Sculptors at Work: Photographs by Anne-Katrin Purkiss

F.E. McWilliam Gallery until Autumn 2021

When Anne-Katrin Purkiss photographed F.E. McWilliam in London in 1989, neither could have envisaged that, more than 30 years later, the image would hang in a museum dedicated to the sculptor in his birthplace, Banbridge, County Down. In the years since that serendipitous meeting, Anne-Katrin Purkiss has photographed dozens of sculptors, often in their studios.

Sculptors at Work includes a selection of 40 of these portraits. Some, like McWilliam’s friend Elisabeth Frink, are engaged in the physical act of making. Others, including Irish artist Eva Rothschild, appear to wait patiently for the process to be over so that they can get back to work. The artists included represent the diversity of contemporary sculpture, which is no longer limited by materials, permanence, gender or ethnicity.  A selection of work by artists including Frink, Kenneth Armitage, Tim Shaw, Geoffrey Clarke and Rana Begum, loaned by public and private collections, will be exhibited alongside the portraits reminding us that the origins of these images are in the act of making.

Graham Gingles: The Theatre of Secrets

16 October 2021 – 19 February 2022

The F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council is delighted to present Graham Gingles: The Theatre of Secrets. Over the last five decades, Graham Gingles (b. Larne, 1943), has produced a unique body of work that has consistently challenged established definitions of sculpture. This major exhibition, curated by Brian McAvera, Feargal O’Malley and Riann Coulter, aims to confirm Gingles place in the canon of Irish, British and international art and to introduce the wider public to his compelling work.

Gingles’ sculptural practice focuses on the construction of three-dimensional environments contained within vitrines or architectural boxes. Initially reminiscent of dolls’ houses, closer examination reveals tableaus that represent the artist’s meditations on love, conflict and death. Almost entirely hand-made, they display Gingles exquisite craftsmanship and black humour. The first boxes, dating from the early 1970s, presented scenarios about the Troubles and were Gingles attempt to make sense of the horrors that were unfolding around him.  Since then, he has chronicled his life and times through the construction of these mesmerizing miniature worlds.

Featuring key works from public and private collections throughout Ireland and the UK, the exhibition is accompanied by the first major book on Gingles work written by Brian McAvera.