Visual Artists' News Sheet - 2013 September October

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet issue 5 September – October 2013 Published byVisual Artists Ireland Ealaíontóirí Radharcacha Éire

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John Cull Untitled chalks, paint and pen on MDF board 30 x 46cm

8th – 26th October

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The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

Editorial

September – October 2013

Contents

Welcome to the September / October 2013 edition of the Visual Artists’ News Sheet.

This issue features updates on some of Visual Artists Ireland activities. Assistant Editor Lily Power gives an overview of Get Together 2013; Membership Manager and Listings Editor, Adrian Colwell profiles the Show and Tell event; Bernadette Beecher lays out some best practice guidelines for internships in the visual arts; and details of the Autumn / Winter VAI Professional Development programme are announced on page 33.

Reviewed in the Critique section are: Pádraig Timoney, Raven Row, London; Helen O’Leary, Catherine Hammond Gallery, West Cork; 'Labour and Wait’, Santa Barbara Museum of Art; the 'PhotoIreland: New Irish Works' catalogue; 'The Drawing Box', Ranelagh Arts Centre, Dublin; 'Russian Dolls', Golden Thread, Belfast.

The ‘Making It’ column makes its first appearance in this issue, with a report from artist Lily Cahill.

Mayo Public Art officer Gaynor Seville is a guest columinist and contributes a piece addressing some misconceptions about public art commission application processes. Regular columnist Jonathan Carroll gives a scathing review of ‘Nouvelles Vague’ at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris.

The subject of collaboration in arts practice – between artists, audiences, subjects and participants – is addressed in range of articles: Joanne Dolan and Allison Regan introduces the artist collective Expanded Draught; Caragh O'Donnell discusses 'Duo Days', an event recently held in Belfast featuring collaborations between artists who are in relationships with each other; and Katie Nolan profiles her collaboration with the subjects of her photographic project 'Neither'.

Ecological and holistic approaches to addressing the landscape and the environment are topics addressed in original ways in several articles: Fergus Kelly’s report on a sound-recording workshop held in Iceland; Monica de Bath’s account of her on-going project 'Plot / Ceapach'; Christine Mackey’s case study of her public art project ‘A Year in the Field’; and Saidhbhin Gibson’s account of her 'Sojourn' project at Carlow County Museum.

Our regional profile looks at the bustling visual arts scene in Waterford, with reports from artist collective 20ten, the Waterford City Arts Office, Waterford Healing Arts Trust and artists Christine O’Brien Shanahan and Sheila Naughton. Regional representative Aideen Barry details a residency she recently undertook in upstate New York and Northern Ireland Manager Feargal O’Malley looks at the impact of the Art Pods in Bangor.

Project profiles in this issue include: Sarah Allen outlining The Legacy Project, developed by the Nation Women’s Council of Ireland; Katie Holten interviewed about revisiting her 2003 Venice Biennale project; Ceara Conway writing on her experience of delivering ‘Burning Bright’, a visual arts programme for older people across County Galway; and Susan Montgomery and Sarah Ruttle discussing their Discovery Box project for the Early Childhood Arts Programme at West Cork Arts Centre.

Institution profiles focus on Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise, Sample-Studios, Cork and Catalyst Arts, Belfast, which this year celebrates its twentieth anniversary.

All this and more – this issue also contains: the Roundup and opportunities listings – recent exhibitions and projects, including work in the public realm, details of all the latest grants, awards, exhibition calls and commissions ; key news items from the visual arts sector; and Pablo Helguera’s hilarious Artoons.

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Visual Artists Ireland

1. Cover. Augustine O Donoghue Has the artist been paid? Self-initiated performance – distribution of

handmade flyers (pen, ink, watercolour paint, markers etc), Dublin August – November 2013.

Documentation and a statement relating to this work was exhibited as part of ‘Circulation’ an open

submission exhibition devised by the Black Church Print Studio, Dublin and curated by Paul McAree shown

at Monster Truck Gallery and FLOOD (9 – 24 August 2013). The statement read (extract) “The artist would

encourage visitors to the gallery and artists to raise the question of the payment of artists for exhibiting

work with galleries and curators ... also ... to lobby their local government representatives with regard to

providing adequate finding for the visual arts in Ireland.”

5. Roundup. Recent exhibitions and projects of note.

5. Column. Gaynor Seville. Why Apply? Gaynor Seville addresses some misconceptions about the public art application process.

6. Column. Lily Cahill. Making It. The realities of living and working as a visual artist.

7. Column. Jonathan Carroll. Nouvelles Vague: What a Drag. Disappointment at the Palais de Tokyo.

8. News. The latest developments in the visual arts sector.

9. Regional Focus. Visual arts resources and activity in Waterford.

12. Project Profile. Other Halves. Caragh O'Donnell on 'Duo Days', an event in Belfast featuring

collaborations between artists who are in relationships with each other.

13. Project Profile. Ten Years Later. Katie Holten revisits her 2003 exhibition for the Venice Biennale.

14. VAI Advocacy & Support. Responsible Recognition. Bernadette Beecher outlines some best practice

guidelines for arts internships.

14. VAI Members' Event. Show & Tell. Adrian Colwell introduces this new members' event.

15. Workshop Profile. Descend, Bold Traveller. Fergus Kelly reports on his participation in a sound

recording workshop held this June in Iceland.

16. Public Art Case Study. Let's Take the Class Outside. Christine Mackay introduces 'A Year in the Field'.

17. Project Profile. Curious, Active & Adventurous. Ceara Conway discusses 'Burning Bright', a programme

facilitating visual arts projects for older people across County Galway.

18. Project Profile. Collective Creativity. Joanne Dolan and Allison Regan introduce artist collective

Expanded Draught.

19. Critique. Pádraig Timoney, Raven Row, London; Helen O’Leary, Catherine Hammond Gallery, West

Cork; 'Labour and Wait’, Santa Barbara Museum of Art; 'New Irish Works', catalogue; 'The Drawing

Box', Ranelagh Arts Centre, Dublin; 'Russian Dolls', Golden Thread, Belfast.

23. How is it Made? Contrapuntal Landscapes. Monica de Bath discusses her project 'Plot / Ceapach'.

24. Institutution Profile. Michelle de Forge introduces Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise.

24. Institution Profile. Emer Ní Chíobháin profiles Sample-Studios, Cork.

25. How is it Made? The Raison D'être of Objects. Saidhbhin Gibson outlines her project 'Sojourn' at Carlow County Museum.

26. VAI Event. Getting Together Again. Lily Power offers an overview of VAI's Get Together 2013.

28. Institution Profile. Institutional Impermanence. Brian Birtles looks at 20 years of Catalyst Arts, Belfast.

29. Regional Representatives. VAI representatives, Aideen Barry (West of Ireland) and Feargal O'Malley (North of Ireland) offer accounts of their current concerns and activities.

30. How is it Made? Understanding Place & People. Katie Nolan on her photobook project 'Neither'.

31. Project Profile. Reflecting & Generating. Sarah Allen profiles The Legacy Project, an art commission

initiated by the National Women's Council of Ireland.

32. Project Profile. Box of Wondering. Susan Montgomery and Sarah Ruttle discuss their involvement

in the Early childhood Arts programme at West Cork Arts Centre.

33. Artoons. Pablo Helguera. Artoons. The foibles and ironies of the art world.

34. Opportunities. All the latest grants, awards, exhibition calls and commissions.

34. VAI Professional Development. VAI's professional development programme for autumn / winter.

36. Public Art. Public art commissions, site-specific works, socially engaged practice and other forms of

art outside the gallery.

Production: Publications Manager: Jason Oakley. Assistant Editor: Lily Power. News & Opportunities:

Visual Artists Ireland provides practical support, services, information & resources for professional visual artists throughout their careers.

Niamh Looney. Invoicing: Bernadette Beecher.

Contributors: Gaynor Seville, Lily Cahill, Geneva Vogelheim, Jonathan Carroll, Conor Rush, Christine O’Brien Shanahan, Shiela Naughton, Conor Rush, Christine O’Brien Shanahan, Conor Nolan, Claire Meaney, Caragh O’Donnell, Valerie Connor, Bernadette Beecher, Fergus Kelly, Christine Mackey, Ceara Conway, Allison Regan, Joanne Dolan, Roisin Russell, Alissa Klieist, Curt Riegelnegg, Sara Baume, Charles Donelan, Alison Pilkington, Monica de Bath, Michelle de Forge, Emer Ní Chíobháin, Saidhbhín Gibson, Lily Power, Bryan Birtles, Feargal O’Malley, Aideen Barry, Kate Nolan, Sarah Allen, Susan Montgomery, Sarah Ruttle, Pablo Helguera, Adrian Colwell, Adelle Hickey.

Contact: Visual Artists Ireland, Ground Floor, Central Hotel Chambers, 7–9 Dame Court, Dublin 2

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The views expressed in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, do not necessarily reflect those of the Editors, Editorial Panel or Visual Artists Irelands’ Board of Directors.

Visual Artists Ireland is the registered trading name of The Sculptors’ Society of Ireland. Registered Company No. 126424.

The Visual Artists’News Sheet

September – October 2013

Column

Gaynor Seville

5

Roundup

24 Aug). The work on show was from

The darker wood

two previous exhibitions by Mick O’Dea,

Why Apply?

big house festival

'Black and Tan' (2010) and 'Trouble' (2012).

With fewer public art commissions available now – due to a reduction in capital projects producing Per Cent for Art funds – you would imagine current opportunities are inundated with submissions. Instead, as Public Art Manager for Mayo County Council and from sitting on selection panels elsewhere, I’ve witnessed the opposite.

While there can be off-putting elements within certain project briefs, the fact remains that the majority of commissions can offer fantastic opportunities for visual artists – and especially, but not exclusively, emerging artists – working in all forms. More and more briefs are flexible, open and actively encouraging innovation and experiment. So why aren’t more artists applying for commissions? I think there are some misconceptions at play: There’s too much competition. I was recently on the selection panel for a commission worth in excess of €60,000 and there were just 24 submissions. From the commissioner’s point of view, with such a limited pool of proposals, the selection process can become problematic, as there is not always a ‘clear’ winner.

www.dunamaise.ie

nuit blanche The Nuit Blanche all night arts festival took place at Moxie Studios, Dublin (27 Jul). Described in the press release as a night of “art, props, installation, live music, performance, spoken word, and secret wanderlust cinema”, the event was inspired by a Parisian concept initiated in 1984.

Lucy McKenna,The Darker Wood, 2013

www.mox.ie

Lucy McKenna presented ‘The Darker Wood’ in Gallerywest, Toronto, Canada (4 – 29 Jul). The work was created on a

Low-cost / lo-fi practices don't ‘scale up’ well for larger budget projects.

Commissions can be a great way to develop practices in terms other than the physical – size, materials, durability etc. For practices that don’t manifest themselves as costly objects or processes, commissions can offer means to support development – buying time for planning, realisation, documentation, dissemination of ideas etc.

two-month residency in Artscape,

Conversely, after making the work (which is expensive to do) there’s very little money in it for the artist. Proposals that allocate significant amounts of the budget to a fee for the artist are now accepted and understood by commissioners. A good selection panel will include expertise on the real costs involved for artists, and what can realistically be archived within a given budget.

ourhouse

Briefs are too prescriptive / restrictive. The best commissioning processes respond to artists’ feedback and queries. Artists can ask about the make up of the selection panel in advance, or find out how strict some of the criteria are.

At least 50% of those sitting on any panel should have arts expertise to advise on what is realistic, value for money etc and, crucially, to know what represents outstanding contemporary art practice. Although a brief might indicate that the commissioner “knows what they want”, a selection panel, when presented with something quite different but of high quality, may well just change their opinions.

After repeated rejections – why apply again? To address common pitfalls, artists should consider asking other people to look at their submissions and get their opinion. How well articulated is the concept? Is the work well documented and presented? Does the submission stand out from the crowd and does it make immediate impact?

Artists can find out why they’ve been unsuccessful. They should seek honest feedback, however negative – it's the only way to learn. Commissioners should keep records of comments or scoring systems if used. For all local authority commissions, artists are entitled to this information.

Gaynor Seville, Public Art Manager, Mayo County Council

Castletown House, Celbridge, Kildare (3 – 5 Aug). Featured visual artists were: Michael, Trainor, Rhona Byrne, Niamh Lunney, Campbell,

Oisin

Byrne,

McGowan

Pillowtalk, &

Stewart,

Domonic Turner, Laura Kriefman, Mark Smith, Aine Phillips, Almha Roche, Evan Flynn and Astrid Walsh.

by the Arts Council of Ireland.

www.bighouse.ie

united states of emotion ‘United States of Emotion’, an exhibition

As part of Galway arts Festival 2013, GAC

by Jacinta O’Reilly, ran at Cabra Library,

presented ‘Ourhouse’, a four-part video

Dublin (8 – 30 Aug). The show comprised

installation by Nathaniel Mellors (15 –

work from the last two years and

28 Jul). The press release noted, “The

included, as the artist noted, "intricate

complex relationship between language

drawings and the building up of large

and power is a recurring theme in

sculptural collages”.

Mellors’ multi-faceted work, typically manifesting itself in absurdist, humorous

Frank Walter,Woman With Giant Bird

narratives that reveal a penchant for

The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin

satire and the grotesque”.

recently exhibited ‘Augury’ by Eoin

www.galwayartscentre.ie

a spectacular form of amnesia

McHugh and a collection of paintings and sculptures by Frank Walter. McHugh, the press release noted, “deftly explores

Etenders advertised commissions go to the ‘lowest quote’. Local authorities are obliged to advertise commissions through the Etenders online system (www. etenders.gov.ie). It is employed simply as a mechanism to advertise the commission and make the briefing documents widely and easily accessible; it does not prescribe any restriction on artists' fees or production costs. For artists, registering with the system can function as a useful way to get automatic notifications of relevant commissions.

If there’s no ‘stage one’ payment, don’t bother. The best single stage commissions don't require the submission of detailed proposals, but rather an outline idea, largely supported by high quality documentation of the artist’s practice (as above).

Arguably, this type of commission makes the process fair to all artists, regardless of their experience in the field; everyone gets the same chance to show their concept.

It is worthwhile for artists to invest in production of a generic ‘folder’ / portfolio (digital or hard-copy) showing all previous work and a CV, that can be used repeatedly. Basic concept ideas and draft budgets for particular projects can be attached for each commission applied for.

The Big House Festival took place at

Linnane, George Higgs, Salo du Chat, Fifi

Toronto Island in late 2010 and supported

field

You need a track record of working on major commissions. If an artist’s concept is the best – well outlined and presented – then they have a chance. Previous experience of commissions shouldn’t come into it. Artists can ‘qualify’ themselves for commissions by demonstrating their potential through instigating their own projects, such as low-cost public interventions, and collaborating and networking with others. Documentation of their practice should be to the highest standard in terms of images, critical and explanatory texts, including, where relevant, budget details.

It should be noted that some local authorities’ commissioning policies – such as Mayo’s Public Art programme – include an interest in supporting emerging artists, alongside their more established peers.

frank walter & eoin mchugh

Oisin Byrne, still fromThe Paper Ball, 2013

the space and boundaries between image, object, and idea, and yet his art is perhaps even more remarkable for its arresting sense of the uncanny”. The exhibition of Walter’s work includes “figurative scenes, landscapes, abstract compositions, and

Amanda Rice, still fromRice End Valley, 2013

real and imaginary portraits… painted

Amanda Rice's exhibition ‘A Spectacular

with immediacy and spontaneity on a variety of materials”.

Form of Amnesia’ ran from 13 Jun – 7 Jul at the Customs House Gallery and

www.douglashydegallery.com

Studios, Westport. The press release noted, “Informed by aspects of the

against the grain

Brian Kenny,Field, 2013

126 Gallery, Galway presented ‘Field’ by Brian Kenny (19 Jul – 4 Aug), in conjunction with the relaunch of the gallery. The press release noted, “'Field' aims to engage with the audience by re-imagining the gallery space using the medium of projection mapping”. www.126.ie

‘Against the Grain’ was a group project that took place at the Leitrim Sculpture Centre on 27 Jul. ‘Against the Grain’, the press release stated, was “a pilot research project that develops collaborations with artists who wish to explore agriculture and rural life locally and around the world… The aims of the project over the

sublime, the work – a navigable environment

incorporating

video,

layered text installation and fog machine – attempts to regain control and understanding of natural landmass and sensory perception within a fabricated environment".

coming years is to generate diverse views and

trouble in ireland

phenomenon of 'dark tourism' and the

responses

to

contemporary

agricultural environments and to assist the development of collaborative practice and shared knowledge between artists, farmers and rural dwellers”. Featured artists were: Marion Fink, Crona Gallagher, Emma Houlihan, Christine Mackey,

Jackie

Mullholland,

McKenna,

Sorcha

Ni

Fiona

hEilidhe,

Anthony O’Flynn and Helen Sharp; the curator was Sean O’Reilly. www.leitrimsculpturecentre.ie

create, inspire, transform Sinead Cullen’s solo exhibition ‘Create, inspire, transform’ ran at Exchange, Dublin (23 Aug – 1 Sept). The press release described how the artist “was inspired by a desire to bring the essence of movement and the embodied energy of dance into a traced visual expression, and to bring the honesty of this creative process to the public: bridging the divide between movement and ‘the finished piece’, and between the artists studio and the public realm”.

Mick O'Dea,The Body Snatchers, 2011 – 12

Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, in association with Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaois presented Mick O’Dea’s exhibition ‘Trouble in Ireland 1919 – 1921’ (5 Jul –

paddy campbell Sculptor Paddy Campbell exhibited his work at the Palazzo Medici Ricardo, Florence from 5 Jul – 28 Aug.

www.exchangedublin.ie

6

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

COLUMN

September – October 2013

Roundup

Lily Cahill

‘We like it up here, it’s windy really nice’,

household

out of the electric mist

a solo show by Brian Duggan, ran from

Making It

23 Jul – 24 Aug as part of the International Studio and Curatorial Programme (ISCP), New York. Duggan developed, the press release noted, “a new installation specifically created for the ISCP gallery space inspired by methods of crowd

Household Festival, image courtesy of Satis House

The Household Festival 2013 ran 23 – 25 August in several locations along the Ormeau Road, Belfast. Described in the press releas as “an event that encourages Lily Cahill, Don't Keep it Alive, 2011, mixed media

Lily Cahill, Your Shortcomings, 2012, photograph

audiences to re-negotiate the way in which they view and interact with art in the city”, the project included fine art,

My name is Lily Cahill. I am a visual artist. I also work in a Dublin gallery on a JobBridge internship, co-direct / manage Flatpack Gallery & Studios in Smithfield and have a weekend job selling clothes. I completed the MA Art in the Contemporary World at NCAD in 2012.

While I was at work (in my JobBridge art-job in the gallery, as opposed to my studio practice or my job-job in the ‘real’ world in the clothes shop) I got a phone call from NCAD. The college can’t give out the contact information of former students and someone was looking for me. I was given the name and number of a woman from a television production company. I waited a while before calling, feeling a general sense of unease.

It crossed my mind that the call might have been the concerted effort of a group of tom-fooling frenemies. But then I got starry-eyed by the prospect that someone had seen something I had made that would be adequate to backdrop a specific episode of an Irish soap opera, where one of the characters fall in love with the village artist / reprobate during a fortuitous meeting on the turret stairs to his studio apartment. Then I thought, maybe someone is trying to sell something and wants to use something I’ve made to sell it – which might provide me with money. So I called.

I got through to a receptionist, who didn’t know who I was or why I was calling (which I was little help with), didn’t know what NCAD was and didn’t know who I was trying to talk to. My phone rang again later. It was the TV woman herself. There went all my dreams. Here is how I relayed the episode to a friend: From: lilycahill 4:17 PM To:unnamedfriend …So a television production company contacted me earlier. They’re making a ‘new format’ television programme and want me to be one of five women who film their own lives for six months. I said no. Do you think that was the right decision?

From: unnamedfriend 4:19 PM To: lilycahill That was absolutely the right decision.I can’t imagine anything worse! Why’d they pick you?

From: lilycahill 4:22 PM To: unnamedfriend Some researchers in Turkey found my art blog and thought I’d be‘interesting’. I imagine the programme would also feature‘a DJ’ and ‘a fashion blogger’ and any other illustrious modern careers they can think of. So I said no.

Of course, the idea of being on national television is horrific. My Unnamed Friend and my Mother thought I absolutely did the right thing. The TV woman, understandably, lost instant interest as soon as I said no. She probably didn’t like my tone anyway: “What exactly do you mean by ‘new format’?” – an MA in ‘the contemporary’ prompts such irksome queries.

But after I hung up I was dour for the rest of the day. They just wanted someone to be ‘an artist’, not to present my work, but to play that role in their documentary thing. This made me feel depressed. At the same time I worried that I had potentially missed my lift to the top and was now stranded in the Sugar Loaf car park.

Ridiculous, but I was briefly blinded by the speculative starriness of it all.

It had become surreally apparent that it is easier to be cast in a nationally broadcast television programme that I didn’t audition for, than to have a sustainable career as an art practitioner. By ‘sustainable’ and ‘career’ I mean: make money from the things I make and be able to live off that money and not rely solely on bumps from Dublin City Council (who are great, I have them to thank for my MA), or the social welfare (who are also great, many thanks to them for my current JobBridge employment title), or ever increasing hours in something unrelated to my art work if I want to live in an ant-free house or own a projector.

Within 24 hours, however, I had regained my small portion of sense. It was absolutely the right decision to continue engaging with the various opportunities presented to me through government bodies and arts organisations than choose to mortify myself, weekly, nationally. ‘Making it’ as an artist, versus temporarily achieving nausea-inducing notoriety by portraying one, cannot be achieved through the assistance of a television production company.

Lily Cahill

performance, installation, live music,

control in Indonesia. In 2012, state-

Ian Wieczorek, Firedance, 2013

owned railway company PT Kereta Api

The ‘Out of the Electric Mist’, a solo show

introduced a new deterrent to stop

by Ian Wieczorek, ran at the Custom

people from riding on the roofs of trains

House Studios, Westport (8 – 29 Aug).

on their overcrowded network. After

“Artist Ian Wieczorek”, the press release

other efforts had failed, they decided to

noted, “continues to explore the

introduce concrete balls hanging as

implications of digital culture and how it

hazard barriers, to knock passengers off

is becoming an increasingly factor in

the roof of the trains”. Three times a year,

how we perceive and relate to the world.

ISCP offers residents and alumni the

Through the medium of oil paint on

opportunity to present a solo exhibition

canvas, he establishes a dialogue between

of work that has not been previously

‘traditional’ visual and contemporary

shown in the United States.

digital modes of communication”. www.iscp-ny.org

contemporary dance, screenings, dinners, talks and discussions in over 40 houses around the area.

awakenings reloaded

www.customhousestudios.ie

the machismo project

www.householdbelfast.co.uk

stop start go back ‘stop start go back’, an exhibition by Maureen O’Connor, ran at Ballina Arts Centre (1 –24 Aug). The press release stated, “O’Connor’s paintings and built configurations are about making an impression of the sensation of how we register, associate and combine our observations and thoughts. She tries to Gary Dempsey, Conall Cary, 'The Machismo Project', 2013

preserve a feeling of anonymity and obscurity through a visual argument of

Paul McCloskey, from 'Awakenings Reloaded', 2013

Gary Dempsey and Conall Cary presented

doing something, in order to allow

Paul McCloskey’s solo show ‘Awakenings

‘The Machismo Project’ at 126 Gallery,

something else to happen, then trying to

Reloaded’ ran at the Market House Arts

Galway (10 – 31 Aug). The press release

transcend the problem of the previous

Centre, Monaghan Town (13 June – 3

described how the “roughly hewn

action”.

Aug). The press release noted that the

narratives of ‘machismo’ and the complex

exhibition built on Mcloskey’s previous

pressures of traditional gender constructs

series ‘Awakenings’ and was also “inspired

are expounded through a self-reflexive

bob & Roberta smith

by the landscape, what we perceive as

humour”. The show comprised “large

The first Irish solo show by Bob and

everyday and perhaps ordinary, the

scale prints on cast concrete and cut

Roberta Smith took place as part of

places we merely glance at without

steel, utilising the inherent masculinity

Kilkenny Arts Festival (9 – 18 Aug) at the

allowing ourselves to get lost in the

of the materials’ size, strength and

Butler Gallery, Kilkenny.

breathtaking creation and beauty that

toughness juxtaposed against the surface

surrounds us”.

imagery”.

www.ballinartscentre.com

The press release noted how “Smith’s DIY approach appropriates the

www.facebook.com/themarkethouse

www.machismo.ie

languages of folk, punk and the alternative protest movements to

welcome to drogheda

drawing together

personalise political sloganeering. Smith

The Leitrim Sculpture Centre held

is also known for initiating or

‘Drawing Together’, a exhibition of work

participating in activist campaigns: some

by the Manorhamilton multicultural

serious, timely and grounded in real

women’s group, from 16 – 19 Aug. The

issues (local, national and international)

work comprised pencil and charcoal

and others farcical and loaded with

drawings, paintings, lino-cuts and mono-

humour and irreverence” ... in the current

prints produced by members of the

climate in Ireland, Kilkenny Arts Festival

group, which was supported by the

is proud to present Smith’s brand of ‘tell it how it is’ politically-progressive and utopian-minded imagery”. www.kilkennyarts.ie

we like it up here

European Union’s PEACE III programme, Fergus McCarthy, 'Welcome to Drogheda', 2013

Fergus McCarthy’s project ‘Welcome to Drogheda’ took place at the Highlnaes

Body and delivered by the County Leitrim PEACE III Partnership. www.leitrimsculpturecentre.ie

Gallery, Drogheda (15 – 18 Aug).

McCarthy set up a tent in the middle of the gallery, where he lived for four days in an attempt to explore what Drogheda has to offer. “The hidden gems he discovers in Drogheda”, the press release explained, “will inspire a self-penned offbeat guidebook to the town and a giant, illustrated map, which will be displayed in the gallery along with a salon hang of Drogheda-centric artworks chosen from the Highlanes Collection”.

Brian Duggan, Concrete balls threaten train roof surfers

managed by the Special EU Programmes

www.highlanes.ie

a&E Black Church Print Studio, Dublin presented ‘A&E’, a critical seminar programme, as part of the exhibition ‘Circulation’ at FLOOD. The one-day event comprised an introduction to the exhibition by Paul McAree, a walking tour and a performance by artist Monica Flynn entitled What goes around comes around. www.print.ie

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2013

COLUMN

7 Roundup to combine his sculptural project with

‘Outside Insight’, an annual outdoor

concerns he has with today’s migrations

sculpture exhibition presented by Brigit’s

of people within Europe. Altogether, the

Garden and the Galway Arts Centre, took

project interlinks recognizable aesthetics

place from 7 Jul – 29 Aug. The press

and more abstract forms to constitute

release explained, “The exhibition

Imagine the emptiness one would feel if, say, the Olympic 100-meter sprint ended

what Schulz has coined as his own,

presents a diverse selection of outdoor

in a dead heat. No winners and no spectacular losers; no Usain Bolt, Zola Budd or

‘social formalism’”.

sculptures in a variety of media with

Jonathan Carroll

what could possibly be wrong...

Nouvelles Vagues: What a Drag

Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards – just nothing and no one of note. Leaving the ‘Nouvelles

www.themodel.ie

visual and aesthetic impact. Artists have been selected from across Ireland to

Vagues’ (New Wave) exhibition in the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (21 June – 9 September Summer show

create site-specific works that respond to

21 exhibitions were spread over the four levels of the Palais de Tokyo, forming

The Summer Show at the Cross Gallery,

the natural and architectural landscape

part of an ‘artfest’ of 53 shows throughout Paris. In effect, you are expected to pay

Dublin included work by Cristina

of the garden… the eclectic mixture of

Bunello, Claire Carpenter, Graham

ideas that the artists bring to the

Chorlton, John Boyd, Simon English,

landscape, combined with the tranquil

Michael Wann, Clea van der Grijn and

atmosphere of the gardens, creates a

Andrew Clancy.

unique and stimulating experience for

2013), I was left feeling a similar sense of emptiness.

(€10 general entry) for the privilege of enduring 21 curated exhibitions (with 34 different curators involved) in one sitting. Quelle Horreur! It was like undergoing the Ludovico Technique from A Clockwork Orange: more and more curating until you can take no more. How could such a gathering of curators manage to come up with such a drab series of exhibitions? A jury selected exhibition ideas from 500 submissions, yet none of the work possessed any sense of urgency or agency. The emphasis was on art as poseur, the art of display and the mishmash of the wonderkammer, with an unbelievable level of conformity.

David Fagan, still from 'What Could Possible Be Wrong...'

David Fagan’s solo exhibition ran at Flatpack Gallery and Studios, Dublin (2 – 4 Aug). The press release stated, “An infinite past, mortality and an infinite

www.crossgallery.ie

future are viewed through the prism of an unassuming moment in popular television history”.

you only fall twice long they look, and deeply

www.davidfagan.eu

(Editors Note: Any positives, Mr Carroll, before you indulge yourself with more

‘Long they look, and deeply’, an exhibition

invective on how awful these exhibitions made you feel?) Why yes, Ed. The place was crowded, teeming with Parisians – young, old and in-between – queuing at the door, running around the place until well after midnight (opening hours are midday to midnight every day except Tuesdays). Parents with children played shadow-puppets with the sophisticated projections, enjoying themselves – clearly not sharing my cynicism.

The inclusion of our own Isabel Nolan in one of the more interesting exhibitions was like seeing an old friend in a panicking crowd. At last, something familiar – work I had previously had time to digest in the calm repose of the Goethe-

of painting, ran at Satis House, Belfast (5 con.glom.er.ate

Along the cool sequester’d vale of life, They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.1

things or parts that are put or grouped

Nolan’s quietly dignified work, including A Single drop of Benevolence (2009), formed

together to form a whole but remain

part of the ‘les plus sexy’ exhibition, ‘The Black Moon’, curated by Sinziana Ravini

distinct entities".

(Sweden, 1976). It was described in the exhibition guide as “an exhibition-novel

www.catalystarts.org.uk

presenting an encounter between a man and a woman visiting an exhibition… A

Most visitors were attracted like bees to honey to Joanna Lombard’s Orbital Re-Enactments//emotional mobilization, a piece that depicted some ritual gathering of

Gerry Davis, Air, 2013, oil on board

nudists (okay, there was more to it than that; it involved the complicated relationship

Group show, ‘Shrunken Head’, ran at the

hallways, signage… they’re everywhere – nothing gets away from them! Artists give us their interpretations of the building.”

The line-up includes a skateboard installation by Ulla Von Brandenburg where

Niland Gallery, Galway (13 – 27 Jul) and featured work by Paddy D’Arcy, Gerry Davis, Tim O’Neil and Matthew Quain.

“The artists”, the press release explained, “working in a variety of media and themes, are concerned with the idea of questioning established belief systems and

notions

of

perception.

By

interrogating how our perception of ourselves and the world around us is shaped by the environments we inhabit

Boston (Aug 24). The press release

Alison Pilkington, The Visitor, 2013

described Super-SATURATED as “A duo

Alison Pilkington's exhibition 'The

of durational performances that seek to

Visitor' ran at The Drawing Project, Dun

explore the relationship between body as

Laoighaire (5 – 17 Jul). The work formed

flesh and body as image. The interaction

part of her practice-based PhD entitled

of the body with everyday objects,

'Unfamiliar Terrain: An Investigation

explored through actions to the point of

Into the Uncanny in Painting'. In the

‘overload’, repetition and transition make

press release, the artist noted, "In this

them heavy with cultural meaning. The

show, I attempt to explore this aspect of

work seeks to push the objects until they

the uncanny and invite the viewer to

slip between ‘thing’ and ‘symbol’, in turn

consider how this ‘un-homely’ feeling

pushing and pulling the body between a

occurs through painting".

visceral presence in the world and distanced performance”. www.mobius.org

– both physical, metaphysical and cultural – they build a nuanced image of the individual as they are constructed

design and lighting. It made me yearn for the old white cube gallery devoid of visual obstructions. But perhaps all of this is aimed at a far trendier demographic, youths who are adept at filtering out all the visual extras and able to see through the fog of images.

