‘The Fall then Rise of Sleeping Finch’

NUI Galway will host an art exhibition, The Fall then Rise of Sleeping Finch by the University’s Artist-in-Residence Marielle MacLeman. The exhibition will be opened by NUI Galway Secretary, Gearóid Ó Conluain, on Wednesday, 13 June at 5pm.

The exhibition will run from 14-27 June, from 11am-4pm Monday to Friday, and 1pm-5pm on Saturday in the University Art Gallery in the Quadrangle Building.

The Fall then Rise of Sleeping Finch recalls historical museum keepers and collectors who, suffering insanity or incompetence, made obstacle courses of taxidermy, destroyed entire specimen groups through disapproval or embellished others in gold for aesthetic improvement. Marielle MacLeman presents a selection of work from her residency at NUI Galway’s Zoology and Marine Biology museums as the fanatical, furtive creations of Albert Finch Esq. as he attempts to recreate pieces that fell foul of his museum predecessors.

In the exhibition Finch is an avid hobbyist, heraldry enthusiast, revivalist and recycler. His ‘remakes’ are rendered in cocktail sticks, pencil shavings and reclaimed papers from the museum floor. He catalogues the classes of the Animal Kingdom in ‘skeletal fly posting’, which form backdrops for his paper beasts mounted on shields hacked from chopping boards. Where others regard taxidermy as trophy, Finch crafts medals and rosettes for his prize-winning specimens.

Marielle MacLeman is a visual artist based in Galway. Working across mixed media wall-based work and site-specific installation, her work often employs rigorous processes to explore sites and subjects with lost or changing roles. Marielle is particularly interested in exploiting materials not traditionally associated with fine art techniques. She studied Drawing and Painting at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee, Scotland and began a residency at NUI Galway’s Museums in 2011. The residency has been supported by an Arts Council Bursary Award and a Galway City Council Individual Creative Artist Award.

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