The Time Between the Lights – Erin McQuarrie

A solo show of sculptural weavings and textile objects responding to themes of place, tool making, memory and repair.

The Time Between The Lights is a solo show by Scottish textile artist Erin McQuarrie. The work was made over the last three years in New York City, Glasgow, and Nairn, in the Scottish Highlands, where McQuarrie now lives and works.

McQuarrie’s sculptural woven pieces sit away from the wall, interacting with light and creating shadow to affect spaces in unexpected ways. Inspired by fragments of colour, light, and the textures of her surroundings, McQuarrie uses the ancient language of warp and weft to capture these fleeting moments.

This show’s work searches for relief from an increasingly digital society that is fueled by rampant consumerism. Made from sourced textile waste, found objects, handspun naturally dyed yarns and unconventional materials, McQuarrie’s weavings challenge the traditional assumption that cloth is a purely domestic medium and demonstrate that textiles can be architectural, dynamic, poetic, and sensitive. Pieces in this show have been inspired by The Glasgow Style movement, the poetry of Sappho, and texts by Virginia Woolf.

Through her practice, McQuarrie seeks ways to explore not only weaving but the tools associated with it. Her prosaic looms are made from waste materials sourced in charity shops, recycling centers, and the natural landscape. These discarded items and waste are deconstructed, reassembled, and collaged together in harmony, producing hybrid tools that act as artifacts of environment and highlight the potential that is all around us. Most importantly, McQuarrie’s work reminds us that there is beauty and importance in the everyday.

Erin McQuarrie is a textile artist and researcher based in the Scottish Highlands. She believes ancient methods of making provide an innovative means of interpreting and responding to contemporary life. Through textiles McQuarrie reacts to the everyday – the language of warp and weft is her vocabulary, providing an antithesis to our fast-paced consumerist society, an outlet to explore health and wellbeing, and a platform for historical recovery.

She completed her MFA in Textiles at Parsons School of Design, NYC (2021) and her BFA in Textiles at The Glasgow School of Art (2018). Her work has been exhibited in Scotland and internationally, including Jane Lombard Gallery, Mana Contemporary, The Royal Scottish Academy, L’Space Gallery, NYPL, and New York Textile Month. McQuarrie was a finalist for The Dorothy Waxman International Textile Prize (2021) and has been awarded a UK/US Fulbright Scholarship (2019/20), NYFA Public Engagement Grant (2021), the Lenore G. Tawney Scholarship at Peters Valley School of Craft (2021), Inches Carr Trust Award Craft Scotland (2022) and Cove Park International Residency (2023).