s o l a r

SOLAR

An exhibition by Hanging Together

at Alloa Tower

"Solar" is an exciting collaboration between the National Trust For Scotland, Clackmannanshire Council and the artists group Hanging Together. The group has been given the opportunity to situate works in the Solar Room at the top of the recently-renovated Alloa Tower. This brings together the rich history of the building with contemporary and forward-looking art works.

Hanging Together is a group of professional artists based in the Forth Valley area, whose collaborative projects seek create engagement with historical contexts and present-day communities. The artists working in this exhibition are Paul Eames, Carolyn Mason, Peter Russell, Val Shatwell and Karen Strang.

Paul Eames refers to the performative aspects of reading, creating a work in the form of a lectern, embedded with preserved references to the history of Alloa and its Tower.*

Carolyn Mason creates a contemplative space - a space of embroidered cushions and footstools: of mundane activity sorting and organising materials.*

Peter Russell has chosen to reconstruct a library, a former role of the Solar Room, but one which comprises largely of artists books. Some deepen the reference layer of other works in the exhibition, while others highlight links with artists elsewhere in Scotland and overseas.*

Val Shatwell manifests the view from the window, out to the thread mill and the hills beyond, to create sculptures of fleece, plaster and wax.*

Karen Strang has created a sequence of boxes whose multiple possible readings play with Mary, Queen of Scots' reflections on her life up to her visit to the Tower in 1566.*