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About

The Lowry’s Edit series of gallery projects and collaborations returns Sat 17 March - Sun 22 April with Edit.02 > thread {}, an immersive installation by artists collective > thread {}. The art exhibition will display their innovative quilting processes using coding to digitize human data drawn from a group of Salford young people.

> thread {} is an artist collective based in Salford’s Islington Mill studios. Sally Gilford (Old Trafford), Cheryl O’Meara (Old Trafford) and Vicky Clarke (Stockport) combine digital & traditional printing with coding & data bending techniques to produce textile and fashion based artworks. Each artist will bring a different set of skills to the project.

Vicky Clarke is a sound artist, electronic musician and DIY instrument builder. As a solo artist and co-founder of Noise Orchestra her work operates at the intersection of experimental music, art and technology. Through performance and installation work she explores themes of chaos, chance, systems and human-machine interaction.

Sally Gilford an artist, maker and creative practitioner, specialising in screen printed textiles, education and social enterprise. She is currently working with researchers from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Matrix Research and is interested in exploring the connections between art and science.

Cheryl O’Meara is a print designer, artist and owner of The Archive, an extensive library of over 50,000 fashion and print designs. Cheryl started her career as a print designer in New York’s Fashion District in 1997 and continues to work with global fashion brands today.

The art exhibition will be inspired by working with a group of young people from Salford who are currently engaged in The Lowry’s learning and engagement department.

Through human and digital interaction the working process will connect historical and futuristic processes through socially engaged practice. This will involve distorting bio data provided by the young people via a data-bending technique. Once distorted, the data is transformed into an image through coding technique. The image will first be printed using traditional methods by human hand before being digitized and repeated into a pattern. The final artwork will form a quilt displayed in The Lowry’s galleries from Sat 17 March – Sun 22 April.

Michael Simpson director of visual arts at The Lowry said; “This exciting project combines The Lowry’s commitment to providing a platform for digital art with a fantastic opportunity for young people to get involved in making art.  >thread {} are working in innovative ways that will inform the future of textile making”.

Lynsey O’Sullivan, Director of Learning and Engagement at The Lowry said; “Much of our work with young people in Salford is focused on those who are facing significant challenges in their lives. This project is a fantastic opportunity for these young people to work alongside professional artists, to gain creative skills, increased confidence and to produce a professional exhibition. During their weeklong residency at Islington Mill with >thread {} they will be introduced to a variety of art techniques such as print, sound, code and textiles before transferring the work to our Gallery spaces. We are all really excited to see what they produce.”

In July 2014, The Lowry galleries were renamed The Andrew and Zoe Law Galleries in recognition of the couple’s £1m donation to the arts centre, which is a registered charity.