Notes 1. Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, 1751

are we there yet?

'Are We There Yet?', an exhibition run by

outside insight

Fiona Mulholland in association with Earagail Arts Festival and the MacGill

within contemporary society”.

Summer School, ran at The Warehouse, Glenties, Donegal (7 – 29 Jul). The

you ‘carve a bowl’ to your heart’s delight. You can also hang out in the many ‘Lifestyle’ areas within the Palais, where once again you are bombarded by imagery,

The visitor

SATURATED’ at the Mobius Gallery,

only have eyes for each other?

describes this exciting development: “Windows, stairways, walls, agorae, cupolas,

took place at Beirut in Cairo from April

performed their durational work ‘Super-

ignore the pressures of seeing all the other exhibitions around them? Or do they

they had to tackle every facet of the building itself. Here is how Palais de Tokyo

Falling of the Books', an exhibition that

Katherine Nolan and Eleanor Lawler

There were 19 artists in ‘The Black Moon’ alone. Does the couple she refers to

This constant struggle for the audience’s attention was not confined to the

interiors and exteriors”.

super-saturated

tryst or true love: which will triumph?”

exhibition spaces. Apparently, it was not enough to have artists show their work;

enacted at the CCA as a sequel of 'The

architectural, spatial and psychological

www.cca-derry-londonderry.org

one searches only for a fleeting tryst, the other aspires to finding true love. Fleeting

Grafton Street chuggers competing for your diminishing attention.

Beirut and FormContent, read and

explore, in a variety of ways, notions of

add materials and exchange content”.

this relationship unfolds around the works, playing with love, art and life. While

show, which in the context of this opening felt more like Indian street performers or

described it as “a story co-authored by

artworks displayed in this intimate space

conceptual entities and individuals to

reminiscing about their encounters in Moscow, Paris and Venice. Thus the story of

strengthened by the now ubiquitous inclusion of some live element to a curated

Twice’ (13 Jul – 18 Aug). The press release

Virginia Woolf’s A Haunted House, the

and a guest, to and for other institutions,

in an exhibition. They begin to talk about the artworks around them, all the while

and the atmospheric lighting, the Palais de Tokyo resembled a souk. This analogy is

The CCA, Derry presented ‘You Only Fall

an overlap of interests and acts as a host

“A man and a woman who haven’t seen each for a long time run into each other

curator’s name and before the artist’s name. With the crowds attending the opening

The press release noted, “Responding to

conceived as an open investigation into

The curator described it as follows:

blend into each other. Often the scenographer were listed immediately after the

(Scotland) and Flora Moscovici (France).

Still from 'You Only Fall Twice', 2013

to June, 2013. Like the prequel, it is

shrunken head

it as a novel-exhibition instead of an exhibition as novel, une exposition-roman.)

The various shows were so heavily curated, however, that the works tended to

Millen (Ireland), Dougal McKenzie

Fitzpatrick, Adam Gibney, Aoibheann

this way, "Noun: A number of different

Andrew

Christopher Hanlon (England), Tim

Andrew Carson, Sinead Curran, Gillian

Travers. The press described the show in

(Ireland),

(England), Fiona Finnegan (Ireland),

participating artists were Roisin Beirne,

Grennan, Michelle Hall, Steven Maybury,

Casey

Cranston (Scotland), Jeffrey Dennis

Catalyst Arts, Belfast 16 – 31 Aug. The

Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife, Their sober wishes never learn’d to stray;

each other in a childish frenzy).

Hannah

Block T exchange exhibition that ran at

Ben Readman, Ciara Scanlan and Mella

between children and adults, apparently when nude and bathing or chasing after

– 27 Jul). The exhibiting artists were:

'Con'glom'er.ate' was a Catalyst Arts /

Institut, Dublin (‘Unmade’, 2012). Poetic interlude:

narrative suggested by the juxtaposition of works”. (The guide mistakenly describes

the viewer”.

exhibition included works by a selection

tied up & down

of artists who have a strong connection

‘Tied Up and Down, how to consider

to Donegal: John Beattie, Shea Dalton,

force a privilege’ the first Irish exhibition

Emily Mannion, Malcolm McClay, Cathal

by German artist Tilo Schultz, ran at The

McGinley, Maria McKinney, Chicory

Model, Sligo (29 Jun – 7 Aug). The press

Miles, Locky Morris, Fiona Mulholland

release described the show as “a response

and Eamon O’Kane.

by Schulz to Sligo as an environment”.

Continuing, “The artist develops means

Jodi Coyne, Bog Bolgs, 2013

8

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

News

September – October 2013

VAI News

tulca 2013

The Arts Council Northern Ireland

Jimmy Deenihan TD Minister for Arts,

Artist Payscales: Update

from artists and galleries. The payments

Valerie Connor is to curate the Tulca

(ACNI) has launched its new website

Heritage and the Gaeltacht officially

In February, Visual Artists Ireland (VAI)

should be both reasonable budget

Festival of Visual Art 2013, which will

which promises improved access to the

launched Culture Night 2013 at the

published a report on the ‘Ask! Has the

targets for the arts organisations and

run from 8 – 24 November. Valerie

information visual artists need. The site

Museum Building, Trinity College.

Artist Been Paid?’ campaign, which

provide sufficient income for artists to

Connor works as an independent

offers clear guidelines on each of the

Culture Night 2013 will take place on

included a preliminary framework for

make a living from their creative work.

funding programmes, as well as all the

20 September, this will be the 8th

artist payment guidelines. In June, Noel

No artist should go into debt to show

projects. Connor is the curator of the

latest news and views from the arts

annual Culture Night and will see 34

Kelly, VAI CEO, presented the Ask!

his or her work. We hope that visual

National Women’s Council of Ireland’s

sector. The website is also mobile and

regions, towns and cities around Ireland

campaign to the Arts Council of Ireland

artists will use our guidelines in tandem

social media friendly.

programme a variety of cultural and

and later at our Get Together event at

with a day rate calculator, to be

artistic events.

NCAD, Dublin. Since then, our search

published along with the guidelines, to

for artist payment standards has taken

more effectively negotiate rates of pay

An

us to investigate policy and practice in

in the future.

Ghaeltacht, Armagh, Belfast, Carlow,

other countries, namely Australia,

Cavan, Clare, Cork County, Cork City,

Canada and the UK. With the

Derry/Londonderry, Louth, Dublin,

information we found, VAI is refining

Galway City, Galway County, Kerry,

the guidelines that will pioneer fair

valerie earley residency award

Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim,

payment standards for Ireland’s visual

VAI are pleased to announce that Jill

Letterkenny, Limerick, Mayo, Newry &

artists.

Miller has been awarded the Valerie

curator and advises on visual arts

Legacy Project and teaches on the Photography BA at DIT. She was previously Ireland’s

the

commissioner

participation

at

www.artscouncil-ni.org

Locations across the island of

for the

international art biennials in Venice

Ireland

artist housing limerick Limerick Arts Office has announced

and São Paulo, the Arts Council’s Visual

details of Ireland’s first subsidised living

Arts Adviser and a member of the IMMA

space scheme for artists. An open call

board. Connor is chairperson of the National Campaign for the Arts.

In addition, Tulca have announced the appointment of Kate Howard as producer of the festival. A graduate of NUI Galway with a Masters in Arts Policy and Practice through the Huston School of Film and Digital Media, Howard is also a Fine Art graduate from Sligo IT and the Centre for Creative Arts & Media GMIT. She is Chairperson of Adapt

Galway,

co-coordinator

constituency

of

the

National

Campaign for the Arts Galway and more recently, Kate held the position of acting producer of Arts in Action, Creative Arts programme at NUI Galway. www.tulca.ie

has been made to recognised cultural practitioners, including contemporary visual artists, performers, musicians and writers, to apply for the use of six newlyrefurbished residential apartments at John’s Square. The Square reopened to the public earlier this year following a €1.5 million redevelopment by Limerick City Council and John’s Square can now be considered Limerick’s Living Cultural Quarter. The refurbishment of the residential Artists’ Apartments, 1 – 2 John’s

Square

took

place

under

art in Roscrea, Co Tipperary, opened on 20 July this year. The gallery, initiated

by Therry Rudin and Patricia Hurl, is based within the Damer House and Roscrea Castle Heritage Centre and is supported by the OPW. The gallery will showcase exciting new art by national and international artists and will open Wednesday to Sunday, from 11.00 – 17.30 with no admission charge. www.facebook.com/DamerHouseGallery

Our international research has

Earley Residency Award. The award was

Tipperary, Offaly, Omagh District,

provided us with ideas for how to

created to provide a lasting memory of

Roscommon, Sligo, South Tipperary,

structure the guidelines and with

our colleague Valerie and to ensure that

Strabane District, Waterford, Westmeath,

approximate numbers for artist rates. In

Valerie’s care for our artist members

Wexford and Wicklow.

Australia, the National Association for

continues into the future. The recipient

District,

Navan,

The free lively late-night national

the Visual Arts, Ltd (NAVA), published

will receive a two-week retreat at the

event will include live music, dance,

Artists’ Scales of Fees & Wages (2009),

Tyrone Guthrie Centre, with self-

theatre, spoken word, literature, visual

detailing rates and loan fees for varying

catering accommodation and a studio.

art, traditional and Irish contemporary

experience

culture, interactive tours, workshops

durations.

and exhibitions.

levels

and

exhibition

Miller is a graduate of the Burren

Artists

College of Art and has exhibited at

Canadian

several

Heritage and the Gaeltacht Access II

including: Glor Gallery, Ennis; 126

co-ordinated by Temple Bar Cultural

Introduction & Guidelines 2013 online, in

Gallery, Galway; and The Courthouse

scheme under the National Development

Trust and supported by the Department

which they categorise arts organisations

Gallery, Ennistymon. This fall, Miller

Plan 2007-2013 and Limerick City

of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in

by budget and have rates for solo, group

will begin a PhD in Studio Art at The

Council.

partnership with the regional arts

and

For

Burren College, examining “the painting

offices and local authorities throughout

example, an artist showing only a single

process through brushstroke, color and

the island of Ireland.

work in a solo exhibition can charge

liminal transformation of paint into a

20% of the solo exhibition fee. CARCC

painting, when physical paint becomes

also

an expression of human emotion

imma reopening

www.culturenight.ie

After almost two years of essential and

permanent

has

rates

exhibitions.

for

consultation,

galleries

around

Ireland,

extensive refurbishment works, IMMA’s

TBG&S new studio members

installation and preparation. The

Galleries

Hospital

Temple Bar Gallery + Studios has

Scottish Artists Union (SAU) and a-n,

Kilmainhan will be open again on 11

announced seven new studio artists for

the Artists Information Company in

October 2013 with an exciting new

the year 2013 / 14. The new member

England, both publish basic day rates

workspace scheme 2013

programme of exhibitions: 'Eileen Gray:

artists were awarded their studios

for visual artists scaled by years of

Visual Artists Ireland, on behalf of the

Architect Designer Painter'; 'In the Line

following

experience.

a

Arts Council, invites applications for

of Beauty' (featuring – David Beattie,

application process, which took place

combination of years of experience and

grants of up to a maximum of €30,000

Oisin Byrne, Rhona Byrne, Aleana Egan,

in May 2013. In total, one Membership

UNESCO’s definition of an artist – the

towards the running costs of visual

Fiona Hallinan, Sam Keogh, Caoimhe

Studio for a three-year period was

basis for VAI’s professional membership

artists’ workspaces. In keeping with the

awarded to Jacki Irvine. Additionally,

criteria – to scale our payment

Arts Council’s policy document Visual

Sarah Pierce was granted a one-year

guidelines. In addition, VAI will classify

Artists’ Workspaces in Ireland – A New

extension on her Membership Studio.

different types of arts organisations by

Approach, this scheme has the aim of

This year, four One-Year Project Studios

their overall budget, with the hope that

assisting artists workspaces throughout

were allocated to Miranda Blennerhasset,

venues will expand their programming

the country to provide the best possible

Lucy Andrews, Vanessa Donoso Lopez

budgets to include increased artist

environment for working visual artists

and Neil Carroll. 2013 sees the

payments.

and, where feasible, to enable a level of

at

the

Royal

Kilfeather, Ciarán Murphy, Lisa Murphy Joseph

Noonan-Ganley

&

Ciarán

Progress' and 'One Foot in the Real'

A new gallery has opened in the West

North

Mourne

(CARCC) has the extensive Fee Schedule

Walsh); 'Klara Lidén: The Myth of blue house gallery

Geneva Vogelheim, VAI Researcher

Representation Copyright Collective

damer house gallery run, non-profit gallery for contemporary

include

Culture Night is an initiative

co-funding by the Department of Arts,

www.limerickcity.ie

The Damer House Gallery, a new artist-

participating

(works from the IMMA Collection

Cork village of Schull. Organised by the

including Louise Bourgeois, Liam

Mizen Artists group, the gallery is a

Gillick, Antony Gormley, Juan Muñoz,

cooperative effort by the member artists

Bea McMahon, Michael Snow & Michael

to showcase the wide range of creativity

Warren.)

and talent that exists on the Mizen

www.imma.ie

Peninsula. The Blue House Gallery will

an

open

submission

continuation of the TBG+S Graduate

We

Although

hope

use

www.tyroneguthrie.ie

international

subsidy for resident visual artists. For

Artist’s Studio Award. This award

sources are the starting point for our

further information and queries contact

allocates a large studio, free of charge, as

guidelines, VAI’s payment standards

niamh@visualartists.ie.

well as a variety of mentoring and

have received much interest from fellow

development opportunities, to a recent

members

graduate of a Fine Art BA programme.

Association of Art (IAA) Europe. We

vai artists' book area

The recipient, David Fagan, was selected

plan to adjust for cost of living, using

Following on from the success of the

via an open submission process.

60% median income as a standard

artists’ bookstall at Get Together 2013,

poverty level, in order to translate

we would like to invite visual artists to

international payment rates into Irish

submit

allianz business to arts award

euro equivalents. Another challenge is

permanent book sales area at our offices

The winners of the 2013 Allianz

creating with objective measures for

in Dame Court, Dublin 2. All kinds of

Business to Arts Awards will be

different levels of experience that

publications relating to the visual arts

announced on 10 September at the Bord

command varied pay rates. For example,

are welcome: reviews / zines, exhibition

Gáis Energy Theatre. These awards seek

an artist with only a few years of

catalogues, artists’ journals, collaborative

of

these

to

through representation of the figure”.

the

International

be open for the next three months

arts council touring awards

highlighting

both

The The Arts Council has announced

established and emerging artists who

details of successful applicants under

live in the area. The gallery will stage a

the Touring and Dissemination of Work

permanent show of work by all the

Scheme 2014, round one (for tours

artists as well as hold a series of one-

starting between January and June

man shows by individual members. The

2014). A total of €577,750 has been

artists involved are Ulli Crespo, John

awarded to 23 artists and arts

Doherty, Alyn Fenn, Carol Gilbert,

organisations throughout the country

Sheena Jolley, Hammond Journeaux,

from 58 applications received. The total

Brian Lalor, Kym Leahy, Nuala Mahon,

value of the funding sought by the 58

Ann Martin, Chris O’Dell, Patricia

to recognise the importance of arts and

applicants was €1,822,469. Further

experience would be paid differently

works etc. The books will be displayed

business

working

Coogan O’Dell, Keith Payne, Nona

than an artist with over 20 years of

right at the entrance to our office for all

details can be found on the Arts Council

together. The awards will be presented

Pettersen, Jorg Uschkamp and Julia

experience for giving an artist talk. We

visitors to browse. Please contact Lily

of Ireland's website.

by Minister for Arts, Heritage and the

plan to use a weighted average of the

Power,

Gaeltacht, Mr Jimmy Deenihan, TD.

VAI membership criteria to create an

visualartists.ie) with details (title, price,

objective scale.

approximate size, brief description)

the

work

of

Zagar. Gallery hours: Daily 11 – 6.

www.artscouncil.ie

www.facebook.com/BlueHouseGallery

www.templebargallery.com

organisations

www.businesstoarts.ie

The next step is to stress test the acni website

culture night 2013

proposed guidelines with real numbers

their

publications

Assistant

Editor

for

a

(lily@

before forwarding publications and for more details.

The Visual Artists’ News sheet

September – October 2013

9

Waterford: Resources & Activities Tony Ryan: A Tribute

20ten Artist Group

Conor Rush delivering a talk at Garter lane Arts Centre

My first formal art education experiences occurred mainly in groups: at school and later at night classes in NCAD. I then worked for several years as a woodcarver on the restoration of the Medieval Drimnagh Castle in Dublin. Once again, I was working as part of a team alongside people with diverse skills: labourers, carpenters, stone masons etc. Years later, when I went back to study full-time at art college, I was quite surprised to find that any form of collaboration or teamwork was strongly discouraged after first year.

After art college I continued making art on my own for several years, facing the usual challenges that many artists experience. In 2010 I was offered the chance to exhibit with two friends in a show called ‘Trichotomy’ at the Index Gallery, Waterford Central Library (27 May – 11 June 2010).

Shortly afterwards I was asked to organise a group exhibition at the Tramore Coastguard Cultural Centre (13 – 29 November 2011). I asked Chris O’Brien Shanahan to be my co-curator and invited artist friends to join the original three. Margaret Organ, the Waterford County Arts Officer, invited us to exhibit the second show, ‘Within and Without’, at the Old Market House Arts Centre in Dungarvan (30 June – 28 July 2012).

As the eight of us worked together, we realised that we had all experienced similar challenges in progressing professionally as individual artists.

These included: the financial costs of making art and mounting exhibitions; finding time to promote oneself while creating work; pursuing opportunities – submissions, grants etc etc; and continuing to work without becoming discouraged in the face of inevitable setbacks and disappointments.

Our group coalesced into 20ten, a Waterford based independent collective of artists. The group comprises myself, Pat Carri, Kevin Connolly, Róisín Kinsella, Darragh Lyons, Pat McArdle, Christine O'Brien Shanahan and Milia Tsaoussis-Maddock.

We work in a range of media including photography, paintings in oils, acrylic and mixed media, sculptures in wood, ceramics and other media, installation and audio / visual works.

Through teamwork, we have pooled our various individual skills, shared resources and reduced expenses associated with exhibiting. The group consciously strives to provide a supportive environment, while allowing individual creativity to flourish. Having a person with similar experience and understanding to turn to when things aren’t going well in your work is a huge benefit.

Interestingly, some of us also have found stronger personal artistic voices. I believe this arose through having opportunities to talk about, compare and contrast our individual art practices.

We have become comfortable with, and respectful of, each other. Our group's artistic strength lies in the diversity of styles represented and a unity of vision.

We often create collections around specific themes. Within the collective, the artwork reflects each artist’s life experiences and individual interpretations of agreed concepts. These are often expressed in ethereal imagery and forms, haunting landscapes, subtle tones, vibrant colour and abstract expressionism.

In February 2013, our exhibition ‘ScatteringGathering’ opened in Garter Lane Arts Centre, Waterford, aided by Visual Arts Manager Evelyn Power. The work focuses on emigration and immigration, the realities of which have cultural and emotional implications for families and individuals. Each artist focused on personal experiences in trying to comprehend the theme.

Through our work, 20ten aims to encourage new perspectives and thinking. We invited guest artists Andrea Caulfield, Kate Bowe O’Brien, Magdalena Karol and Willemein Koelink to contribute to the collection and discourse. The group met regularly to discuss the theme and related concepts. Many new works were created, and four artist-led talks took place. It was a very popular and successful exhibition, and was subsequently shown in Kilkenny Castle in August 2013 for the Kilkenny Arts Festival.

We took a very different approach to our ‘Summer Collection’ exhibition at the Index Gallery, Waterford Central Library’s public art space (15 July – 6 August 2013). We returned to working independently for a few months, with occasional planning meetings. This allowed some members to explore or rediscover different media and forms. Few of us saw each other’s work until we met to hang it. Remarkably, the work read seamlessly on the wall, with a palpable harmony and maturity.

Waterford city’s Avenue Festival 2013 featured one day of 20ten-related events. These included the opening of ‘Summer Collection’ by the Mayor, a city wide walking tour of work by Darragh Lyons and my own sculpture retrospective in Kieran’s Bookshop. Central Library and Waterford City Arts Office supported the events.

Group members make a point of attending openings, workshops and other arts events in the South East whenever possible. Supporting and appreciating other artists, curators and venues is important. 20ten actively seeks innovative ways to involve a wider audience in visual arts events. This includes artist talks, workshops and exhibitions in non-traditional arts spaces. For example: Pat McArdle’s participation in public mural projects; my talk on ‘Trees and Carving’ for National Tree Week; and Chris O’Brien Shanahan’s installation in a health food shop during Harvest Festival.

AMID the hype and celebrity of the art world, one can forget that for every artist who becomes a name, there are many more who work unseen; individuals who are dedicated to their work but who will not achieve status nor recognition. Their work, nevertheless, can bring meaning to people’s lives.

For this reason, I have chosen to write about an exhibition that I initiated and organised in Waterford in conjunction with a couple of close friends. It was the terminal illness of a mutual colleague in the teaching profession that was the catalyst for the exhibition. Tony Ryan was a fulltime lecturer in fine art at Waterford Institute of Technology. With a young family to support, he knew that he could not devote his working life to art, despite leaving his career as a chemist with a Dublin distillery to study art as a mature student.

Art for Tony was a means of documenting his life and the human condition in general. He alternated his life between full-time teaching, painting at home in a bedroom, print-making when possible and travelling during the summer holidays.

Life for him was good for many years, but then fate dealt a cruel blow. Lisa, his wife, was diagnosed with cancer. When she died prematurely, a few months after diagnosis, he used drawing as a way of dealing with the pain he was going through. Then, some years later, he himself was diagnosed with a non-treatable neurological disease that would leave him physically incapacitated but still cognisant.

I had seen very little of Tony’s work, other than an occasional painting that he had put into a group show. Most of his work tended to remain at his home, as he didn’t seem to think that it would have any relevance for other people. I had also seen a few small portrait sketches in pencil, which I loved – he was a very good draughtsman. But although he showed work in Sweden (Lisa was Swedish) and in the States, he had never had an exhibition in Waterford, despite having lived here for well over 20 years. Therefore, a few of us thought it would be appropriate for his work to be seen in the place where he had lived much of his life. It was also a way for us to do something in a situation where we couldn’t do much to help.

The prospect of an exhibition in his ‘home town’ was probably a bit terrifying but also gave him a focus away from his illness. Initially, he chose the only established commercial gallery in Waterford at the time for his show, but due to circumstances beyond his control, the gallery owner decided to close at short notice and the exhibition fell through. With time not on our side, there was a desperate attempt to go ahead with the exhibition

and Garter Lane Arts Centre gallantly moved their schedule around to accommodate the show.

The exhibition was called ‘Singing’. It consisted of acrylic paintings, etchings and some pastel landscapes. The subject matter of the paintings and prints was Tony himself and his family, from his youth to their current life in suburbia. The work had parallels with the work of many of his peers in terms of its introspective look at daily life. The pastel landscapes were of Waterford’s environs.

Tony, however, didn’t value the landscapes – for him, the human condition was the real subject matter of his work and these drawings were facile sketches. However, these appealed to me because of their sense of place. Waterford always has a slightly nostalgic feel to it in terms of its pastoral, coastal landscapes and these soft drawings with their cloudscapes expressed a quality of light and feeling that really evoked the Waterford countryside. A catalogue was designed to accompany the show and Tony wrote about the background to the work himself to put it in context. The exhibition was well received and, much to his surprise, he sold some works to the Waterford Municipal Collection and to the OPW. Another exhibition, ‘The Lisa Drawings’, followed the first. This was a much more harrowing exhibition as it comprised pastel and pencil drawings depicting the weeks, days and final moments leading up to Lisa’s death. Tony himself felt that this was his best work. Curiously pale and minimal, these washed-out pastel drawings were renderings of a life ebbing away. I knew from conversations with him over the years that one of his favourite artists was Kathe Kollwitz (1867 – 1945) who did drawings of war victims in Germany. These works echoed her themes. At some fundamental level, art articulated suffering in a way that no words could, and the theme was universal.

These works were deemed to be intensely private and personal and were kept in the family home after the exhibition. This year, Tony’s now grown-up children, Kalle and Kristina, have decided to give the remaining work from both exhibitions, together with a plan chest of prints, to Waterford Institute of Technology, on permanent loan. It will be known as the Tony Ryan Archive. It is a record of a particular life, lived in a particular place – Waterford – at a particular time.

Sheila Naughton is an artist living and working in Waterford. Her work encompasses both painting and drawing and is abstract in form. www.sheilanaughton.com

Conor Rush is an artist based in Waterford. He works in both wood and clay. www.20tenartgroup.com

Tony Ryan, Lisa

Tony Ryan, Singing

10

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2013

REGIONAL PROFILE: Waterford

Waterford Healing Arts Trust

Tending the Art Garden

Promotional image – 'WITs End' Greyfriars Municipal Art Gallery 12 – 28 July) an exhibition of work by WIT graduates

Richard Forrest, work from 'Sensorium' Soma Contemporary Gallery (29 June – 10 August 2013) curated by Anna Crudge

Waterford City is like a garden for art (albeit a small one). It has some great features: a south-facing aspect, temperate weather, undulating landscape and a large variety of species. Waterford City Council Arts Office is committed to the germination and growth of artists’ practices. Our position is to nurture artistic excellence, while in parallel encouraging audiences. The Arts Office works with artists to help them achieve their goals.

Because Waterford is a small city, it cannot afford to operate an open door policy in regards to financial aid, but we try to compensate through strategic investments, partnerships, allegiances and art-specific programmes. The city treasures its artists and their involvement in the general community. Our projects and activities acknowledge the generosity of artists; we are continually evolving programmes to ensure some form of acknowledgment and / or compensation is made for the artist’s input.

Waterford’s visual arts infrastructure at present comprises six active galleries, two exterior showing spaces, two permanent exhibitions, four occasional spaces and a plethora of available sites in shops, markets and restaurants. Of the six active galleries, three are artist-led: Hive Emerging, Soma Contemporary and Southpaw Print Gallery.1 The other three are Garter Lane Gallery, Greyfriars’ Municipal Gallery and the Index Gallery at the City Library.2 A seventh gallery space – to be artist-led – is currently being developed by the Arts Office.

This year, curators of these active galleries, along with representatives of the Waterford Healing Arts Trust and Bangenwulf Visuals, came together to form a cooperative group. The first fruit of its labours was the recent Avenue Festival (11 – 28 July), which placed strong emphasis on visual arts.3 The group is due to meet again shortly to discuss its function and other collaborative projects.

Another initiative that is under way, partly in relation to the impending amalgamation of City and County Councils in June 2014, is an independent audit of art provisions, facilities, establishments and practices in the Waterford Region.

Commissioned by Waterford City Arts Office, the audit will be presented to a team that includes representatives from Waterford Institute of Technology. Recommendations from this will be made to the City Council’s Strategic Policy

Committee. Any agreed actions will then feed into a new City / County Arts Plan to be developed over the next two years.

Waterford also has over 30 subsidised studio spaces including a low rent digital media hub and a community sound recording studio. The successful Vacant Property Scheme (originally developed by the Arts Office in 2008) was a huge factor in their development. The scheme is a fast track rates rebate programme that encourages partnerships between commercial landlords, artists and the City Council.

At present, a new artist cooperative is working with the Waterford’s Viking Triangle to achieve another 15 or more spaces under the scheme.

One of the major inhibitors to the growth of new galleries and studio spaces are insurance and safety regulations. Four years ago, Waterford City Council had spaces for approximately 20 artists.

Sadly, one-by-one the spaces all failed health and safety or fire regulations. Over the past 18 months, the council has invested over €45,000 in upgrading viable premises. On 1 August, many of artists, as well as an emerging group of practitioners, signed contracts for safe new rooms. Insurance-wise, the City Council looks after the bricks and mortar of the building. Public liability insurance is through O’Driscoll O’Neil. The latter is paid by the artist as part of their rent for their individual studios. Any extra insurance, for equipment etc, is up to the artists themselves, and the council encourages artists to look for group rates.

The average rent for a City Council subsidised studio is €10 per week. This pays for public liability, a contribution towards the fire regulation renovations and broadband Internet. It doesn’t cover electricity, waste or the proposed water premiums. The artists in our subsidised spaces commit to working as a collective within their premises and to consider making a contribution to either the Municipal Collection or to the general community.

There are a series of grants available from Waterford City Council for artists. These are competitive in nature and encompass awards for artist development, print purchase, Tyrone Guthrie bursaries, professional collaboration and a number of specific bursaries aimed at amateur and youth pursuits. For artists who wish to work in the educational sector there are a number of grants available.4 Looking to the future, it’s impossible to guess at this stage what will happen regarding local authority arts provision, following the merging of City and County Councils. Continuing recession will see more commercial buildings becoming available for artists – however, funding and finances will become more precious. Waterford as a ‘garden’ for art could see its structures weathered along with the resident plant life. In the meantime, the Arts Office remains committed to clearing paths around new growth, gently green-housing it when necessary. The Arts Office will continue to value, and indeed celebrate, when fruit is returned to the patch.

Waterford Healing Arts Trust (WHAT) is an arts and health organisation based at Waterford Regional Hospital. The visual arts has been central to the work of WHAT since its inception in the early 1990s and our programme encompasses a range of activities including a temporary exhibition programme, an art collection of over 500 artworks, public art commissions, a participatory art programme, an artist in residence programme and continuous professional development training.

WHAT is concerned with the various points where the world of health and the world of art meet, and there can be few greater shared concerns than the body. Human anatomy is the cornerstone of medicine and visual artists have for centuries focused on the appearance of the body. With this in mind, WHAT curated a series of three exhibitions by four artists over a two-year period from 2012 to 2013 on this theme. The series, entitled ‘Body Conscious’, features the work of Dorothy Ann Daly, Lucia Barnes, Susan O’Brien Duffy and Vera Klute. In October 2013, Klute’s work will form the final exhibition in this series. She looks at internal bodily functions and processes through a sense of inventiveness and adventure characteristic of anatomical drawings from previous centuries, where imagination had to take the place of knowledge.

There are a number of technical restrictions imposed on the presentation of such artwork in terms of noise levels, space, health and safety, and infection control. The hospital experience can be an anxious one for patients, which in turn impacts on their openness to engage with art. WHAT regularly seeks opportunities to consult the hospital community in selecting art through public art commissions, the art collection or the exhibition programme.

In Waterford Regional Hospital it can be a challenge to reach the patient population due to the acute nature of the hospital and high turnover of patients, so staff members often act as their representatives. This was the case through the commissioning of three public art works as part of the Per Cent for Art scheme managed by WHAT on behalf of the HSE South. A selection panel of staff members representing each department was established for each commission. A blown glass sculpture by the artist Roisin de Buitlear, entitled New Beginning, was commissioned for the new Maternity Department and refers to the moment of birth. Debbie Chapman's series of artworks, The Family Portrait, was commissioned for the Neo Natal Unit and is a fun departure from traditional family portraiture. In a playful twist, these paintings portray the subjects from the waist down only. It is left to the viewer to complete the images.

A stained glass window by the artist Peadar Lamb was commissioned for the new Emergency

Department. This artwork, Crann Fuinseog, pays homage to the ash tree and the old saying ‘wherever the ash will grow, you’ll have great hurlers’.

WHAT seeks to create opportunities for artists to produce new work and engage new audiences within healthcare and community contexts.

