A video of the House

The House!

Here's a few photos of our space in which we will be creating work!!
Now some folks wouldn't be too excited by the prospect of working in such a space, but I came away feeling really excited about what we as a group could produce. I came away with a fascination with the wallpaper and the layers that are peeling off the wall, and have been thinking about the memories that are seeped into the walls and the stories that they could tell. It would be interesting to learn something of the building itself and perhaps get some inspiration from that. There are so many possibilities and my mind is buzzing with ideas...so we'll see what happens!

Borrowed Space

Tomorrow is a very exciting day, as I am visiting a house in Kent where a group of 6 of us are planning on making work that is inspired and dictated by this empty,old, rundown house that we have the use of. We have a gallery booked in June where we will then show a video on what we have created within the house and how that space has informed us and helped us produce art. The subject matter could be huge for a project like this one and it will be interesting to see what each one of us decides to create. Tomorrow is really about getting to know the space more and begin a process of it informing and beginning to speak to each one of us on how we could use the space within the house and see the possibilities of what we could produce. I plan to take some
photos so will post them up the following day.

Book Love

My Dad passed on to me his love of books. He was always a book lover and seemed to be regularly down at the local library with his nose in some book that took his fancy, and had a stack of them beside his bed waiting to be read. We used to sit in the living room and my Dad would read to the whole family, we read the C.S Lewis series of The Narnia Series, my favourite being; The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. I must have been only 7 or 8 and I think back on those evenings very fondly, when we would all sit around the open fire and listen to my Dad read. There have been quite a few books that have been an inspiration to me. One of the first books that I read all by myself was, Danny The Champion of the Word by Roald Dahl. It was one of those magical reads that I just didn't want to end, I was sucked into the story, I couldn't wait to go to bed at night so I could read in peace without any disturbances and just let the story devour me. I still love the ability that books have to take me out of the present and bring me to another world where my imagination is brought on a journey that is addictive and fills me with longing and sadness when it is finished.

The same thing happens me when I become focused on a piece of work that I am trying to create, it seems like time stops and nothing else matters. I have this feeling of panic if I have to be torn away from a piece that I am engaged with. It's like I'm afraid that the inspiration that I'm working off will leave me if I leave the piece for any amount of time and when I return to it I will be drained of my creative output. I tend to have a run of reading a few good books in a row and then theres a drought and I can't seem to pick up anything that fills me with inspiration to read. It's the same with my own work, have these huge bursts of energy of creating and am quite prolific and then I come to a stand still and my creative process comes to a temporary end. The thing is my mind never stops, I may not physically be creating anything but, so many ideas and thoughts are flying around my head that it feels like it's playing creative bingo with me, until the idea pops out and I begin to act on it. When that happens there are very few words I can find to describe it!!!

Some New Pieces

Homeward Bound

I'm flying back home to Dublin for a few days, as mentioned previously I am very excited about this trip. Not only has it been toooo long since i've been home but there will be a few celebrations whilst I'm there, it's my nephew Cormac's birthday, my sister Rachel has just moved into her new apartment and to cap it all my Mum is graduating on Saturday, with a Diploma in Nutritional Therapy. So champagne all round!!!!

I got very excited yesterday about an idea that I want to look into in regard to documenting childhood memories and have loads of new inspiration that is buzzing around in my head. So hopefully when I return I will be full of motivation and energized for the new term ahead. I'll write more on that upon my return form the Emerald Isle!!

My Front Room

Ever since I can remember I've had a fascination for making little objects and things. I love going to fabric and craft shops and often feel inspired by what I find. I think it's got something to do with the time and effort put into something that has been made but that has also been so closely worked with, that it shows an intimacy between the maker and the object.

I remember spending time with my Mum in the front room of our house, the dining room. It was supposed to be 'the good room', for when visitors came over, but mostly it was full of stuff...buttons, fabric, thread, sewing machine, ironing board and the list goes on. Things, projects my Mum had great intentions of doing, some where works in progress, some where yet to be realized. In this space I learnt how to use a sewing machine, how to make pompoms from winding wool, how to knit, how to make paper flowers. My Mum used this place to create, to inspire, to escape, to make, to survive. I learnt the joys of making in this place.

