Opening: Friday 4 August, 7-9pm
Exhibition continues: 5 August – 27 September 2017
Artist Talk: Saturday 19 August, 12-1pm
A Free Bus will run between Belfast and Portadown on the evening of the opening. Leaves Belfast from Golden Thread Gallery at 6.45pm. Returns from Portadown at 9pm
‘(A) Dress’ is a significant exhibition of new work by glass artist Alison Lowry and will be part of the August Craft Month programme of activities across Northern Ireland.
With a family history in lace-making and embroidery, Alison studied textiles, then developed her skills in glass making in a variety of techniques. Inspired by her experiences of motherhood, Alison’s work captures small, but fleeting moments of life that are filled with memories, she says, “fabric preserves the essence of its maker; traces of the wearer become entwined with the warp and weft, allowing physical objects to become containers for memory.“ Glass allows her to replicate or capture an impression of cloth or clothing in a precise and immediate way. The nature of the glass piece embodies the fragility of the very memory it captures. Frances McDonald writes, “Textiles may have provided the narrative…..powerfully expressed through the language of glass…strong and fragile, as well as being a poignant reminder of the vulnerability of life…”
The exhibition features exciting collaborations, a new film based on glass shoes and a large dress suspended from the ceiling, raining down droplets into the gallery. The exhibition opens on the 4th August and continues until the 27th of September.
The artist has used the technique of Pate de Verre to cast antique christening robes in the process, the original robe will be burnt away in the kiln but the glass will formed in its place – creating a fragile but haunting reminder of what was there before.
Alison Lowry is a glass artist living and working from her studio, ‘Schoolhouse Glass’ in Saintfield, Northern Ireland.
She graduated from the University of Ulster with a first class Honors degree in Art and Design in 2009. She employs a range of techniques to create her sculptures, working with cast glass and pate de verre.
She has won numerous awards including first place in the category, ‘Glass Art’ at the Royal Dublin Show in 2015 and 2009, the Silver medal at the Royal Ulster Arts Club’s Annual Exhibition in 2010, the Warm Glass Prize in 2010 and 2011 and more recently the Bronze Award at Bullseye Glass’ ‘Emerge’ exhibition.
Alison exhibits both locally and internationally and her work is held in several public collections; the National Museum of Ireland recently acquired a large pate de verre vessel for the ‘Contemporary Craft Collection’. The Arts Council of Northern Ireland have several of Alison’s pieces in their collection.
