Rachel Mimiec is currently GoMA’s Associate Artist. This is a role which recognizes the valuable contribution she has made to GoMA’s work over the past few years, and which reflects our commitment to supporting artists’ practice. PLOUGH marks the final stage of Rachel’s time at the Gallery.

Over the past 20 months she has raised critical questions about the spaces artists and galleries open up to the public. This has included exploring the values attached to artworks in galleries in projects such as ATELIER PUBLIC (10 November 2011–15 January 2012) – where people were invited to come and make work exploring the questions of ‘What is art, and who is it for?’ – and the roles that an artist often undertakes in both gallery and community contexts, such as curator, facilitator, collaborator, and producer.

This exhibition presents Rachel’s current studio interest working with paint and appropriated images from National Geographic magazines. Included in the installation are works made by children during workshops, which she ran at the Red Road Family Centre nursery in Glasgow, and Horatio McCulloch’s 1866 landscape Loch Maree from Glasgow Museums’ collection.

The juxtaposition of her artworks with the children’s paintings and the McCulloch landscape raises questions about the expression of her diverse practice, both solo and community. This is set against the historical backdrop of landscape painting and our relationship with nature.

The Learning and curatorial team have also worked with Rachel to develop a programme of talks and workshops that respond to themes in her current inquiry. It’s an exciting departure for us and it means that we will have a range of speakers including Cameron McNeish and Gordon Buchanan responding to themes in Rachel’s exhibition. More details are on our website or the PDF of the leaflet for PLOUGH.

Rachel Mimiec and GoMA would like to thank the children and staff at the Red Road Family Centre – Aroosh, Bernie, Carys, Callum, Cassie, Ciara, Darcey, Hannah, Harley, Madison, Maysn, Tyler and Yousif. More of the children’s work can be seen in Gallery 2 in their own exhibition ‘Watercolours’.