Strings Attached - Installation 2017

I really went for it in 2017. I’m very lucky to have a studio at Conway Mill as they are very supportive of the artists based there. In 2017 the management gave me permission to put on a solo exhibition/installation in what is known at the mill as the Drying Room, named that as this was where they used to dry the flax when it was a working linen mill.

This piece was about manipulation of forces unseen and our allusions of freedom of choice. 7 ceramic figures going about their business but attached to them are strings keeping them in the preferred position. Above faces watch.

I loved seeing it come together, there was a lot of throwing balls of twine up into the rafters to go over the beams and soon I got quite good at it. Saying that it also helped to have my mate and studio neighbour, Marie Louise Gormley, there on occasion to assist.

What follows is an array of images that illustrate in part the making towards and finally finished (kind of) exhibition ‘Strings Attached’.