Carley Mullally (BFA Textiles/Fashion, 2015) found purpose in art during the pandemic.
“It gave me a sense of purpose in a wacky time,” they say, describing how they collected marine debris on the beaches of the south shore and repurposed the found materials into their artwork, as part of a residency at Chester Art Center in 2021.
Their work is currently being exhibited at the SMU Art Gallery as part of a group exhibition called Crafts_Ship. The show features work by three artists from the South Shore, including Mullally, exploring the life of seafarers through various mediums. They lived together in Halifax for a month and worked in the Saint Mary’s University Gallery. Mullally used the marine debris collected during the pandemic such as lobster claw bands and fishing nets.
“With this arsenal of reclaimed materials and a library of technical skills in off loom weaving and braiding, I explored the relationship we have with the fishing industry, considering environmental impacts and the gendered nature of the fishing industry.”
Carley Mullally received their BFA in Textiles and Fashion at NSCAD University in 2015. After that they took a year off to work for Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam and Charles MacAdam. Following that, they moved to London to attend the Royal College of Art to get their MFA.
Mullally returned to NSCAD as an instructor in 2018, teaching the Off Loom Structures and Intro to Weaving courses and worked as a fashion technician from Oct 2021-May 2022.
“It felt very natural to return to NSCAD to teach, and I was very flattered. I love what I do, and I always knew I wanted to teach.”
Crafts_Ship is on view at the SMU Art Gallery until April 16, 2023.