Gallery One
27 June – 1 November 2026
Opening hours: Wednesday to Sunday 12-5pm
Claire Barclay
b.e.i.n.g. b.u.o.y.a.n.t
Claire Barclay is the first artist commissioned to make work in response to the local context of the Wyllieum. Her art draws on the influence of Joseph Beuys who Wyllie befriended in the 1980’s
Claire and George share a strong connection to the Clyde, embedded in their experience of sailing the estuary and its adjoining lochs. Respect for the uncontrollable nature of the sea prompts thinking around unpredictability in our lives. The intervention of the work encourages perspectives of land and sea, looking out and looking in. It addresses the between spaces like the shore, the harbour, the dock – places where the lure of the sea have offered generations a pathway to freedom and adventure by sea or imagination.
The pull of the sea and the pull of home are suggested by psychological and emotional prompts within the artwork. Large canvas forms are tethered to rusted steel anchor points, other elements are straining to be cast adrift. Woven into the work are references to the skills of seafaring such as sailmaking or the decorative knot work that emerge when skill and everyday work with materialslead to creative expression and the need to mark our presence in a place.
The installation offers material encounters that act as triggers for sense and memory. The forms of the work suggest industrial and nautical remnants, once functional things cast away or awaiting new uses. The title may also suggest the rise and fall of individual and societal optimism, the potential for change and opportunity.
