(P)Art Of The Community
Set to open this September, Paisley Art Institute President Jean Cameron and artist John Walter give us a guided tour of the kaleidoscopic wonders that await us in the Piazza.
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or the uninitiated local resident, the term “Paisley Art Institute” will hold only a faint semblance of recognition. However, 131 years into their existence, it’s clear that the PAI’s story is an unsung part of our collective history that deserves a larger platform. In a rare moment of respite, PAI president Jean Cameron expanded on not only its storied past, but how it feels to be entrusted with its promising future. “It’s exciting as someone who grew up in the town and fostered their love of arts by seeing the amazing collections at Paisley Museum,” she beamed. “I would be 14 MILL
there every Saturday doing classes, and what most people don’t know, is that many of the paintings in their collection were gifted to the town by PAI. At a time where Paisley is telling its amazing story, ours is still one of those untold tales.” For Jean, the decision to repurpose a disused shopfront in the Piazza Shopping Centre as a gallery space could unimposingly increase local engagement. “It’s not everyone’s cup of tea to go over the threshold of a museum”, Cameron conceded, “but people have their own sense of ownership of where they do their shopping. When I was a wee girl, I
remember it being Presto when it had the plastic bags with the wee wizard on it! Hopefully people will be curious so if an art gallery isn’t for them, a bit of life happening in a space that everyone’s familiar with is great.” Primed to display “500 plus works of art”, injecting a healthy dose of creativity into a commercial monolith is more than just a clever way to bolster foot traffic. In fact, the exhibition will bring the PAI’s 131year journey full circle: “In the 1800s, that site was the Paisley Government School of Art and Design”, she explained. “So, in a
