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Sculpture Centres
Visual Artists' News Sheet | Special Issue: March – April 2020
Philip Napier in his old studio at the Flax Art Studios’ Edenderry Mill premises, c.1990; all photographs courtesy of Flax Art Studios
FLAX ART STUDIOS was founded in 1989 by a small group of artists who
Security of Tenure GAIL PRENTICE OUTLINES THE RANGE OF FACILITIES OFFERED AT FLAX ART STUDIOS IN BELFAST.
needed space to make large-scale installation art works. The top floor of the Edenderry Mill was found – a former linen mill in North Belfast. The studio was artist-led and the first Board of Directors consisted of Philip Napier, Michael Minnis, Áine Nic Giolla Coda, Ruth Graham, Sharon Kelly and Paddy McCann. In 2004, tragedy struck, and the mill was destroyed by fire, taking with it 15 years of archival and current work belonging to the studio artists. In May 2004, Flax secured new premises in Belfast’s city centre, on Corporation Street. Flax later moved to Havelock House, the former home of UTV, in the city centre location of Ormeau Road in 2018, which has proved to be a positive interim move for us. Havelock sits on a 1.78-acre site and has almost 60,000 square feet of office-style studios, production space and an industrial workshop. We are delighted to have the opportunity to have full use of this building, which has such an illustrious history, steeped in Belfast’s heritage. Flax has a robust track record of 30 years of working at the cutting edge of contemporary art. We significantly contribute to the region’s visual art practice through studio provision; act as a hub for professional development and international networking opportunities; and foster greater understanding through outreach and engagement activity. We provide subsidised studio provision for emerging, mid-career and established artists, particularly those working with sculpture, installation, new media and time-based media. Flax provides studio space for over 50 artists, including 12 emerging artists, two international residents and two curators-in-residence. The International Residency Programme was established in 1994. To date we have hosted artists from Australia, Canada, United States of America, Columbia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Iceland, India, Japan, Korea, Slovenia, Lithuania, Spain, Thailand and Sweden. We
