New Exhibitions At Ards Arts Centre

Ards Arts Centre Welcomes New Exhibitions: From the Far Wide to the Near Shore by Stuart Cairns and The Body Remembers by Sandra Kerr Gordon

Ards Arts Centre is delighted to welcome two new exhibitions this month From the Far Wide to the Near Shore by Stuart Cairns and The Body Remembers by Sandra Kerr Gordon. Both solo exhibitions will open on Thursday 24th September and run until Saturday 17th October.

In From the Far Wide to the Near Shore, a series of strange objects and works on paper conjure imagined places and lives.

Combining found, made, and fabricated elements from shoreline wanderings and imaginative meanders; Stuart’s work reflects a deep relationship with landscape and material culture.

Stuart Cairns is an Irish artist exploring liminal environments – hinterlands, tidelines, and fringe spaces – through walking, photography, drawing, and collecting.

This exhibition presents sculptural objects that merge fabricated metal with found and natural materials, suggesting tools and implements both familiar and ambiguous. Alongside these, drawings and paintings evoke the half-imagined landscapes from which they emerge.

The Body Remembers is a solo exhibition by Sandra Kerr Gordon, exploring memory, trauma, and embodiment through porcelain clay and thread. 

Drawing on personal experiences of brain surgery and mental health, it examines how the body retains experience.

Combining fragile porcelain with thread, the work creates sculptural and immersive installations that invite reflection, empathy, and connection. Interconnected pieces explore resilience and healing, with thread linking forms as a living presence. 

Transforming the gallery into an experiential space, the exhibition communicates what words cannot, embodying fragility and endurance while connecting body, memory, and art. It offers audiences insight into process, deepening understanding and human experience.

Inspired by The Body Remembers, Sandra Kerr Gordon will lead Wellbeing with Clay at Ards Arts Centre on Saturday 10th October, from 10am to 1pm.

This relaxed, hands-on workshop invites participants to explore creativity, reflection and wellbeing through the therapeutic qualities of clay. The workshop costs £30 and booking is required.

Both exhibitions will open on Thursday 24th September and run until Saturday 17th October. Admission is free.

All are welcome to attend an open reception on Thursday 24 September, 7–9pm, to view the artworks and meet the artists.

For more information on the exhibitions, visit:

www.andculture.org.uk

• To register to attend the exhibitions’ Preview Event in Ards Arts Centre on Thursday 24 September at 7pm, please visit:

https://andculture.org.uk/whats-on/exhibition-preview-october-1

• To book a space on the Wellbeing with Clay workshop with Sandra Kerr Gordon at Ards Arts Centre on Saturday 10 October, from 10am to 1pm (cost £30), please visit:

https://andculture.org.uk/classes/wellbeing-clay-workshop