Dominic Thorpe was recently commissioned to develop a performance piece conceived through discussions with families of people suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. This piece, Another Expanse, examines the challenges facing people who love and have responsibility for those with serious mental health illnesses. Another Expanse will be performed in Garter Lane Arts Centre on 8 October 2013, as part of ‘Well’, a festival of art and wellbeing in Waterford.

Every year, our artist in residence programme also provides opportunities for the creation of new work. Collaborative engagement of staff, patients and visitors is an integral part of the residency and exposes audiences and participants to new artistic practices. This year, Jeffrey Gormly will explore the theme of affirmations. He aims to create 12 affirmations that mark his path through hospital life and that acknowledge, authorise and affirm the creative power within each person. Jeffrey is based in the artist studio at the WHAT Centre for Arts and Health and the staff team provides support and helps the artist to navigate the hospital’s physical and organisational structures.

WHAT plays a leadership role in the development of the arts and health sector in Ireland and in September will host a half-day introductory workshop to arts and health through our continuous professional development training programme. The workshop will introduce participants to this diverse practice, which encompasses environmental enhancement and participatory / collaborative arts, and considers a range of creative approaches depending on artists, art forms, healthcare contexts and needs of participants / audience. This is a great opportunity for visual artists to discover more about working in this field. Artists can also find further documentation on arts and health projects on www.artsandhealth.ie, a national website managed

by WHAT. WHAT will continue to support artists to display / perform and produce their work in the challenging hospital context and, in January 2014, artists will be invited to submit proposals for a new series of exhibitions for 2014 / 15 on the theme of ‘a better place’.

Claire Meaney, Assistant Arts Director, Waterford Healing Arts Trust . www.waterfordhealingarts.com www.artsandhealth.ie

Conor Nolan, Arts Officer, Waterford City Council Arts Office. conornolan@waterfordcity.ie www.waterfordarts.com Notes 1. www.hiveemerging.com, www.facebook.com/SomaIreland, www. facebook.com/southpawarts 2. www.garterlane.ie, www.facebook.com/GreyfriarsMunicipalGallery, www.waterfordcity.ie/library/indexgallery 3. www.avenuefestival.com 4. www.waterfordarts.com

Roisin de Buitlear, New Beginnings, blown glass wall-based sculpture

Vera Klute, Es hat sich schon mal einer tot geruehrt

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2013

11

REGIONAL PROFILE: W WATERFORd

Chris O'Brien Shanahan

Christine O’Brien Shanahan, Between Two Spaces – Provence, 2012

The concept of the artist as innovator, teacher and facilitator has informed my arts practice since college. I started out planning a career as ceramic sculptress and ultimately embraced conceptual art, performance, video and art installation. My thesis connected Irish Neolithic art and shamanism.

After art college I taught art and crafts privately and in schools and colleges. In the late 1980s, I trained as a therapist and worked on a number of government sponsored community and cooperative development programmes. I also facilitated early school-leaver programmes and art workshops in psychiatric day care centres.

Without the supports of a major urban setting it is not possible to support a young family purely as a conceptual artist. Working from a home studio I focused on painting and drawing, and creating a positive and creative living environment. My husband and collaborative partner Michael Shanahan (sound artist miXile) and I founded Concept, a web design company, in 1992.

Since 2003, I’ve been working on interrelated series of artworks inspired by areas of native woodland and wetland. Boundary lines that separate, link, divide, protect or connect people and places are central themes in my work. Since childhood I have seen hedges as remnants of ancient forests – pathways sheltering wildlife and connecting diminishing areas of woodland. There is invariably a link, tangible or intangible, between the conceptual statements inherent in the installations and my paintings and photographs.

The engagement and dialogue between subject, created object and my own journey informs my approach to and understanding of the creative process. It is something that I am keen to share during creative workshops. For me, reading the landscape – listening and seeing – with an open mind is similar to the way one approaches a new work of art hanging in a gallery. Slowly finding points of reference, focusing on one element after another until a story or statement, a deeper awareness or understanding is reached.

On each journey there comes a point where the photographic journal recording the ‘dialogue’ captures a moment of insight. Over time these individual ‘insights’ create a pattern: some images are understated, others intensely abstract. This ‘dialogue’ with natural environments also finds expression in my painting. Origin is the most recent and perhaps concluding statement in a series of wetland inspired studies in oil. An impenetrable sea of reeds holds fast to land on a river’s edge.

Boundaries symbolise creativity as connecting lines between and around individual or collective cultural identities. They offer glimpses of other states of being. Photographs shown in the Index Gallery during Avenue Festival and an art installation in Sweden encapsulate this concept. Reflections and

‘reflecting’ link the images in the Between Two Spaces triptych. They challenge viewers to re-consider what they choose to focus on. Treeline 1:2 was created in a remote area of previously felled natural forest in Värmland, Sweden. Representing echoes of lost forests and re-emerging ecosystems on the edge of the lake, it featured unused canvas from the Treeline 1:1 installation created in the Forêt des Maures, Provence, in 2012.

In recent years, I’ve exhibited in the Tramore Coastguard Cultural Centre and the Old Market House Arts Centre in Dungarvan. Margaret Organ, Waterford County Arts Officer, supported both events.

My arts practice has benefited from Waterford City Council grants since 2009. Recent grants for facilitating arts participation workshops in schools require the implementation of outreach and mentoring programmes. Both have proven to be enriching experiences. ‘The Same but Different’, at Soma Contemporary Gallery, was a joint exhibition with the Wexford based S.I.N (Strength in Numbers) arts initiative. It featured work created by TY students during workshops aimed at raising awareness of the Municipal Art Collection while promoting participation in and understanding of arts processes and practice.

Where possible, the creative workshops, installations and collaborative work I undertake reflect the 'slow movement' ethos: supporting creativity, valuing local cultural and natural heritage, and exploring new ways of promoting sustainable development. I’ve hosted ‘Slow Art Day’ events for three years. The idea is that you look at two or three artworks, relax over coffee, reflect and discuss what you have seen – slowly.

As the arts representative on Waterford City Council’s Community, Social and Cultural Development Strategic Policy Committee, I am aware of the value of developing a collective voice. I also enjoyed hosting the inaugural VAI ‘Pop-Up Common Room Café’; conceived as a positive networking environment for artists in the South East, lively discussions identified the need for visual artists to be ‘visible artists’.

The event was made possible through the support of 20ten, a South East based artist collective that I regularly co-curate and exhibit with.

Independently and through the group I would like to develop contacts and collaborative projects in other parts of the country.

Christine O’Brien Shanahan (MA (hons) in Arts and Heritage Management, Dip Fine Art) has worked in a range of visual art media, from painting in oil to art installation, since 1985. www.cobsart.com

12

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2013

Project profile

Other Halves Caragh O’Donnell reflects on ‘DUO DAYS’, a week of events held in Belfast, which featured collaborative performances by artists from the UK, Europe and Canada who are in relationships with each other.

Alexandra Zeirle and Paul Carter at 'Duo Days', Belfast, image by Jordan Hutchings

Duality in practice For most artists, their partners / spouses, immediate family, friends and housemates are a first line of defence against angst and self doubt, financial crises and last minute, all-night pre-show panics. We all operate within support frameworks and these networks inevitably begin with our most intimate relationships.

When artists are in relationships with other artists – and many are – there is an added dimension of potentiality, both good and bad.

A shared understanding of the challenges inherent in making work and trying to make a living at it, and domestic dialogue – unpicking ideas or debriefing after intense periods of effort – are bound to become a significant element in the dynamics of cohabitation.

Conversely, tensions surrounding comparative success and satisfaction place additional strains on a relationship not faced by partners who don’t share a field of endeavour.

Making the decision to extend your artist / artist couple’s domestic partnership into a shared creative one is much less common.

It’s an intensely challenging step, which risks discord and dysfunction as much as it offers a renegotiated identity and new domain of practice.

The relationship itself, or more specifically the relations and interactions between partners, are ripe with potential for both artistic form and content. Charles Green describes this as “the transition from traditional artistic identity to the identification of the collaboration itself as artwork”, and coined the term ‘the third hand’ for the working space created between people who collaborate closely or in the long term, whether as couples or otherwise, in his book of the same name. 1 It was the opportunity to explore this idea – the dynamics of close working – that first piqued the interest of ‘Duo Days’ co-curator Hugh O’Donnell.2 He was motivated by an interest in the dialogues, tensions and unspoken communication inherent in relationships, and came up with the idea of an event exclusively featuring couples who work together collaboratively in performance art.

Curation & planning ‘Duo Days’ was presented by Bbeyond, curated by Hugh O’Donnell and Anne Quail, and hosted by Catalyst Arts, Belfast. The event was supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the Canadian Arts Council and OCA Norway.

‘Duo Days’ was very much an artist led and artist organised project. Bbeyond is an established performance collective who have worked in Belfast for over 10 years; the organisation has in place the structures, administrative support and networks for fundraising and organising projects, but remains an actively artist-centred organisation with a strong focus on practice. The collective meets monthly in shifting locations to perform together and organise a large annual projects to showcase and exchange performance at an international level. As a setup, this sidesteps the minutiae of office and organisational management and the grind of constant funding cycles, allowing for clarity of focus.

Hugh O’Donnell and co-curator Anne Quail, both of whom are practising performance artists and Bbeyond committee members, undertook the curation, planning and fundraising for the project.

Both identify strongly as artists first and foremost. This curation of artists by artists is evident throughout, from an acute awareness that artists need to be paid and paid on time, to the focus on supporting

Victoria Gray and Nathan Walker at 'Duo Days', Belfast, image by Jordan Hutchings

artists with preparation and performance, and the fluid discussion during and after events.

‘Duo Days’ set out with a clear intention to investigate duality in practice and bring new performance to Belfast. The selection criteria were guided by a desire to see new work or working relationships and no specific brief was given about the nature of the performances they chose to present.

While artist / couple collaborations are not the status quo and performance is highly specific, the number of artists invited was defined more by achievability than the availability of practitioners; as Hugh O’Donnell noted, “There are a lot more couples working out there; we could have programmed an event with 20 people, but apart from being very long it would have been very expensive; that just wasn’t realistic. But the potential for more is there”.

Span & Content The programme ran from 29 April – 5 May 2013 and comprised a series of evening performance events, a three-day performance workshop, a roundtable discussion chaired by Professor Mia Lerm Hayes, and the Bbeyond Monthly Meeting.

Some participating artists were local but the majority were from further afield. The seven artist / couple collaborations or duos were: Monika Günther and Ruedi Schill (Switzerland); Paul Couillard and Ed Johnson (Canada); Sinead O’Donnell and Shiro Masyuama (Northern Ireland / Japan); Alexandra Zeirle and Paul Carter (Germany / UK); Pavana Reid and Kurt Johannessen, (Thailand / Norway); Elvira Santamaria and Brian Patterson, (Mexico / Northern Ireland); and Victoria Gray and Nathan Walker, (UK).

The duration that each couple had been working together was wide ranging. For some, this was a very new and emerging development, for others a long and well established practice. Thai / Norwegian artists Pavana Reid and Kurt Johannessen began their collaborative workng just last year, while Swiss couple Monika Günther and Ruedi Schill have collaborated since 1995.

The working structures and practices within each couple’s collaboration were similarly varied. Canadian artists Paul Couillard and Ed Johnson employ a highly structured and formalistic approach in a collaborative entity they title ‘Duorama’. They clearly define the boundary between their personal and work lives – with contracts for projects, and beginning and ending each performance with a handshake. Other collaborative couples have developed clearly assigned roles, with each partner undertaking separate functions for the practice. These dynamics are fascinating in themselves and worthy of more thorough investigation and discussion.3 Over the four nights that each duo performed, common threads were discernible between the works – tensions and dialogue, interconnectedness and non-verbal exchange amongst them. It is tempting but over-simplistic to consider these practices and performances in purely domestic terms and does an injustice to their subtleties. The tensions and dynamics in domestic and personal relationships translate to a much wider field of human experience.

Experiencing so many performances in such a short time was bordering on sensory overload and it’s impossible to communicate or summarise everything (but then this is true of all live or experiential art). Some lasting impressions include: carefully rolled marbles along fishing line deftly held taught across a table between their mouths (Elvira Santamaria and Brian Patterson); the slow and implausible

appearance of bubbles from the mouths of the artists (Pavana Reid and Kurt Johannessen); a physical connection forged through hair (Alexandra Zeirle and Paul Carter); and barely perceptible gestures denoting unspoken decision making during the performance (Paul Couillard and Ed Johnson).

Collaboration & Demystification Collaboration in the broadest sense (encompassing myriad definitions) has come to the fore in recent times as both a form of practice and the subject of lively debate. Strongly held convictions about issues of artistic integrity versus an ethical integrity of process and difficulty with critical analysis seem to be at the core of these tensions. It is arguably the case that an increasing number of artistic practices are working as, or describing themselves, in these terms.

Whatever is behind the apparent openness to non-individual practice, the freshness and enthusiasm of debate is not necessarily a reflection on the lifespan of the practice itself. Artists have been supporting each other and working together, if not explicitly so, for a long time.

There is perhaps a revisionist project to be undertaken (or perhaps it is underway) in uncovering previously unacknowledged and unseen working relationships, partnerships and alliances – domestic or otherwise – as part of an ongoing project debunking the persistent mythology of the artist as a lone producer in a vacuum.4 Any perceived challenge to individual artistic identities and authorship, or a suggestion that this form of practice is innovative, may be overstated. It seems possible that bureaucratic structures, critique and media mythologies struggle more with the idea of collectivised and cooperative labour than with artists working in an individual way.

As someone who is not a performance artist (although I undertook my first ever performance as part of my participation in the ‘Duo Days’ workshop – an experience both terrifying and liberating in equal parts), I was struck by the strength of the existing practitioner network and its international scope. Friendships and working relationships that span international borders and extended periods of time were apparent, as was the genuine regard and supportive nature of the dialogue between artists.

Throughout its planning and execution, the performances themselves, and the wider network of practitioners, ‘Duo Days’ serves to demonstrate – on a number of levels – the systems of support, communication, dialogue and interaction inherent in human existence as much artistic practice.

Caragh O'Donnell has been a member of artist studio group Array studios since 2005. She worked as a freelance artist, project manager, workshop facilitator and information officer for Community Arts Forum in Belfast. She started a PhD at the University of Ulster in 2012 looking collaborative working practices and ecologies of practice. www.duodays.info www.bbeyondperformance.org Notes 1. Charles Green (ed), The third hand: collaboration in art from conceptualism to postmodernism, 2001, University of Minnesota Press, 125 2. Coincidentally surnamed, but unrelated 3. A follow up publication is planned, details to be released when available 4. As in the case of Christo, who began crediting his wife Jeanne-Claude retrospectively as co-producer in 1994

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2013

13

Project Profile my consciousness 10 years ago like it is today. My work is included in a book called Making The Geologic Now that catalogues this recent awareness; the notion of the Anthropocene has been formalised.

VC: What’s the significance to you of 10 years later?

KH: 10 years… a decade. In the grand scheme of things, it’s such a tiny amount of time, but we’ve affected things so profoundly that now natural processes that used to happen very slowly are taking place in the blink of an eye. Our comprehension of time changes as we get older. When I was 20 my understanding of 10 years was profoundly different to how I experience a decade today. Some events seem like they happened a lifetime ago, while others feel like they were just yesterday. 10 years ago the Iraq war started, Lost in Translation was released, Arctic sea ice began to melt at unprecedented levels, Nina Simone and Johnny Cash died, the Human Genome was sequenced, SARS emerged, Saddam Hussein was captured, the iPhone was still four years away, Hurricane Katrina was two years away…

Examining ‘time’ itself provided further impetus for my project.

James Gleick, the writer, was a collaborator in 2003. Back then he’d just published Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything. Last year he came for a studio visit with a copy of his new book The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood. We hoped to meet in Venice to chat about these bookends: time, information-overload, and everything in between. But time wasn’t on our side and instead it became a short email conversation: “I’m trying not to think too hard about the passing of time right now. Or rather I’m thinking about it all the time.”

Ulrike Gamper’s samples in the Herbarium, Ca’Foscari University, May 2013

Ten Years Later

Katie Holten represented Ireland at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003, with her exhibition 'Laboratorio della Vigna', curated by Valerie Connor. 10 years on, Artist and Commissioner discuss revisiting the project for the 2013 Biennale.

Katie Holten’s studio in Venice, May 2013

Valerie Connor: This year marks 10 years since we worked together on what became your project Labatorio della Vigna for the Irish pavilion. Before we start to talk about the current project, 'Labatorio della Vigna: 10 Years On', can you outline what the thinking was in 2003?

Katie Holten: The site for the Irish pavilion in 2003 was the Scuola di San Pasquale, a large confraternity building adjacent to the Church of San Francesco della Vigna in a residential part of the city. I tend to work on site and in response to particular situations, so our early conversations focused on the day-to-day realities and context of the space. Significantly, for the duration of the Biennale, the Irish pavilion would continue to function as a regular meeting place for a local community group. We both felt strongly that the site invited a particular kind of engagement; it presented itself as a platform rather than a plinth. Since the Scuola was functioning as an active space, it seemed only natural that I should harness that energy and use the building as a living entity, rather than a dead hall to present an ‘artwork’.

So, I moved to Venice and set up camp in the Scuola. I quickly discovered my neighbours: the nearby student squat of Laboratorio Morion; the environmental science department at Ca’ Foscari University; the hidden vineyard of San Francesco della Vigna; as well as the numerous research organisations studying the lagoon ecosystem.

I reached out to all of them; along the way I incorporated elements from some, and the project grew into ‘Laboratorio della Vigna’.

Essentially, I created a low-fi research institute where I undertook ecological investigations of the city through walks, conversations, meetings and publications.

VC: And now you’ve gone back and discovered that some of the contributors to your original Biennale project are still there and some have moved away. Is that right?

KH: Yes. I reconnected with some of the people that I worked with 10 years ago. Some had moved on, like Ulrike Gamper, the botanist at Ca’ Foscari. Her replacement is the wonderful Gabriella Buffa who was excited when I got in touch, as she knew Ulrike and the work she’d done. She was thrilled to meet, inviting me into the Herbarium where we explored the collection and found Ulrike’s specimens from 2003 – beautiful pressed weeds.

10 years ago we went on ‘weed walks’ and Ulrike pointed out plants that had moved north with the changing climate. These weeds wouldn’t have been seen in Venice 10 years previously. That sowed the seed for this project. It was always in the back of my mind that the work I did in 2003 needed to be followed up in 2013. As it was an impetus for the project I’d assumed that climate would be a recurring topic in my ‘10 Years Later’ conversations. Gabriella drew me a graph – beautiful in its simplicity, but chilling. Venice’s climate has fundamentally changed from an Oceanic to a Mediterranean one.

VC: Remember the heat wave in 2003? I’ve said to you that my first impulse with the Scuola was to open the windows, not just the shutters, but literally open the windows to let the light in and of course it let the sound in too. I just listened back to the Audio Arts interview that Bill Furlong did with you in the Scuola, where we hear the sound of the local religious festival outside and music on the air. The interview is recorded at the end of the preview week and he notes that there was no separation between the opening ceremony and the formalities of your exhibition.

KH: Yes, it was very much an organic process. The ‘Laboratorio’ was a site for conversations and potential events rather than exhibiting conclusions. The emphasis was on the local. Should I call it ‘slow art’?

We facilitated local filmmakers, writers, students, actors, artists – anyone who wanted to use the space. There was no visible finished ‘artwork’ as it was all in formation. Now, going back to do this project 10 years later, I’ve had colleagues ask where they can see my show. It’s been refreshing to say: “There is no show – it’s about the work itself, rather than the presenting of the work”. It’s often the invisible, or overlooked, that’s so valuable. Back then I made a lot of ‘shadow’ drawings in and around the ‘Laboratorio’. Now I can see that it might have been a way to look at the invisible, what’s not there – the shadow of the thing, rather than the thing itself. Perhaps a way to capture time?

Definitely an attempt to harness all that sunshine!

It was also a way to comprehend larger processes like the planet spinning on its axis. The geologic – a profound sense of it – was not in

VC: Do you think Venice has changed since you made ‘Laboratorio della Vigna’? And has your work changed?

KH: Venice is timeless, but of course there have been changes, all intrinsically linked to Gabriella’s graph: more tourists, larger cruise ships, summer wellies. You might remember that I was an admirer of the ombra? Well, now I’ve discovered the joy of navigating the city with my new osteria map. I was enchanted to recently learn something new about the evolution of the city. It’s made up of over 100 little islands; what I didn’t know is that they were originally isolated communities surrounded by water – the bridges came later. I’ve always been fascinated by systems that intertwine natural and man-made structures. 10 years ago I explored this in a series of booklets for the ‘Laboratorio’. The largest example of a Venetian ‘hyperobject’ is the MOSE, an underwater floodgate system supposedly capable of the impossible: protecting Venice from future floods. Construction began in 2003. It’s still unfinished.

As for me, my work continues to follow the same tangential paths. The obvious change has been moving to New York. After Venice I was lucky to be awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, which enabled me to undertake research in NYC for a year, which got extended to a second year. Suddenly it’s nine years later and I’m still there.

VC: When I joined you in Venice for a few days in May, the people we met were exceptionally hospitable and generous with their time and advice. What do you think people respond to when you contact them, taking the most recent trip as an example?

KH: Yes, I met wonderful people in Venice. That’s generally my experience wherever I go. People respond warmly to my curiosity and naïve questions. I suppose it’s human nature – if someone expresses interest in you, or something that you care passionately about, then you open up. I happened to rent the former studio of a beautiful woman called Mariateresa Sartori. We realised that our interests overlap, so we did studio visits. Meri has also made work about the mechanisms of the city. In one piece, she collaborated with a physicist who studies how people move around urban space. Venice is an exceptional city as there’s no motor traffic. The physicist tracked how pedestrians navigate space by mapping their paths, in real time, through San Marco. Meri made drawings from the data. There are uncanny similarities to drawings that I’ve made! She introduced me to her friends, including local artists Maria Morganti and Elisabetta di Maggio. It’s humbling to visit people in their homes and be given so much – conversation, coffee, food, wine – when all I have to give in return is another question. There was a real sense of curiosity and excitement that I was coming back 10 years later to revisit the city through the lens of my own project for the Biennale. It was the first time they’d met anyone who had done that.

VC: Generally, anyone hearing about your return to the city has been impressed that you have returned to reconnect and continue with the work you began while taking part in the Biennale.

What’s the outcome of the project going to be?

KH: I’m not sure yet what the best way to present my findings is. I might have to return to Venice. www.katieholten.com www.valerieconnor.com

14

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

VAI Advocacy & Support

September – October 2013

VAI Members' event

Responsible Recognition Show & Tell Bernadette Beecher, VAI representative on The Internship Taskforce, outlines some Best Practice Guidelines.

Visual Artists Ireland has been hosting a taskforce addressing the subject of internships in visual arts organisations since September 2012. The group’s focus has been ensuring intern welfare and clarifying the responsibilites of host institutions.

Some of the wider structural implications for the visual arts sector are also being considered; as Clare Power, writing in the January / February edition of the Visual Artists' News Sheet put it, “Interns are already an established part of the infrastructure. On one hand they prop up the sector, enabling growth and ambition and, on the other, they falsify a situation that may or not be sustainable in the face of reduced public spending”.

The taskforce currently comprises: Aine Macken, artist; Jim Ricks, Artist; Claire Power, Temple Bar Gallery & Studios; Gina O’Kelly, Irish Museums Associations and myself (Bernadette Beecher) representing Visual Artists Ireland. Dr Josephine Browne of IADT has kindly offered to provide legal advice to the taskforce.

Our most recent gathering took place in the context of ‘Internships – the Aspiration and the Reality’, a presentation and discussion held as part VAI’s Get Together event, held on Friday 28 June at NCAD, Dublin. The session concentrated on three key themes: what is and isn’t and internship; what is a 'good' internship; and devising best practice guidelines.

What Isn’t an Internship?

Unfortunately, there’s no concensus yet, in terms of Irish or international legal definitions as to what an internship is; it’s easier describe what it is not: Volunteering – Volunteers are not entitled to payment or benefits in kind. There should be no contractual obligations between volunteer and arts organisations.

Student Placement – Unpaid work undertaken by someone in education, as a required part of their course, with reasonable expenses paid.

Apprenticeship –Any formal apprenticeship programme offered by an employer.

Work Experience – Generally aimed at young people of school age (4th, 5th and 6th years).

What is an Internship?

In light of the above, the taskforce has decided upon its own broad working definition of internships: mployment in a junior (often graduate level) role, for a set period of time (often three to six months).

It should be noted the government sponsored National Internship Scheme (JobBridge) has its own set of criteria and performance values.

What is a good internship?

A good internship should: provide a valuable learning experience; allow an individual to develop or enhance skills that are applicable to their chosen area; ensure the development of interpersonal work relationships; enable the candidate to learn good work habits such as communication, time and project management skills; offer networking opportunities that will lead to paid employment or help to further the intern’s career in other tangible ways.

Draft Guidelines Recruitment – interns should be recruited in the same way as regular employees of an organisation, with proper consideration given to how their skills and qualifications fit the tasks they will be expected to undertake.

Recruitment should be conducted in an open and transparent way to enable fair and equal access to available internships.

Payment & Duration – In Ireland the legal status of interns is vague, therefore the payment of interns lacks legal clarity; it depends on their appointment and contract with the employer. In the UK there is the ‘worker’ status category, which is noted in the Arts Council of England’s Guidelines on Internships. Worker is a broader category than ‘employee’, encompassing individuals who have either a contract of employment – written or implied – under which they undertake any work or services. Workers are entitled to core employment rights and protection, including the National Minimum Wage. In Ireland there is no such ‘worker’ status. Some interns are paid the minimum rate of pay, others are paid less and some are not paid. Interns should be paid a bursary or salary, due to the contribution that they make.

Our guidelines recommend that, at the very least, host organisations should cover necessary work-related expenses incurred by the intern: travel to, from and during work.

This should ensure wider access and allow people from varied economic backgrounds to access internships. Visual Artists Ireland pays the national minimum wage (NMW) to interns.

Induction – Before the intern starts, a written contract should be put in place defining the intern’s working hours, the length of the internship, the intern’s goals and their obligations. Any training the intern will require for their role should be planned in advance. This plan should be shared with the intern on their first day. The training should include a health and safety induction tailored to the individual organisation.

Treatment / Rest Periods – Interns should not be seen as ‘visitors’ to the organisation or automatically assigned routine tasks that do not make use of their skills. Organisations should make some allowances for interns to, on occasion, attend job interviews or complete study requirements. All legal requirements regarding rest periods should be strictly adhered to.

Supervision / Mentorship – Organisations should ensure that there is a dedicated person(s) to supervise the intern and conduct regular performance reviews. This person should provide ongoing feedback to the intern, be their advocate and mentor during the period of the internship, and conduct formal performance reviews to evaluate the success of their time with the organisation.

References & Feedback – An intern should be offered a performance appraisal at the end of their internship regarding skills learnt, work attitude and aptitude. Help could be offered to tidy up their CV or signpost organisations and / or job websites that might interest them.

Feedback The taskforce welcomes responses from interested individuals / organisations on how these proposed guidlines could be improved or amended.

Bernadette Beecher, VAI Office Manager

MEMBERSHIP MANAGER AND LISTINGS EDITOR ADRIAN COLWELL introduces THE VAI SHOW AND TELL, AND PARTICIPANT ADELLE HICKEY DESCRIBES HER EXPERIENCE OF THE EVENT.

Adelle Hickey presenting at the August 2013 VAI Show and Tell, image by Florence Paule G

Adrian Colwell

Adelle hickey

Last year, in an attempt to further develop the services VAI offers to its members, I conducted a phone survey with over 100 past members. I asked numerous questions about members’ experiences of the organisation and took on board suggestions on how we could better our services. One suggestion kept cropping up: more social and networking events for artist members to participate in.

This feedback made me think about artists who lack of networking opportunities – for example may not be able, for one reason or another, to attend exhibition openings every Thursday night. It seemed unfair that the options were so limited. In response to this, I wanted to develop an event that was very open to artists young and old, traditional and contemporary, emerging and established. Thus, the Show and Tell was born.

The premise for the event came from my time as an art student at the Institute of Technology, Dun Laoghaire (IADT). At different points during the college year, my classmates and I had all to give presentations on the projects we were currently working on and what we hoped to do in the future.

It made sense for the presentations to be combined together and to be fast paced, as there were 50+ students to get through and only a day or two for our tutors to hear everything.

For one of these presentations, I volunteered to be the person in charge of combining everything into one big slide show. Each person spoke for five minutes and it lasted for five hours! Despite this, it proved to be a really enjoyable way of hearing a lot of people, in succession, show and speak about their art. I was confident that a similar format would work well at VAI. We have now held the event four times and the feedback has been great. Initially, I was worried that participants and attendees might confuse it for some sort of peer critique session, but the format has generally been well understood. The audience are there to be supportive, not to critique the work presented. The intention is to offer a relaxed environment where people can practice speaking about their work and network with their peers – and that’s what seems to be happening.

Speaking about your own work can be an intimidating prospect and the format of the event was specifically chosen to be as counteract this as much as possible. Giving every speaker the same amount of time to talk, regardless of where they are in their art career, creates a sense of community and support.

I have been working as a visual artist since 2007, and have a background in fashion design and more recently teaching. I work from home rather than in a studio environment, which can sometimes feel isolating.

I am currently working towards a solo exhibition and, after attending two of the VAI Show and Tell evenings, I decided to present my work at the August event. The format provides artists with an opportunity to meet other artists and see a very wide range of work in a relaxed, informal but very professional environment.

It was interesting to see how artists showed the evolution of their work over a period of time, and this provided me with an approach to selecting images of my work. The structure of garments is a central part of my practice; these are based on a narrative and imaged using medical equipment, photography and more recently mono printing. I found the process of selecting images and picking out key points to mention a very constructive exercise. Maintaining a thread of continuity, while mentioning specific things about each slide, proved an interesting challenge.

I decided that the first piece I made in 2007 and my most recent piece were both going to be part of the presentation. In between, I chose pieces that I thought most represented the very specific visual language of my work.

The time given to speak about each slide was a constraint for me and I ran out of time for every slide. Some presenters had the opposite problem, and found talking for 30 seconds on each slide challenging. I was aware that it was the audience’s first look at my work, and I was keen to convey as much visual and additional information as possible.

I spoke about the narrative first, then the material and then the processes involved. There was so much more I wanted to say!

Overall, I found the VAI Show and Tell a very positive and helpful experience. Each artist is afforded an equal amount of time and given support before the event.

Following its success in Dublin, Show and Tell events will be rolled out in Galway and Limerick over the coming months. The first of these events will take place on 12 September at 126 Gallery, Galway. For more information, or to enquire about taking part in future events, please email adrian@visualartists.ie and watch out for updates in the VAI ebulletin.

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2013

15

Workshop profile

Descend, Bold Traveller Fergus Kelly reports on his participation in a sound-recording workshop held this June IN Iceland.

Gullfoss waterfall, image by Fergus Kelly

Seltun hot sulphur springs, image by Fergus Kelly

From the 13 – 20 of June 2013, I took part in a sound recording workshop in Iceland with Chris Watson and Jez Riley French. This was run by UK company Wildeye (www.wildeye.co.uk), who specialise in wildlife film-making, and sound recording workshops.

Field recording is a core part of my practice, and this workshop was a unique opportunity to extend and develop my practice in a sonically fascinating environment, learn from two practitioners whose work I greatly admire, and mix with others from different backgrounds, such as film, radio and games (a burgeoning industry).

Chris Watson has been one of the most highly regarded recordists of wildlife and natural phenomena for over 30 years, and has worked closely with two of the most high-profile natural history presenters in the business, David Attenborough and Bill Oddie. As a freelance recordist for film, TV and radio, he specialises in natural history and documentary location sound together with track assembly and sound design in post production. He also creates multi-channel sound installations and releases his work on CD through UK publishers Touch.

