Artists Muriel Beckett, Tish Canniffe, Frances Crowe, Pascale De Coninck, Lorna Donlon, Terry Dunne, Catherine Ryan, Heather Underwood.
Timelines Tapestry Group Project
The exhibition Timelines: Growth and Catastrophe, opening on Culture Night, 20th September and running through October 2024 in Roscommon Arts Centre, is the third large scale collaborative venture undertaken by eight tapestry weavers working across the country of Ireland. Many of the artists involved have woven professionally for decades and their work has been widely exhibited. For others, tapestry weaving is part of their creative practice. Each continue to work on their own work in studios whilst also collaborating on Timelines since 2012.
Supported by Creative Ireland funding for this project through Roscommon, Laois, Wexford, Cork City and Cork County Local Authority Arts Offices, eight weavers; Muriel Beckett; Tish Canniffe; Frances Crowe; Pascale De Coninck; Lorna Donlon; Terry Dunne; Catherine Ryan and Heather Underwood collaborated at all stages from initial concept / idea right through development of a design / cartoon as well as the physical weaving of the large 1 X 10 metre handwoven tapestry Timelines: Growth and Catastrophe the title piece of this exhibition.
The title Timelines: Growth and Catastrophe borrows a term used in biology to describe a dynamic process in which proteins called microtubules constantly extend and shrink in a cell. For us, Growth and Catastrophe references this tension between opposing forces that seems to play out at all scales of life, from cellular to human to global. Specifically, the artists reference two keys themes; the catastrophe of the Covid-19 pandemic and the horror of war, countered with the unstoppable growth of nature both in plants growing on land after war has laid waste to a territory as well as the renewal of nature in the quiet of lockdowns and the sanctuary of nature for us all as a path out of darkness.
The exhibition will comprise the collaborative tapestry, which is currently being woven in Terry Dunne’s studio in Wexford, as well as individual pieces from each of the eight artists. Each weaver gave up of their time to travel and work on the project throughout 2023/24. It was designed in Lorna Donlon’s UCD College of Science Artist in Residence studio in UCD over many months on 2022/23. Inspiration was taken from UCD plant science research images as well as a visit to see Evelyn Lyndsay’s Natural Dye collection in UCD’s Folklore Department.
