EXHIBITION REVIEW: Lucienne Day at the F. E McWilliam Gallery

We have been really excited for weeks about the opening of this touring exhibition of Lucienne Day’s textile designs at the F. E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio in Banbridge, Northern Ireland.

The Exhibition - Lucienne Day: Living Design

Lucienne Day: Living Design exhibition celebrates the life and work of one of the most influential designers of the post-war generation.

It tells the story of Lucienne’s design career, unfolding in a sequence of photographs drawn from the archives of The Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation. Lucienne Day and her husband Robin Day had a number of connections in Northern Ireland including relationships with Mourne Textiles and Ulster Weavers. The exhibition at the F.E. McWilliam Gallery will explore these connections.

It was fantastic seeing photographs of her life and work, as well as her textile designs reproduced on heavy weight upholstery fabric, in full colour, mounted on the walls.

We also enjoyed seeing the historical home decor pieces - a rug by Mourne Textiles, first commissioned by Robin and Lucienne Day in 1951, and the wonderful chair.

If you are a fan of midcentury textiles, design or just love print and pattern, this is one for you!


The Gallery

If you have never been to the F. E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio in Banbridge, Northern Ireland, it is well worth a visit; the building is so lovely. It opened 10 years ago as a Gallery and Studio dedicated to the memory of sculptor Frederick Edward McWilliam, one of Ireland’s most influential and successful artists. F.E. McWilliam was born in Banbridge on the 30th April 1909. He died in London in 1992 and the executors of his estate donated the sculptor’s studio and it’s contents to the town of his birth.

And if none of this is of interest to you, then there is a lovely restaurant ‘Quails at the Gallery’, and gift shop there too!


Where: F E McWilliam Gallery and Studio

When: 27 Sept - 13 November 2018, Monday - Saturday 10am - 5pm

Admission Fee: Free

Curated by: Professor Emma Hunt and Dr. Paula Day

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