Encounters With Time is the intriguing title of the latest exhibition by artists from Perthshire Visual Artists Forum (PVAF) on show from 27 of June at the Threshold Artspace at Perth Theatre, presented in conjunction with Horsecross.

All of the works in this fascinating show were selected from an open submission by an independent selector, Maria Devaney Senior Curator at Perth Museum and Art Gallery who was impressed by the range and quality of the works submitted.

The exhibition features work by 24 PVAF member artists Aileen Stackhouse, Alison Leeper, Anita Hutchison, Ann Coomber, Charmian Pollok, Clare Yarrington, Claudia Wegner, Darienne Tosh, Douglas McBride, Genie Dee, Jackie Smith, Katy Galbraith, Kay Hood, Kyra Clegg, Lesley Mcdermott, Lorna Radbourne, Malize McBride, Mary Golden, Marysia Lachowicz, Phil Brammer, Rosemary Bassett, Su Grierson, Tricia Anderson and Bruce Shaw.

Consolidating their reputation for stimulating new work, PVAF artists examine the parameters of the theme with characteristic ingenuity and flair. As always the diversity of the works on show is striking with stained glass, mosaic, sculpture and video pieces taking their place amidst drawing, painting, prints and photography.

Although the subject is suggestive of so many interpretations it is striking that common themes and approaches emerge as individual artists engage with its personal significance or implications.

Childhood memories underpin contrasting works from Anita Hutchinson, Darienne Tosh and Marysia Lachowicz, whose evocative pieces use her family home as a starting point. She says ‘ This is a family photo album but it doesn’t show births, weddings, or other key events; it documents the everyday things that made up our lives together and made our home our home. They are uniquely personal but they also allow viewers to reflect on their own experiences and memories.’ Autobiography to some extent supports this work, as it does very explicitly that of Alison Leeper, whose diary like assemblages of drawings document her life as an ongoing recording of passing time.

The use of assemblages of objects or images to suggest a distinctive reality is an approach common to both two and three dimensional works from artists as distinctive as Kyra Clegg, Jackie Smith, Lesley Mcdermott and Charmian Pollok who uses silicone moulds to cast handmade paper objects suggestive ancient artefacts.

Drawing is more evident in this exhibition than it has been in previous PVAF shows in the gallery, with works by both Malize McBride and Mary Golden taking geology and ancient landforms as their starting point, whilst Aileen Stackhouse’s drawings take a more philosophical view of time where the ambiguous nature of the images is deliberate and mirrors the nature of Time itself. Several artists examine the enigma of time in this sense, with Ann Coomber’s sculpture ‘Singularity’ referring to quantum theory whilst Su Grierson plays with time’s different meanings in works which; ‘utilise the particular light qualities of the time of day, include vehicular movement frozen in time and make visual play with digital and photographic time causing objects and light to dissolve into blurs of colour and sensation.’

This is the second in a linked series of ‘Encounters’ exhibitions in 2011 by PVAF at Threshold Artspace. The exhibition is at Perth Theatre, 185 High Street, Perth PH1 5UW and is open from 27 June to 14 Oct, 2011, Monday to Saturday, 10am – 5pm or until 10pm on performance evenings (closed Sunday). www.horsecross.co.uk

For further details and information on PVAF, visit the web site at  http://www.pvaf.org.uk/

Encounters With Time
27 June – 14 October 2011

Source: PVAF