Audiences have more time to experience two popular exhibitions in our Gallery. Just Browsing and Lou Miller's solo exhibition are both being extended until Sunday 12th April, with additional artworks by three new artists, including David Shrigley.
Just Browsing is an interactive group exhibition that gives audiences the chance to touch, hold, wear and buy the artwork in the gallery. The exhibition already features work by eleven incredible artists, and welcomes three more; Laura Aquilina, Jade de Montserrat, and David Shrigley.
Laura Aquilina is a visual artist who enjoys drawing and painting landscapes inspired by her favourite books, TV shows and films.
Aquilina's painting 'The Black Hills of Dakota (2024)' has been turned into a large tapestry blanket, which is now on display in the gallery for visitors to interact with and purchase. The work was inspired by the song of the same name sang by Doris Day in the film 'Calamity Jane'. Aquilina's painting explores Day's character's love for the rocky mountain range in South Dakota, where the film is set. Aquilina said: "I like the song and mountains being described. They both make me feel relaxed."
Aquilina is part of Studio Me, Blue Room’s artist development programme, and has been building on her painting skills to create large scale paintings, murals, screen prints and more.
Jade de Montserrat is an artist who works at the intersection of art and activism through drawing, painting, performance, film, installation, sculpture, print and text. Her practice is concerned with challenging structures of care in institutions and explores gender, race, class, and colonialism, often in the context of life in rural communities.
A selection of her charcoal drawings have been installed in Just Browsing, along with a photograph of her durational performance 'No Need for Clothing' at Cooper Gallery, Dundee from 2018. Her Soul of Fire gift sets will be available to purchase from the gallery, which include a small sketchbook and charcoal handmade by de Montserrat.
Jade de Montserrat previously exhibited at the Bluecoat in 2018 with her exhibition, 'Instituting Care', which featured large-scale charcoal wall drawings as part of a wider installation.
David Shrigley is an artist best known for his distinctive drawing style and works that make satirical comments on everyday situations and human interactions. Drawing is at the centre of his practice, and he often combines hand-written, sarcastic slogans with brightly, humorous imagery. Shrigley seeks to widen his audience by operating outside of galleries, and a lot of his work can be found in gift shops.
Shrigley's 'Please & Thank You' scarves are on display in the exhibition and will be available to purchase.
Across sculpture, film, ceramics, textiles and wearable artwork from a wide ranging selection of artists, Just Browsing demonstrates new methods of engaging with art, and features objects that don't necessarily need to follow the formalities of the gallery. The exhibition also features works and products from artists Bruce Asbestos, Ffion Evans, Garth Gratrix, Ivy Kalungi, Lou Miller, Sufea Mohamad Noor, Lewis Prosser, Ben Saunders, Daniel Sean Kelly, Chester Tenneson, and Carla Wright.
Showing alongside Just Browsing is a solo exhibition by Lou Miller, We Dream of Our Freedom. This evolving exhibition features large scale quilted banners, artwork from local school children, audio work and more. Miller has transformed the gallery into a community studio, inviting audiences to create and add their own responses to the exhibition.
Miller collaborated with children from St Vincent de Paul Catholic Primary School in L1 to explore their vision of freedom. The voices of the children, aged 8-11, can be found throughout the exhibition which has been popular with children and adults alike.
We Dream of Our Freedom is part of Our Freedom: Then and Now, a UK-wide, locally-led arts and creative programme from Future Arts Centres, which is producing 60 new pieces of work reflecting on what ‘Our Freedom’ means to local people and their communities, following the 80th anniversary of VE/VJ Day.