Prior to his wildlife career, Chris was part of a Sheffield electronics outfit I was especially keen on, Cabaret Voltaire, who had been active since the early 70s, were championed by John Peel, and started releasing records with Rough Trade in the late 70s. After leaving Cabaret Voltaire in the early 80s, Chris went on to form electronics / field recording / scientific research project The Hafler Trio with Andrew McKenzie.

Their obtuse, intriguing and magnificently presented albums (often accompanied by lengthy texts) were published by Touch.

Jez Riley French is a composer, artist and audio specialist whose output involves field recording and improvisation. He has performed, exhibited, published internationally and also lectures in both field recording and intuitive composition. Recently he has been artist in residence with organisations in Japan, Italy, Korea, Australia, Belgium and the UK, including a site specific commission from Tate Modern.

Jez also makes and sells his own hydrophones and contact mics (www.hydrophones.blogspot.com) and runs the ‘in place’ project with a website exploring various aspects of field recording and related work.

Our base was Lysuholl in the west of Iceland on the south coast of the Sneafellsnes peninsula. There were 15 participants occupying two houses. Our delightful host Johanna provided a breakfast buffet and hearty evening meal in a separate house. Lunch consisted of what ever people packed for the day’s travels.

Two vans were hired for the duration, with Chris and Jez doing the driving. Each day was a series of excursions to key locations. We encountered Valavatn lake completely still and shrouded in mist and, apart from the odd car, exceptionally quiet. So when a Red Throated Diver alighted on the lake, there was an almost dream-like clarity to it. In terms of recording opportunities, locations can vary significantly from day to day, depending on weather and wildlife activity. We were on our way elsewhere when we first visited the lake. When we returned to record, some of the birdlife was making alarm sounds that spoilt the other, more subtle bird calls.

One of the important factors of recording wildlife is patience. You might have to wait for as much as 20 minutes for the birdlife to settle after the human intrusion into their habitat. It’s also worth recording for extended periods in order to fully capture a true reflection of the locale in all its particularity. Some aspects only reveal themselves very occasionally and fleetingly.

The ideal way to capture wildlife is without human presence, or by minimising human presence as much as possible, so that the wildlife behaves as it would without our intrusion. This is done by setting up microphones and cabling back about 100 metres to a hide.

Being careful not to tread on any eggs, I netted terrific recordings, even though my jacket looked like it was designed by Jackson Pollock by the end.

Another good location for birdlife was back at base in the evening, where Redshank, Golden Plover, Whimbrel and Snipe were all in evidence. Being a volcanic landscape, Iceland is devoid of trees, so certain locations can be very exposed, with nothing to baffle sounds from far away. Consequently the birdlife at base always had the sea in the background, even though it was a few miles away.

One particularly fascinating recording method is the use of hydrophones to record underwater. Again, a whole other world opens up. Some great recordings were made in the rockpools and the shoreline of the lava beach. By burying the hydrophones a few inches into the sand where the waves break, and standing a couple of metres back, the wash of the sea as it rushes over the mics, then pulls back is powerful. The hydrophones can also be used to record melting ice, which we did in Snæfellsjökull glacier, though the results were very subtle. This volcano and glacier is the snow mountain where Jules Verne set his book Journey To The Centre Of The Earth.

Recording at the Hellissandur LORAN-C radio mast, image by Jez Riley French

“Descend, bold traveler, into the crater of the jökull of Snæfell, which the shadow of Scartaris touches before the Kalends of July, and you will attain the centre of the earth.”

Jules Verne, Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, 1864

Arctic Terns at Arnastapi, image by Fergus Kelly

Another aspect of field recording is the magic of unplanned encounters that reveal something fascinating in the landscape. This happened when we came across a very large radio mast with colossal support wires spread across a large area. Jez honed in on this as he had experience of recording these kinds of wires elsewhere. By a combination of strong sunlight creating a slight stretch on the wires, and a good wind, a fascinating new world is opened up by attaching contact mics to the wire. The resulting sounds were a series of subtly shifting drones and clangs, with some significant bass response.

It’s whole new way of listening to the landscape. One day when we were out recording birdlife in a marshland area, I came across a long boundary fence which yielded some wonderful mid-range buzzing drones when the contact mics were fixed to them.

It was spring in Iceland, so still quite chilly at times. We were advised to bring layers of clothing, which was just as well when we descended via a seemingly endless spiral staircase into Vatnshellir cave. This was located in Snæfellsjökull National Park, and went down about 300 metres. Big temperature drop. Equipped with helmets and flashlights, we reached a large central area and set up to record the water dripping in a unique ambience – more of a challenge than you’d imagine for a large group as there’s always a rustle of clothing, a shifting of weight or an item dropped.

The cliffs and harbour at Arnarstapi were a good location for birdlife. There are large colonies of very vocal Kittiwakes. In the fields above the cliffs is the nesting area for Arctic Terns. These are particularly aggressive birds which attack you as soon as you’re anywhere near them. They go for the tallest object, into which they jab their sharp beaks, and can draw blood. The trick is to hold the microphone on a boom pole above your head, so they go for that.

Walking across the nesting area they became extremely agitated.

Hydrophones reveal an intriguing microworld of underwater activity.

In the harbour at Keflavik I recorded the distinctive sounds of Pistol Shrimp, so-called as they emit loud pops, not unlike someone bursting bubblewrap.

Amongst the more memorable locations was the ‘hidden’ waterfall at Gullfoss – a colossal and breathtaking experience.

Nature’s solemn majesty reducing humanity to a speck. Also the hot springs with bubbling mud which it was possible to record very close up, with very visceral results.

The workshop was a great opportunity to spend a concentrated period of time, free from the daily travails, focussing exclusively on recording in unique environments. Helpful tips and suggestions occurred in the field as issues arose, with Chris and Jez on hand to help. So any tech talk happened in a largely informal way, rather than in a structured situation - apart from one evening when we were introduced to surround sound recording techniques and software.

Otherwise we were on the road from first thing in the morning till late into the evening. It was also really useful to be able to try some of the kit that Chris and Jez brought, and get a proper sense of what’s necessary in certain situations and why. I’ll be making some additions to my kit as a result. The learning continues after the workshop with email exchanges. Working as part of a large group was a lot of fun and a very interesting and beneficial experience – being able to compare notes and learn from each other.

With 15 hours of recordings to review, it’s going to take some time to assimilate proceedings. It may be a long time before any recordings get stitched into new work. Not that it matters – the fact is that it’s all archived for future retrieval.

Fergus Kelly is a sound artist from Dublin who has exhibited internationally and won many Arts Council awards. His work is published via his Room Temperature label. www.roomtemperature.org www.asullenrelapse.blogspot.com www.soundcloud.com/fergus-kelly

16

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2013

VAI Professional Development: Public Art Case Study

Let's Take the Class Outside FOLLOWING ON FROM her PUBLIC ART CASE-STUDY TALK FOR VAI’S PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (8 MAY), christine mackey FURTHER EXPLORES 'A YEar in the field', HER RECENT COLLABORATIVE WORK WITH BOTANISTS, ECOLOGISTS, FOLKLORISTS AND SCHOOL CHILDREN for A COMMISSION ON A WETLAND SITE IN FINGAL.

Christine Mackey, Force Field, 2012, pencil and marker on paper

Christine Mackey, Grass study, 2012

Christine Mackey, Ladybird study, 2012

In 2007, Fingal County Council Public Arts Office advertised an opencall for artists to submit a portfolio, along with a supporting letter of interest, with a view to be included on a public-art panel.1 I was selected and was awarded a project that began in late 2010. In connection to this, Caroline Coley, the Public Art Officer for Fingal County Council, initiated for me a series of meetings and site-visits to a number of locations that she had accessed through the biodiversity department at Fingal County Council. Caroline was interested in how I had merged an environmental ethos into my practice, with a particular reference to a public art commission that I had developed over a two-year period for Sligo Arts Office – RIVERworks (2006 – 2008), which involved a close study of a site in Sligo town, Cleveragh, working and engaging with a range of communities and publics.

Fingal County Council have a very strong bio-diversity department and have been very innovative in setting up a range of sustainable and nature conservation programmes to protect and enhance biodiversity within Fingal. With this in mind, Caroline introduced me to the bio-diversity officer Hans Visser. We considered a number of locations in the Fingal area and eventually decided on the ‘field’ at St Ita’s, Donabate. I was interested in this site as it really had no redeeming qualities to it; in landscape terms it was neither sublime nor interesting and thus provided a challenge.

It was only through regular visits and time spent walking this site by myself and in the company of others that the magic of the space opened up. The small details became the lynch pin in terms of developing a project based on this site. I had also read Fingal County Council’s Biodiversity Plan (2010 – 2015), gleaning from this document the importance of the role of education in terms of raising people's awareness of their environments, along with participation and engagement. This meshed well with my own longstanding interest in utlising the structures of public art commissions as a tool for creative engagement that is both accessible to and informed by both specialist and non-specialist communities alike.

I have always been interested in people and education – perhaps this comes from the experience of developing workshop programmes for community and school contexts. I’d often found that the people I worked with – including children – lacked confidence, in their drawing skills and the overall value of their viewpoints and knowledge.

I was very keen from the outset to use this commission to develop a project that merged pedagogy – specifically a way of learning through visual means – with drawing. To my mind, drawing is akin to walking and thinking a space. I am also interested in how learning can be activated through conversations – hence my focus on engaging with

specialist and non-specialist publics from diverse backgrounds, creating an ad-hoc forum for an interdisciplinary process.

Informing my processes for A Year in the Field were two classic American natural history texts: Anna Botsford Commostock’s The Nature-Study Manual, first published in leaflet form 1903 – 1911, republished by Cornell University Nature-Study Department in 1934; and Robert Lloyd Praeger’s Weeds: Simple Lessons for Children, published in 1913.

I used both these publications to devise lesson plans on how to engage with the material world of ‘nature’, utilising both scientific and artistic modes of recording and analysis. For A Year in the Field I playfully followed through on the approaches and methodologies contained within their pages, re-contextualising them to address a specific contemporary Irish context. Another framework was the broader context of environmental arts practices – an ever developing field, with a rich history going back at least to the 1970s – which explores conceptual expansions of the possibilities of arts roles, functions and definitions. For A Year in the Field I applied a diverse range of materials, re-writing these existing seasonal plans, walks, map making exercises, botanical and geological studies.

Having established the general outline of the project, I also felt it was important to engage with a ‘community of interest’. Because the project encompassed pedagogy, I decided to work with a school in the area. I developed a series of workshops with the kids, which also involved site-vists to the ‘field’ with botanists Declan Doogue, Hans Visser and tree specialist and folklorist Niall McCoitir.

Following the completion of various walks and site visits with the specialists and school children, I went back to the studio and devised a number of activities based on my own experience of these sessions. Having drawn up the activities, which took quite a bit of time, I went back to the school and asked the children to read through and add their own input into the activities that I had designed. This was a very important process, as I was able to receive a first-hand accounts from the kids as to the value of the work and most importantly if changes needed to be made – which of course they did.

I took on board all of their ideas and re-wrote the activities.

The outcomes of A Year in the Field were published in 2012: two books, entitled Field-work PAD I and Field-work PAD II, and a digital version of this content online at www.ayearinthefield.com. The other purpose of the website is to invite the public to upload and share personal investigations of their fieldwork, extending the creative and social possibilities beyond the original framework conceived for this project.

Field-work PAD I collates my responses based on a series of activities: the walking, collecting, digging, diagramming, recording, and discussion of the space. This publication served as a prototype, which provided an outline of Field-work PAD II. Field-work PAD II functions as a playful nature study-guide, based on a series of 12 activities designed to prompt creative exploration of any ‘field’ system, by any person. Activities are listed from 1 to 12, but they can be done in any order. Each activity has a title that suggests what the content is, but it’s only that: a suggestion. Within each activity, specific words that may be challenging are highlighted in bold. A glossary explaining the key words and terminology is provided.

But the main requirement is simply to take PAD II out on a walk, with a pencil in hand, and explore your own environment – noting things that capture your attention as they evolve in their / your place over time.

In May, I devised and led a series of workshops with children from fifth class at St Francis Xavier Senior School, Blanchardstown, based on the processes and activities developed for A Year in the Field.

The difference was that the site in question was their schoolyard. This new project, entitled Labour on, think – as if, quietly in any direction walk away, offered the participating children an open model of engagement.

The pupils were given the time and tools to explore the immediate environment of their school ground and gardens, including a field trip to the Phoenix Park with tree expert Noel O’ Shea. Rather then devising a prescriptive set of activities, the work developed with the children became a more participatory practice, activating the invisible and imaginary in their physical environment and furthermore, the unfamiliar. This project has since led to an exhibition held at Draoicht Arts Centre, to take place in September, which will draw on and respond to the body of fieldwork developed by the children.2 Christine Mackey www.ayearinthefield.com www.christinemackey.com www.fingalarts.ie www.draiocht.ie Notes 1. In 2007, a number of artists were selected to be part of Fingal County Council’s Public Art Panel.

Funding for the individual projects was allocated from the Department of Heritage and Local Government’s Per Cent for Art Scheme. Artists were invited to respond to consider Fingal’s geographical and historical contexts.

2. For the development of this work, I would like to thank: Caroline Cowley, Public Art Co-ordinator Fingal County Council; Hans Visser, Bio-diversity officer Fingal County Council; Declan Doogue; John Lovatt; Chloe Galley; the students, teachers and staff from St Patrick’s Boys’ School, Portrane, Donabate; Niall McCoitir – tree explorer; Fingal County Council; Trish Carey and the Transition Town Community Group, Donabate; David Cameron, Emer McGowan and Sarah Beirne, Draoicht Arts Centre; and the students, teachers and staff from St Francis Xavier Senior School, Blanchardstown.

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2013

17

Project profile

Participants of Litir Mullen Day Care Center, 2012, sally rods, masking tape, tissue paper

Maire Ní Eidhin Aras Mhic Dara, March 2012, Day Care Center, Carraroe, County Galway, aluminium foil, inks

Maura Ceon, Bluebells, 2013, watercolours, pencil on watercolour paper, Galway University Hospital

Curious, Active & Adventurous

input from others can often be disconcerting or distracting.

Each year a Burning Bright exhibition is hosted by Galway Arts Centre as part of the Bealtaine Festival. The show is opened by a speaker who embodies the ethos of Burning Bright: that one can still remain curious, active and adventurous regardless of age. This year’s exhibition was launched by Micheál Ó Muirtcheartaigh, the voice of GAA for nearly 60 years, an ambassador for The Gathering 2013 and an avid charity worker. In previous years senior print-maker Margaret Irwin has launched the show.

For the 2013 Burning Bright exhibition I presented a number of my participants’ drawings in a short animated slide show, accompanied by an audio track of songs that the participants had referenced during our time together. I also included a small ‘text map’ that contained snippets of my responses to the sessions, as well as remarks and comments that participants had shared with me. A number of drawings were also presented as framed works. Not all of the work created during my project was exhibited as some of the patients had taken their drawings with them when they left the ward, before I had a chance to scan them.

I see people being quite touched when they attend the openings of the Burning Bright exhibitions. This makes sense to me. There is a strong sense that the work is created from that place we have within us all, that can summon up the courage and openness to try something new – and the work on show always seems to have a beautiful simplicity to it.

Burning Bright’s overall achievement is that it has normalised the act of creating and making art as part of scope of care offered in public health contexts across Galway. Medical and administrative staff in various health sectors have been able to witness and to evaluate the positive effects that the Burning Bright workshops have had on participants. It has also enabled the artists involved to develop their experience and confidence about working in this area of practice.

With state-run nursing homes under pressure to cut their activities, programmes like Burning Bright are more precious than ever and face pressure to justify themselves. As Claire Doherty, writing in a recent edition of A-N magazine, put it, “In times of austerity, it’s become more important than ever for the visual arts to articulate their value to society… but what form of evidence should be produced and whose criteria are we to use?” 1 I was often asked during my time working at St Rita’s if I was an art therapist, and I’ve often wondered if this is indicative of what many people deem as more appropriate in these contexts. But my experience on the ground has shown me that collectively, everyone – from artists, workshop participants, their families and staff – value programmes like Burning Bright a great deal, and hope that they may long continue.

With regard to the impact that working on Burning Bright has had on my wider practice, its influence has been indirect, discreet, but profound. I’ve been reminded time and time again of the power of the simple tools of drawing and the pure pleasure of making for its own sake. It has made me grateful for still having my health and mobility and it makes me think about how transient time is and to make the most of it.

Ceara Conway discusses Burning Bright, a project founded in 2005 facilitating visual arts projects in health care settings for older people across county Galway.

The Burning Bright Arts in Health Programme was established in 2005 in order to demonstrate, promote and develop the positive role that the arts can play in care settings for older people, with an emphasis on the engagement process. Each year, up to 18 visual artists are employed on the programme.

Since the project’s inception, I have worked as an artist-inresidence for Burning Bright in several nursing homes, day care centres and hospitals in Galway city and county. For me the appeal of working with Burning Bright has been the ongoing support of all the stakeholders. Each year Galway County Council, Galway Arts Centre, Age Action West and Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust work together to ensure that the right structures are put in place, both for participants and artists. The artists involved attend regular peer-led meetings, where we discuss and trouble-shoot concerns and receive invaluable professional advice.

Each group I’ve worked with and each care setting and locale I’ve found myself in have been totally different. In Connemara I commuted via air – on tiny planes – to reach Áras Rónán located on Inis Mór. The Burning Bright participants from rural Connemara and the Aran Islands have been predominantly local Irish speakers, with strong connections to quite physical craft-based work. The people I worked with in facilities in Galway City – at Merlin Park and the University Hospital – came from all over Ireland and the UK. These participants had previous experience with art-making and I noticed that more men participated than in projects I conducted in county Galway.

Working in health care settings requires artists to follow certain protocols. Burning Bright artists are required to undertake garda clearance checks and to adhere to a policy of awareness of issues of care, confidentiality and reporting procedures. I wholly commend the need for clearance checks, but I wish that the Irish system were on par with agencies such as Disclosure Scotland: for a small fee they deal with vetting processes within a specified time frame. This is important as an artist’s availability to take on arts in health work is often dependent on how long clearance processes take to complete.

The particularities of healthcare environments decree the materials and processes that can be used for projects. Participants in hospital settings can be particularly vulnerable to infections and have greater sensitivity to fumes and materials. There are limitations on what artists can use, though, thus far, this has never presented any insurmountable problems. I’ve found most venues to be open to all kinds of experimentation. I’ve worked with residents on etching / print projects, using glass coated with bitumen tar and etching paste; in other cases we’ve worked on ‘cake sculptures’ fabricated with marzipan. I’ve even seen an artist bring reams of hay into a healthcare setting.

The healthcare facilities represent great feats of management, involving many layers of people: cleaners, waiters, doctors, nurses, priests, students and visitors. In this context, the artist’s work and presence is no different – it has to merge harmoniously with an intricately structured network. Flexibility is key – it is not unusual to

be working away, while some one begins to mop under your feet or a dinner tray is plonked down on the bed. I’ve found that everyone is really open and willing to work around each other – no one will ask you to stop what you doing unless it is absolutely necessary.

This year Burning Bright facilitators were asked to apply the broad theme of ‘mapping’ as a starting point to their respective projects. My residency placement was for eight, two-hour sessions at St Rita’s Ward at Galway University Hospital, an acute unit that provides care for elderly people. Unlike previous more long-term projects, at St Rita’s I worked with patients on a once-off basis at their bedside. Depending on the number of interested participants signing up on particular days, my contact time with each person ranged from thirty minutes to two hours.

In light of my limited contact time and workspace, I felt that my approach would have to be modest in scale and easily comprehensible.

My initial ideas centred around notions of impermanence; I wanted to find a way to map and record the time I spent with the participant through audio recordings, portraits and drawings. But I felt it would be difficult to engage at this level, and in the end I decided to propose an activity where the participants could make a ‘life map’ and I would work with them to create small drawings that signified and mapped various stages of their lives.

What actually happened was very different. It generally takes at least one session to gauge what capacities each participant has. From my initial sessions for this project, it was obvious that I should tailor activities for each individual. I kept a diary of the sessions, including comments that participants made and my thoughts and responses.

I’ve constantly explored the concept of collaboration in my Burning Bright work. Participants can have delicate physical conditions, as well as having difficulties remembering things. I worked with one participant who thoroughly enjoyed drawing, but every week forgot that she had ever had an art session with me, or even knew me. One has to be sensitive so as not disorientate participants even more with ideas and questions relating to the art project.

It became clear to me that I had to surrender to the needs of the participant, in terms of what was most appropriate for any given session. My role is to provide a creative space via materials, advice, support and illustrating techniques. It’s a time for gentleness, fun and conversation and it is the participant’s interests that dictate the subject matter. The development of the work, when it flows, is like a relational dance – it’s about finding out what they like and letting the content develop organically that way. As such, the art works that are created have an audience long before they are exhibited. There is a great degree of performativity to the whole activity, as it is made in front of care staff, family members and other visitors.

Workshop sessions nearly always spark a conversation. Often staff members pass the ‘worktable’ and will stop to talk; there is almost a stock dialogue of supportive cajoling and camaraderie that always takes place. At times I do feel the need to create a small boundary around the participant’s creative space, as too much commentary and

Ceara Conway www.cearaconway.com Notes 1. Claire Doherty, Because You Are Worth It, A-N, April 2013 (www.new.a-n.co.uk)

18

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2013

PROJECT PROFILE

Expanded Draft. Shotgun House – exterior view. ‘Hello Neighbo(u)r’ 2010. Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Expanded Draft. Blue House – installation view. ‘Hello Neighbo(u)r’ 2010. Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Collective Creativity Expanded Draught, an international artist collective founded in Galway, is profiled by ITS CO-founders Allison Regan and Joanne DOLAN. We founded Expanded Draught in Galway city in 2006. The organisation functions as an international artist collective with 23 members hailing from Ireland, Britain, America and Asia.1 Our first shows were based primarily around drawing and presented under the collective name First Draught – one of which was entitled ‘The Drawing Rooms’ and held over 12 hours in March 2007 in a threeroomed vacant apartment in Galway. This event was a collaboration between all of our members, various DJs and the general public. We covered every surface of the premises in paper and fabric, and provided a variety of drawing materials for the participants.

In 2008, I (Allison) moved to Louisiana to pursue a three-year MFA at Louisiana State University (LSU), where I met a whole new network of artists who were eager to collaborate. To reflect the development of the collective and the expansion of its membership – nationally and internationally – we changed our name to Expanded Draft.

In 2009, Expanded Draft presented ‘003D’ at Galway Arts Centre (22 – 27 June), a collaboration between our members and MFA students from Louisiana State University. The show was curated by Galwaybased artist Gina Ruane and partly funded by the LSU’s Michael Doherty Award. 11 artists were involved. We paired the Irish and American artists to make five ‘teams’. The introductions and pairings were made online in early 2009. On 8 June, the five LSU students moved to Galway City to conclude their two-month collaboration with the Irish artists.

The groups worked together in various locations throughout the city to develop and realise their ideas, culminating in the show at Galway Arts Centre. Each collaborative pairing took as their starting point notions of people and ideas being placed and displaced in and out of contexts and environments. Communication, and its significance to the project regarding physical distance, accessibility, cultural differences and modes of exchange, was an ongoing and key factor throughout the collaboration, prior to and during the exhibition.

Not all members have to participate in every Expanded Draft project. At the beginning of each initiative, we send out an email and a sign up sheet is set up on Google Drive. Members can add their name if they want to participate, and on the same document they can add thoughts or ideas in relation to the show.

Concepts for shows are germinated from all members, through our email conversations and threads. When it comes to fine details for shows / events, it is the directors who do the majority of the administration work – preparing promotional material and press releases etc – but all our members are invited to be involved in all aspects of the shows. Kit French and Lindsey Maestri are our American facilitators and take responsibility for applying for American funding and press coverage etc.

Without online communication, Expanded Draught would not be possible. Skype and email are our main forms of communication.

We also use the Google Drive for all of our shows as well as Dropbox and Facebook, and have done a series of Skype lectures in the USA.

Artists are not paid to be involved in the shows, but all agree that the work we do is mutually beneficial in terms of furthering our artistic endeavors; where possible, artworks are for sale and the artist receives 100% of the sale price.

To date, our projects have been supported largely by local sponsorship with occasional international funding for individual artists travelling from abroad. Our supporters include The Bierhaus, Nimmos, Roisin Dubh, GYM Repair LTD, Studiosaydo, Culture Candy Collective and several DJs, who have variously provided us with venues, monies for materials, design and printing services, catering and sounds for fundraising events. We’ve also held ‘bar boot sale’ quiz night fundraising events in Ireland and in the States as well as Fundit campaigns.

Following on from ‘003D’, ‘Hello Neighbo(u)r’ took place in June 2010. Seven Irish artists travelled to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for three weeks to build, extend and cultivate a new body of collaborative works.

We worked with Culture Candy, a collective based in Baton Rouge, who assisted in facilitating ‘Hello Neighbo(u)r’. Between us, we managed to secure two houses in a neighbourhood next to the LSU Campus in Baton Rouge called Christian Street. These houses were scheduled for demolition and we were given free reign to create, destroy, adapt, extend etc. With 14 artists participating, we split up into two groups, one group for each house. Each group came up with a narrative as a basis for transforming the two houses into large-scale interactive sculptures.

For the ‘blue house’ (we managed to secure large quantities of blue paint from a local paint supplier – hence the name), the concept we decided on was ‘everything-a-skew’. For dramatic effect, we made no visible alterations to the front of the house; we wanted it to look relatively normal, apart from the obsessive gradients of blue across the facade of the house. We reused and repurposed as many materials as we could to create new, interesting structures within the house. For example, we removed all of the wooden siding from the left side of the house and brought it indoors to create a large sweeping slope reaching from ceiling to floor and bursting out of the front window.

The other space was a ‘shotgun house’, so called because of its layout. If you were to shoot a gun through the front door it would go out the back door. It comprised a rectangular space with three rooms and a small bathroom. We decided to try to imagine a person that might have lived in one of these houses and came up with a narrative that would run throughout the house. We touched on themes of agoraphobia, infestation, hoarding and loneliness. We found a perfectly formed birds nest made with twigs leaves, bits of plastic and other debris in the front yard. This nest provided inspiration for the rest of the house and it was an element used in nearly every aspect of the installation. Like the blue house, we also brought the exterior inside, laying a carpet of turf from the front garden into the kitchen area and suspending three televisions above it to simulate grow lights. Where the blue house did

not alter the front of the house, we completely removed it, replacing the walls with hundreds of translucent VHS cases, making the contrast between the houses even more prominent.

One of the most striking things about doing a show in America was the sheer amount of free materials that were available, something that really doesn’t happen on this side of the water. People leave all sorts of unwanted belongings on the pavement that others are free to take. We also took advantage of the massive thrift and surplus stores where you can get materials for next to nothing. Alongside the cheap and plentiful materials, we had 24-hour use of the LSU art facilities, which were incredible.

Our most recent show opened on 9 March 2013 at The Shed, Docks Road, Galway City. Adapt Galway and the Harbour Company facilitated the project. Each Expanded Draught member created work responding to a William Burroughs quote about his ‘cut-up’ technique, “If you cut through the present the future leaks out”. This brief allowed each artist to investigate latent meanings in personal and cultural events. It was the first time we had exhibited each member’s individual work; an incredible diversity of disciplines were showcased, demonstrating the rich material knowledge of our members.

Exploring collaborative working methods will continue to be a priority in our future projects. Our next show, ‘Gumbo’, takes place in St Louis, Missouri in October. For this show each participant will send St Louis member Megan Singleton four ounces of material that can be mixed into a Hollander beater to create paper pulp – hence the name the project title ‘Gumbo’. Once Megan has received all of the ‘ingredients’ she will make a large batch of paper, three sheets of which will be mailed to each Expanded Draught member to create a piece of work on or with. These works will then be dispatched to Megan for exhibition in St Louis.

A big part of all of Expanded Draught’s projects is getting the local community involved. This has taken the form of talks and workshops, which are held alongside each of our shows and events. We have also given a series of Skype lectures throughout universities in the USA. One of our recent and ongoing activities is ‘Project Project’, a travelling series of ‘pop-up’ workshops. We want to empower people we come in contact with to be creative. ‘Project Project’ invites participants to engage in creative exercises and assignments that we – alongside our partner organisations – have generated. So far, the workshops have included drawing self-portraits with only verbal descriptions and landscapes drawn with participants’ hands tied together. This project does not have an overly rigid structure, but is accessible enough to encourage participation and diminish the physiological distance we place between one another. We are hoping to tour ‘Project Project’ in Ireland and in the States in 2014, joining forces yet for another largescale collaborative endeavour at each stop on the tour.

Allison Regan and Joanne Dolan www.expandeddraught.com www.theshedgalway.blogspot.ie Notes 1. Expanded Draught Members: Ireland: Jonathan Sammon, Ferg Flannery, Dave Callan, Alwyn Reville,Gina Ruane, Breege Hynes, Suzanne Dolan,Cyril Briscoe,Ian Harte. USA: Kit French, Cody Arnall, Lindsey Maestri, David Carpenter, Tyler Mackie, Megan Singleton, Kyle Bauer, Jacob Hauck, Hannah March Sanders, Danielle Burns. South Korea: Yoojeung Park

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

Critique Supplement Edition 13 September – October 2013

Pádraig Timoney 'Fontwell Helix Feely' Raven Row, London 27 - April – 23 June Eminent American literary critic Harold Bloom’s concept of the ‘anxiety of influence’ theorised that poets were perpetually in contention with their own precursors, wrestling with the rampant references that inevitably populate art forms burdened by long traditions. The idea’s unhappily combative sensibility and formalist stricture have found it somewhat outmoded, but in an exhibition like Pádraig Timoney’s ‘Fontwell Helix Feely’ at Raven Row in London, its relevance sees a revival.

Not unlike that of poetry, the history of painting, even attenuated to the last few centuries, is unforgiving in its immensity, and it looms over the gallery like a storm front over a dinghy.

Pádraig Timoney, Consider the Lillies of the Field, 2009, Untitled, 2003, Swingeing Smithdown, 2008, the artist and Raucci / Santamaria Gallery, Naples; Collection Toby Webster, Glasgow, photo by Marcus J Leith

Pádraig Timoney, Evens, 1994, Aye Stone, 2010, Untitled, 1996, Laure Genillard and Raucci / Santamaria Gallery; Anton Kern Gallery, New York; Naples; photo by Marcus J Leith

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Exhibition view, Pádraig Timoney, 'Fontwell Helix Feely', Raven Row, 2013, photo by Marcus J Leith

Whether Timoney, in his evasion of style, falls prey to the inevitability of circumstantial quotation, or simply accepts it as an occupational hazard, is not for me to say, though I would prefer to believe the latter. Nonetheless it becomes difficult to accept his canvas painting on its own terms. Because no one aesthetic trajectory takes primacy, they all seem subordinate, and the viewer

reconstructs the sensibilities from what seem to be its likely antecedents – David Salle here, Gerhard Richter there – on the family tree of postmodern painting.

Large works like Turns on Top and Meepmeep Popup, in which Timoney employs photographic developer to muddle his painted overlays of cartoons and Neo-Geo, seem to be caught halfway between insouciant misquotation and earnest efforts at newness. Similarly, the atmospheric rendering of Tinned Tomatoes and Bombed Coral, rendered partially through the unusual application of rabbit-skin glue and the more conventional glaze of modern / postmodern visual citation, hang on the wall attractively enough while contrarily winking that this formal abstraction business is all a bit farcical. The modest walls of Raven Row are hung heavily, with a few stray pieces lodged in the less trafficked corridors and interstices. This is of some import here, as the most engaging points of the exhibition are usually small, often crammed into corners, between a pair of doors, linguistically or conceptually extruded from the concrete artwork.

