Central Art Gallery - Exhibitions
Central Art Gallery
Exhibitions
Catching Colour - Paintings and drawings by Sheila Meeks
Until 20th February 2010
A new exhibition, Catching Colour, is open at Central Art Gallery in Ashton-under-Lyne. The exhibition features a new series of paintings and drawing by Stalybridge born artist Sheila Meeks.
Meeks focuses on the small details in everyday life, such as a black cat in a sun drenched room and turns these into studies of colour and texture, and her wonderfully colourful paintings and drawings have enthralled art enthusiasts for years.
Sheila Meeks says of her work:
“My paintings are about things seen and remembered, from everyday life. They are not attempts to copy specific detail, but to record some of the shapes colours and energy from situations observed, in order to make paintings in a personal and imaginative way.”
Sampler exhibition to promote cancer awareness - Don’t be a cancer chancer
Until 27th February 2010
A new exhibition celebrating the treasured tradition of embroidered samplers will take on a new thread as it promotes cancer awareness.
‘Catching it early could save your life’: that’s the theme of the Central Art Gallery exhibition which not only aims to promote awareness of the three main cancers but will also celebrate the age-old commemorative tradition of samplers and what they mean to people in Tameside.
Historically samplers were created as a reference library of stitches and motifs like leaves, flowers and heraldic signs and often commemorated births, marriages and deaths.
Rarely seen in a gallery setting, the historic tradition will be brought up to date with the help of modern textile artists who have created pieces to feature in the exhibition.
The exhibition, run in conjunction with Tameside's health improvement team, will include a large scale piece embroidered directly onto the wall with the slogan 'Don't be a Cancer Chancer' as well as smaller pieces which will make up a commemorative wall of samplers dedicated to people who have lost their lives lost to cancer as well as people who have survived the disease.
And Marie Knudsen, curator at the gallery is appealing for local people to contribute to this part of the exhibition. They can either offer to exhibit one of their own family samplers or they can create a unique piece that celebrates a life or lives affected by cancer.
Marie says: "Cancer is a large part of our life stories, and samplers are a beautiful medium to remember this in; they take time to create, but they last forever and will offer fleeting glimpses of our lives to those in the future.
“A photograph is an obvious way of remembering the past; you pick it up and put it down again, but samplers offer us that illusive and personal experience – holding a sampler someone last held perhaps 100 years ago is a humbling experience; you know the person who made it held the threads and fabric between their hands for a long time, counting the stitches and thought of the text and pattern; and you get a glimpse of a person, but you have to imagine the rest.
Councillor Jackie Lane, Project head for heritage and tourism said: “This is a powerful and emotive exhibition which we hope local people will embrace. Cancer has affected all our lives in one way or another and this exhibition is a wonderful opportunity for people to commemorate lives lost as well as lives saved through the beautiful art of embroidered samplers.”
Debbie Bishop, head of Health Improvement in Tameside said: "This is great exhibition to provide a focus on catching cancer early. We are currently developing a project to encourage breast awareness in women that will help to catch breast cancer early. Recent research suggests that many people put off going to their GP about lumps, pain or bleeding that might be cancer because they are worried about wasting a doctor's time. The message is clear - don't wait - make an appointment straight away."
People interested in submitting a sampler to the exhibition are asked to contact Marie Knudsen on 0161 343 2878.
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