Published on:
01
June 2009
Hanging Together will begin to create a special Homecoming art installation in Alloa Old Kirkyard, Kirkgate, on Monday 8th June. The installation will celebrate the importance of family and ancestry. It will be developed on site, within in the Mar and Kellie Mausoleum, for the first two weeks, and will be on display there and in the kirkyard afterwards.
Hanging Together was formed in 1993 as a group initiative by professional artists in the Stirling area interested in raising the profile of creative activity, through engaging with both social and historical contexts outside the gallery norm. They have placed individual and collective works of art in a variety of situations.
Their first project, which gave the group its name, was at Stirling's Tolbooth, a site of both prison and summary justice. Further projects included 'Memory Bank', a work involving public interaction at sites around Stirling; 'Show on Ice' an event staged outside The Albert Halls in Stirling involving the layered melting of a block of ice; 'X_SITE', a virtual internet exhibition, 'Memento Mori' in Greenside Cemetery, Alloa; 'Solar' in Alloa Tower; 'needwantmusthave' at the Thistle Marches; 'Car Booty' at Kildean Market; 'Commoun Kist' in Stirling Libraries and 'Salt' at Culross Palace.
They have also worked on a number of Polish-Scottish exchange projects involving working residencies and exhibitions in both countries and the setting up of a Polish cafe in Alloa town centre.
Hanging Together are Nicola Carberry, Paul Eames, Carolyn Mason, Peter Russell, Karen Strang and Val Shatwell. Taking the general themes of heritage, genealogy and death as inspiration, each has interpreted it in a way that is meaningful to them.
Nicola Carberry studied drawing and painting at Glasgow School of Art and lives and works in Glasgow. Inspired by having recently found boxes of memorabilia in the attic of her grandmother's house, she will focus on derelict houses and the remnants people leave behind when they move or die.
Paul Eames studied drawing and painting at Camberwell School of Art. He works in Falkirk and lives in Alva. His sculptural work will look at life as a journey, about emigration and crossing oceans and the interior and exterior of suitcases.
Carolyn Mason studied tapestry and weaving at Camberwell School of Art. She lives in Alva and works in the county. Beginning with the women in her own family, her 3D work will look at their role in the past - retaining or losing their maiden name, the wearing of mourning dress after the death of a husband, the restrictions of being a woman and the Suffragette movement.
Peter Russell studied drawing and painting at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee. He lives in Stirling and has worked in Alloa for 20 years. He is working on a series of large, mixed-media framed works inspired by Burns' poem 'The Cotter's Saturday Night', the illustrations of the poem by David Allan of Alloa and the 1837 painting of the subject by Sir David Wilkie.
Karen Strang studied drawing and painting at Glasgow School of Art. She lived in Tillicoultry for many years and has worked extensively around Alloa and Tullibody. She will be inviting visitors to Alloa Library and the kirkyard to help her compile recipes based on the plain, traditional foodstuffs of Scotland before the Highland Clearances - barley, oats, nettles and honey - to illustrate what the emigrants to places like Canada missed when they left.
Finally, Val Shatwell studied jewellery and silversmithing at Glasgow School of Art. She has worked in Alloa and lives in Dunblane. Taking as her theme what people leave behind - the physical landscape and their families and friends - when they leave or emigrate and what she herself would miss, she will create sculpture based around suitcases, trunks and their contents. She also plans to make a sound-piece - the traditional tune 'Soldier's Joy' whistled by as many willing people of Alloa as she can find!
Hanging Together are delighted to be returning to the Old Kirkyard in Alloa and look forward to engaging with visitors in the working phase of the project and once the works have been completed.
8th June - 20th June
Visitors can meet the artists who will be working on their installations. Karen Strang will be in Alloa Library, where she will be creating small, hand-made books.
21st June - 5th July
The completed works will be launched on Sunday 21st June and will be displayed in the kirkyard until 5th July.
Opening times
10am - 12noon and 2pm - 4pm
For further information please contact Susan Mills at Clackmannanshire Council Museum and Heritage Service, Speirs Centre, Primrose Street, Alloa (01259 216913).
1. Homecoming Scotland is a Scottish Government initiative managed by EventScotland, the National Events Agency, in partnership with VisitScotland,
the National Tourism Agency.
2. Homecoming Scotland 2009 aims to motivate people of Scottish descent, as well as those who simply love Scotland, to come home in 2009 and take part in an inspirational celebration of our culture, heritage and the many great contributions Scotland has given to the world.
3. 2009 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns, with the programme's design guided by Scotland's unique position as the home of Burns himself, Golf, Whisky, great minds and innovations, rich culture and heritage and as the ancestral home of millions of people of Scots descent worldwide.
4. For more information on Homecoming Scotland please visit homecomingscotland2009.com or contact Gayle Wilson PR Manager on 0131 472 2067.