BOUNDARIES
'Boundaries' was a curated exhibition, an ambitious step forward for the Creative Network and presented a new opportunity for our members. Open submission, themed, selected shows are common place in the UK but few of this nature have taken place on the Isle of Man. We hope to make the open show a regular feature and aim to create strong, curated bodies of work which could perhaps tour off Island in the future – taking Manx art to a broader audience and raising the profile of the Manx art world.
Exhibition Curators
From artists’ submissions a selection panel of artists, educators and curators selected which works should be included to create a powerful exhibition which presents thought provoking and relevant issues connected with the theme to a broad audience. This was a blind selection process, where pieces were chosen on their own merit, and importantly, how they work alongside other pieces.
Professor Keith McKintyre rsaA visual artist based in the Outer Hebrides. A graduate of DJCA Dundee he taught at the Glasgow School of Art before moving to Northumbria University where he was Head of the Department of Arts up to 2018. Keith is currently a Professor and Interim Director at the Centre for Rural Creativity at the University of the Highlands and Islands.
Keith has had numerous solo exhibitions both in Britain and Internationally. His drawings, paintings, and prints are represented in numerous public and private collections. He also has a considerable profile as an artist working in collaborative theatre, performing arts + film projects. |
Helen FoxAfter training at the Slade Art School, London, Helen has had a career in art education and is currently Head of Art, Design and Media at University College Isle of Man. Helen is also a practicing artist and in recent years has furthered her own art education by completing an MA at Northumbria University. As part of her MA, Helen curated the exhibition ‘Turning Point’ at the Sayle Gallery, which included the work of five international artists. Helen has curated other gallery exhibitions and was instrumental in developing the Market Hall in Douglas as a temporary art centre study base for Manx degree students.
|
Ian coulsonIan has practiced as an artist and art educator on the Island most of his life. He himself trained under Norman Sayle and then went on to inspire countless young Manx artists as the leader of the Art Foundation course at Isle of Man College. Since retiring, Ian has managed a more prolific output of artwork and a recent project about Peel driftermen has been bought in it’s entirety by the Isle of Man Arts Council for their Loan Collection.
|
Assisted by:
Kirsty Neate, Manx National Heritage and Carola Rush, Creative Network.
Kirsty Neate, Manx National Heritage and Carola Rush, Creative Network.
the theme - boundaries
Despite the advent of a highly mediated world, where communication is enjoyed at levels not experienced before, it can be argued that all artists still work within (or indeed with), boundaries. These boundaries/restrictions/containments may be of a physical nature but may equally be of the mind. A boundary may be imposed upon an artist or may be self-imposed; a boundary may be a negative or positive creative force. Boundaries may form an integral part of an artist’s working process; a pencil line, a slip trail, the cropping of a photograph etc. Or boundaries may come into being through socio-political issues connected to where and in what type of community an artist practices. Do you as an artist working on the Isle of Man still feel cut off from a broader art world elsewhere? Or with the advent of the internet, is living within the confines of an island still a restriction in terms of audience, markets, creative stimulation of a broader art world? The theme of this open show was decided upon before Covid 19 entered our consciousness but it has perhaps become an even more relevant topic in the light of recent months? With new restrictions and boundaries imposed upon us through home lockdown and closure of Island borders all of us have altered outlooks. How has this affected you as an individual and your practice as an artist?
submissions
Artists were invited to submit work, (sculpture, painting, mixed media, photography, digital/AV, textiles, ceramics etc.), around the theme of ‘Boundaries’. The exhibition was displayed in the temporary exhibition gallery at the House of Manannan in Peel, opening on April 1st and continuing through to the Autumn in 2021.