Harte’s portraits of women both dynamic and thought-provoking
Placing Importance on the Everyday by Aly Harte
Ards Arts Centre, Newtownards Until Jan 25
There are two completely different exhibitions currently running at the Ards Art Centre — The Collection by the Arts Council NI and Placing Importance on the Everyday by Aly Harte.
One group and one solo — probably the biggest draw will be the Arts Council’s show. Specially curated for the centre’s Georgian gallery, with artists including painters as different as Colin Davidson and Tracey Emin, you would not be surprised. However, I hope to return to this exhibition later and concentrate here on Aly Harte’s show.
Harte has a first-class honours degree and a Masters degree in painting. She is established as a community artist and has a new media presence which includes YouTube art classes.
This show was first seen in the Long Gallery, Stormont.
At the time, Aly said: “In a world where women find themselves swimming upstream to achieve gender equality — the women in my 12 portraits have shown me that it is possible for women to have a place in the home and in the workplace.
“As a mother, artist, fitness fan and wife, I actively thrive on belonging to community and that’s why I chose to celebrate the women in my various communities as my subjects when celebrating International Women’s Day.
“All the women are mothers and each had a personal struggle and story to get them to where they are today.”
Harte has a bold and immediate style, with a loose brush approach which adds a dynamic feel. But because they are all portraits of similar size and composition, I feel they lose something of their intention. There are times when a technique or style can dominate.
As individual portraits (right) they are dynamic and full of life, but even though seeing all 12 together does have an impact, the sameness somewhat takes away from the uniqueness of each one.
My comments here are true of many exhibitions where an artist shows a number of pieces of similar size and form.
I like them — some more than others — and would encourage you to visit and decide for yourselves.
Is it technique over content? Are individual images overpowered by the strength of the style?