‘The Floating Hour’ is an exhibition of handwoven tapestries, drawings and paintings by Edinburgh-based artist-weavers, mother-daughter duo AYESHA and ANUSCHKA BARLAS.
This body of work is inspired by the hidden places in and around Dr Neils’ Garden and how the interplay of light and shadow on the water’s surface creates a sense of suspended time. Combining this with the artists’ shared interest in history and place in a broader sense, the exhibition showcases drawings, paintings and handwoven tapestries that exist in the hinterland between experience and memory, and between physical and psychic landscapes.
Ayesha Barlas is drawn to the colour and patterns of the narrative-based art forms of her Pakistani heritage. Her tapestries explore the resonance of the chimerical remnants of the past with her present experience, and textiles’ close relationship with the body and memory to communicate stories of personal everyday events. Holding a BA (Hons) in Painting & Printmaking from the Glasgow School of Art (2022), Anuschka has attended residencies at the Cyprus College of Art in Paphos. She teaches weaving workshops regularly and is co-founder at The Paper Stage, an artist-run platform celebrating figurative drawing and painting, through life drawing classes, workshops and exhibitions.
Anuschka Barlas is a Scotland-based artist whose work engages with themes of memory, place and transience. Drawing variably with charcoal, pastels, oil paint and watercolour on paper, and weaving with natural and synthetic fibres on a handloom, her practice probes the foundations of traditional drawing and painting.