Seamless – An exhibition of works by Lora Haynes and Paula McGurdy

Private View:             Friday 27th of March 2009 – 6 pm to 11 pm
Exhibition runs from:          Friday 27th of March to 2nd of April 2009
Gallery Opening Hours:          Fri, Sat, Mon, Tues, Wed: 2.30 pm – 6.30 pm
Last day of Exhibition:        Thurs 2nd of April: 11.00am to 5.00pm

Each particular instant in time is tied down, strung together by registering and mark-making; attempting to evoke as well as echo connections between people, places and time with the artists’ intricately crafted pieces.

Recent graduates of Camberwell College of Art, Lora Haynes’ and Paula McGurdy’s work conveys a sense of revisiting personal narratives by capturing fleeting moments in life. Both artists endeavour to render these permanent through the use of stitching and drawing. Utilising materials with feminine connotations such as thread and wool, both employ these materials to generate labour intensive, almost painstaking creations. The new body of work in this show examines a wide range of themes from stringing together connections and memory to the bond people form between one another and their surroundings.

Aiming to reiterate the ephemeral essence of time, Paula McGurdy, within her pieces retraces concepts of presence and absence. The carefully chosen use of delicate materials such as thread, paper and hair attempts to mirror the above notion of all things transient and thus fragile. Repetitiveness and laborious work are a particular area of interest to Paula. By using stitch as a form of drawing she aims to trap the memories of the image before they fade, crumble and disappear; the act of making becoming a memory in itself. Employing recurring imagery, the artist seeks to alter the viewers impression by re-purposing and distilling the image and more recently has been examining childhood memories, confronting the viewer with their own ‘lost’ childhood, and therefore their own mortality.

Different themes are explored within Lora Haynes’ work, often uniting them with the use of a commonplace medium. She attempts to examine varying forms of bonds, from those of a very personal nature to those between objects and space.

Most recently she has begun to investigate the nature of small communities, and the multi-layered relationships which form to bind individuals to one another in addition to a place. To express the above, she utilises materials made from wool, as well as felt, blankets and thread to convey associations to femininity, softness and comfort, equally hinting at the potentially more sinister undertones connoted by the very same materials.