Bonhoga wedding exhibition
THE BONHOGA Gallery is hosting a wedding exhibition with pieces from some of the country’s leading craft makers which opens tonight and runs until 16th November.
The range of work that could be included in a wedding exhibition is endless, so to give the show a framework Shetland Arts curator Mary Smith took the rhyme “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” as the exhibition theme. The work of 70 craft makes will be on show.
The “old” wedding features a dress, specially created by Barbara Ridland, with jewellery and wedding accessories, a contemporary take on the traditional and romantic – so expect pearls, hats, and jewellery with a classical but modern twist.
The “new” bride is very much of this generation. She would send invitations via email, has a wedding website and gives cds or memory sticks in place of the traditional wedding album. She is media friendly, and her wedding reflects this. A radically different wedding dress, by Jo Jack, using an interesting range of high tech materials, has been created for this bride.
“Borrowed” follows through on the green theme of recycling and eco weddings where guests might be given a seedling tree to plant to commemorate the wedding and reduce the carbon footprint created by the nuptials. This bride’s dress has an association with cement bags. Recycled materials form an unusual bridal bouquet by local artist Andrea Williamson.
Beautiful books, using peat and linen papers, replace the commercial album and guest book Finally “blue” is taken as eastern themed, with touches of Japanese simplicity and Asian sereneness contrasted with the glitz of Bollywood.
The show covers not only dresses, but a huge array of jewellery and hats that will transform a simple outfit into a stylish wedding ensemble to tempt the mother of the bride and a number of the guests. A leaflet, entitled “Commissioning Your Dreams” explains how work from the gallery can be commissioned. This guides you through the process of items made to your specification such as having your own wedding and engagement ring created – your choice, of metal, stones, finish and design. Prices need be no more than those of the high street and indeed are often lower.
Bonhoga Gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday 10.30am-4.30pm and Sunday 12noon to 4.30pm.
