Lisa Gallacher is an artist from Dumfries who has worked all over the UK and Europe since graduating from the Glasgow School of Art with an MFA in 2003. Since April, Lisa has been working on a project called TDRM: Dumfries, which has involved detailed research and making articles of bespoke clothing for ten local folk.
Lisa Gallacher – Queensberry Street Fabric
This has been a truly ambitious undertaking, with Lisa first designing and printing her own fabrics before turning them into new garments. This was the scene at the artist’s temporary studio in The Stove in the centre of Dumfries today:
We’d urge anyone with an interest in the arts and seeing an artist working at the top of their game to come along to the public event marking the project. NB: The garments will not be on show like this again… this is a once-only opportunity.
COME TO GREYFRIARS CHURCH, DUMFRIES… 7 pm on Wednesday, 7th November… FREE (and a glass of wine to boot)
Those who follow the work of Mike Inglis will be very intrigued and excited to see the image below. Mike’s work is all about layers of exposure, and his relationship with public space is often a troubled one. There is an aspect of his work that involves the 3D assembly of very private shrine works. Mike has often talked about ways that he could bring this side of his work into the public domain alongside his paste-ups and graphic work. Maybe Dumfries is about to see something very significant in Scottish art history…
One of Scotland’s leading public/street artists, Mike has been researching ‘outsiders’ and ‘custodians’ in Dumfries since May 2012. He has worked with community groups and historical information ranging from the execution of nine women accused of witchcraft in 1659 to the groundbreaking therapeutic community at the former Crichton Hospital.
Mike’s work around Dumfries will include two ‘window shrines’ and six ‘paste-up street shrines’ – these will begin to appear in the town centre on 4th November and will be visible for as long as the good folk of Dumfropolis choose to leave them unmolested.
In 1973, Bill Drummond was coming to the end of his first academic year at Liverpool School of Art. He was studying painting. He loved painting. He wanted to spend the rest of his life painting. But something was troubling him. He thought that even if he became a successful painter, or even a great painter, all it would mean was that his paintings would hang on the walls of a rich man’s apartment in New York.
The young and idealistic Drummond instinctively felt that this was not what art should be about. He put down his paintbrush, walked away from the easel and out into the streets of Liverpool in the hope that he could discover a way of making art that… The rest of his professional life to date has been about trying to work out what the ‘that’ might be.
Some months before he laid down his paintbrush, he had visited the first Andy Warhol retrospective in the UK. It was at Tate Britain. The exhibition had blown him away. But over the next twelve months, what had initially done the blowing began to trouble him. The troubling progressed to the point where he thought what Andy Warhol represented was everything that was wrong with art in the world at that time.
Mr Drummond is standing in the Penkiln Burn (near Newton Stewart) with a salmon and bluebells.
All the first-year fine art students were expected to write a 4,000-word history of art essay on a topic of their choice. This essay was to be handed in by the end of the first academic year. Although he had a title for the essay, he was unable to put more than a few unconnected words on the page.
Most of the several hundred thousand words that Drummond has written and published since the summer of ’73 have been a continuation of this uncompleted essay. What he hopes to present in Dumfries will be a 45-minute performance lecture based on where he is at with the essay at the moment. The working title is, as it was then, the now rather naïve: “Why Andy Warhol is Shite.”
You can be part of the audience for Bill’s lecture “Why Andy Warhol Is Shite” by coming to Greyfriars Church at 6 p.m. on Thursday, 8 November (free).
The Dumfries and Galloway Standard has had its reporters out and about:
“It wouldn’t be the first town you’d think of if you were asked to name a fashion hotspot of the world. But thanks to visual artist Lisa Gallacher, a collection of bespoke pieces created and inspired by Doonhamers and their town will be exhibited here next month.”
Fabric based in Paling’s Window by Lisa Gallacher
TRDM: Dumfries is one of eight creative projects specially commissioned by the artists’ collective The Stove for their exhibition InBetween: Dumfries. The project will culminate in a collection of “Dumfries Inspired” made-to-measure garments being shown at The Stove’s base on the town’s High Street throughout the beginning of November. The Dumfries-born, internationally acclaimed artist has collaborated with ten local residents from all walks of life to create an item of clothing, representing what the town means to them.
The artist collective The Stove has put together a week-long programme that celebrates Dumfries and offers people the chance to be part of the future of their town. Six specially commissioned art projects will be presented in public spaces, accompanied by public performances and talks from leading thinkers, as well as film screenings and concerts.
Highlights include:
‘Why Andy Warhol is Shite’ – A performance lecture by international artist Bill Drummond.
Street Shrines – New work around Dumfries by one of Scotland’s leading street/public artists, Mike Inglis.
Greyfriars 1 – The world premiere of Suzanne Parry-John’s song cycle about the Nith and the launch of artist Lisa Gallacher’s bespoke clothing collection.
Nithscoping – Environmental artist Hannah Brackston invites an investigation of Dumfries’ river.
Also, look out for Marion Preez’s blue ‘Frames’ around the town, and whatever you do – don’t miss ‘The Lost Supper’, a simultaneous voyage back in time and into the future, with great food!
By some oversight, we managed not to post John Wallace’s fine First Foot film on The Stove blog when it first came out…so here it is (with apologies to all of you who like things in chronological order).
We use cookies to improve your experience on our website, analyse traffic, and personalise content. By using our site, you consent to the use of cookies. Please read our privacy policy for more information.
Cookie Preferences
Manage your cookie preferences below:
Always Active
Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the proper function of the website.
Name
Description
Duration
Service URL
Cookie Preferences
This cookie is used to store the user's cookie consent preferences.
30 days
-
Statistics cookies collect information anonymously. This information helps us understand how visitors use our website.
