specifically for the MAC Galleries which explore our relationship with cloth and in particular Irish Linen which she has sourced locally and uses throughout the galleries.
"This exhibition is the first in a series of exhibitions we are presenting in this our 10th anniversary. We are delighted to be working with Claire on such an ambitious and engaging project and we look forward to welcoming visitors will no doubt bring their own associations and memories with textiles, clothing and making when viewing the work."