Four identically-sized stretched polyester wool panels, sprayed with green and red sheepmarking paint and entitled Séan’s Greens, are dispersed unevenly throughout the three floors of Raven Row like sheep on a pastoral northern hillside. There are sporadic blossoms of quietly intelligent weirdness like Fried Salt, which is a plate of exactly what it claims to be, and a handful of reminders of Timoney’s various homes, like the Derry recalled in Resistance to Fading, an aggressively republican graphic coffee mug glued to the inside of a doorway. One of three hand-silvered mirrors is titled Automatic Portrait Repeater, while a similarly misty-grey rabbit-skin-glue canvas is called Broken One Way Mirror, no. 3. The plaster panel of The Unforgiven features a glibly scrawled portrait of a capped and bearded man, maybe, or maybe not, an approximation of the subject of the painting from which the plaster cast was reportedly made.

Timoney’s work is indeed boldly eclectic, though the fact that this seems to bear such constant mention, and meet with such consistent praise, may also speak to an excess of engineered focus that is prevalent in contemporary visual art of the ‘oughts’ and of this decade. It doesn’t overstate the case, after all, to suggest that Timoney’s pronounced sense of risk and range would perhaps be the norm in a more functionally discursive art world. Moreover, flirting with failure and incoherence could be seen as the necessary condition of manifesting new ideas and methodologies, but this also demands a standard for how much of this unresolved adventurousness makes it inside the gallery. As not all of Timoney’s creations on exhibition are really successful, they collectively present a polemic on the merits of appreciating failure.

The infamous drill sergeant says of the literate smartass Joker in Full Metal Jacket, “He’s got guts, and guts is enough”. Bloom might disagree, but he would likely not have foreseen the marketinstigated motivation for the genuinely curious to affect the attitudes of clowns. The painter’s impertinence, indeed his defection from the rudimentary tenets of gallery success, perhaps cloaks in the guise of irreverence a not un-solemn mission of sharpening the dulled bite of a suite of paintings in a white cube. Flat work hung on a wall can also upset the status quo, and could stand to try a little more often. Remember that shortly before the aforementioned drill sergeant uttered that line, he was slapping Joker across the face. Timoney too, in demonstrating his guts, seems to accept the imperative of taking a few licks along the way.

Curt Riegelnegg is a writer based in London.

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet CRITIqUE SUPPLEmENT

September – October 2013

helen o’leary 'irregular activity' Catherine Hammond Gallery, Glengarriff, West Cork july 19 – 15 August 15

'labour and Wait' (Tonico lemos auad, andrea bowers, colin Darke, Wim Delvoye, Daniel Dewar and gregory gicquel, peter fischli and David Weiss, Theaster gates, Tim hawkinson, Josiah mcelheny, grayson perry, mike rottenberg, allison Smith, ricky Swallow, David Thorpe and Jane Wilbraham) Santa Barbara museum of Art 2 july – 22 September ‘labour and Wait,’ the title of this large group

that the connoisseur’s notion of the ‘hand of the

exhibition at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art,

artist’ has itself become another object to be

could just as well describe the effort that went into

collected and arranged.

creating the show as the work it contains. When

Elsewhere, ‘Labour and Wait’ reframes the

Julie Joyce, SBMA Curator of Contemporary Art,

idea of craft through scale. The French duo Daniel

was given the opportunity to fill three of the

Dewar and Gregory Gicquel, for example, are

largest galleries in this elegant Southern Californian

represented by a monumental tapestry called

museum, she knew immediately which of her

Mammoth and Poodle (2010). Bigger even than this

exhibition ideas would be the one.

French Mammoth, however, is the Irish matrix in international

the next room, a gigantic grid of 480 separate

contemporary art circuit, Joyce had been observing

paintings by Derry’s Colin Darke. The Capital

for more than a decade the confluence of a much-

Paintings, all done on identical brown A4 canvases,

remarked return to craft among artists, and an

depict two-dimensional everyday objects. For a

increasingly acute sensitivity in some quarters to

previous project, entitled 'Capital', Darke spent

the volatile ways in which the art market

several years writing the complete text of Karl

determines the value of certain objects. Along with

Marx’s three-volume Das Kapital by hand in tiny

strange

twenty-first-century

script on such ephemera as restaurant takeout

tapestries, woodcarvings and ceramics, many

menus, flattened cardboard popcorn boxes, price

artists were also delivering work that made pointed

labels, postcards and even the odd five pound

reference to the idiosyncratic aspects of the

note.

As

Helen O'Leary A small place to do nothing, 2013, wood construction and egg oil, 32 x 32 x 5 cm

she

and

travelled

beautiful

the

distribution of cultural capital. i suspect that the economy of picturesque Glengarriff is driven by tourism; one might say the town’s ‘regular activity’ is the business of souvenir and craft shops, for the summer months at least.

From street side flowerboxes to spinning postcard stands, it’s a flamboyant town. The Catherine Hammond Gallery is a shaft of white amongst the colour, a space of refuge from the bustle.

Helen O’Leary’s solo show marks the gallery’s 10th season. ‘Irregular Activity’ begins and ends with an enormous abstract painting, but almost every exhibit in between is described on the price list as ‘wood construction.’ These pieces are smaller, shaky rectangles, three-dimensional yet wallmounted. Many remind me of looking out the window of an aeroplane at the height at which the landscape’s details become indistinct, just before the patchwork of fields is swallowed by cloud. The lines are soft; the shades are washy. There are fitful ruptures of brightness, like the sun peeping through and lighting up a swatch of earth, just for a second.

O’Leary’s bright ruptures are accidental daubs of paint from pictures past; their appearance is as arbitrary as the breeze because the constructions are made from the recycled wood of old paintings, frameworks already collaterally damaged by the splatters, spills and stains of the artist’s process.

They are off-cuts, shards, corners and rims rescued from the studio scrapheap and revivified in a commendable spirit of thrift. Instead of putting more stuff in the world, O’Leary has managed to make precious that which was once discarded.

Despite the rejects they rose from, there is nothing haphazard or slipshod about the exhibited artworks. O’Leary’s patient effort is evident from her finished forms. She has sawed little joints into the ends of flittered panels before carefully fitting them together. It looks like a process as frustrating as solving a puzzle without any clues, or building a jigsaw with no picture on the box, no box, no beginning or end. Each scrap becomes a tiny scaffold for the scrap which comes after; they grip together and hold one another up. As structures, they are uncertain; as artworks, they are spirited, assured. I imagine this is how Calder’s mobiles might look if struck down from their strings and fused together.

The pieces of the series entitled Armour are distinct amongst wood constructions; they are darker than their fellows, and more mysterious.

Each network of scaffolding is partially obscured by a painted façade; each façade is built from abutting bits of panel. O’Leary’s paint of choice is tinted egg oil, a substance better known for its treatment of skin and hair conditions. Armour’s shades are bold but solemn: stone grey, purple brown, olive and brilliant white. The fissures between bits create a false perspective; the angles seem to sneakily shift themselves each time I move my head.

The two sparest of the series bear resemblance to sheets of paper with a corner folded, as though someone had tried to mark their place in a wordless book the length of a single page. Many other of the series have tiny gaps in the façade, like peepholes.

A peep reveals their timber bones.

While I find O’Leary’s titles generally a little too grandiose, the choice of Armour is perfect; if the aforementioned constructions are holding each other up, these pieces are simply holding themselves, hugging their knees, shielding their spindly innards from passing peepers.

In the case of Where things settle and Refusal, the mixed media paintings on linen, the view from my aeroplane window becomes that of a colourful crash. The brushstrokes are reckless, the surfaces peppered with debris. The two paintings chosen to bookend the exhibition are contrary in spirit to the placid landscapes of the wood constructions; they are striking, yet familiar.

In the Catherine Hammond Gallery, all but the piece for which the show is named are wallmounted. Irregular Activity – the story of some stands on a lonely pedestal, looking unexpectedly solid. It makes me imagine how, if every wood construction stood side by side and close together, they’d coalesce into the framework of a tiny shanty town, each dwelling imperfectly armoured against the elements.

Even though no one can shelter in O‘Leary‘s artworks, and the world is already so crammed with stuff, there’ll always be a snatch of extra space for small edifices of such resourcefulness, such quiet strength.

Sara Baume is a writer based in East Cork

In The Capital Paintings, Darke reassembles the

Additionally, it was all happening in the

scraps on which he once re-wrote Das Kapital – this

shadow of a much larger popular phenomenon in

time rendering them as hand-painted images

the consumer marketplace: the elevation of the

devoid of their inscriptions. No longer densely

artisanal. Her idea was to combine these two

inscribed with Marx’s critique, these magically

tendencies – the renaissance of handcrafted

‘blank’ images recall certain remarks that Darke

techniques and the interrogation of the relationship

made in an essay he wrote for the recent Belfast

between labour and value – into a single themed

Exposed exhibition of Northern Irish photography.

exhibit called ‘Labour and Wait’. The result frames

In a critique of the so-called return to normality

the current celebration of the handcrafted in the

following the ceasefire, Darke described the

context of questions about the ethics of a global

whitewashing of Belfast political murals, stating

economy.

that, “The resultant whiteness of previously

Curators primarily express their ideas through

adorned walls carries as much significance as the

the arrangement and display of fascinating objects.

Moving back and forth between Europe and the US

images lying beneath”.1 The erasure of Marx in phase two Darke's

allowed Joyce to identify a resemblance between

'Capital' project thus signals, not so much a

the work of Ricky Swallow, the Australian-born

departure from the artist's ongoing interrogation

artist who now lives in Los Angeles, and Jane

of the complicity of art in creating cultural capital,

Wilbraham, a Shropshire native who lives and

as a deep layering of the ironies that lurk beneath

works in London. Swallow and Wilbraham have

the surface of his work. As an aesthetic statement

both discovered new ways to create meaning

in this posh corner of America, where labour can

through woodcarving. For Sleeping Range (2002),

often seem dreamily irrelevant, The Capital Paintings

Swallow carved an exquisitely lifelike scale replica

represent a subtly integrated echo of worldwide

of a sleeping bag. The piece sticks in the mind like

dissent. Of all the many interesting works in

a splinter, conjuring spectral images of ancient

‘Labour and Wait’, Colin Darke’s The Capital

Egyptian sarcophagi and of the homeless, who

Paintings is at once the most prominent in size and

sleep in such ‘mummy’ bags on the streets of Los

the furthest under the cultural radar.

Angeles and Santa Barbara. Jane Wilbraham applies equal care to more fantastical subjects. Index, from 2010 / 11, consists of 14 hand-carved wooden index fingers arranged in a vertical cluster, suggesting

Charles Donelan is executive arts editor at the Santa Barbara Independent. notes 1. Colin darke, Normality, Reality, and Perception, www.belfastexposed.org

Colin darke, The Capital Paintings, 2004 – 2007, oil on linen, 480 paintings: 11 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches each, image by Brian Forrest, courtesy of the artist

The Visual Artists’ News SheetCrITIque SuPPlemeNT

September – October 2013

‘New Irish Works’ PhotoIreland 2013 Published July 2013 ISBN 978-0-9576849-0-4

‘The Drawing Box’ ranelagh Arts Centre, Dublin 18 July – 17 August

eithne O'regan, Plane,, from the series 'Anymoment Now', 2012, all images courtesy of PhotoIreland

Barry W Hughes,Untitled, from the series m ' etastatic', 2012

PhoToIrelaND 2013 spanned Dublin, Limerick and Cork, occupying multiple venues throughout these cities. The festival was ambitious in its scope and the variety of lens-based media, which included the work of established international artists such as Gerard Byrne at Temple Bar Gallery and Willie Doherty at IMMA, Earlsfort Terrace. The exhibition ‘New Irish Works’ was a key element of PhotoIreland 2013, presenting photographic projects by 25 emerging artists, selected from an open submission by a panel of curators. The show was split across venues in each of the three cities, giving each artist the opportunity to present substantial bodies of work. 1 New Irish Works Works, the stand-alone publication of the same name, offers an overview, bringing together all the works on show. Whilst documentary photography features strongly in the selection, themes such as estrangement, displacement and the sublime are explored in more fragmented, esoteric ways.

There’s also a strong interest in narrative, memory and representation of place. The Spanish philosopher George Santayana warned, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.2 Recollections of past atrocities are symbolically alluded to in the work of Yugoslavian-born Drangna Jurisic. Her strange, disconnected images evoke recollections and memories of Yugoslavia and explore the histories of the representation and the politics of place. Linda Brownlee also explores place, but through a series of intimate portraits of teenagers on Achill. Brownlee’s subjects are placed as mainly solitary figures and, while alluding to issues of isolation and how little there might be to do in this wildly remote area for teenagers today, the work also seems to conjure up a generic sense of angst that forms part of the teenage experience. Another and quite different series of portraits is presented by Grainne Quinlan. The Strawboys examines a dying Irish tradition that reflects the changes in Irish society; the Strawboys have passed from being a symbol of festivity and celebration to something strange and sinister.

The work of Barry W Hughes melds rumour and fiction in his exploration of events surrounding the cast and crew of the 1956 film The Conquerer, who were thought to have been affected by radiation emanating from a US government atomic testing site nearby to the film set. Through a series of pixellated TV images, Hughes’ images ‘re-narrate’ the film, which was directed by Dick Powell and starred John Wayne and Susan Hayward. The eeriness of the images is like a strange echo of Chris

Dragana Jurisic,The Lost Country Country,, 2013, from 'Yu'

Marker’s La Jetee Jetee. The title of the work, Metatastic, Metatastic alludes to cancerous growths and the static electrical charges from TV screens. The overall impact of this work is mysterious and unsettling.

Film Deaths is another series of images plucked from TV screens. In this series, Maureen Brady presents a compendium of 117 deaths from different films. Media analysts have long argued about the increase in ‘compassion fatigue’ through a media saturated with violent imagery of tragedy and suffering. Although Films Deaths might seem a macabre exercise, it highlights the prevalence and relentlessness of violent media imagery and the desensitisation this engenders.

Photography fills frozen moments with a multitude of possibilities, and there is a palpable tension in the work of Eithne O Regan. In Any Moment Now, she seems to seek out strangeness; her images are on the threshold, waiting for something to happen. In one image an aircraft caught middescent over a house could be moments before disaster or just another plane landing and the imagination, through the image, can take you to either place.

Photography, unlike other art forms, never seems to lose much in reproduction – perhaps because of its inherent ‘publishability’. The ‘New Irish Works’ catalogue proves an effective way to encounter the works of photographers working in series. In this regard I was drawn back to the pages presenting Roseanne Lynch’s Place Place. The silence of these enigmatic and elusive images – minimal, geometric tonal studies – leaves space for contemplation. It’s compelling and sublime work – repeated viewing of which is rewarding. I was reminded of what Ansel Adams once wrote about his take on language and the image: “When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs.

When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” 3

‘The Drawing Box’ is the brainchild of Outland Arts member Diane Henshaw (www.outlandarts.org).

This collective places an emphasis on sharing skills and ideas with members and non-member artists and the community at large. So it seemed like a natural extension to come up with The Drawing Box, a project that transcends local and national boundaries to connect with artists across the globe.

The form of the project is unusual. It is based on an invite only Facebook group that provides a forum for discussion on contemporary drawing. The group initially comprised Diane Henshaw, Patil Rajendra, Andrew Crane and John Crabtree, but since its inception in December 2012, it has grown to accommodate over 100 artists. Behind the ‘closed doors’ of its Facebook page, members can upload their work, sparking discussion around drawing, and inviting feedback on each contribution. In a social media driven society often saturated with trivial chatter, here is an example of how Facebook can be put to productive use.

The exhibition recently on show at Ranelagh Arts Centre served as tangible evidence of these ongoing discussions and includes artists from many countries. Not only has membership of the group grown, but Ranelagh was only one stop on the show’s global trail, which began in Mumbai, then landed in Enniskillen, stopping in Belfast and Ranelagh before continuing to Kuala Lumpur, the Philippines and a number of other countries, hosted by members along the way.

Five A5 drawings per participating artist are featured in Drawing Box shows, utilising any mode of drawing they wish. This scale of work not only lends itself well to an exhibition constantly on the go, but its lightness and mobility is reflective of the organic flow achieved when works develop in a live forum. The full title of the show is in fact ‘The Drawing Box: An Experimental Socionomic Art Project’ – socionomic relating to the study of how social ‘mood’ regulates social behaviour and, in this case, how these artists influence each other. The essence of this project is fluctuation and evolution.

In the Ranelagh exhibition space, groups of five works by each artist – 38 individuals are represented – were arranged across the walls. It’s evident that there is no theme joining the various clusters together, other than a celebration of drawing.1 But confining the works to the same number and size per artist creates a sense of boundaries within which individual styles can flourish. It’s also clear that visitors expecting to be met by a room of classic pencil / charcoal drawings, a forgivable preconception, are in for a – hopefully, pleasant – surprise.

While artists such as Yashwant Deshmukh (India) do offer slightly more conventional approaches to drawing in pencil on card, Helen Sharp (Ireland) offers us mixed-media print-like collages made on vintage postcards. Reinhard Stammer (Germany) offers us an explosion of coloured paint and mixed media. Kshitish Das (India) creates surreal almost Alice Maher-like figures, with additional limbs or perhaps in some strange state of metamorphosis, using pen and ink with a free hand. The interest in line and contour, and in the latent potential within mark making, is as predominant in one as it is in the others.

A text written for the exhibition by Slavka Sverakova, titled Meditation on drawing a drawing, thrashes out the concepts surrounding the word drawing, and considers its application to both a durational process imbued with ideas and the tangible object / outcome: a drawing. The text invites us to consider the idea of drawing on a broad scale.

On my visit to the show I shared a word with Drawing Box member and Dublin liaison Jean Doyle. Doyle hoped the show would help viewers to think outside the (drawing) box, remarking, “What about drawing with scissors?”

This considerable and varied collection of works all declare the pleasure taken by each artist in mark-making in all its multitude of forms and possibilities. The works certainly encourage viewers to lean in close and engage with each individual work. But one can also take a step back and consider the concept as a whole – the strengths of this ever expanding, internationally diverse group connecting artists, showcasing ideas and technical approaches from across the world. ‘The Drawing Box’ exhibition is evidence of a secret conversation between artists, inviting us to imagine how this dialogue influenced the final works as we see them. We’re prompted to consider all the thoughts and actions behind the marks on paper, to look beyond the immediately visible to the underlying source processes.

Roisin Russell is a writer based in Dublin. Her writing has featured in Paper Visual Art Journal and Circa online.

Notes 1. reinhard Stammer,lorna Crane, medhukar munde, Abigail Stern, Pati rajendra, Konii C. Burns, Kshittish Das, Andrew Crane, Diane Henshaw, Adr Deva, JohnmcKie,revital lessick, Shintal Gattam, Valerie Jacques Belair, Joh Crabtree, Carl Heyward, Annamacleod, Vishakha Apte,laine Stewart,mae estrellita Aguinaldo, Satish Wavere, Jan Valik, Jean Doyle, Stephen Croe rebecca Steelman, mira Cedar, Alison B. Cooke, Chrismaule, Fiona robinson,Christine obinson,Christinemackey, Helen Sharp, Yashmunt Deshmukh, Ausra Keza Adrienne m.. Finnerty, Andy Parsons, Bernard Bieling, Barbaram O'eara, licia Battara

Alison Pilkington is an artist based in Dublin.

She is currently undertaking a practice based PhD at NCAD Dublin.

Notes Kshitish Das, work from 'The Drawing Box', pen and ink on card 1. The full list of ‘New Irish Works’ venues and exhibiting photographers is as follows: Dublin – National Photographic Archive (21 June – 3 August), Barry W Hughes, Dorje de Burgh, Dragana Jurisic, Kevin Griffin, linda Brownlee, robert ellis, llis, Shannon Guerrico; Istituto Italiano di Cultura (25 June – 24 July), Stefania Sapio; Alliance Française (2 July –30 August), Shane lynam. Goethe Institut (28 June – 26 July),ethna O’regan. Instituto Cervantes (11 – 30 July), Paul Gaffney;limerick – Ormston House (4 – 27 July), Claudi Nir, Cáit Fahey, Caroline mc Nally, Grainne quinlan, uinlan, Ieva Baltaduonyte,miriam O’ Connor, roseanne llynch; ynch; Cork – TACTIC (5 – 27 July), David Thomas Smith, martin Cregg, maurice Gunning,muireann uireann Brady, Yvettemonahan, Patrick Hogan, mandy O’Neill.

2. George Santayana,The Life of Reason, 1906 3. The Portfolios of Ansel Adams, 1981 Yashwant Deshmuhk, work from 'The Drawing Box', pencil on card

Helen Sharp, work from 'The Drawing Box', collage on vintage postcard

The Visual Artists’ News SheetCrITIque SuPPlemeNT

September – October 2013

‘russian Dolls’ Sighle Bhreathnach-Cashell, Cian Donnelly and Matthew Walmsley Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast 27 June – 3 August 2013

Cian Donnelly,Train Stop ,live performance Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast June 2013, image by Chris Campbell

a man stands motionless on the roof of a burnt-out car, silhouetted in the darkened gallery. He has his back to us; his long arms hang limp and his bowler hat-clad head is bent down. Strange child-like figures stand around the space, lit by coloured spots. An eerie soundtrack – threatening pitches, long, low, distorted and lingering – accompanies the scene. A projection in the background shows silent footage of the face of the figure on the car roof, his melancholic eyes blinking behind a misshapen mask.

Thus begins 'Russian Dolls', a three-person group show at Belfast’s Golden Thread Gallery that includes an encounter with Cian Donnelly’s The Observatory. For the opening night, Donnelly performed Train Stop, an unsettling and at times nightmarish piece, donning the garb of the mannequin now atop the car. The artist conversed, sang, danced and, in a bizarre collaborative act, performed a duet with a creature vaguely resembling a human girl with a pointy nose, clown face and soiled robes.

Around a corner, mounted on a partition wall, a flat screen monitor plays footage of the performance – which doesn’t quite match experiencing Train Stop. Documenting the live event is an on-going challenge for performance artists. However, even without Donnelly’s presence, The Observatory installation functions effectively as an autonomous work.

Entering the next room, you’re invited to take a clipboard and sit down on a row of chairs lining a harshly lit white waiting room. Words are projected on the wall: ‘shadow’, ‘former’, ‘repeat’, ‘barren’, ‘slither’. Various signs warn of electric shocks and screens display instructions. Visitors are told to wait, then to enter an adjacent space behind the blinds at the next beep. At set times actors wearing doctors’ coats were present here to instruct and chide, but on this visit there were none.

Sighle Bhreathnach-Cashell’s YOU is an immersive, manipulative experiment. Visitors are impelled to participate in a series of unexplained psychological tests. Participants’ rebellion against this may be as much part of the artist’s expectations as their compliance.

Visitors are led through a maze of curtained spaces from one TV screen to the next, which hector: “Me or You?… Choose a face, (a), (b) or (c)?… Suicide?

Yes or No? … The Death Penalty? Yes or No?” Answers are to be filled out on a clipboard. Footage from psychological experiments, TV shows and hysterical news bulletins flash alongside other disturbing images: a rotting bovine carcass, someone sleeping, pigeons eating vomit.

Proceeding down a curtained corridor, sounds coming from the various screens overlap with The Observatory's unsettling soundtrack, audible in the background. Visitors are confronted by a chair, with the warning ‘Danger, Electricity’ written on a sign above it.

It’s a beautiful object: simple, heavy and functional. Metal plates – electrical conductors – are set into the armrests. I’m told to flick the switch at the back on or off. I agonise – should I sit? I’ve followed all the other instructions so far, why not now? I really hate electric shocks…

Bhreathnach-Cashell creates an uncertain state in which visitors become (unwitting) guinea pigs in what may or may not be a malevolent exercise.

What is enjoyable about YOU is the element of doubt, having to second-guess the artist’s intention, questioning the work’s ultimate aim and wondering about the futility of it all.

On the other hand, there is no ambiguity about Matthew Walmsley’s Boat Shed Gallery: a replica of an upturned fishing boat-turned-shed, complete with ropes and nets, functions as a quaint miniature gallery. It houses various works made by local artists on the theme of ‘boats’. It doesn’t quite succeed in exciting me, once the novelty of entering a tiny gallery has worn off. Others have felt differently, as one enthusiastic contributor to the comments book noted, “I’m on a boat! I’M. ON. A. BOAT!” The exhibition press release text states that the works in this show explore “collaboration, exchange and ownership”. These issues are evident in differing measures in each of the works. Walmsley’s Boat Shed Gallery encompasses the work of others in an obvious way. Bhreathnach-Cashell’s YOU, besides inviting the visitors participation, includes works by Glasgow based artists Euan Ogilvie and Liam Fogerty – but they’re almost anonymously merged with the rest of the installation. Collaboration in Donnelly’s Observatory is a more obscure matter, taking place between the artist’s constructed persona and invented creatures, and what viewers read into his scenario.

Overall the works in 'Russian Dolls' are given their own individual space and thus function almost entirely independent of each other. The artists in 'Russian Dolls' have certainly presented work on their own terms, creating a distinct set of rules that invite the viewer to negotiate each of their unique, surreal and sometimes alarming worldviews.

Alissa Kleist lives and works in Belfast. She is a visual artist, co-director of Catalyst Arts and a member of artist collective PRIME.

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The Visual Artists’News Sheet

September – October 2013

23

How is IT Made? notebook as we spoke. In turn, I visited their workshops and work sites. Paintings were exchanged for conversations. A disused gangers’ hut in the middle of shifting bog land became my daytime studio for a while. This triangular hut was in full view of the peat harvesting and seemed to beg the question, What would happen to the cutaway?

Workers spoke of how they had grown potatoes, carrots and onions in the past. Someone spoke about an abandoned blueberry project also on Bord na Mona lands. Meanwhile, in the studio I began developing a series of paintings that re-imagined that hut and its observations. One thing led to another and I was given access to a piece of partially cut away bog land to develop as a site action. With support from workers, the site was cleared and planted with mature blueberry bushes sourced from an abandoned FAS project. This plot continues to be a meeting place for workers, artists and interested others. And, of course, the birds get most of the blueberries.

Monica de Bath,Plot 2: notebook conversation

ContrapuntalLandscapes Monica de Bath discusses PLOT / CEAPACH,an evolving body of work that explores land use and our relationshipswith land and with each other.

Plot 2 Located amongst the first mined peatlands in Ireland, Plot 2 follows on from Plot 1. While both explore the complexities of a people’s relationship with land, with each other and with the need to make a living, Plot 2 focuses on sphagnum trials on the mined peatlands.

My entry point into exploring acts of land rehabilitation was a series of conversations and site visits with Bord na Mona managers, ecologists and with the few remaining workers at the Oweninny Works. The return of a miniscule plant to a vast area of mined peatland was the lens through which I thought / painted and conversed with this fragile space in the west of Ireland.

Subnitens, Cuspidatum, Fallax, Capillifolium, Auriculatum, Squarrosu Palustre and Papillosum...

These are different species of sphagnum, some of which are re-establishing themselves amongst the communes at the 20 year old wind farm in Bellacorick. They build peat land slowly and silently.

Calvino’s city of ‘Octavia’ came to mind as I walked through the deposition site where deep cut pools, recently seeded with sphagnum, gaze at the ‘new peat’ being brought in from coastal lands to facilitate the Corrib Gas Project.

“Suspended over the abyss, the life of Octavia’s inhabitants is less uncert 4 than in other cities. They know the net will last only so long…”

Monica de Bath,Plot 1: Untitled (2), 30 x 30 cm, acrylic and mixed media on canvas

Monica de Bath,untitled, 80 x 80 cm, oil over acrylic on canvas

How I work I select sites where tensions related to the industrial use of land exist.

Echoing the “contrapuntal thinking” of Edward Said, the work does not privilege the narrative of expert knowledge over that of lived experience, but instead attempts to reveal the many distinct voices.1 My practice utilises paintings and site visits as a way into conversations with people who have local knowledge and / or an expertise in the area of land use.

a space where I develop drawings in response to ideas emerging from the text.

I make people aware from the outset that elements of these notebook conversations may – with their consent ­– be exhibited alongside paintings at exhibitions or be published in an artist’s book as in Plot 1 / Ceapach 1; Plot 2 / Ceapach 2. Images of selected notebook conversations are often sent back and forth for editing and to further tease out a point.

Making I see painting as a meditative space where traces of diverse views are pulled together; it can establish a position from which to look at things differently. Paintings are portable spaces and can provide the focus around which conversations and meaning manifest themselves.

As conversations deepen, paintings have been exchanged for another person’s time and insights.

Site Actions Examples of site actions include a trial blueberry plot grown on site and sphagnum moss transplants in glass containers.2 Both of these continue to mature within and beyond their original space. The sphagnum is easily transportable to any space where people gather.

My intent is to create a poetic space for deeper dialogue around land use. I say this with respect to Hannah Arendt’s ideas on how the “space of appearance” comes into being wherever men are together “in the manner of speech and action”. 3

Research & Notebook Conversations My research involves meetings with local people and accompanying them on site visits – along with trawling through archives – hardcopy and online – for papers written from different perspectives. Prior to meeting individuals in the real or virtual world, I introduce myself through images of my work.

The approach I take to conversation-based research can vary depending on the individual. It typically begins with checking what their preferred method of recording is. In responding to a set of fairly open-ended questions, the other person will sometimes draw a diagram, a map, a way of working, a tool or a plant species. For me, the notebook serves as an incubator for the cross-fertilisation of ideas, and

Plot 1 Plot 1 is located amongst the peat production fields in the Irish midlands. I live on the edge of the gradually disappearing Bog of Allen.

During a temporary residency in one of Bord na Mona’s last peat production sites in Ireland, I got used to the sight of massive mountains of peat drying over a one to two year period, then being ferried to a power plant, where they went up in smoke in less than an hour.

Over time, people who worked at and managed the site visited my temporary studio and we spoke about our respective work practices. They often wrote down work terms or diagrams in my

New Work My new work in progress follows on from Plot 2 and is located between shore and land. I am currently researching seaweeds that grow along the Irish coast and will select a number of these as a lens through which to explore an accessible coastal area that houses an industrial gas site.

My solo show at Ballina Arts Centre and Ionad Inis Gluaire in Autumn 2012 was accompanied by artist talks, workshops and a radio interview. These events led to further meetings and to a conversation about ‘machair’ ­­– a transitional site between shore and land. Through this, I identified sites, marine expertise and knowledgeable local people with whom to develop deeper conversations about the ecological and social impact of coastal land use.

As I research and develop this new phase of Plot / Ceapach, I want to further develop my approach to painting, site actions and notebook conversations. The thinking of Edward Said, with reference to contrapuntalism / discordant views informs my preparations for ongoing conversations with workers within the mining industry and with concerned others.5 So too does the practice of contemporary Irish and international artists whose work explores the ecological and social impact of land use.

Support My work depends on the support and the interest of people and organisations involved in land use and in the arts. A temporary residency with Bord na Mona, Commission and Research Awards from the Arts Council paved the way for my current practice. Kildare Arts Service has supported my Plot / Ceapach publications to date. The contribution of individual writers, curators and editors to those publications is vital to further developing the work.

Ongoing conversations with peers through residencies, collaborations, international studio visits, peer review critiques (such as the recent Visual Artists Ireland session with Finnish curator, Kati Kiniven) are also extremely important to me.

Monica De Bath Notes 1. Edward Said,Culture and Imperialism, Vintage, 1994 and,Edward Said: The Last Interview, 2003 2. Sphagnum is a form of moss that grows in temperate bogs. The build up of such plants over time forms peat 3. Hannah Arendt,The Human Condition, University of Chicago Press, first published 1958 4. Italo Calvino,Invisible Cities, Giulio Einaudi Editore, 1972 5. Edward Said,Culture, 1994 andEdward Said: The Last Interview, 2003

24

The Visual Artists’News Sheet

September – October 2013

Institution profile

Institution profile

Major Centre

Breeding Innovation

DIRECTOR MICHELLE DE FORGE INTRODUCES DUNAMAISE ARTS CENTRE, PORTLAOISE AND DETAILS SOME UPCOMING VISUAL ARTS EVENTS.

