(P)Art of the Community

( 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.

For 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 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.”

Stills from John Walter’s virtual reality piece The Fourth Wall

Stills from John Walter’s virtual reality piece The Fourth Wall

John Walter

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 131- year journey full circle:

“In the 1800s, that site was the Paisley Government School of Art and Design”, she explained. “So, in a way, the PAI came out of that and it’s good to go back to our roots in order to reimagine our future.”

A proponent of “maximalism”, the work of John Walter will serve as the fulcrum of the exhibition. For this London-based artist, displaying his art in what he sees as a “thoroughfare” for locals is a method that’s tailormade for inclusivity.

“Whether or not they choose to encounter it, they will encounter it as they’ll see it through the window,” Walter proffered. “I’ve done a lot of projects in non-arts spaces so I think it’s a classic way of bringing work towards people. From what I’ve gathered, people use the museum really well. So now that it’s shut, it’s really important that you make the work accessible. Not that you should lower the work,” he affirmed, “but that you’re hospitable about it.”

After a chance encounter at the Glasgow International Festival — “I was wearing a Paisley Pins badge and John was wearing a Paisley pattern t-shirt!” — the duo conspired to bring his thought-provoking artistry to the town. Walter, who is not only bringing his VR piece The Fourth Wall but will leave a permanent mark on the Piazza with an array of vinyl murals, is infatuated with the iconic design and hopes to contort it into new, radically modern shapes.

“It’s been at the forefront of my mind and I’m just completely obsessed with it, so it’s great that I’m bringing this to Paisley,” he remarked. “I’m trying to update what the pattern could be, because it had this really fertile life in Paisley during the Victorian period. Now, it could be reactivated in new ways that we don’t know about yet, ways that we can invent.”

For anyone that’s fretful about using VR for the first time, John assured us that the PAI have taken steps to make the dimensional transition as seamless as possible. “There’s chaperones that help you with the VR piece and make sure you’re safe but they’re also there to talk to about the work. Those things make a real difference, especially when you’re not used to going to a gallery where it can be a bit intimidating.”

An integral cog in Paisley’s 2021 bid, ploughing her energy back into the town has been incredibly rewarding for Jean, but none of it would be possible without the cumulative efforts of those striving to make this unorthodox exhibition a success. “It’s brilliant to work with colleagues from the Arts Centre, Renfrewshire Leisure and Caroline (Gormley) from Made In Paisley,” Jean enthused. “It’s cliché to talk about weaving the threads together, but it’s heartening to draw on the strengths of these community groups.”

The exhibition will run from 7 September - 20 October 2019. Opening Times: Tuesday to Saturday: 11am - 5pm, Sunday: 12noon - 4pm. For more info, visit www.paisleyartinstitute.com.