FESTIVAL VISUAL ART | Previews & Reviews
E G A R A G ,
O N O Y H A C D Y R A ©
I
O D U T S T O C E V O D
,
I
E R B F O T E C E E L F ©
PREVIEW FOLLOW THE THREAD Collection of three fine art displays celebrating weaving and wool REVIEW MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS Exhibition of mixed artefacts fleshes out the story of the enigmatic Queen ●●●●●
Dovecot Studios presents some exceptional talent this summer in Follow the Thread: a collaborative triptych of fine art exhibitions celebrating weaving and wool. The collections showcase the versatile nature of yarn and textiles, and the skilful diversity of the exhibition’s contributing artists, weavers and commissioners. Mentioned most often in the same breath as her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Stewart’s notoriety comes, of course, from the fixed eye she kept on the English throne – the obsession that got her head chopped off. Though it doesn’t ignore this reputation, this biographical exhibition shunts it to flesh out the full 45 years of Mary’s story.
At the heart of the exhibition, Fleece to Fibre In its attempt to engender sympathy for
explores Dovecot’s meticulous, time-consuming commission of transforming Victoria Crowe’s acclaimed oil painting Large Tree Group (1975) into an impressive large-scale tapestry, produced solely from undyed wool sourced from 70 producers throughout the UK. The tapestry is accompanied by a series of photographs portraying the many individuals who contributed to this vast undertaking. Meanwhile Artist Rugs presents a selection of vibrant, illustrative rugs produced by the mastery of Dovecot’s weavers, as well as renowned contemporary artists, including John Byrne and Alasdair Gray. Dazzle returns for a second year featuring an exclusive and innovative range of jewellery using textiles, yarns and fabric, and work by Japanese printmaker Emiko Aida. (Rachel Craig) ■ Dovecot Studios, 550 3660, 2 Aug–14 Sep, free.
Mary’s many hardships and respect for her self- assuredness, the exhibition heavily relies on narrative panels – but it’s the assorted artefacts that lend tangible depth. Navigational tools, royal furnishings and handwritten letters lend era-specific aura, while jewellery and costumes conjure an image of Mary as an entrancing fashionista. However, in the end her tragedy reigns: the Blairs
Memorial Portrait of Mary as a martyr dominates the entrance, and a replica of her tomb overwhelms the exit, with the unassuming Marian Hanging (1570–85) providing the utmost poignancy. Though it plods along at times, Mary, Queen of Scots just manages to render a one-note queen into a full-fledged human being. (Jaclyn Arndt) ■ National Museum of Scotland, 0300 123 6789, until 17 Nov, £9 (£6–£7.50), U12s free.
PREVIEW GARAGE Project space and micro gallery hosting temporary installations and exhibitions ‘Artists have been making work in different spaces for years,’ muses Emma Bowen of her own contribution to this year’s Edinburgh Art Festival, GARAGE. ‘It’s exciting. Things come alive. Interesting accidents can happen.’ The sometime Edinburgh College of Art postgraduate and audiovisual artist describes herself as the ‘caretaker’ of a venue that has existed since 2006, an ad hoc temporary space located across three garages and a garden in a New Town mews lane. The aim is, she says, to show ‘site-specific, cross- disciplinary, collaborative and new work developed during a series of small-scale mini residencies’ and explains that the entirely self-funded programme is in a state of constant flux, with those artists presenting at each of the weekend afternoon exhibits being announced closer to the time on the GARAGE website. There’s a list of the youthful and emerging group of artists featured up there now, though, and a series of films which give a flavour of past festival events. What does she hope for from this year’s version? ‘That people enjoy themselves and have fun,’ she says, adding cryptically, ‘I hope things get smaller instead of bigger.’ (David Pollock) ■ GARAGE, 07917 668 044, 3–4, 10–11 & 17–18 Aug, free.
PREVIEW KRIJN DE KONING: LAND Installation transforming ECA’s sculpture court
In this new work by the Dutch artist Krijn de Koning, his first exhibited piece in the UK, the intention is dramatic. ‘I wanted to make an artwork as a place,’ he says, reflecting on a project in which the interior of Edinburgh College of Art’s sculpture court will be entirely transformed with a series of raised platforms and walkways. ‘I wanted to make it visible and strong as an artwork, and to give a use to it, so people could walk on it or use it for a discussion or a debate.’ Having worked at ECA for the past year as the John Florent Stone Fellow, de Koning is familiar with the sculpture court’s dramatic exhibiting environment and with its unique features, among them a series of reproduction classical sculptures created for use in teaching. His design allows the viewer to get closer to these works and to see them from new angles, to ‘see them in a different way, or in a state in which we’re more alert’.
He speaks of a copy of Michelangelo’s famous Pieta in the Vatican, in which Jesus lies dying in Mary’s arms. ‘But Mary isn’t there, so you have this laying dying body. Immediately that’s interesting. It’s a hollow cast, at one part you see the sculpture and at another you see the metal and the plaster flaking off. It’s not about the sculpture, it’s about what these really are.’ His standard practice in transforming interiors through
installation like this, he says, came from ‘a certain pragmatism, the thought that it would be a real good way to work with what I had, with the material, with the light coming in, to provide the best work for the situation.’ And the thought of a new space being created and destroyed doesn’t worry him. ‘Everything constantly changes,’ he says. ‘Things are temporary, either short-term temporary or long-term temporary.’ (David Pollock) ■ Edinburgh College of Art, 651 5800, 1 Aug–1 Sep, free.
M A D R E T S M A ,
I
K E K E W U E N R O F K R O W
,
I
G N N O K E D J N R K ©
I
98 THE LIST FESTIVAL 1–8 Aug 2013