Emer Ní Chíobháin, director of sample-studios, cork, profiles the space and its ongoing development.

Sample-Studios Ltd, Cork is a breeding place for

a 30m space with 220 and 250V electricity outlets,

innovative contemporary practice in the visual

housing equipment such as a ceramic kiln,

and performing arts. Founded in 2011, it is the

woodworking lathe, welders etc. This workshop is

city’s newest arts facilty. The organisation is housed

suitable for materials and processses that need

across three floors of former government buildings

appropriate ventilation – such as working with

on Sullivan’s Quay in the heart of Cork City. Our core philosophy at Sample-Studios Ltd is to support

stone, ceramic, plaster and resin.

The 80m2 print and textiles workroom

professional development for contemporary arts

features a full screen printing set up and some

practitioners through the provision of high quality

intaglio print facilities, as well as sewing, felting

workspaces within a safe, secure, accessible and

and dying resources for textile work.

Sample-Studios offers its members access to a

creative environment.

Sample-Studios Ltd is a non-profit artist-led

resource room, equipped with a 27” iMac, Canon

company and was set up by its board of directors in

Océ large format digital printer and library of art

response to a local need for affordable and

texts.

professional studio space. In June 2010, the third (CCAD) held their annual undergraduate exhibition

Another key space is the workshop, our development / rehearsal space. This 100m2 space includes a designated dance area with sprung

years of Crawford College of Art and Design

Mick O'Dea exhibition at Dunamaise Art Centre Gallery, Portlaoise, image Robert by Redmond studios

Dunamaise Arts Centre was established in 1999,

In November, Karen Handy, currently based

across the third floor of these former government

wooden floor and full size mirrors, as well as

with a gallery and 240-seat theatre, as a major

at the Arthouse, Stradbally, will present ‘Ruminant

buildings. After the show, they continued to inhabit

opaque black-out blinds and basic lighting rig –

centre within Ireland’s regional arts infrastructure.

Ground’, a collection of paintings and drawings.

the space for several months, transforming it into

making it ideal for performing arts rehearsals,

I was appointed Director in December 2012, having

Grounded in the philosophical theories of change

studios. It was at this point, when most of the

workshops and public performances. In 2014, we

previously worked at VISUAL and the George

and permanence in nature, despite being void of

students returned to college, that a few decided to

will introduce a new dedicated performing arts

Bernard Shaw Theatre Carlow, Mermaid Arts

obvious realism, the Irish landscape is an

remain. They approached friends and other

programme for this space at Sample-Studios,

Centre and Birr Theatre & Arts Centre, as well as

underlying inspiration for her work.

interested parties to pass on the mantle.

entitled ‘The Workshop’.

spending many years programming visual arts for

Previously, our open exhibitions have varied

A small group of us began to meet weekly in a

Construction was recently completed on a

Birr Vintage Week & Arts Festival. I am committed

greatly to include national or local, professional or

nearby cafe, until we eventually formed a company

new 50-seat auditorium, built in an amphitheatre

to building on the well established reputation of

amateur artists, with varying levels of participation,

and approached the owner of the building, BAM

format across three tiers. It is fitted with full AV

the

innovative

engagement and success. For this year’s open

Construction. It wasn’t long until we were settled

equipment including an LCD video projector and

collaboration with artists, curators and networks

submission group show, which runs from mid

on the second floor with 20 or so members. This

top of the range speakers. This space offers a

to present the very best of contemporary visual arts

November through December, we intend to further

unique facility for hosting lectures and seminars.

practice.

promote and strengthen the connectivity and

soon grew to 50 and today our membership base comprises over 80 artists.1 As well as housing

Exhibitions over the years have featured work

collaboration of the visual arts community, which

workspace, the building also houses an exhibition

programme – Tactic – which comprises 15 events

in all media, with group shows by local amateurs,

has featured prominently in the Midlands Arts

space, which facilitates networking opportunities

annually. The Tactic programme aims to provide

students and emerging artists programmed across

Magazine since 2006. Gaining support from arts

between artists, curators and collectors.

the seasons. Dunamaise has hosted touring shows

officers in neighbouring counties means that this

new formats for cultural practitioners to curate exhibitions in a 80m2 white-cube-style space. The

from IMMA, Limerick City Gallery, the Arts

show will be presented in conjunction with the

Workspaces vary in size from 10m2 to 45m2, but all boast of generous natural light, 24-hour

Council and the OPW, including work from Louis

local authority arts offices of counties Laois,

access and ample city-centre parking. In total there

creating dialogues and a processes of collaboration

Longford, Offaly and Westmeath.

are 60 studios. Studio membership fees cover the

across different disciplines.

centre,

working

through

le Brocquy and Robert Ballagh. Invited curators

Sample-Studios hosts its own visual arts

Tactic programmers are especially interested in

have included Gemma Tipton and Kevin Kavanagh.

VAI Director Noel Kelly has been invited to

provision of wifi, electricity, heating, insurance,

Sample-Studios also has a dedicated 25m

Shows have ranged from a Pat Moran retrospective

select work by artists originally from, or living in,

waste removal, kitchen (with tea and coffee

residency studio and each year the organisation

to collections of work by inmates of the Portlaoise

these four counties. Dunamaise Gallery will

facilities). Other resources include a photography

offers a four-month residency in this space to a

and Midlands prisons. Ulrich Vogl, Bernadette

showcase this selection, which promises to reflect

darkroom, metal / wood workshop, print / textiles

CCAD graduate, which culminates in the

Madden and most recently, Mick O’Dea have had

the great breadth and depth of artistic expression

workshop, auditorium, computer resource room,

opportunity for a solo-show in the Tactic

solo exhibitions or created new work for the

by emerging and established midlands-based

performing arts rehearsal room and contemporary

programme. The studio has also just launched a

centre.

artists. The prize is a month long residency at the

art gallery.

residency opportuntity for Irish and international

through

The photography darkroom at Sample-

designated exhibition space with wonderful

collaborating closely with arts officers, a wide net

Studios is a compact blacked-out workroom with

natural light. Artists and curators can choose to

will be cast to encourage ongoing networking

safe light. It includes two black and white 12 x 10”

show work exclusively in this space, or, as many

across county borders. This particular open

negative enlargers for printing from 35mm to 6 x 7

prefer, work can also be presented along the curved

exhibition format project, devised by Dunamaise,

formats, open black and white tray developing

staircase, through the welcoming foyer and café

offers great scope for expansion in future years. A

station, film drying cabinet, and extraction unit.

space.

professional development workshop on making

The gallery itself offers a warm, inviting

Arthouse,

Stradbally.

Hopefully,

The gallery programme for the remainder of

successful submissions will be hosted by

2013 and throughout 2014 reflects Dunamaise’s

independent curator Eilís Lavelle in advance of the

visual arts policy of variety and inclusion. A

submission date of Monday 4 November.

number of professional development workshops,

Looking to the end of the year, we will hold a

talks and classes will be held, which are tied into

weekend craft fair in December, to encourage

the various invited solo and group shows, new

Christmas shoppers to support local craft makers

commissions

and artists offering gifts of jewellery, clothing,

and

professionally

curated

exhibitions.

Next season opens with ‘Let’s Connect’,

We hope to continue encouraging (re) discovery of all that Dunamaise has to offer,

contributes to our health and wellbeing. The

engaging loyal patrons and welcoming new

exhibition will bring together Irish-based and

audiences in to enjoy the arts. The dedicated board,

international artists Brian Maguire, Geraldine

management and staff look forward to further

O’Reilly and Éilis Crean, alongside artists using

artistic development as Dunamaise Arts Centre

Laois Mental Health Services. The exhibition was

moves into its next phase.

Council and the HSE, which includes a range of artistic and cultural activities across the county.

www.samplestudios.com Notes 1. The Sample-Studios founding (and current) directors are KimLing Morris, Gerald Heffernan,Emer Ní Chíobháin, JoeMcNicholas and Pamela Myers

and textiles.

which explores how visual art intersects with and

awareness programme promoted by Laois County

Emer Ní Chíobháin Director, Sample-Studios

accessories, wood turning, photography, ceramics

curated by artist and art therapist Angela Delaney,

developed to coincide with a wider mental health

Sample-Studios wood and metal workshop is

artists to utilise the space.

Michelle de Forge, Director, Dunamaise Arts www.dunamaise.ie Sample-Studios, Cork

Sample-Studios member studio view

The Visual Artists’News Sheet

September – October 2013

25

How is it Made?

The Raison D'être of Objects Saidhbhín Gibson discusses her project ‘Sojourn’, which comprised a trail of works installed amongst the displays at Carlow COUNTY Museum (7JUNE – 3 July 2013).

My recent exhibition ‘Sojourn’ was the outcome of a longstanding interest in showing my work in a museum context. The project was installed amongst the displays at Carlow County Museum (7 June – 3 July), and based on the premise of creating a trail of artworks through the building that the visitors would discover – offering juxtapositions between my artworks and the historical artefacts on show.

The venture appealed to me for a number of reasons. Firstly, I saw an affinity between the concerns within my practice and the setting of a museum. My work has a sense of ‘antiquity’ and ‘preservation’ to it – I make fragile constructions from delicate materials such as lichen, twigs, feathers and leaves. Secondly, it provided an opportunity for me to exhibit in a different way than I might in a gallery space. I was interested in creating an opportunity for viewers to happen upon something that they weren’t intentionally seeking. What happens when you come upon an artwork where you are expecting to see an artefact? I set out to present an engaging exhibition for those who wouldn’t necessarily visit an art gallery.

Foraging and happenstance is part of my making process. I collect organic matter: dead birds, insects, leaves, feathers, along with rocks and stones. It’s a process dictated by the seasons and what is available. I also collect man-made elements, which I pair with more conventional art materials and the foraged organic elements, employing thread-based techniques.

Various sites in the vicinity of my studio provide a basis for collecting and researching, including the River Barrow and the Blackstairs Mountains. Artist residencies and site-specific projects have also provided valuable opportunities to collect and work with

materials that aren’t available in my locale.

The incorporation of organic matter into my process seeks to question our relationship with nature. In my work, natural elements and are brought indoors; they become preserved and removed from the location we would ordinarily encounter them in. For me, the act of exhibiting such objects in a museum suggests the threats facing the natural environment.

In March of this year I approached Sinéad Dowling, Carlow Arts Officer, about the possibility of making a project for Carlow County Museum. In response to this she organised a meeting between Dermot Mulligan, the curator of the museum, and myself. At this stage, I had a good sense of the venue. The museum holds a wide range of artefacts of local interest, including archaeological finds recently recovered from excavation sites on the M9 Carlow by-pass scheme and other artefacts from former local industries such as the Carlow Sugar Factory.

I introduced Dermot to my work and outlined the specifics of the project. I received a positive response and proceeded with the planning and realisation of the works for the exhibition. ‘Sojourn’ was supported by Carlow Arts Office and was launched in June during the 2013 Éigse Carlow Arts Festival, as part of the visual art strand. While the exhibition was manifested in a comparatively short timespan, a prolonged period of forethought had preceded it, which was integral to the success of the project.

An important consideration in planning the installation of my works was to place them amongst various artefacts situated throughout the museum in order to create intentional and varied

Saidhbhín Gibson,Tucked 1, all images by Saidhbhín Gibson

dynamics around each piece. I also wanted to explore what would happen to particular works when the negative framing space wasn’t a ‘white cube’ but one inhabited with displays of objects, whose raison d’être was very different from that of an art exhibition.

My piece Organised White Fibres, which comprises three silver frames containing different fossil-like forms crocheted in white cotton thread, was initially going to be placed in a geology cabinet amongst various rock samples and other calcified relics. However, noting that the museum also had a display that outlined the use of flax and fibre in early plumbing, I decided that a less obvious and more contrasting setting would be in the vicinity of these natural fibres in a ‘Trades’ display case. This juxtaposition provided an alternative take on the practical application by man of natural materials.

Allure, the piece I did choose to place in the geology cabinet, took the form of two pocket-sized limestone rocks adorned with false eyelashes, sitting flirtatiously side-by-side – human habits imposed on the inanimate objects. The piece prompted some confusion and curiosity, especially as it was one of the first pieces that visitors encountered upon entering the museum, and some visitors may not have been immediately aware of the exhibition.

In total, I placed 14 works throughout the three floors of the museum. These were all presented in the same fashion as the artefacts. I hoped to encourage a sense of discovery – visitors had to actively seek my pieces out. While there was an information sheet available, listing the titles of works and providing information on materials and location, there were no obvious ‘signals’ (numbers, labels etc) placed next to my works to indicate to whether they were artworks or artefacts. ‘Sojourn’ also aimed to encourage a closer inspection of the museum artefacts. The show presented an opportunity for a surprise engagement with art, which mirrors other themes in my work: looking at outdoors discovery-like experiences and chance encounters with nature.

While compiling the selection of work for ‘Sojourn’, I was thinking about the value we place on objects and what we hold important in public and private contexts. Some have social and historical value and belong to the civic domain; others have a more personal significance. Natural objects seem to span both – they speak of the wider environment and ecology, but also relate to the personal realm, in terms of plants as foodstuffs or domestic horticulture.

Suggestive of these latter themes was my piece entitled Tucked 1, a maple leaf contorted into a cubic form. This work was placed in the company of sugar cubes and other artefacts relating to the history of the Carlow sugar beet factory, which was decommissioned in 2006 after 80 years of operation. My shaping of the leaf in Tucked 1 echoed the equally unnatural manmade forms of the sugar lumps.

Looking at objects in a museum is clearly different to the experience of looking at art in a gallery. A gallery exhibition can provide visual stimulation and cultural discourse that provokes and question, while a museum aims to educate, inform and present facts from and about the past. Each context certainly has things in common – they are sites for observation and contemplation – but the fundamental question I wanted to explore was: Is our mindset as viewers dictated by the location of an exhibition?

The feedback I received from the museum invigilators indicated that the project was well received by the public. Interestingly though, individuals visiting the museum specifically to see the exhibition presumed that my work would be in a designated area.

Overall, I felt that the project was successful. I did have initial concerns that the artworks wouldn’t read as lucidly as they would in a conventional gallery space, but I was willing to take the risk of working in the museum display context. It’s too soon yet for me to assess if this project has led directly to other opportunities for me, but I would show my work again in a ‘non-art’ space if the location was pertinent to the work or the work was made in response to a space.

The planning and research I had carried out for ‘Sojourn’ has proved informative for my ongoing practice.

Saidhbhín Gibson is based in south-east of Ireland. She has exhibited in Ireland and abroad at venues including: Rua Red Winter Open, Dublin; Higher Bridges Gallery, Enniskillen; and World of Threads International, Toronto. She has complete residencies at: SÍM, Iceland; PAF, France ;and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre. Her solo shows in 2013 has taken place at the Arthouse Gallery, Stradbally, Co Laois and Carlow County Museum, Carlow Town.

Saidhbhín Gibson,Organised white fibres (installation view, Carlow CountyMuseum)

Saidhbhín Gibson,Merit (installation view, Carlow CountyMuseum)

26

The Visual Artists’News Sheet

September – October 2013

VAI Get Together

A Get Together talk in the sculpture department at NCAD, all images by Florence Paule G (www.florencepauleg.wordpress.com)

Entrance to NCAD

Getting Together Again LILY POWER OFFERS AN OVERVIEW of THE myriad OPINION AND INSIGHTS SHARED DURING THE COURSE OF VISUAL ARTISTS IRELAND’S GET TOGETHER 2013, WHICH TOOK PLACE ON 28 JUNE AT NCAD, DUBLIN. Visual Artists Ireland’s second annual Get Together event was a busy and energising affair. Over 400 artists and art workers gathered at the National College of Art & Design, Dublin (NCAD) on 28 June for a full day of talks, workshops, discussions, networking and socialising.

The programme was divided into four main strands, which took place in venues across the college: Information Sessions (Briefings 1 & 2); Art Writing – Publicise, Interrogate, Record; Research; CREATE Debate – The Artist and Civic Life – Collaborating with the Sociopolitical and the Environmental.

The Common Room Café, located in NCAD’s ground floor and basement concourse spaces – served as a central information and social hub. The space was occupied by an array of stands representing a diverse range of visual arts organisations and service providers.1 VAI also operated an artists’ bookstall, featuring a broad range of books and zines available for browsing.2 In addition, the Common Room Café provided a space for further discussion over tea and coffee, and for lunchtime refueling provided by excellent local caterers Manning’s Bakery.

In the early evening, the stand-alone Speed Curating event took place, during which approximately 80 artists – following an advance submission process – presented their work to 25 curators in quick-fire meetings.2 The day closed with a wine reception, offering a further platform for meeting and networking with peers.

Strand One: Information Sessions (Briefings 1 & 2) The information sessions comprised 13 talks on a vast range of issues relating to the visual arts and addressing problems faced by artists.

Many of the topics related to VAI’s own ongoing advocacy and research endeavours.

The first discussion was on vacant spaces, following the popularity of this topic at last year’s event. A range of speakers from around the country contributed to the conversation: Eoin Dara and Kim McAleese (Satis House / Household, Belfast), Noelle Collins and Orlaith Treacy (Occupy Space, Limerick), Vanessa Fielding and Annemarie Kilshaw (The Complex, Dublin). Issues discussed included: the challenges involved in developing previously empty spaces; engaging audiences in meaningful ways; and how this type of activity can contribute to the growth and development of a broader arts infrastructure in Ireland.

Mary Conlon (Ormston House, Limerick) returned to the Get Together after speaking on vacant spaces at the 2012 event. She introduced a practical guide to setting challenges, failing spectacularly and "presenting the work you want to do instead of the work you think is wanted of you", entitled ‘Stuff that if you had more than one life you would certainly do but unfortunately your days are numbered’.

Jason E Bowman – artist, curator, writer, visual arts consultant and educator – gave a talk on expanded practice, ‘Outside the Box’.

Artists taking part in the Speed Curating event

Lisa Fingleton presenting

What is seen to constitute ‘artistic practice’, he explained, becomes expanded in multiplicity when focus shifts from ‘the artist’ as primarily a creator of ‘art works’ to someone who (independently, collectively or collaboratively) determines or places emphasis on other modalities within their thinking and representations of what artistic practice does. Yet, there is limited consideration of how those modalities are to be understood as ‘practice’, and should they become so, how those practices are to be enacted and re-enacted via description.

Nick Kaplony, Artquest’s Senior Programme Coordinator and another veteran of the VAI Get Together, spoke on the motivations, benefits and challenges that artists might face when working abroad.

He presented strategies and tools to help make the most of overseas opportunities. Nick also manned an Artquest desk in the Common Room, where he offered further advice.

Audrey Keane from the Arts Council of Ireland continued the discussion on opportunities, introducing the pending EU Creative Europe programme to safeguard cultural diversity in Europe. She identified the strategies needed to make the most out of this opportunity, and explained how to complete a cohesive application for this form of funding, giving examples of transnational projects within the arts.

Linda Shevlin and Lisa Fingleton, both artists / filmmakers, spoke on working as active agents in rural communities (Roscommon

and Kerry respectively) and the challenges this poses. Linda is the co-founder of the alter / native collective, a group of rurally based artists who barter skills, exchange knowledge and invest in shared resources and equipment. In this session, she relayed her experiences working within the collective as well as her wider practice. Lisa Fingleton, who recently wrote about her work in the VAN, discussed the three key principles that help her maintain a sustainable practice: participation, partnership and process. She focused on her work as filmmaker in residence with Kerry County Council and her collaborative, interdisciplinary film and art projects.

VAI board member and certified public accountant Donall Curtin gave a talk on corporate governance in relation to the visual arts. Attendee artist Mary-Ruth Walsh described the talk as “sound advice for those setting up spaces”, agreeing with Donall’s assertion that, “If [corporate governance] is done right, the sum of the parts of the arts organisation or studio becomes greater than the organisation”.

VAI’s Bernadette Beecher highlighted some of the issues currently being discussed by the internships taskforce (Claire Power, TBG&S; Gina O’Kelly, Irish Museums Association; Jim Ricks, artist; Aine Macken, artist). The event was an open forum and speakers invited contributions from the audience. The creation of best practice guidelines, Bernadette explained, would be the next step; a first iteration of these can be found on page 14 of this issue. The taskforce continue will meet next at the Workers’ Forum, to be held at TBG&S, Dublin, 10 October – 2 November.

VAI Director Noel Kelly talked about the ongoing ‘Ask: Has the Artist Been Paid?’ campaign, presenting findings from the recent survey. Details of these can be found in the News section of this issue on page eight. Noel expounded on some of the issues that arose during the consultation / survey process and described the next steps planned. This was followed by a full and frank discussion with the audience.

Continuing the advocacy theme, Alex Davis presented a practical guide to contracts for artists. In his work with IVARO and VAI, Alex deals with a variety of problems that arise from the absence of contracts. He advised on the most common types: exhibition agreements, public art contracts, licensing arrangements and gallery deals.

This was followed by a talk by Claire Dumbrell, from longstanding VAI partners O’Driscoll O’Neill, who spoke on insurance for artists, breaking down some of the official and often opaque language to clarify what artists really need to know.

Leszek Wolnik (Fire, The Copper House Gallery) talked on editioning and fine art printing. He demonstrated the basics of making editioned prints of paintings, illustrations and digital originals, also looking at how to achieve a successful working relationship between master printer and artist. Leszek manned a stall at the Common Room Café for the rest of the day, displaying some fine examples of artist editions printed by Fire.

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2013

27

VAI Get Together

Attendees at the Art Writing discussion

Wine reception above the NCAD gallery space

The Common Room Cafe area in the NCAD concourse

Curator and regular VAN columnist Jonathan Carroll gave a talk aimed at those entering or re-entering practice. He offered advice on issue such as: creating and maintaining networks; having an online presence; utilsing residency opportunities; understanding selection panels; and being relevant / understanding where your own practice sits.

Peter Richards, artist and Director of the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, talked about collaboration in his artistic and curatorial practice. He looked specifically at issues of authorship, ownership and exploitation, and posed the question, ‘Why work with others?’

a familiarity with the technical language of economics, and are acquainted with sporting terminology, so why should visual arts writing be expected to ‘dumb down’ its own specialist idiom? Cristin Leach-Hughes countered this, stating that, “good writing is good writing” across the board, whether it’s about golf or relational aesthetics.

President’ (TBG&S, Dublin, 12 April – 8 June 2013), examining the role and impact of art with socio-political content. For this project, Nolan invited President Michael D Higgins to hand over, for the period of one day, the Presidency of Ireland posthumously to Willie Delaney, a child who died whilst under the care of the state. Attendee Sarah Kelleher described how “Nolan, a softly spoken yet eloquently persuasive presence, explained that his intention was not to create a memorial to those victims, but instead to animate social space with the simple gesture of a proposition. The problem with the memorial or monument as Nolan sees it, is that it acts as a full stop, drawing a line under an episode that was never adequately resolved”.

Artist Sean Taylor talked about a project he undertook as part of the art / science collaborative duo Softday (with Mikael Fernström), for whom environmental context is central. This particular work focused on the lives of honeybees and the threats they currently face.

The two gathered data and field recordings, working with the beekeeping monks of Glenstal Abbey, County Limerick, and created music from their findings.

Strand Two: Art Writing: Publicise, Interrogate, Record ‘Art Writing: Publicise, Interrogate, Record’ was presented in association with the Irish section of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) and brought together speakers from academia, art history and the arts media to consider the multiple meanings, functions and potential of art writing in Ireland, with a focus on the role of criticism and addressing broader audiences.

Christa-Maria Lerm-Hayes (Head of Research Graduate School and Reader in History and Theory of Art at University of Ulster) presented a wide spectrum of writings about art and the attendant issues and questions they raise. The subjects considered included: countering the dearth of critical writing in Ireland; the desire to theorise and contextualise practice by artists themselves and by others; art writing as a hybrid area of artistic engagement; academic agendas and issues, such as artists writing PhDs; and the status of artists who teach at third level as ‘research’.

Freelance art and architecture critic, Marianne O’Kane Boal, explored the historical evolution of criticism, as well as considering the fundamental questions about how and why the experience of viewing art should be mediated by critics / curators / writers. Why is there a demand for an intervention between art and audience? Is it constructive for a critic to champion an individual artist? What legacy does arts criticism have? What is criticism’s relevance to contemporary art practice and production?

In the afternoon, Declan Long (NCAD MA course director, critic and 2013 Turner Prize panelist) chaired a panel discussion with Cristin Leach (art critic at the Sunday Times, Ireland, contributor to RTE’s The Works and freelance radio and TV journalist); Fionola Meredith (freelance writer and broadcaster for the Irish Times, the Belfast Telegraph, the Guardian and BBC NI); and Sarah Ryder (Assistant Commissioning Editor, RTÉ Factual).

The discussion was devised as a constructive response to the frequent complaint from with the visual arts sector that there is a lack of serious media coverage in Ireland of contemporary art, which is in turn frustrating attempts to reach, develop and maintain audiences.

Much of the panelists’ conversation and several comments from the floor centred on questions of quantity and quality. In relation to the latter, as attendee Sarah Kelleher noted, “the kind of language used by earnest institutions and serious artists – wooly, elitist, full of impenetrable jargon” was “anathema to the average reader / viewer / listener”.4 Declan Long argued that the general public has developed

Strand Three: Research This strand was divided into three talks, each based on the presenter’s recent, ongoing research in various fields relating to the visual arts.

Una Henry, an Amsterdam based cultural producer currently undertaking a PhD in Fine Arts at the University of Oxford, discussed the project she conceived with Out of Line (Ool) Lab for Art and Political Theory. She began by introducing the aims of Ool, an interdisciplinary and investigative platform that aims to examine what, how and who exists in the archives of cultural history, while exploring the links between contemporary art practices, education, cinema, tactile media and political activism. Una then described Ool’s development of a participative, evolving and publicly-accessible online archive. She approached fundamental questions about the archive on how history can be written at this precise moment when there are unlimited and complex social, cultural, economic, political, religious and class constructs at play.

Dr Alvina Grosu, Cultural Diversity Officer for the Arts Council of Ireland, introduced the concept of cultural diversity in the arts, beginning with some broad statistics about diversity in Ireland as a whole. Alvina then presented some best practice guidelines and gave examples of recent collaborations between artists from culturally and ethnically diverse communities.

Martina Mullaney, an Irish-born, London-based artist, introduced her ongoing project, Enemies of Good Art, which looks at the realities of being a creative practitioner with family commitments. Mullaney has organised a series of public meetings at the Whitechapel Gallery, and a pop-up crèche at the Tate Modern; she described having a child at an art gallery as “like having the plague”. Although fathers are welcome at her events, Mullaney fundamentally views this as a feminist issue, as women continue to shoulder a greater share of childcare responsibilities. There were many responses from those with personal experience of these problems, as well as those who felt children would always be incongruous to a gallery setting. The Mothership Project, a group attempting to address these issue in an Irish context, has recently been established (www. themothershipproject.wordpress.com).

Strand Four: CREATE Debate: The Artist and Civic Life – Collaborating with the Socio-political and the Environmental CREATE, the national development agency for collaborative arts, presented two talks by artists whose collaborative artistic projects have inspired them to engage in socio-political and environmental arenas. Each session was 20 – 30 minutes long and was followed by a Q&A session chaired by CREATE’s Katherine Atkinson.

Artist Seamus Nolan discussed his recent exhibition ‘10th

Speed Curating The Speed Curating event, brainchild of VAI CEO Noel Kelly, and managed by Aine Macken, took place for the first time this year and proved a huge success. Artists submitted brief bios and examples of work beforehand, and were given the opportunity to meet curators on a one-to-one basis in a sociable ‘speed dating’ format. Rayne Booth, who took part as curator for TBG&S, commented that, “Representing your work in an honest, clear and simple way is a good habit for artists to develop in speaking to curators and in completing applications”. VAI plans to roll this event out in the near future.

Thank You! VAI would like to say a final thank you to all who attended and presented at the Get Together. We would also like to thank our fantastic volunteers and our hosts, NCAD. We have already started planning the 2014 event and value any input or suggestions you may have. Until next year!

Lily Power, VAI Assistant Editor Notes 1. The European Cultural Contact Point, Officer of International Arts; O’Driscoll O’Neill Insurance; the Arts Council of Ireland; Artquest; Block T; CREATE; Fire / the Copper House Gallery; Monster Truck; Louth Craftmark; La Catedral Studios; D2 Communications; Firestation Artists’ Studios; Market Studios; Occupy Paper; Maurice Ward, the Dublin Painting and Sketching Society; Art Clash; Catalyst Arts; the Burren College of Art; Cork Institute of Technology; eva International; Kennedy’s Art Supplies; Castle Print; NIVAL; NCAD; Axis Web; IVARO; VAI; TBG&S, Ormston House.

2. Following the success of this venture, VAI invites submissions for a permanent artists’ books area at our office Dublin. Email lily@visualartists.ie for more details.

3. Emma Dean (Baltic, Newcastle); Lucy Newman Cleeve (Man & Eve, SE London); Peter Richards (Golden Thread, Belfast); Raphael Gugax (Migros, Zurich); Ann Davoren (West Cork Arts Centre); Mary Cremin (Independent curator); Sheena Barrett (The Lab, Dublin); Dawn Williams (Crawford Art Gallery, Cork); Hugh Mullholland (The MAC, Belfast); Josephine Kelliher (The Rubicon Gallery, Dublin); Ruth Carroll (RHA, Dublin); Marianne O’Kane Boal (Freelance Curator); Kevin Kavanagh (Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin); Rayne Booth (Programme Curator at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios (TBG+S), Dublin.); Patricia Clyne – Kelly; Jerome O’Drisceoil (Green on Red, Dublin); Davey Moor (Monster Truck Gallery, Dublin); Mark Cullen (Pallas); Mark Ellis (Nag Gallery & Cross Gallery, Dublin); Gregory McCartney (Void, Derry); Belinda Quirke (Solstice); Aoife Ruane (Highlanes); Darragh Hogan (Kerlin Gallery); Oonagh Young (Oonagh Young Gallery); Riann Coulter (F.E. McWilliams Gallery, Banbridge) 4. Sarah Kelligher, along with Gemma Carroll, Patricia Clyne Kelly, Rayne Booth, Ross Murray, Shay Reilly and Sinead O'Connell reported on the Get Together as part of Christin Leach Hughes's masterclasses on art writing ( 26 June / 24 July 2013). Due to space limitations in the VAN, it wasn't possible to publish these accounts, but we would like to thank the writers for their insights and overviews of the event, which informed this text.

28

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2013

Institution profile

Sinéad Bhreathnach-Cashell, Catalyst Camp Site, 28 February – 10 March 2013

Institutional Impermanence

Bryan Birtles considers the significance of 20 years of Catalyst Arts, belfast.

It’s a pretty simple exercise to sum up the legacy of Catalyst Arts and its two-decade contribution to Belfast’s artistic community: there is no artistic community in Belfast without Catalyst Arts. I think it’s only 30% hyperbole to say so.

There’s something Brian Eno said about the Velvet Underground which I think is worth paraphrasing here – that everyone who bought a copy of the band’s first album started their own band.

Catalyst is like that. Its reach extends far beyond its vast and adaptable space on College Court. It’s a breeding ground for doers. Past directors don’t simply slink off into Belfast’s dark corners (of which there are many) never to be heard from again. They go on to start their own organisations, to be instrumental in the propagation of visual culture throughout Northern Ireland and the world.

Catalyst’s tentacles extend into the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast Exposed, The MAC, the Ulster Museum and the University of Ulster, as well as into studios and workshops, galleries big and small across Northern Ireland, Europe and America. Catalyst is the womb from which Belfast’s art scene emerged 20 years ago.

