The Faerie Tailor opens at Riverbank Arts Centre
The Faerie Tailor exhibition is a journey into tiny, magical worlds created by Donegal-based artist, Emily Bazeley.
The exhibition opened on Friday 15th November – we invited local school St. Conleths and Mary (First Class) to join us for a special tour and questions and answer session with the artist herself!
The artwork in this exhibition has been crafted from natural materials which have been found on forest floors, in gardens, on beaches, and also in places where you
would not expect to find faerie inspiration, including city streets and car parks.
There is an abundance of detail in work – the more you look, the more you will see – prepare to be enchanted by the miniature costumes and dwellings, fashioned from feathers, pinecones, acorns, leaves, and even bugs and bones.
Suitable for all ages, especially the imaginative, The Faerie Tailor exhibition will take you gently by the hand and lead you to a place of wonder, and perhaps inspire you to create your own faerie worlds.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Emily Bazeley lives in West Donegal and has been creating works of art for twelve years. She has a strong ethos of only using ‘what has been finished with’, so instead of consuming to create, she gathers ‘gifts’ from nature and upcycles and recycles what is found. 
“I have always been captivated by the beauty, subtlety, and sheer magic contained within each petal of a flower, each vein of a leaf; not to mention the miracle of seeds, nuts, acorns and fir cones. In almost every book on my bookshelf, there is at least one flower or leaf collected and pressed oh-so-many years ago. This is clearly an inherited pastime as my Grandmother (who had spent a lifetime doing exquisite paintings and embroideries of flowers) gave me a box for my birthday several years ago. I was delighted to find it full of pressed flowers and grasses that she had collected over the past forty years and was never able to find a use for. I really wanted to do something worthwhile and beautiful with this special gift…..and out of this box came the first item in the ‘Enchanted Wardrobe’.
Since then, these creations have developed into something of an obsession. I find that now I can’t go for a walk without a good sized bag with me, and when I went on holiday I hadn’t even gotten out of the airport car park before I was collecting leaves I had spotted while we were landing. ‘Oooh, look at those leaves’ has become something of a standing joke among my friends and family. I find myself continually knee deep in a hedgerow or attempting to scale a tree to reach ‘that bodice’ or other must-have items of fairy couture. I never imagined I would become a slave to fashion, but here I am!”
The Faerie Tailor is open until 21st December. Admission free.