A Derry ceramic artist will be inspiring budding young crafters at a clay sculpture workshop next week as part of Derry City Council’s ongoing Legenderry August Craft.
Gail Mahon is leading one of the popular “Make My Monday” workshops organised as part of the Council’s Craft Development Programme, which is part funded by Invest NI and the European Regional Development Fund under the Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland.
‘Improvise to Impress’ is a clay sculpture workshop for age range 11-16 years, taking place on Monday, August 25, from 1pm – 4pm at the Thatched Cottage in the Craft Village.
Gail’s artistic work focuses on the process of transformation of materials through connected meanings, representations and fabrication.
Working in clay as her primary visual language, she approaches her work in two ways – crafted prefabricated components, and also improvised hand building outside her studio space.
The differing approaches create variable forces of movement and dynamic resonances between her “made” objects and collected found objects.
She explained: “The clay workshop is a playful exploration of the making process with a focus on intuitive movement and responses to materials and objects; a fun way to creating work full of expression and energy.”
Gail is from the Campsie area of the city and attended Limavady Grammar School before graduating from Manchester Metropolitan University where she studied Fine Applied Art.
She has just completed the first year of a Masters degree in Ceramics at the internationally renowned Royal College of Art in London, and aims to continue her practice working internationally.
In 2006, she returned home from Manchester and set up her own practice through Craft NI’s ‘Making It’ programme which is supported by Invest NI and the Arts Council NI.
The programme helps artists develop their work as a business alongside their gallery work.
She has also worked with the Inner City Trust to develop a research document on the craft sector in the North West area, which helped initiate some programmes for UK City of Culture 2013.
For August Craft Month, a small collection of Gail Mahon pieces – ‘Bird Bone Still’ – are on display in The Naughton Gallery at Queen’s University, in the exhibition ‘Material Subversion’, a showcase running alongside the Crafts Council of England’s touring show, ‘Hidden Agenda’, open until September 14. Gail will also be giving a talk at the gallery on Saturday, 30 August.
Limited space is available in the “Make My Monday” workshop and anyone interested can call 07980 828380 or email info@gailmahon to book a place.
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