Irene Wanjiru, a native of Nairobi, Kenya will be having an exhibit of her paintings and fabric collage pieces on canvas and her small sculptures at Gold/Smith Gallery from Aug. 29 through Sept. 24.

Irene was born in a small village on the slopes of Mount Elgon, an extinct volcano straddling the border between Kenya and Uganda. She grew up watching her grandfather carve cooking sticks, mortars and pestles for the village. Women didn’t carve.    

Settling in Nairobi to raise her four children, Irene began making sculpture. In the following years she would turn her home into an ever changing sculpture garden filled with work in wood and stone as well as collaged sculpture using found objects and discarded items.

CARE International selected Irene from all the artists represented by the Kuona Trust, a Nairobi based center for the promotion of contemporary visual artists in Kenya, and commissioned her to create a monumental wood carving for their world headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.

Although sculpture is her primary art form, in 2011 Irene started making wall pieces using paint and collages of patterned fabrics. Her father was a tailor so the sensibility for cloth comes naturally. Irene is an alchemist who can transform the patterns of fabric into a mosaic- a landscape of animals, houses, people, a world unknown.

On Saturday, Aug. 31, Gold/Smith Gallery will have a reception at their gallery for Irene Wanjiru. The public is invited to come and meet this amazing artist and enjoy her new exhibit from 5 to 7 p.m.

The gallery is at 8 McKown St., Boothbay Harbor and is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday and Sunday noon to 5 p.m. For more information the gallery may be reached at 633-6252 or at goldsmithgallerybbh@gmail.com.