I now have my own space to create, but there will always be something magical about the time shared in my front room with my Mum making little pieces of life.

Juxtapose

I've always had trouble with this word, well, when I say always it's only since I've been going to art college that I was actually introduced to it. The thing is, I never really fully understood it and it seems to be one of those art speak words that get bantered around a lot!!

I have looked it up in the past and asked what it means but, until now I didn't get it. I think I've finally come to grips with it and could possibly even use it to make sense!

This is what it says in dictionary.com
jux·ta·pose /ˈdʒʌkstəˌpoʊz, ˌdʒʌkstəˈpoʊz/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciat[juhk-stuh-pohz, juhk-stuh-pohz] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –verb (used with object), -posed, -pos·ing. to place close together or side by side, esp. for comparison or contrast.

It got me thinking how certain people groups have different ways of using language that sometimes can seem quite insular and people outside of that sphere may find it difficult to relate to how these groups communicate. To name but a few: Artists, Doctors, Actors and my personal favourite...Christians. I'm not knocking any of these, being two myself, nor am I saying it's wrong, it just made me realize how isolating it can be for those not in that community and perhaps even daunting.

Sometimes, I guess we use certain language in different groups in order to blend, feel connected and accepted. Other times I suppose it's the best way we feel we can describe and communicate whats going on.

Perfect Mother

At the moment I'm still enjoying time off from college but am aware that I need to put pen to paper and actually start writing something of worth. I have been doing a lot of pondering and deliberating about the different pieces that I need to get done. This time though it will not be a last minute affair!

I'm also thinking about the direction of my work, which I know I have mentioned previously. My head is swimming with childhood memories, but I've also been thinking about Motherhood also and the responsibility of that. I woke up this morning with Mary the mother of Jesus in my head. She's a figure that I often think about. Perhaps this is a throw back to having been brought up in a predominantly Catholic country and having a strong faith of my own. Within Christianity there is a sense that she epitomise's the ultimate and perfect mother, and woman. Something that is ultimately impossible to achieve. Perhaps the character of Mary has been twisted and turned to such an extent that she is hardly recognizable as a woman who gave birth, most probably had moments of questioning herself as a parent and also being frustrated with Jesus. Has she been idolized so much that her perfect persona would be unrecognizable to even herself? I'm not a theologian but I can't help but feel that she has been put on such a pedestal that if it were now it would be unobtainable to even her!

On that note it being Easter Sunday, I wish you all a very happy one!

Centre Pompidou

I did take in some art when I was in Paris. I saw quite an interesting exhibition in the Centre Pompidou on Samuel Beckett. It was split into 8 steps and within this, his contemporary artist's and today's visual artist's borrowed from his images, his obsessions, his structures, his associations, everything that constitutes the Beckettian world: nudity, waste, laughter, the skull, a fall, a tree, silence, a cube, darkness, a voice, ruins. It made me want to discover more about this Irish scholar, Beckett. Perhaps this is a reflection of my desire to know in more debt some of my history, me being Irish and all that!
Also a trip to MAC/VAL was a good insight into the contemporary art scene in Paris. It's an interesting space which is just outside Paris.

Vive la France!

Paris was wonderful, such an amazing city, so much to do...in fact too much to do.
Obviously this just means that I will have to make a return trip! We stayed in the Latin Quarter which is very lovely indeed, plenty of restaurants, bars and patiseries so I was a very happy camper and felt very much at home.


I was so stuck by how polite the French are to each other. They always manage to greet each other and say please and thank you, it kind of put me to shame, so often I forget about my own manners when in a rush, or when I'm on the bus or tube. It's easy to get caught up in the grunting and eyes down attitude. I thought I was going to come home really inspired artistically but I think I came home with a greater sense of the desire to going back to the basic and simple things in life. The French eat so well and they take their time over it, sitting down with a bottle of wine and just talking. The market place was buzzing, and people were queuing to get fresh baked bread each morning. The pace of life there seems more manageable and desirable, more like what it should be like. They make time for each other and for themselves....and I like that....next move France!