Inverness Museum and Art Gallery is presenting two exhibitions during May and June which are part of the Scottish Executive £3million funded Six Cities Design Festival.

Aberdeen, Dundee, Stirling, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness are participating in the Festival which is aimed at celebrating and raising awareness of the value of design and creativity.

The exhibitions will be on show at the newly refurbished Inverness Museum and Art Gallery from 12 May till 2 June. “This One Feels Just Right”, an exhibition that celebrates the affectionate relationship with the chair will be on show in the art gallery, and this will lead into another exhibition titled, “HomeRoom”, where Highlands and Islands designers showcase their latest work in a specially created living space.

This One Feels Just Right, incorporates a dynamic mix of styles and materials by designer makers from across the Highland and Islands colliding in a unique concoction celebrating the chair. In the spirit of the Goldilocks’ story, participants are invited to try out a unique array of chairs that leads them along a meandering magical trail. Navigating through a mysterious woodland world, visitors are invited to describe their responses; specifically which one “…feels just right!” to them.

Taking Highland 2007 as their inspiration, HomeRoom designers have created work that reflects what is happening in Highland and Scottish design, presenting an innovative and very contemporary interpretation of traditional and non-traditional work from furniture to glass, and textiles to ceramics. Regardless of taste in style or materials, traditional or contemporary, the end products in HomeRoom are beautiful, totally functional and will last more than a lifetime.

Katey Boal, Inverness Museum and Art Gallery’s Assistant Curator (Learning and Access)  said: “We are inviting people who visit “This One Feels Just Right” and “HomeRoom” exhibitions to have their own say and to vote for their favourite object in the collections. Once we have analysed the votes we will change some of our exhibit labels to reflect the publics’ views.”

Other events accompanying the Six Cities Design exhibitions that will be taking place during the month of May at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery include two free workshops for which pre-booking is essential.

The first workshop run by Donna Wilson, “Make your own imaginary friend”, is on Saturday 19 May.  Donna will invite participants to make an imaginary friend through the medium of fabric sculpture and basic knitting. Her work is playful, tactile and bright, inspired by the everyday oddities of life. She likes to think of each of her creations as a character in her very own wonderland. Participants will invent a character related to their interests or someone or something special to them, then create a figure or animal or object.

On Saturday, 26 May, a workshop on how make a traditional Heather pot scrubber will also take place. Once found in almost every Highland kitchen, these simple yet practical objects were made entirely from natural materials.

Places are limited for the two workshops and booking is essential by contacting Inverness Museum and Art Gallery on tel: 01463 237114.

Inverness Museum and Art Gallery is open Monday to Saturday 10am – 5pm. Admission is free.

For further information about the Six Cities Design Festival see www.six-cities.com/home.php or Inverness Museum and Art Gallery www.invernessmuseum.com