Exhibition - The Making of Us

Preview this exhibition on Sat 11th April, 1pm-3pm

An exhibition of paintings, drawings and constructions by Alastair Strachan, Carolyn Mason, Paul Eames and Nicola Carberry.

Paintings, drawings, collages and constructions by Alastair Strachan, Carolyn Mason, Paul Eames and Nicola Carberry, exploring their visual understanding of the spaces, objects and experiences of the everyday. The artists are connected by commonalities in approach; each preoccupied with the making of the painted or sculpted image; each reconstructing their visual experience to create works that speak about their own making alongside their subject.

Working directly from the motif, sketches and his visual memory – the buildings and liminal spaces of his surroundings; the life room model; and portraiture populate Alastair Strachan’s drawings, painted collages and constructions.

Carolyn Mason creates new forms using found materials which are intrinsic to their making. The themes that inhabit her constructions are drawn from myths and stories. They challenge us to re-think the what and why of the stereotypes that inform so much of the everyday.

Paul Eames’ work explores the objects or ‘things’ and spaces that we make and the stories they tell about our actions, relations and interactions, intended or otherwise. His current focus is the things that are perhaps least functional – ornaments, souvenirs, decorations, found images cuttings.

Working from the life model online during Covid opened new explorations of the spaces we inhabit as ‘stage sets’ for Nicola Carberry; a theme she has continued as she expands small studies of interiors, made whilst travelling, into scenes of connectivity – a shared meal or living space, a view from a window.

The exhibition opens 11th April and runs to 30 May 2026 in Tolbooth Gallery: Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am-5pm