The History Catalyst opened in 1993 with no building. It responded to a vacuum in Belfast’s cultural landscape that could be filled with a not-forprofit, artist-run space. It modeled itself on Glasgow’s Transmission Gallery, 10 years old at the time and offered real-world experience to artists and curators through rolling two-year directorships. These co-directors continue to plan the gallery’s programming, take care of administrative tasks, help mount shows and drink cheap beer at openings while covered in paint and dust.

It isn’t a precious place Despite this, Catalyst almost died. As recently as 2006 the gallery was on its last legs, down to a single director (the constitution allows for up to 10) and in danger of becoming irrelevant. It has moved spaces five times, four in a two-year period. It has never had the money to hire a team of movers so its directors – aided by shopping trolleys – carted computers, equipment, paperwork, books and artwork from one space to another. It has had its funding cut, reinstated, cut again, reinstated again, threatened, left alone, cut, and reinstated. Each time it goes to the brink, Catalyst manages to pull itself back. Now the organisation seems stronger than ever: this year, for the first time, Catalyst will have had all 10 directorships filled.

Catalyst’s main strength as an organisation is that it has almost no memory. It exists in a city that stubbornly refuses to forget the past, yet it functions in a state of permanent amnesia. The rolling

directorships, the absence of hierarchy or continuity in its structure, the institutional impermanence of Catalyst Arts means the organisation makes the same mistakes over and over and never learns from them. Not ever.

This puts Catalyst in an interesting position within Belfast. On one hand it’s a 20-year-old institution that deserves (and sometimes garners) the respect that such history engenders. On the other, its curatorial practices are defined by the enthusiasm of novices, whose skills are refined for two years at a time and no further. Catalyst walks the line between institutional respectability and anarchy.

This lack of memory does, however, make Catalyst a site of great experimentation, and allows it to expand the definition of artistic practice, to take risks that other galleries couldn’t afford. To date, Catalyst has been a cinema, a radio station, a jumble sale, a wrestling ring and a bakery. Its outsider status allows it to tell stories that go beyond the commercial or institutional spaces in the city. Within its walls is fostered a spirit of collaboration, where artists have control over their work and freshly-minted curators are given an opportunity not afforded to them in other cities: to jump into the co-directorship of a fully-funded gallery without any previous experience. It is a place of constant change, beholden to no one but its members.

The gallery is committed to promoting emerging artists and providing opportunities for them. Catalyst is involved in more than 15 shows per year and endeavours not to show the same artist twice.

A members’ show and four open calls take place during the year. It’s open to new ideas and new people, in a state of constant flux, and it hopes to never change.

The Legacy Inside the small, cluttered office off to the side of the gallery lies the only thing ‘institutional’ about the place: the archives. Scattered across 16 cardboard boxes perched precariously on a high shelf – as well as another two-dozen or so currently being digitised and preserved at the University of Ulster – the archive is the only real proof that the gallery has existed for two decades.

If you speak to the current team of co-directors, none seems eager to discuss the legacy of the organisation. They choose not to focus on the shows that have come before, the successes or failures that preceded them. It’s a struggle even to elicit the fact that Turner Prize winner Susan Philipsz and Turner Prize nominee Phil Collins are both former directors. A David Shrigley solo show held in 1996 gets mentioned, but glossed over. When discussing how they’d like the legacy of Catalyst Arts to be framed, the career outcomes of

people who spent formative years there is something nobody wants to dwell on. Even mentioning it seems gauche.

For the current crop of directors, like those who came before them, moving forward is the only option. It’s interesting to note, too, that the largest survey of Catalyst’s history won’t even be held in its own gallery, nor will it be curated by any of the current directors.

Instead, the most comprehensive exploration of Catalyst Art’s legacy will be held on the other side of the city centre at the Golden Thread Gallery from 17 October – 30 November, and will be curated by former Catalyst director Cherie Driver, whose interest in the archive and academic rigour won her the job at a gallery run by former Catalyst director Peter Richards. Current directors – in an effort to present an impartial show, one that reflected the gallery’s complete history instead of its most recent years – decided it would be better to remain on the outside of the process, despite being invited to participate. The group will join a panel discussion and have assisted when called upon but, curatorially, they haven’t been very involved.

None of them seem fazed by it.

A birthday celebration is planned however, which will take place in August. Entitled 'I Heart Catalyst Arts', it will be a black tie event with cocktails and dancing. Previous exhibitors and directors from the past 20 years will be invited to submit a small, A5 sized piece of work before the party. Partygoers will then purchase the work by raffle tickets sold for £15; each numbered ticket corresponds to a number on the back of each piece, but ticket buyers won’t know which one they’ve bought until the end of the party.

When Catalyst thinks of the best way to celebrate a significant anniversary, it doesn’t root around in the boxes for old posters, it doesn’t survey the work that went on across two decades, five addresses and more than 60 past directors. It asks for new work. It moves forward.

That is Catalyst’s legacy, the thing it can offer and has offered Belfast’s artists for 20 years and will do for 20 more. (And 20 more after that.) Catalyst is the place for artists to make mistakes on a larger stage than inside a lonely studio where no one can see; it’s the place to revel in camaraderie and prop oneself up on the support that the gallery offers emerging artists. Catalyst is a place where new galleries are incubated, to fan out over the city and the world. It began in a cultural vacuum, out of nothing, and it sits at the centre of an art scene that learned to punch well above its weight – an art scene it taught to punch that way. That’s what Catalyst did. That’s what Catalyst does.

Bryan Birtles is an arts journalist from Canada living in Belfast. www.catalystarts.org.uk

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2013

29

VAI northern Ireland manager

VAI west of ireland representative

Sprouting Pods

Rigorous Retreat

Feargal O’Malley reports on The arrival of 'art pods' in bangor.

Aideen Barry profiles the Art Omi Residency in upstate New York, which features intensive studio visits and discussions as part of its programme for artists in Residence.

I arrived in Bangor on a glorious and unusually sunny day, in search of the well-publicised Project 24 Art Pods. Project 24 (www.project24ni.com) is a temporary art project, taking place along a seafront site at Queen’s Parade, Bangor. It has transformed a derelict space into a vibrant and dynamic area at the heart of the town. The project includes 12 artist studios (or pods), an event space and a community garden. The artist pods are housed in customised shipping containers with brightly-coloured exteriors.

Project 24 aims to engage with 24 artists over 24 months. The hope is that the redeveloped area will encourage tourism in Bangor and provide a creative hub for both residents and visitors. One of the main driving forces behind this initiative has been the continual delay of a Queen’s Parade development that would include hotels, convention centres and homes. A hefty investment has been injected into this temporary revitalisation project to halt the spiral of decay at the seafront, to the tune of £288,000. The containers will be in place for two years and then be relocated to another site within the town.

The pods, with their day-glo colours, match the seafront aesthetic perfectly. You might think, like I did, that the colour would be garish and paralyse your eyes like visual pepper spray, but no, it doesn’t seem out of place near the promenade and has certainly populated the redundant area. The pods are small, but sufficient for small-scale artistic endeavours, each with their own shop frontage. It’s an odd thing to look at the work on display and simultaneously see the artists looking back at you – a slightly awkward experience truth be told. I can only imagine what the artists feel like.

Jo Hatty, one of the artists involved in the project, said, “For me, Project 24 NI was an opportunity to be involved in a unique project in my home town. It is challenging and interesting to be in a ‘fish bowl’. People seem to have a sense of ownership of the project and so are very forthright in their opinions, which I find very positive and illuminating. It has made me look at my work and practice in a different way. There is a little confusion as to whether the pods are shops or studios. For me,

it is definitely a studio space, a place to work and for people to see my work and how I work – to demystify the process”.

I would perhaps have liked to seen a wider diversity of art practices incorporated into the project, as the majority of the art and craft on display had a particular commercial lean to it. That is not to say that I don’t understand the start up business element to the project or the argument that the ‘retail element enhances sustainability’ – to put it into local council language.

I recently had a frank conversation with two artists at the annual VAI Get Together at NCAD, who were at different ends of the economic and cultural spectrum. One made an extremely good living from art, but felt that he wasn’t being taking seriously, and the other couldn’t give his work away but had a CV that all artists would aspire to – featuring exhibitions in large institutional etc.

Defining career success is difficult; being pragmatic and making a living is another matter altogether!

Lee Boyd, another of the artists involved in the project, said, “Since April 2013 I have been at Project 24 in my green pod. The experience has been great; certainly, being open and accessible to the general public has helped engage a wider audience with the arts in general. Hopefully it will encourage them to view and attend other galleries and creative spaces. Working along side other artists and crafts people is inspiring and having a dedicated studio space to work from allows for a more professional approach to the business of creating art. Project 24 is more than just the studios, it is drawing attention to the wealth of creative talent we have here and encourages interaction in the creative process”.

If you look past the novelty aspect and the day-glow colours, there is something old-fashioned about the project. I have conflicting feelings about it. At one level it is fantastic to give artists opportunities for publicity, profile building and a viable way of making money. On the other hand, I wonder about the long-term legacy of the project – will people remember the artists or the novelty? I can imagine a backlash for future initiatives if this project doesn’t deliver on one of its main success criteria and objectives: to engage with the public and local community at large. This could effect small-scale creative projects that struggle with any kind of investment from a council arts office, if not successful. A feeling I couldn’t shake was that it was more a tourist attraction than a cultural investment in the local arts infrastructure. I really hope the project and the artists’ development is a success that leads on to further public-facing projects.

Feargal O’Malley Feargal@visualartists-ni.org

Art Pods, Bangor, all images courtesy of Project 24

Art Pods, Bangor

Art Pods, Bangor

Art Omi studio barn

Art Omi studio barn, inside view

From time to time in this column I shed a little bit of light on my art practice by profiling some of the organisations, initiatives and opportunities I’ve encountered and experienced in pursuit of my own work. My most recent project took me literally ‘West of Ireland’ – over to Ghent in upstate New York, to undertake and artists’ residency at the Art Omi International Centre for the Arts (www. artomi.org).

Art Omi is a not-for-profit organisation that offers a programme of residencies for international visual artists. It is also the site of the Fields Sculpture Park, which showcases contemporary sculpture and architecture all year round. Omi is situated on 300 acres of rolling farmland with spectacular views of the Catskills and the Hudson River Valley.

The residency has a prestigious international reputation.

The Art Omi complex comprises a former agricultural barn, outhouses and a number of residential buildings. The Omi residencies take place for five weeks every June – July. The call out for applications goes out in December and each year a jury made up of leading curators, critics and writers selects 30 artists.

Omi provide artists with a studio, living quarters and meals at no cost; artists are responsible for their travel costs and art materials. It should be noted that the Omi residency does not include provision of accommodation for artists’ spouses and children. I rented a place for my family and myself during my time at Omi. Each year a distinguished critic / curator is appointed as a critic-in-residence for the Art Omi programme; they lead discussions and make individual studio visits. This year, the critic-in-residence was Charlotta Kolk, a former curator of the Brooklyn Museum, now an independent curator and critic.

In addition, Dominique Nahas, the 2013 Omi Critic Emeritus, led one-to-one critiques, group studio visits and screenings during the 2013 programme.

Omi residencies expand the scope of traditional artists’ retreats, by encompassing introductions to gallerists, publishers, critics, agents, curators and collectors as part of the residency programme.

This approach is facilitated during an intensive three-week period in the middle of the residency, where artists meet one-to-one with various key practitioners of the New York art scene. I signed up to a number of studio visits with individuals such as Michelle Hendeleman (artist), Stephan Stoyanov (gallerist), Sarah Reisman (Percent for Art, New York), Saul Ostrow (critic), Elaine Reichek (artist), Gregory Volk (curator) and David Rhodes (artist and critic).

The idea is that the artists can use these meetings to cultivate valuable opportunities for networking and discuss their work. It’s unusual for an artist to deliberately carve out a period of their professional time to specifically have the meat and bones of their concerns and methodologies rigorously scrutinised. I found it challenging and terrifying, but the process took place in a supportive environment. Though it could be seen as a somewhat contrived way for artists to engage with art professionals, personally, I found being critiqued by a diverse range of people about the conceptual scaffolding of my practice a very stimulating and valuable experience. The sense of support I felt was cemented by the fact that my international peers were also ‘exposing’ their practices in the same way. During the group discussions and debates, all the artists on the residency aired and shared very human and honest concerns about living and working as artists in challenging times.

The Art Omi residency program culminates with an open studio day, during which hundreds of visitors – a mixture of the public and the art world – descend on the studios, to see the work that the artists have generated during their time on the residency. The emphasis is on artists creating something new, though not necessarily wholly resolved, during their time on the residency. This did feel like a tall order at times. Trying to create a new work, while also trying to balance between 10 – 25 intensive studio visits seemed like an awesome task, but all the artists seemed to make it happen. It felt as if a mutual mania was driving each of us to push our practice to the next level.

When the residency is complete, artists are asked to donate a piece of work to the Art Omi collection – contributing to an immense collection that spans three decades. This collection will, hopefully, be put on display in the not too distant future. There are also plans to expand the Omi campus to include a purpose built exhibition and gallery space in the next five years.

Further Moves After 15 years of living in County Galway, my family and I have moved to County Clare. In my next article, I will be covering some of the visual arts activities and resources offered in my new neighbourhood. I will also give an account of my participation in a recent VAI Common Room Café event held in Ormston House, Limerick, taking place in September. Further Common Room Café and clinic events will be kicking off around various parts of the West over the next few months; the VAI website will post all the details.

Aideen Barry www.aideenbarry.com

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The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2013

How is it Made?

Kate Nolan, spread from Neither, 2013

Kate Nolan, Oleg, 2010, 50 x 50cm

Understanding Place & People

imagined that this would translate into a more authentic and personal account, but as I re-read and listened back to these discussions, I realised that I was always leading the conversation.

At this point I decided to work with a designer, to not only create the layout of the book, but to figure out how to develop more of an integration between my images and my subjects thoughts. I approached SYB – Sybren Kuiper (www.sybontwerp.nl), the internationally renowned photo-book designer, to work with me.

Thankfully Kuiper was interested in the project. After many conversations and having viewed other works that used texts from individuals, we decided to create my book as a type of diary. This would make the project more personal to the individual women and have the viewer engage deeper with the place and its rich stories.

I asked my participants to write diary entries, giving them little guidance other then asking for something personal and simple they would write to themselves. I soon began to receive a diverse collection of texts with stories of love, expectations and fears. These narratives were really interesting to me because these women were now my friends. Some texts were very direct and descriptive, while other participants chose to create myth around themselves, rather than telling straight truths. There were also many contrasts, as the women that I asked were from varied backgrounds and social classes. Some had travelled extensively, while others had never left Kaliningrad.

The book has been in production for the past year and it has not been an easy process. I decided early on to self-publish the book, as most photo-book publishers now request between €10,000 to €15,000 from emerging artists for a run of around 1,000 copies. Of this, the artist receives about 100 copies. While this is of course a huge cost, publishers deal with marketing and distribution, and a good publisher has a trusted track record among book buyers. Deciding to work with an innovative contemporary designer also meant that the production costs were larger, as we had chosen a more unusual, shorter page length and different paper stocks. The printing quote I received was approximately €12,000, and so I decided (as many have done before) to use the crowd-funding site Indiegogo, to pre-sell the book. My funding campaign ran for three weeks, supported by online interviews, reviews, radio spots and talks. Unfortunately, it did not achieve the funding target within the timeframe.

However, Neither was eventually picked up for publication by Kehrer Verlag, a German publisher that specialises in photography and fine art books. Kehrer Verlag was also the project leader for the European Publishers Award for Photography 2013. We are in conversation about prices and design and towards the end of September the publisher, designer and myself will meet in Amsterdam to iron out the details.

The process of creating, editing, producing and distributing Neither, my first major body of work presented in photo-book form, has been a steep learning curve. Having committed many years to this project, it has become a large part of my life, and it is a continuing and evolving process, with every exhibition being tighter and bringing me closer to the final vision for this work. At its core, Neither examines the links between place, history and identity through the eyes of individual women.

Kate Nolan discusses making the photobook of her project ‘Neither’, a collaborative study of young women from the small Russian federation of Kaliningrad.

'Neither’ is a photographic project exploring the thoughts and experiences of young women from Kaliningrad. Kaliningrad is a federation of Russia, nestled between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Coast. I first heard of the region in 2005 while travelling around the Baltic States that had just joined the EU. I was trying to get from Gdansk to Vilnius, and cutting straight through Kaliningrad was geographically the simplest way, but a Russian Visa would be required to enter and leave the territory.

Kaliningrad has been fraught with great transformations. It was once known as Königsberg and was a major Prussian city. When the Red Army invaded in 1944, the German and Lithuanian populations fled or were killed. Those who live here tell how Stalin implored the rural and the poor of Russia to “come to Königsberg – choose your home and build your city”. During the Cold War, the region was closed to foreigners, and though it re-opened after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kaliningrad was severed from Russia by the emergence of newly independent Baltic States. Now, one must cross over 800km through Lithuania and Belarus to get to ‘Big Russia’. It is this geographic isolation – being neither a part of Europe, nor physically connected its ‘motherland – that gives Kaliningrad its uniqueness.

Stubbornness and intrigue drew me back to the region in 2009. I had become fascinated by the elusive nature and complex history of this isolated land. I wanted to see for myself how an area cut off from its ‘motherland’, a locked-down region for so long, affected the identity of the individual.

Like a lot of my work, this project began as a wider profile that narrowed itself down through the process of making the work.

Between 2009 and 2012, I visited the city of Kaliningrad, staying in the homes of several women for two to three weeks at a time: Natasha, Jenya, Anastasyia and Olga. These women opened Kaliningrad and its many narratives up to me. Over very open exchanges conducted over many cups of tea, we built up a level of mutual trust that not only allowed me to photograph the women, but also led to strong and enduring friendships.

I could not in good conscience just take from these women without opening up about myself. Thus ‘Neither’ became a collaborative project and any fears of misrepresentation dissipated as we discussed and edited the project together.

The resultant imagery is a mix of portraiture, landscapes and details of interiors and buildings, which seek to illustrate the integral link between these elements. The landscape and the individual are of equal importance in the narrative. For example ‘the Monster’ – what locals call the hulking House of the Soviets – is paired with a portrait of Natasha in her bedroom. The Russians tore down Konigsberg castle and replaced it with this monstrosity.

I worked with film, so it was not until I returned home and had developed and printed the negatives, that I could see my images and had time to fine-tune this body of work. Over the three years that I took photographs in Kaliningrad, I amassed over 2,000 images that I edited down to 40 – 50 core photographs. The photographs are quite minimalist and I’ve had to cull many cherished images to create the

Kate Nolan Alissa, 2011, 50x50cm

effects needed to tell my story. Depending on what context I show these works in – gallery, magazine, online review, group show, projection – I’ve had to continuously re-edit the project, while still telling the same story, be it in three or 30 images.

The ‘Neither’ project was first exhibited in Kaliningrad, in 2010, under the title ‘Not Russia, Not Europe’. Since then it has been shown in the UK, Ireland, Belgium and USA. The Kaliningrad exhibition was the most nerve-wracking but important showing of the work to date, as I was bringing the work back to the people I had photographed.

The project was still in progress when I travelled back to the city – with the images rolled in a tube, unsure of what the exhibition space would be like and what feedback I would receive.

The exhibition venue was the Fotohudozhnikow, a space run by the Kaliningrad photo club. It was a simple and small exhibition of eight images, presented in clip frames and hung from wires – but it suited the location and the imagery. The reaction to the work was varied. One man did not understand why I was taking pictures of these boring everyday things. Anastasyia enjoyed the portrait I made of her; others questioned if I was just cementing the stereotypical western image of Russia. All of these points led to a lively discussion, which fed further into the work and made me consider how I could represent, as an outsider, a place I couldn’t possibly understand.

These questions of representation led me to realise that I needed to give the women I worked with an equal voice within the work – by integrating their texts with my images in a book format. During my time within Kaliningrad, I conducted many interviews and made recordings of conversations. When it came to producing the book, I

Kate Nolan is an Irish visual artist based in Dublin, Ireland.

‘Neither’ was awarded the Alliance Francaise Photography Prize and was shown as part PhotoIreland 2012. Nolan is the director of Slideluck Potshow, Dublin. The artist is currently working on a project around male ‘status anxiety’. www. katenolan.co.uk

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The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2013

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2013

31

Project profile

Miriam O'Connor, Refreshments

Miriam O'Connor, 'Work suit' jacket

Miriam O'Connor, 11.46 am – NWCI

Miriam O'Connor, Lecturn – SIPTU

Miriam O'Connor, The Lobby – SIPTU

Miriam O'Connor, Visit to Dáil

Reflecting & Generating Sarah Allen PROFILES THE Legacy Project, an art commission intiated by the National Women’s Council of Ireland, which focuses on representations of women and work.

The Legacy Project – commissioned by The National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) and supported by funding from Atlantic Philanthropies – aims to challenge mainstream representations of women and work and explore alternative modes of representation.

Boasting 160 member groups, and a wide range of supporting bodies and individual members, the NWCI is Ireland’s leading women’s membership organisation and seeks equality between the genders.1 The commission process began with NWCI advertising a call out to potential project organisers. Dublin based curator Valerie Connor responded to this invitation and began a process of consulting with the NWCI, in order to tease out the issues at the heart of the project.

Key questions arose around gender-related issues relating to the symbolic and financial values attached work.

Eschewing the over-prescriptive curatorial strategy of enforcing a theme, the project progressed via dialogue between the curator and the artists, with an eye to enabling a fluid exchange of ideas. The artists selected for this commission – Anne Tallentire, Miriam O’Connor, Sarah Browne and Vagabond Reviews (Ailbhe Murphy & Ciarán Smyth) – were chosen on the basis of existing parallels between their practices and concerns with the focus of The Legacy Project.

It’s apt that photography – an investigational and revelatory medium – has emerged as an important form of practice in The Legacy Project, both in the research and final stages of the participating artists’ works. As Anne Tallentire puts it, “The photographic document opens up a dialectic space between past and present – it can become an object of interrogation and critical speculation and can produce new discourses”. Discussing her own work, she adds, “my work engages processes that rely on the contingent and as such this work will employ strategies related to the peripatetic and speculative, which will be evident in what I finally construct”. Tallentire’s work engages with women working in the field of architectural practice and will reflect on the influence of buildings and environments in which we live and work, “drawing attention to how a politics of labour can be made evident in relation to what lies hidden in the street and the built environment”.

For Sarah Browne, photography functions as an important point of contact with the past. Browne’s research for The Legacy Project began by comparing and contrasting two sets of photographic images.

The first is a 100-year-old selection of images drawn from a museum archive that depict women in the Shetland Islands knitting while walking; the second is a selection of contemporary images drawn from online image banks depicting women using computers and mobile devices to ‘multi-task’. Browne’s work also explores occupations that exist on the fringes of definition – such as domestic work or casual childcare – strands of employment that are currently disorganised, socially fragmented and not unionised. Browne will be collaborating with poet Alice Lyons to create work in the memory of Irish architect

Eileen Gray (1878 – 1976), andproduce a new body of sculptural work that will explore the subject of immaterial labour.

Motivated by women’s experiences which remain beneath the threshold of visibility, Vagabond Reviews (Ailbhe Murphy and Ciarán Smyth) have devised a “fragmentary archival repository of women’s labour practices, both contemporary and historical” that they’ve entitled (In)Visible Labour Factorium. Vagabond Reviews are inviting women to creatively contribute – individually and collectively via workshops – to a process of tracing hidden narratives around experiences of work. The artists note, “Through a combination of textual traces and photographic imagery, we are asking people to consider the invisible practices of organising, of kindness and of belonging that together form a rich counterpoint to the more institutionally validated metrics which underpin the technocratic organisation of labour”.

Miriam O’Connor is also dealing with experiences that have been consigned to the margins of representation. O’Connor has been photographing events and talks held by the NWCI, in order to expose the operations of the body to a wider public. However, O’Connor’s work turns the camera against itself, in a self-reflexive critique of the medium’s veracity and efficacy as a tool for critical investigation.

Rather than focusing her lens on the central action at these events, the artist is amassing portraits of NWCI members and participants, as well as honing in on seemingly obscure or insignificant details, which often fall ‘outside the frame’ of conventional photography.

As part of this process, O’Connor is exploring the photographic archive held at the NWCI. For the artist, “images from this archive often suggest the photograph as unproblematic, as something to be taken for granted, and illuminate in a very direct sense, a performance for the camera”. Through editing and sequencing, the final presentation of O’Connor’s work will present a dialogue between her photographs and archival images in order to shed light on the discrepancies between these two discrete modes of ‘seeing’.

Repurposing archival photographs is an approach that stretches back beyond the work of Andy Warhol and remains a fertile method for contemporary artists to explore issues of identity, history and memory. These issues are key to The Legacy Project as it seeks to bridge the gap between the historical and the contemporary in order to comment on the present moment while maintaining a critical relationship with the past.

The realisation of The Legacy Project during the centenary year of the 1913 Lockout has been of crucial significance – the impetus for the project being the role of the women workers who went on strike in the Jacob’s biscuit factory during the Lockout. To this end, the curator and artists are involved with events running in conjunction with ‘Lockout 1913 2013’ exhibition in Limerick City Gallery (9 August – 1 October) in September, when the Legacy Project Research Preview

will be presented. The Legacy Project Premiere will be presented at the Gallery of Photography, Dublin (18 – 26 October).3 In searching for a functional and meaningful format to present the artists’ projects, the curator Valerie Connor amassed a plethora of visual and textual research about tins, boxes, crates, trunks, bags, cases and workstations of all kinds. The idea of the ‘portmanteau’ became a key concept – that wonderful word referring both to a form of multi-compartmented luggage and a hybrid of different words and ideas. As Connor has put it, “This kind of hybrid meaning, its subtlety and complexity, is meaningful here because any attempt to look critically at cultural meaning is complex”. Connor arrived at the simple but evocative idea of a portable exhibition – one that could be easily transported in a box.

Designed by artist and architect Fiona McDonald, The Legacy Project box will become intrinsic to the project on a whole. The most significant result of this piece of ‘portmanteau’ design is that The Legacy Project will be able to move freely and conveniently.

It’s a deliberate echo of radical portable exhibition strategies of the past; Lucy Lippard’s suitcase exhibitions immediately spring to mind.2 Dublin-based designer and gallerist Oonagh Young is devising a catalogue that documents the artists’ commissions and the development of the project as a whole, with an emphasis on the act of production. As such, the publication will not only function as a record, but will be an integral aspect of The Legacy Project.

While The Legacy Project encompasses contemporary notions of curation – with a stress on dialogues with living artists during the making of the work – the endeavour also embodies more traditional custodial concerns around ownership, care, protection, touring and exhibition. Connor’s aspiration is that “as [her] role in the project comes to a close, and as the artists complete the work, others will take on the curatorial role to make exhibitions from the collected works produced for the Legacy Project”. The plan is that the works will be circulated amongst the NWCI member’s network, with the assistance of the local authority arts offices and additional curatorial input from other institutions.

Dual meanings come to mind when unpacking the definition of the word ‘legacy’: the values received from an ancestor as well as the creation of a set of values, which one could impart to future generations. The Legacy Project has exerted these binary pressures on the artists and curator, but the progression of the project to date indicates that the participants are more than able to creatively meet the demanding challenges of both engaging with past legacies and formulating future ones.

Sarah Allen is a Dublin-based writer. Among other publications, her writing has appeared in the Irish Arts Review, Aesthetica Magazine, Photomonitor and Prism Photography Magazine.

Notes 1. www.nwci.ie 2. While in Argentina in 1968, Lippard was brainstorming new methods to achieve a dematerialised art object. She proposed the idea of an exhibition, which would be passed from artist to artist in a suitcase thus bypassing the gallery system. On her return to New York she found Seth Siegelaub had similar ideas and was beginning to implement them.

3. Further details: www.nwcilegacyproject.com

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2013

32

Project Profile

The Discovery Box in action at West Cork Arts Centre.

children can change very rapidly. Utilising this dynamic was an essential component of the workshops. The sessions included exercises in imagination and pretending – the children imagined themselves as characters suggested by the exhibition, or took on the personalities of colours, shapes and objects. To close the workshops, I incorporated some of the ordinary daily rituals I undertake with my own children; the group sat in a circle and wrapped little objects up, saying goodbye to these pieces and to each other.

The Discovery Box project gave me a unique opportunity to combine three aspects of my life: my teaching and art practice, and being a parent. During the development of the project, Sarah and I met regularly with our children in tow, consulting and supporting each other, sharing frustrations and critiques.

Working on this project over a three-month period has enriched and informed my own practice and allowed my own children to become more familiar with what I do, develop their own artistic explorations and appreciation of art and galleries. Crucially, the fact that I could incorporate my children into the work schedule of this project – and even use them as consultants of sorts (!) – meant that this was an especially manageable project in terms of the costs and practicalities of childcare.

Like any artist-parent, I admit that there are challenges in keeping it all together and not letting your practice fall by the wayside. I’ve managed to so far address all the shifting priorities that need to be constantly and carefully considered, and I believe the rewards and possibilities are endless.

Sarah ruttle

Discovery Box workshop participants at Mikala Dwyer's exhibition ‘Panto Collapsar’ in WCAC

The Discovery Book.

Box of Wondering FOR the Early Childhood Arts Programme at West Cork Arts Centre, Susan Montgomery and Sarah Ruttle worked collaboratively to develop a Discovery Box for Mikala Dwyer’s exhibition ‘Panto Collapsar’ (2 Feb – 7 March 2013).

Susan Montgomery The Discovery Box is a free gallery resource for parents and carers to use with their young children at West Cork Arts Centre. Resembling a treasure or toy chest, its contents are unique to each exhibition and focus on encouraging families to engage and interact with artworks and gain insights into artists’ practices. Justine Foster, Education and Community Co-ordinator at WCAC, devised the Discovery Box project in 2008. So far, four artists have been commissioned to create and develop content specific to various exhibitions.

In 2010, the Arts and Early Childhood Partnership, West Cork was formed to embed more strategically the educational and child-centred aspects of art programming across the county. The interagency partnership includes representatives from West Cork Arts Centre, HSE, West Cork VEC, Cork County Council and County Childcare Committee.

In early 2013, WCAC received an Arts Council award to support the documentation of the organisation’s arts and early childhood work. The Discovery Box project was a key focus, in particular due to the potential offered by ‘Panto Collapsar’, the then upcoming exhibition by Australian artist Mikala Dwyer.

Both Sarah Ruttle and myself had a track record with WCAC, having participated in their professional development programme and both of us had previously created separate Discovery Box projects. Programme Co-ordinator, Justine Foster, brought us together and invited us to work collaboratively.1 The writer and artist Toma McCullim was commissioned to document the process, and create a witness text, which was also envisaged as a creative undertaking.

Panto Collapsar was to be a touring show, supported by an Arts Council Touring and Dissemination Award; thus, our Discovery Box would accompany the exhibition on its travels.2 For this project, we each had distinct roles. My main task as the Discovery Box Creator was to develop a series of imaginative tools and deliver two supporting workshops, suited specifically for children aged 18 months to 7 years old.

Sarah’s principle role was to produce a catalogue that would accompany the Discovery Box during the tour of ‘Panto Collapsar’.

Taking the form of a soft-cloth sensory book, with interactive elements for children, it documented and illustrated the ideas and activities contained within the Discovery Box. The idea was that the publication, as with the Discovery Box itself, could be accessed simultaneously by children and their parents / carers. Sarah also delivered a series of participatory workshops. The launch of the

Discovery Book and the Discovery Box text by Toma McCullim, took place at West Cork Arts Centre on Tuesday 30 July 2013.

