The aliens have landed

I went to catch a bus into town yesterday, and it never arrived. I was chatting at the bus stop with Cara who lives opposite me, we were both stamping our feet because we were so cold, when I said, 'lets try and hitch a lift with the next car that comes along.'

Lo and behold, the next car that came around the corner stopped, what luck, it was Janet and Paul my cat loving friends. What a coincidence, in we hopped and got a lift to town. Was this an example of the power of thought, if you wish for something you will get it. Cosmic ordering I think they call it, you have to start off by wishing for small things, then increase the size of your wishes untill you get the jackpot.

Anyway, I digress. I went to the 20 21 Arts Centre to see a new exhibition, it's on till the 12th of March, so plenty of time to go back later for another look. I was there for ages, mesmerized by it, and thought I would post the photo's here so you can see for yourself.

The artist, Paola McClure, was born in Dundee and is the daughter of Scottish painter David McClure. She studied illustration and print making and spent may years as an art teacher, before taking time out to raise a family. Later she began experimenting with small scale mixed media, and then decorated a full sized coffin, which started her off creating full sized textile sculptures.

You can check out her web site if you want to read more about her.
http://www.paolamcclure.com/

She starts her scultures by building a wooden frame, then adding wire, foam which is trimmed to the correct shape with an electric carving knife, and finally wadding. This basic structure is then ready for the fabric to be stretched and stitched in place.

Some of the seams are stitched so carefully that they are almost invisible, but a lot are sewn in contrasting thread so they are highly visible. Her alien like creatures are fascinating.What struck me was that she appears to have let her mind wander aimlessly as she constructed these pieces. No two eyes are the same. There are long arms, short arms, or no arms. Two legs or four legs. Her interesting mix of colours and textures works very well.

Have a look for yourself, enlarge the photo's to see the stitching, and tell me what you think.

The first one is called, A Walk in the Woods. It has several creatures, and trees, in plain fabric. One of the creatures has been eating berries.


Close ups of heads.........

This is the coffin, or casket if you prefer. I quite fancy one of these for myself.

Inside the bottom....

Inside the top........

And the whole thing standing upright......

An alien with no body.......

Very slender bodies with large heads........

And four legs........

This is a section of the back of a dolls house, it stands over eight feet high......

And the whole back..........

And the front......

Some very large heads.....

As you can see a large part of the 20 21 Arts Centre is housed in a church. The futuristic aliens against the backdrop of the traditional stone and windows of St John's church is an interesting combination. It works well.

All the sculptures are of human size, children or adults, it is quite awesome. If this exhibition comes to your area, it's well worth a visit.