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Fri 22 Nov
A Warning to the Curious
19:00 - 21:00
Doors Open 18:00
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Fri 22 Nov
A Warning to the Curious
19:00 - 21:00
Doors Open 18:00
In FINDING HOME Louise McLaren explores her physical and ancestral relationship to Perthshire. Through a series of new paper cut artwork Louise maps the lines and landscape of her lived and inherited home-life, inviting visitors to glimpse Perthshire through her eyes, and to contemplate what finding home might mean to them.
“My story is not one of ancestors leaving their Perthshire homes in the 1700s because of famine or being Cleared and forced to migrate by boat to Canada or America. It’s not the story of Grandparents leaving as economic migrants in the 1960s to build new lives in New Zealand or Australia. My ancestors were the ones that stayed. Did they choose to stay? Did they want to stay? Did they have no option but to stay?
My story is of two Perthshire farming families that are rooted in their landscapes, in nature, in their communities and culture, for generations. My story is of tenant farmers, people who never owned the land they lived on, the land they worked, shaped and cared for, the land they knew like the back of their hands.
FINDING HOME explores my relationship to the landscape of Perthshire; of growing up in a landscape layered with ancestral connection and stories, my own and others gifted to me through generational storytelling… of building a life, a family, a home, our own stories, in another landscape, layered with ancestral connections and lore.”
Louise McLaren is an artist producing paper cuts and prints. She was born and grew up just outside Pitlochry, and now lives and works in Comrie. An Architect by training, she studied at The Scott Sutherland School of Architecture, part of Robert Gordons University in Aberdeen and practiced in rural Perthshire before following her passion and branching into paper cutting.
Louise's paper cutting skills are entirely self-taught and her choice of paper and cutting tool has been won through a process of trial and error. She draws and cuts each piece by hand, cherishing the character and idiosyncrasies that appear in her work as a result of the process and firmly believing that's where the beauty and individuality of hand-crafted objects lies.
Louise is fascinated by the contradiction and contrast that is implicit in the craft of paper cutting; a single sheet of paper which, using only the simple notion of positive and negative space, is transformed into a delicate, highly intricate, patterned image.
Louise seeks to capture and celebrate the human inner voice in her work; the inherent thread of emotions and dreams that runs through each of us, defines us and tells of our desires, experiences and life.
Box Office
Open periodically throughout the week | Book online 24/7
Cafe
Daily | 10 - 4
Welcome to Birnam Arts, a boutique multi-purpose arts, conferencing and entertainment venue.
Pop in to the Foyer Cafe for breakfast, grab a delicious coffee with a selection of our homemade baking or enjoy a light lunch whilst browsing on the free WiFi. Wander upstairs to view the latest of our monthly art exhibitions before visiting the world of Beatrix Potter, or the Gift Shop to purchase a special gift for your loved ones or yourself!
Birnam Arts is at the heart of community life here.
Fiona Ritchie | Crowdfunder #savebirnamarts 2020
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Kinnaird
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