Changing Art & Minds, an exhibition by women who participated in the Leitrim Design House Supports For Women Project, will be launched on Thursday 22nd July between 5pm & 7pm at Golden Thread Gallery Project Space.

The exhibition is an exploration of the creative journey of the Supports for Women project.  Supports for Women is a creative learning experiment for women living in Leitrim and the project was set up to encourage women to share their personal stories by using the arts, crafts, creative journaling and conflict resolution tools. 

By using a multi-disciplinary approach, the project took the participants on a year long journey of self­-discovery and personal growth while also challenging the old negative beliefs that have been inherited in the border county as a result of the conflict. 

Changing Art & Minds showcases the work created during the year and hopefully changes minds through the arts in the process.

“After all this time, there is still a fear of crossing the border. So many women who have lived in Leitrim all their lives have little experience of travelling to North Ireland .Here in Leitrim we are so close yet there is a sort of invisible divide. Through this project the women examined these issues and also their own experiences of conflict on a more general level and this was carried out creatively through their art work,” said Anna-Marie O’Rourke, Programme Manager.

The exhibition include work in textiles, glass, painting and drawing and mixed media made by the women during workshops with Jewellery designer Erika Marks, fine artist Laura Gallagher, glass artist Louise Rice and textile artist Brigitta Varadi.

This project also connects with August Craft Month.  In the words of Mae West, “Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly”.  

Supports for Women and a selection of women’s groups from Belfast will participate in a Sampler Culture Clash workshop to experiment with new media in a ‘slow’ environment.

Sampler Culture Clash Workshop - Thursday 29 July
Sampler-Culture Clash will deliver a half-day workshop with women from Leitrim and Belfast to explore the connections between craft and the written and spoken word.  Over the day the group will work together to create a collective sound stitched piece based on the spoken and written words they will create in the morning session with performance poet Yusra Warsama.

Sampler-culture-clash, curated by David Littler is a collective of dj’s, embroiderers, sound artists, dancers, graffiti artists, curators and textile designers exploring the connections between textiles and sound and the cultures of embroidery and dj-ing using the common word “sampler” as the starting point for investigation. Throught the day the group will create a collective sound-stitched piece http://sampler-cultureclash.blogspot.com/  

‘Supports for Women’ is  a creative learning programme for women living in Leitrim organised by Leitrim Design House and funded by the Peace III Programme through the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund which is managed by the Special EU Programmes Body. http://intoleitrim.com/

‘Draw Down the Walls’ is a unique project that uses art and language to examine Belfast’s controversial interface walls, organised by Golden Thread Gallery in partnership with North Belfast Interface Network, Lower Shankill Community Association, Deanby Youth Club and Ardoyne Youth Club.  Draw Down the Walls is funded through Belfast City Council’s Development and Outreach and Good Relations Departments.

This exhibition is an exploration of the creative journey of the ‘Supports for Women’ project. The exhibition will include work in textiles, glass, painting and drawing and mixed media made during workshops with Jewellery designer Erika Marks, fine artist Laura Gallagher, glass artist Louise Rice and textile artist Brigitta Varadi.

On 29 July Sampler-Culture Clash will deliver a workshop with the ‘Supports for Women group’ from Leitrim and women from the ‘Draw Down the Walls’ project, Belfast to explore the connections between craft and the written and spoken word.  Exhibition runs until 31st July 2010.