The process began for me with a preview of Mikala Dwyer’s ‘Panto Collapsar’ exhibition and a discussion of the work with gallery director Ann Davoren. The subsequent ‘mulling over’ and assessing of the work within a historical, cultural and anthropological context was facilitated by research visits, and time spent in my studio and home hunting for objects and materials that might provide the link or key to ideas and activities that could articulate Dwyer’s concerns in her work. This process included happenstance findings of my own children’s appropriation of random objects.

In my practice, I’m interested in the manipulation of found objects: paper, film and objects centred on the behaviour of chance marks, stains and arrangements. The results are works that describe a dialogue between the carefully chosen tools, media and surfaces I used to express my concerns.

My two young children – aged one and three – are constantly at my feet. They are a huge aspect of my life that I need to ‘juggle’ in order to teach or get studio time. But for this project, they served as an essential testing ground and resource.

What struck me about Dwyer’s show was the notion of the ‘precious’ that she explored through ideas about gold. The plinths in the exhibition were arranged in an elliptical shape, like huge standing stones anticipating a ceremony of some kind. Shadows were cast around and beneath viewers in the space. The background to the show included the artist’s interest in mythology, the occult alongside a biographical element. Dwyer’s late mother had been a jeweller. The exhibition prompted me to undertake two research visits: to Drombeg Stone Circle, close to where I live, and to the Gold Collection in the National Museum, Dublin.

At the National Museum, my children and I encountered and explored many aspects of gold and precious objects. I talked to them about Bronze Age hoards and the wrapping and burying of small precious objects – something very young children relate to, revelling in the mystery of hiding and revealing.

In the workshops I conducted as part of the Discovery Box programme, I was struck by the changes in energy levels and engagement on the part of children. From room to room of Dywer’s exhibition, as we varied activities in the response to the works on show, the group’s focus changed from a careful, meditative approach to energetic and boisterous. This seemed to happen almost by chance, but I found it a fascinating transition. And from my own experience as a parent, I know that the energy levels and personalities of young

My practice is influenced by physical and envonmental patterns, and also examines pattern within humanity and its influence on our everyday lives. The subject matter dominates my choice and use of media, which are predominantly photography, drawing, textiles and mixed media. My background in textiles heavily influences this relationship between subject matter and process.

The soft-cloth sensory book was devised to function as a key to the Discovery Box. By way of preparation, I experienced the exhibition with my daughter, absorbing every detail of our responses. Noting what elements stood out to my daughter gave me the opportunity to think about how I would present the exhibition to children.

As Susan was developing the Discovery Box activities and tools, I closely observed how it looked and explored the senses and, furthermore, how children were responding to it. While waiting to see the box in action during the first workshop, I realised that every element of my rather unique form of documentation would have to remain true to the box: no ‘gadgets’ would be included if it did not fit the themes and spirit of Susan’s work.

In developing the documentation design I worked in collaboration with Susan. The ‘making’ of the book really began by exploring how best to present it for simultaneous viewing by child and parent. We considered how various fabrics could be used to translate the aims the box and we worked together to arrive at the most effective techniques. Having the opportunity to share my work with my two young children was an invaluable part of this project and was a definite advantage in the process. Bringing them to the gallery, where they could experience the exhibition and meet other families with similar interests in exploring art and its education, was a really special experience. My daughter now often asks to come with me to work in the gallery and sees it as an exciting space.

Working as an artist and supporting your family can be a lot of pressure, but I found that opportunities like this bring out the best in you, increasing knowledge and experience that can inform both professional and family life.

Susan Montgomery lives and works in West Cork as a practicing artist and within the Early Childhood Arts Programmes. She is one of eight participants in the ongoing experimental postal project ‘Tellurometer’, which received a Group Bursary Award from Wicklow County Council in 2012.

Tyrone-born visual artist Sarah Ruttle graduated with BA in Design in Textiles in 2002 from the University of Dundee, Scotland. She is based in West Cork and works as an artist and arts practitioner within Arts and Health and Early Childhood Arts Programmes in West Cork.

Notes 1. Both artists were invited to participate in the exhibition ‘Octagon’ at West Cork Arts Centre, June 2013 2. ‘Panto Collapsar’ was originally curated by Tessa Giblin and first shown at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin in 2012 and toured to West Cork Arts Centre, Ballina Arts Centre, Wexford Arts Centre and Droichead Arts Centre

33

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2013

Humour

Pablo Helgeura's Artoons eva International 2014 Curated by Bassam El Baroni

Open Call for Proposals Closes 2 September 2013 Many thanks to everyone who submitted

Ireland’s Biennial Limerick City 12 April — 6 July 2014

Anthologies of Artoons – Artoons 1,2 & 3 – are available from Jorge Pinto Books www.pintobooks.com. Further information on author and artist Pablo Helguera can be found at www. pablohelguera.net

11 October – 2 November 2013 www.templebargallery.com

www.eva.ie info@eva.ie

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2013

Opportunities portfolio preparation

commissions

Led by artist Fiona King, the purpose of this 16-week course is to instruct stu-

34

for non-members. (The fee of €30 is a

Contact

tember. Course Fees: €220 (two days)

once off payment and covers the insur-

Jonathan Curran

10am – 5pm. Participants: 4. Experi-

ance for the class participant for one

Email

ence: No experience required. In this

year with Lorg Printmakers LTD.) For a

curranjonathanp@gmail.com

two-day workshop you will explore the

weekend course, 10am – 5pm (Saturday

Telephone

extraordinary medium of hot glass. You

and Sunday) equipment and materials

0879816851

will learn how to gather glass out of the

will be provided. Deposit of €70 must

Address

furnace, to control and shape the hot

be paid in order to secure a place. Class

Signal arts Centre,1 Albert Avenue, Bray,

glass, to blow a bubble and make a sim-

size: 10 Participants. Admission Stan-

Co Wicklow

ple vessel. Working in two small teams,

Changing tracks

dents in the preparation and production

Mayo County Council Public Art

of a portfolio of work that will cater for

Programme,

with

entry to third level art colleges. Through

Northampton County Council (UK)

continual emphasis on idea generation,

and Transversal (Catalonia, Spain), has

group discussion, evaluation and prac-

been successful in securing EU Culture

tical application, students will iden-

Programme funding from the Educa-

tify and clarify the process involved in

tion, Audiovisual and Culture Executive

producing a body of art work. Sunday

of the European Commission (EACEA)

15 September 2013 – Sunday 2 Febru-

for a major public art programme of

ary 2014 (16 weeks excluding Sunday

digital illustration & design

will also be discussed). Over the day,

outdoor temporary work. One artist

27 October, Sunday 15, 22 and 29 De-

Go Radiate introduce two new work-

transferring the image to the block, use

from, or living in Ireland will be com-

cember, Sunday 5 January). Class one:

shops for the autumn at Fumbally

of tools, inking up and printing on the

missioned to create three temporary

(11.30am – 1.30pm / €290). Class two:

Exchange. Digital Illustration Work-

press will be demonstrated. Individual

artworks, one in each partner country,

(2.30pm – 4.30pm / €290).

shop: Group one: 18, 19, 20 Septem-

tuition will follow as students go on

related to the shared common theme

Website

ber (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,

to produce their own plates. Blind em-

and site of old railway lines. Artists from

www.hughlane.ie

9.30am – 4pm). Group two: 13, 14, 15

bossing, a technique which lends itself

November (Wednesday, Thursday and

to the relief plate, will also be discussed

Friday, 9.30am – 4pm). Go Radiate’s in-

and students will be encouraged to in-

tensive Digital Illustration three-day

corporate this into their work. Booking

course aims to give students the funda-

necessary. Saturday 14 September, 10.30

mentals of using Adobe Illustrator and

– 16.30. Cost €70. Maximum six people.

Adobe Photoshop for adapting and en-

Website

hancing hand-drawn images. InDesign

www.nationalprintmuseum.ie

Workshop: Group one: 9, 10, 11 Octo-

Address

ber (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,

National Print Museum, Garrison Cha-

9.30am – 4pm). InDesign is Adobe’s

pel, Beggar’s Bush Barracks, Haddington

industry standard publication software

Rd, Dublin 4

in

partnership

the other two partner countries will also be commissioned. Total budget for each artist, including fee, production and all related costs is c. €61,000. Full briefing documents can be accessed on the Mayo County Council website.

Adult art classes The Hugh Lane Gallery will also host a series of adult art classes. Life Drawing – Saturdays, 14 September – 9 November 2013, 1pm – 3pm (€145), eight weeks (excluding October Bank Holiday

Deadline

weekend). Introduction to Painting –

27 September

Saturdays 14 September – 9 November

Email

2013, 1pm-3pm (€145) excluding Octo-

gseville@mayococo.ie

ber Bank Holiday weekend. Aspects of

Website

Drawing – Wednesdays, 23 October –

www.mayococo.ie

11 December 2013,10.30am – 12.30pm

dard: €140 (Lorg members) Standard: €170 (non Lorg members).

Website www.lorgprintmakers.com

which allows you to create posters, fly-

linocut printmaking This course will examine the techniques of relief printmaking using the lino block (while creating the woodcut

the emphasis of this course is hands-on experience, with demos and support from an experienced glassblower. Improvers Glassblowing Workshop. Dates: 23 September. Course Fees: €100. 10am – 5pm. Participants: 4. Experience: Must have completed the Beginners Workshop (above). A one-day workshop for people to continue where they left off after completing the Glassblowing for Beginners Workshop. Working in two small teams, the emphasis of this course is hands-on experience, with demos and support from an experienced glassblower.

Website www.leitrimsculpturecentre.ie

opportunities ireland yeats society sligo The Yeats Society Sligo are accepting

ncad photography workshop

submissions for the 2013 / 14 pro-

A photography evening course will start

gramme. Artists should send up to 10

at NCAD on 23 September (one evening

visual examples of their work (photo-

a week for 21 weeks). There are a maxi-

graphs, slides, digital images in an email

mum of 10 students on the course so in-

or on CD will all be accepted), current

dividual needs are catered for. Students

curriculum vitae and an artist state-

will have the opportunity to pursue

ment.

projects in the areas that are of most

Deadline

reminiscence & life story work

interest to them and learn the skills to

4pm 27 September

Two Day Training Course accredited by

achieve their individual goals. At the

Website

the Open College Network QCF level

end of the course, everyone will have

www.yeats-sligo.com

2. Dates: 9 October and 20 November

the opportunity to exhibit their work in

Email

2013. Venue: Crescent Arts Centre in

the end of year exhibition which takes

yeatssocietysligo@gmail.com

Belfast. Time: 9.45am for a 10.00am start,

place during the PhotoIreland Festival

finishing at 4.00pm. This two day course

2014.

public access arts

aims to give participants the knowledge,

Website

Artists and arts organisations are in-

skills and confidence to deliver purpose-

www.ncad.ie

vited to submit proposals for the exhi-

ful reminiscence work with individuals,

Email

bition programme at Public Access Arts

couples and small groups.

cead@ncad.ie

from October 2013 – December 2014.

Website

Contact

Public Access Arts opened in Edenderry

www.rnni.org

Seliena Coyle

in November 2012. It is (arguably) the

Email

Telephone

smallest arts venue in Ireland and is

info@rnni.org

016364214

run entirely on an artist / community

cation process and eligibility criteria is

print classes at signal arts

acni creative industries

to create a daily encounter with the arts

available on the website below.

Signal Arts Centre will hold two week-

‘Thrive’ will be a key event for everyone

in Edenderry with a strong emphasis on

Website

involved in the Creative Industries in

ma art in process

end print classes With Jonathan Curran.

community convergence. The opening

www.atelierforyoungfestivalmanagers.

Northern Ireland. This half-day confer-

Open for Applications (for January

Saturday and Sunday from 10am – 5pm

project 'Crowded Room' is on YouTube,

eu

ence, organised by the Arts Council,

2014). MA: Art & Process is a 12 month

€69 per weekend. Maximum of five par-

and it gives a sense of the space and type

Email

celebrates the success of Northern Ire-

taught masters (January – December) in

ticipants. Lino and Collagraph printing

of community intervention they are in-

atelier@efa-aef.eu

7 / 8 September. Dry point / Carborun-

land’s Creative Industries and explores

terested in. Public Access Arts is particu-

dum printing 14 / 15 September. Mono-

their increasing importance to our eco-

larly interested in contemporary visual

type, Roll-up and Chine Colle 21 / 22

nomic growth and job creation. ‘Thrive’

practices including interactive media,

September. Eco-Aluminium Etching 28

brings together international speakers

performance, installations and partici-

/ 29 September. Evening print classes

and recognised leaders in the creative

patory practice.

with Jonathan Curran will also take

industries, including Eric Huang from

Deadline

place. Five Monday evenings and one

Penguin Books. This re-scheduled event

5pm 6 September

full Saturday. Classes start on Monday

will now take place at The Lyric Theatre,

Contact

the 4 November and run 4, 11, 18, 25, 2

Belfast on Tuesday 15 October 2013

Tim Mann

December with one full day Saturday

from 9.15am – 1.45pm.

Email

(€145). Taking place on Wednesday

dun laoghaire-rathdown Dún

Laoghaire-Rathdown

County

mornings and led by artist John Adye-

Council invites submissions from art-

Curran.

ists and / or craft designers / makers for

Website

a public art commission related to the

www.hughlane.ie

raised promenade development adja-

Telephone

cent to the People’s Park, Dun Laoghaire.

012225553/8

Selection will be by way of a two-stage open submission competition. Artists will be initially asked to submit details of previous work to date and an expression of interest. Artists will then be invited to submit detailed proposals and a site briefing will be organised for them.

The total budget for the commission is €40,000.

Deadline (stage one) 20 September Website www.etenders.gov.ie

european festivals association The European Festivals Association (EFA) has extended the deadline for application of the Atelier for Young Festival Managers Edinburgh 2014 (3 –10 April 2014) to 10 September 2013. EFA offers the opportunity to more young festival directors to apply for the seventh edition of this unique seven-day training programme organised by EFA in collaboration with the renowned Edinburgh International Festival. Applications have to be submitted via an online application form. Detailed information

courses / training / workshops

on the Atelier Edinburgh, on the appli-

Fine Art at CIT Crawford College of Art & Design in Cork City. This intensive

lorg printmakers

programme enables students to investi-

Debora Ando leads workshops in dry-

gate, develop and position their art prac-

point, etching and chine colle. The

tice, offering city centre studio space,

course covers the preparation, making

innovative approaches to teaching, and

and printing of plate using creatively

professional experience through collab-

a variety of non-toxic techniques (in-

orative projects. Lecturing staff include:

cluding non-toxic grounds) and papers

Ailbhe Ni Bhriain, Colin Crotty, Jesse

(chine colle). This course aims all levels

Jones and Lucy Dawe Lane with regular

of experience and participants are en-

national and international guest lectur-

couraged to bring sketchbooks, draw-

er contributions.

ings and photographs for inspiration

Website

in the making of new works. 7 – 8 Sep-

www.cit.ie

tember. Cost: €140 for members, €170

ers, books and publications for print and for the web.

Website www.goradiate.ie Address Fumbally Exchange, 5 Dame Lane, Dublin 2

on 8 December. On Monday evenings classes run from 6 – 9.30pm and on Saturday they run 10am – 5pm. The classes cost €160 Euro with a maximum of five people for the class.

voluntary basis. The aim of the venue is

glass blowing Glassblowing for Beginners Workshop with Louise Rice and Graham Reid.

Dates: 14 / 15 September, 21 / 22 Sep-

publicaccessarts@gmail.com Telephone 0866065487

35

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

OPPOrTuniTieS

VAi PrOfeSSiOnAl deVelOPmenT

praCTiCe.ie

abridged@ymail.com

local steering group with key stakehold-

Practice.ie is delighted to announce its

Address

ers including a representative from the

first national exhibition and event tour

Abridged c/o The Verbal Arts Centre,

Arts Council of Northern Ireland has

in 2014, funded by the Arts Council’s

Stable Lane and Mall Wall, Bishop Street

been set up to manage the process.

Touring Award. The exhibition will tour

Within, Derry BT48 6PU.

Deadline

to three national venues: West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen; Axis Ballymun; and The Model, Sligo. Submissions are invited from artists who are engaged in collaborative practice with children.

Deadline 5pm 9 September Website www.practice.ie

aCNi iNTerCulT ul ural arTS graNT ulT The Arts Council of Northern Ireland Intercultural Arts Grants Programme has opened for constituted community and voluntary groups working at a local level with minority ethnic communities. The programme aims to provide opportunities for minority ethnic communities across Northern Ireland to ac-

ÁraS iNiS gluaire

cess the arts and use artistic activities as

Áras Inis Gluaire / Erris Arts Centre

a creative vehicle in which to explore

(AIG), Belmullet, Co Mayo is now ac-

and highlight social issues that impede

cepting submissions for exhibitions to

access and participation in the arts. The

be held in the gallery in 2014. AIG is

Intercultural Arts Grants programme

open to all disciplines and mediums,

will support meaningful collaboration

whether they be solo, group or curated.

between ethnic minority communities

If you wish to submit, please include:

and artists. Grants from £500 to £10,000

five images / DVD of your work titled

are available. You can apply for up to

FULLNAME_TITLE_SIZE_MEDIUM_

100% of the eligible costs of the project.

DATE; a brief artist bio / statement – up

Artist-led interventions can take many

to 200 words; contact information – in-

different forms.

cluding phone number and website /

Deadline

blog. Please enclose an SAE should you

4pm 12 September

wish your images / DVDs to be returned.

Website

Submissions by post only.

www.artscouncil-ni.org

Contact

b.murray@arasinisgluaire.ie Address Áras Inis Gluaire / Erris Arts Centre, Belmullet, Co Mayo Telephone 097 81079

4pm 13 September arTS CouNCil CuraT ura or reSideNCy uraT The purpose of this scheme is to offer to research and develop their practice, while developing a year-long work programme in partnership with multi-disciplinary venues and local authorities.

The specific content of the work programme will be designed by the curator in collaboration with the venue and local authority. This scheme is not conceived to fill a gap in core programming, but instead might expand on, or offer something distinctive to an existing visual arts programme in a multi-disciplinary venue. The maximum amount

be submitted using the Arts Council’s online services website. Application forms submitted via email / post / fax will not be accepted.

jOb VAcAncieS

Deadline 12 September Contact

darklighT feSTival MaNager

Kate O'Donnell

Darklight is inviting applications for

Website

the position of Festival Manager to pro-

www.artscouncil.ie

mote, organise and develop the festival

Telephone

and its on-going activities. The success-

016180236

ful candidate will have a strong track record in event management (includ-

leiTriM SCulpTure CeNTre

ing social media), be highly motivated,

Leitrim Sculpture Centre in association

capable of working on their own initia-

with Leitrim County Council Arts Of Of-

tive and have excellent administration,

fice, are offering five residencies to vi-

organisation, communication and IT

sual artists in 2014. Each residency has

skills. A background in digital media as

a total value of ˆ 3,000 paid directly to

well as social media is highly desirable.

the artist. Each residency is supported

The ability to manage finances, prepare

by provision of studio space in Leitrim

funding applications, and establish an

Sculpture Centre, along with access

on-going sustainable fundraising pro-

to all the facilities and basic technical

file and programme is a pre-requisite.

support. While subject to alteration, in

This position is for one year, which will

the allocation of residencies, it is envis-

include a period of part-time commit-

aged that: Up to two residencies will be

ment and full-time work in the period

for artists originally from or living in

leading up to the annual festival. A sal-

Leitrim; up to three residencies will be

ary, commensurate with the duties and

for artists from elsewhere within Ire-

responsibilities of the position and the

land; one residency will be considered

experience of the candidate, will apply.

for an artist from outside Ireland. See

abridged: iN blue

Deadline

website for more details.

Abridged, the poetry / art magazine, is

10 September

Deadline

looking for submissions for its In Blue

Contact

5pm 20 September 2013

issue. This issue encourages the consid-

Nicky Gogan, Festival Direcor

Website

eration of the vital connotations of the

Email

www.leitrimsculpturecentre.ie

concept of ‘blue’ to the human condi-

darklightfilmfestival@gmail.com

ballyhauNiS opeN SubMiSSioN The Ballyhaunis Open Exhibition are accepting submissions for the exhibition, which will take place in The Friary, Ballyhaunis between 19 October – 28 October. The theme to base your work on is ‘Change’. The days for handing in your work are either 4 / 5 October at the Friary between 4 – 6pm. Email in advance for terms and conditions.

Contact Moira Stratford Email moirastratford@gmail.com Telephone 0879884041

tion and the individual’s contemplation of place, purpose, self and essence. A maximum of three poems may be submitted of any length. Art can be up to A4 size and can be in any media. It should be at least 300 dpi. Submissions can (preferably) be emailed or posted.

Deadline 30 September Website www.abridgedonline.com Email

aughNaCloy reiMagiNg Aughnacloy

Development

Associa-

tion wishes to recruit an experienced artist / facilitator with the necessary skills, qualifications and experience to facilitate creative peace-building consultation workshops. Applications from teams of artists and peace-building facilitators are also welcomed. Previous engagement with cross-community and minority ethnic groups is desirable. A

VAI professIonAl deVelopment

AUtUmn / WInter information / register NortherN IrelaNd www.visualartists.org.uk/services/professionaldevelopment/current republIc of IrelaNd www.visualartists.ie/education/register-for-our-events/

visual arts curators the opportunity

will be ˆ 20,000. All applications must

Brendan Murray Email

reSidencieS / STudiOS

awarded to each successful application

Deadline 30 September

September – October 2013

! caution We strongly advise readers to verify all details to their own satisfaction before forwarding art work, money etc.

dublin / GAlWAy / kilkenny / enniSTymOn financial advice Clinics with gaby Smith In partnership with the Crafts Council of Ireland.

Thu 5 Sept. (10.30 – 14.00) @Visual Artists Ireland, Dublin Cost: ˆ 70 / ˆ 35 (VAI Members) Places: 8 documenting your y work with Tim durham In partnership with Crafts Council of Ireland.

Thu 12 Sept. (10.00 – 17.00) @126 Gallery, Flood St, Galway Cost: ˆ 80 / ˆ 40 (VAI / CCoI Members) Places: 10 performance Masterclass with Nigel rolfe In association with the Dublin Live Art Festival (DLAF) 2013 Thu 26 Sept. (10.30 – 16.30) followed by public presentation @The Backloft, La Catedral Studios, Dublin Cost: ˆ 80 / ˆ 40 (VAI Members) Places: 10 – 12 Seminar: Sustaining performance art practices In association with Dublin Live Art Festival 2013 Thu 26 Sept (10.00 – 13.00) The Backloft, La Catedral Studios, Dublin Cost: ˆ 5 / Free (VAI Members) Places: 10 – 12 Moderator: Cliodhna Shaffrey . Speakers: Jonas Stampe, Nigel Rolfe and Áine Phillips.

Costing & Pricing your Work with Patricia Clyne-Kelly In partnership with the Crafts Council of Ireland Wed 2 Oct (09.45– 18.15) workshop & clinics @Kilkenny City (venue tbc) Cost Workshop: ˆ 80 / ˆ 40 (VAI Members) Places: 10 – 12 Cost Workshop & Clinic: ˆ 120 / ˆ 70 (VAI Members) Clinic Places: 4 web & Social Media Marketing Clinic with Mary Carty Facilitated by Mary Carty, CEO, Spoiltchild Ltd in partnership with the Crafts Council of Ireland Sat 12 Oct (10.00 – 14.00) individual 30 min clinic slots within this time frame @Visual Artists Ireland, Dublin Cost Workshop: ˆ 80 / ˆ 40 (VAI Members) Places: 8 facilitation Skills for artists working with groups In partnership with CREATE and 126 Galway Tues 15 Oct. (10.30 – 16.30) @CREATE, Temple Bar, Dublin Wed 16 Oct (10.30 – 16.30) 126 Gallery, Galway Cost Workshop: ˆ 70 / ˆ 35 (VAI, CREATE & 126 Members) Places: 10 – 12

legal advice Clinics with linda Scales Tues 22 Oct. (10.00 – 14.00) Visual Artists Ireland, Dublin.

Cost Workshop: ˆ 80 / ˆ 40 (VAI Members) Places: 10 – 12 writing the artists’ Statement & Cv with austin ivers Tues 29 / Wed 30 Oct tbc (10.30 – 16.30) @Ennistymon Courthouse Cost: ˆ 80 / ˆ 40 (VAI Members) working with galleries with helen Carey Nov date to be confirmed (15.30 – 17.30) @Ennistymon Courthouse Cost: ˆ 20 / ˆ 10 (VAI Members) Places: 20+ developing proposals with Marianne o'kane boal Tues 5 Nov (10.30 – 16.30) @Ennistymon Courthouse Cost: ˆ 80/ ˆ 40 (VAI Members) vai will also be holding workshops in partnership with The workers Café, Temple bar gallery & Studios Costing & pricing your work with patricia Clyne-kelly Sat 12 Oct. (15.00 – 16.00) @Temple Bar Gallery & Studios Cost: ˆ 80/ ˆ 40 (VAI Members) Places: 20+ Mechanical inventions, self-publishing with lynn harris from aNdpublishing Sat 12 / Sun 13 Oct. (15.00 – 16.00) @Temple Bar Gallery & Studios Cost: ˆ 80/ ˆ 40 (VAI Members) Places: 20+

nOrThern irelAnd facilitation Skills for artists working with groups with Niamh o’Connor Wed 18 Sept (10.30 – 16.30) @Belfast Exposed Gallery Cost: £40/ £20 (VAI & BX Members) Places:10 Self-publishing for artists and artistled groups with lynn harris Fri 8 Nov. (10.30 – 16.30) @Belfast Exposed Gallery Cost: £40/ £20 (VAI & BX Members) Places:10 documenting your work with John M lynch Wed 13 Nov (10.30 – 16.30) @Belfast Exposed Gallery Cost: £40/ £20 (VAI & BX Members) Places:10 CoNTa NT CT NTa monica flynn, Professional development Officer Visual Artists ireland, Ground floor, central hotel chambers 7–9 dame court., dublin2 T: +353 (0)1 672 9488 e: monica@visualartists.ie

The Visual Artists’ News Sheet

September – October 2013

36

ArTT in Public

Art in Public Public ArTT cOmmiSSiOnS, SiTe-SPecific WOrkS, SOciAlly enGAGed PrAcTice And VAriOuS OTher fOrmS Of ArT OuTSide The GAllery.

Nore that flows in the area, looking at it from the

fifTh wheel eleMeNT proJeCT

air, it twists and turns as it meanders its way South.

The motorway crosses it in Laois and Kilkenny.

The sculpture is carved in Limestone from Three Castles, Co Kilkenny, where coincidently the river Nore also flows. It was made in the workshop of McKeons stone yard in Stradbally Co Laois. It is 3m high and 2.8m wide and is made in three sections.

It is sited north of the Laois Toll Plaza.

The fa f Mily porTraiT Title: Fifth Wheel Element Project Artist: Kathy O'Leary Date sited: August 2013 Description: '5th Wheel Element project' involves creating dialogue through art, documentation and performance around the politics of participation.

The project comprised installations that evoke and alternate the line between the real and the fictional, including: Clogging Clogs Clogs, an audio and visual wall piece experience; a fire drill intervention at NCAD; and an artist talk with curator, architect and writer

Title: The Family Portrait

Marianne O’Kane Boal. To date Kathy’s, practice has

Artist: Debbie Chapman

been to use art as an experimental research tool to

Commissioner: Health Service Executive WRH

configure a language that speaks of inclusion. Her

Capital Projects Team

concern and focus for this project is to develop

Date Advertised: August 2012

and examine issues that relate access to urban

Date sited: March 2013

landscapes, which involves creating new aesthetics

Commission type: Per Cent for Art

and concepts for her visual theoretical practice

Budget: ˆ 7500

through capturing moments of light, satire and

Project Partners: Waterford Healing Arts Trust

motion.

Description: The series of artworks entitled The Family Portrait is a unique and fun departure from what would be considered traditional family portraiture, and was installed in Waterford

garreTT fiTzgerald

Hospital’s new Neo Natal Department. The paintings portray the subjects from the waist down only. It is left to the viewer to complete the images. The viewer engages with the artwork and the families are completed from the preconceived ideas that we have of people, depending on their clothes, height and stance. The work is intended to be light hearted, bright and to engage staff and visitors.

Title: Garrett Fitzgerald

iNSerT eMoTiCoN

Artist: Elizabeth O'Kane Commissioner:

University

Title: Insert Emoticon College

Dublin,

Artist: Louise Ward

Societies Council

Commissioner: Market Studios Dublin

Date Advertised: March 2012

Date Advertised: 20 April 2012

Date sited: March 2013

Date sited: 3 May 2012

Budget: ˆ 9000

Commission

Description: Bronze bust of the late Taoiseach,

commissioned following a residency at Market

located at the entrance to the Fitzgerald Debating

Studios

Chamber, in the UCD Student Centre at Belfield.

Description: ‘Insert Emoticon’ used performance

Type:

Participatory

project

and narrative film to create an exhibition as an inherently social space, within which any number flow

of participatory activities and interactions were

Title: Flow

encouraged to take form. Emoticons – the smiley

Artist: Eileen McDonagh Commissioner: Laois County Council Date Advertised: September 2012 Date sited: March 2013 Commission type: Per Cent for Art Budget: ˆ 55,000

or sad faces that are often added to text messages, emails and social media to describe the sender’s feelings – were inserted into the fabric of the exhibition. The artist investigated whether these symbols, though lighthearted, could reveal a more in-depth indication of our states of mind, as

Project Partners: M7 / M8 Portlaoise to Castletown

they became a means of communication among

/ Cullahill PPP Motorway Scheme

participants in this space.

Description: Flow takes its inspiration from river

irish bronze Dedicated to the faithful reproduction of the sculptor’s vision

T: 01 454 2032 E: irishbronze@eircom.net W: www.irishbronze.ie

Willie Malone: casting sculpture for over two decades Kilmainham Art Foundry Ltd. t/a Irish Bronze, Inchicore Rd and Griffith College, Dublin 8

CO-LOCATION

SPECIAL ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATE FOR VAI MEMBERS €28 (INC P&P)!

T. 01 6766711 www.irishartsreview.com

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FIONA MARRON GALLERY 2 21 SEP - 16 NOV

PREVIEW 27 SEP, 6PM - 8PM

RUA RED SOUTH DUBLIN ARTS CENTRE TALLAGHT DUBLIN 24

01 451 5860 WWW.RUARED.IE INFO@RUARED.IE

OPENING HOURS MON - SAT 10AM - 6PM

Dublin City Council is pleased to announce:

kEvin kirWAn Recipient of the Irish Artists’ Residential Studio Award 2013 – 14 at The Red Stables, St Anne’s Park The Irish Artists’ Residential Studio Award is intended to support an emerging visual artist at a crucial stage of their professional practice and includes studio and living accommodation at nominal rent and inclusion in the exhibition programme at The LAB. During his residency at The Red Stables, Kevin Kirwan (www.kevinkirwan.net) will develop and produce a new body of work using image, video, text and sculpture. St. Anne’s park will be his starting point to explore modes of representation, photographic processes and object making.

Kevin’s exhibition ‘Solitary (In No Particular Order)’ with David Beattie curated by Aoife Tunney, will run at the Goethe-Institut, Dublin, in November 2013.

Visiting artists Tanja Isbarn and Ilona Hakvoort, based in the Netherlands, will be resident in The Red Stables International Artists’ Residential Studio during September.

Dublin City Council Arts Office A: The LAB, Foley Street, Dublin 1 T: 01 222 7377 E: red.stables@dublincity.ie W: www.redstablesartists.com

meeting room@vai Visual Artists Ireland’s meeting room is available to hire for workshops, meetings, presentations, discussions groups etc.

• • • •

Room capacity: boardroom style, 14 people; theatre style, 20 people Members: €60 full day, €30 half day Visual Arts Organisations: €80 full day, €40 half day Other Organisations and Professionals: €120 full day, €60 half day

For more information visit: www.visualartists.ie