Johnstone<\/a> College and graduated in 2015.\n<\/p>\n\n ![]()
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\n When her son Connor was born in 2016, Fiona\u2019s artistic practice changed and she started becoming more interested in sewing and textiles.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said: \u201cIt was easier for me to do that as a new mum.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI started taking commissions and really enjoyed making \u2018made to measure\u2019 for curvy figures, so I got really into that.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Fiona collaborated with other artists and got involved in film projects and started to become interested in blending contemporary art and costume making.\n<\/p>\n
\n During the Covid lockdown, she took a series of photographs of herself in an \u2018autobiographical coat\u2019 which was decorated with text and messages, and these photos feature in the exhibition.\n<\/p>\n
\n Fiona said: \u201cIt was a way of having a bit of fun and grounding myself at an awful time.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe photos were taken through a window and opened up my own wee world.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cA lot of my practice is still rooted in being at home and I make everything in my kitchen.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
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\n Fiona started making the clothes which appear at The Wyllieum in October last year.\n<\/p>\n
\n She says she\u2019s continually inspired by the work of George Wyllie who enjoyed \u2018being playful and having fun with art\u2019.\n<\/p>\n
\n Like Wyllie, her creations have a deeper meaning that can be explored.\n<\/p>\n
\n Fiona added: \u201cThis is the first time I\u2019ve made costumes purely for the sake of it and for the fun of it, and completely for myself.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI wanted there to be layers but you don\u2019t need to be reading all the background to it to enjoy it.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cSometimes you just want to lose your eyes in something and not think about it too much, and relax your eyes into the colour.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u00a0\u201cI wanted it to be something that people can just look at and appreciate and celebrate.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
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\n Fiona, who is part of the outreach team at the Wyllieum, said her exhibition wouldn\u2019t be possible without the help and support of the amazing team at the gallery and community space.\n<\/p>\n
\n Fiona runs art classes and workshops in the upstairs space and says she feels \u2018so comfortable and at home\u2019 with everyone she has met.\n<\/p>\n
\n She added: \u201cI\u2019m really happy and just so proud of everything around me.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI don\u2019t think I could have done this without that support I\u2019ve received.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to continue to opening up the upstairs space and welcome people in.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cYou don\u2019t need creative experience \u2013 you just need a curiosity and interest in trying out different things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artist Fiona Powell is celebrating the unveiling of her first solo exhibition \u2018Innerstanding – crucible of the heart\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-446051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}