Ards Arts Centre in Newtownards welcomes two new art exhibitions for the month of June: Meilé, a solo exhibition by Juste Bernotaite and Humans, a solo exhibition by Aoife Tolerton.
Juste Bernotaite, is a Lithuanian painter based in Belfast. Her practice combines the exploration of the history of her motherland, Lithuania, as well as personal experiences growing up there. Each work is an attempt at navigating different threads and histories from the past.
Mielé (Lithuanian for ‘love’), will feature a series of paintings that invite viewers to immerse themselves in the complexities of a landscape that’s affected by unrecognisable trauma, grief, frustration and forebodings. Juste explores the history of their homelands and navigates her relationship to landscapes in the hopes of ‘releasing’ it in the medium of oil paint. The exhibition can be viewed in the Georgian Gallery.
Bangor-based, Aoife Tolerton, seeks to explore human interaction and reaction to their environment through her work. Exploring the themes of mass tourism, adverse environmental effect, and how humans play a role in this. She is particularly interested in the conjunction of realism and abstraction.
Her work is figurative, depicting individuals and groups at leisure, exploring their behaviours and mannerisms. Translating people-watching onto canvas, Aoife focuses on the distinguishing characteristics and detail of her subjects, removing background context to draw the viewer into the personalities and story that is unfolding. Humans will be on display in the Sunburst Gallery.
Both exhibitions open on Friday 31 May and continue until Thursday 27 June. Admission to Ards Arts Centre is free.
All are welcome to attend a preview event in Ards Arts Centre on Friday 31 May at 7pm.
For more information visit; www.andculture.org.uk