Surge on Sherkin Island this weekend - 17 and 18 May 2014

Rita O’Driscoll 

Rita O’Driscoll’s work takes a critical view of social, political and cultural issues. Her current work looks at how the human condition allows us to ignore unpleasant aspects of society and allows indifference to thrive. A fishing net, made in a children’s institution, features prominently as a metaphor for the entrapment and striping of identity. Rita’s work is in multi-media and installation. Mundane materials and the process through which she can manipulate these materials, adapting to place and concerns, fascinates her. 

Barbara Hopkins Reen - the event of a thread

Barbara’s work is strongly rooted in memory and is primarily concerned with an exploration of identity, both singular and collective. She  explores the possibility of visually representing something that is abstract, giving a form to the invisible and in the process creating a personal memory palace. 

Rob Monaghan - Skin

I am an interdisciplinary artist whose current art practice focuses on the concept of the unsaid within family. My work sets imagery, materials and soundscapes in constant metaphorical motion using figure and place. Referencing the element of water as a metaphor for the family support system I aim to create a narrative of strength and growth whilst simultaneously touching on the vulnerabilities that exist within our fragile lives.                                                                        

Fran Wolf - Shrine

SHRINE fig. referring to the veneration offered to a person, object, saint or deity, v. enshrine in one’s heart or thoughts… (Oxford English Dictionary)

Through painting and printmaking, installation and photography, this body of work seeks to honour the hope, desperation, humility and joy of people of any faith – and none, who visit or make a shrine.

Tim Davis - Landes

My work comments on situations that are sometimes evident in reality but more often are imaginary and not necessarily experienced.

Tara O’Donoghue - In a polytunnel far far away…

“Colour is a power, which directly influences the soul.”

Wassily Kandinsky

Sue Crellin McCarthy - WITNESS

...to see, hear or know by presence and perception...

‘Witness’ continues the documentation of Sue Crellin-McCarthy’s ongoing enquiry into ‘being’.  Life & Death, Physical & Metaphysical, Inner & Outer Self; the ethereal elements of existence.

In an attempt to communicate the intangible, the artist uses her own growing alphabet of metaphoric symbols, setting them in time and space to evoke and communicate meaning that resonates beyond the limitation of words. The resulting works are then used as descriptive clues in a concluding installation work.

Nina Sanctuary - Drawing a Ferry Crossing – Baltimore to Sherkin

Island

Nina recorded the moment by moment of the ferry crossing 

between Baltimore and Sherkin Island by drawing the lines and 

the marks she saw as the ferry moved inexorably between the two 

points.

Nicola Kelly - the carriage held but just ourselves

One must pay dearly for immortality;

one has to die several times while still alive

Friedrich Nietzsche

My work is concerned with the immortality that everyman can now achieve through the indefinite preservation of digital imagery. Like the ceramic shards of antiquity that depicted the deeds of gods and heroes, today’s mundane, trivial and often deeply embarrassing images have democratized and perhaps debased the concept of immortality for all of mankind. 

Mona O'Driscoll - Hypoxia

Her recent work examines the ecology of the ocean and the hidden pollution within it.

Hypoxia (Dead Zones) are areas of the world’s oceans that are depleted of oxygen due to human activities. These Dead Zones are mainly caused by excessive nutrient pollutions entering the seas, which in turn depletes the oxygen and kills marine life.

Mona is working with a variety of mediums, drawings, paintings, instillations and photography, using bubbles as a metaphor to highlight the fragility of the ocean. 

Etaoin Melville

My project deals with life and death, in a positive light-hearted way. I am interested in how when someone close to you dies it makes you look at life differently and change your perspective. It reminds you how short life is and how lucky we are to be here and to live a more positive, loving life. The project represents the journey of life, looking at how life initiates new chapters and how free will and personal determination shape the given circumstances. I am exploring the duality of identity from within and without.

Finola Cooney - the pipes are calling

Finola Cooney works mainly through the mediums of painting, photography and print. This collection of photographs is inspired by the words of Isamu Noguchi and the beauty to be found in the mundane and everyday objects protruding from the landscape of West Cork.

Mary Finn - Reflections on the Gaze

Mary Finn is an artist who is interested in all areas of the politics of vision. The multi-layer effect and tampering with images in her work represents the many layers of how images are sometimes constructed to manipulate our lives.

Mary Jordan - FAILED STATE, Bankers Bailed Out, People Bailing Out

Bankers and bondholders pumped finance into an elite Irish bubble, which burst in 2008.  The government has chosen to pay back these unsecured moneylenders with resources drained from society, resulting in catastrophic social impacts.  One quantifiable result is the “Fourth Wave” of emigration, collapsing communities in rural areas.

The central piece of the exhibition commemorates the 516 people who emigrated on 17th and 18th May 2013, inspired by the Twin-Headed Bollard.

Edwin Cridland - Seeing With the Eye’s Mind

By making reference to the extensive neural processes by which we interpret visual data generated by photoreceptors on the retina by reference to stored information, these works attempt to suggest the great extent to which perception, of any sort, relies on memory and creative imagination. The patchwork appearance of the images refers to the bricolage which underpins the fragile framework of our understanding.

Christine McAuliffe - The Raw Truth

Christine McAuliffe’s present body of work is executed on steel and it depicts a forest which was home to a character named Tilly, a person who plays a major role in her work. Tilly was described as being both “vulgar” and as “hard as steel”, hence the reason for art on steel. This lady lived and spoke the truth which was as “raw” as she herself. Her memory has awakened an awareness of the reality of life presented to those who lived close to the forest.  The phenomena of light and movement is also a concern in Christine's art work and the aim is to capture the essence or emotional significance of this place which was known for it’s beauty, ugliness and harshness.

Caoimhe Pendred

Imagery from stories we were told as children resonates deep within our psyches. Once you scrape off Disney’s saccharine coating, you find the dark and organic result of centuries of storytelling, with deep roots in a time when brides were bartered, children abandoned, and real beasts roamed in the woods. Working over a diverse array of media my work is concerned with the bewitching and transgressive nature of Fairy Tale.

"I believe in the truth of fairytales more than I believe in the truth in the newspaper." Lotte Reiniger

Tonys, Oscars or whatever you're having yourself...

As always, our guys and gals at Youth Theatre did us proud! Their production of 'Fragments' premiered last Friday and here are a few stills to give you an idea of what an excellent job they did... 

Project Assistant Louise Buckingham with Director Karen Minahan

Pencils at the ready!!!!

Now that Easter is behind us, time to take up a new pursuit?

Life Drawing with Ian Humphreys

28 April - 27 May

                                            

Life Drawing at West Cork Arts Centre offers participants the opportunity to explore this most essential of drawing disciplines. In a studious and supportive atmosphere the group will be facilitated by artist Ian Humphreys.

Ian Humphreys studied at Exeter College of Art, gaining a BA (Hons) Fine Art Painting in 1979. He moved to Ireland in 1999 and now lives and works on Heir Island, West Cork. Ian has exhibited widely both nationally & internationally, including the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition & the Hunting Prize, winning 2nd prize in 1998. He has work in countless prestigious private & public collections, including The Josef & Anni Albers Foundation, University of Cambridge & Allied Irish Bank.

This is a four week course and participants will have the choice of attending on either Monday evenings from 7.30 to 9.30pm or Tuesday mornings from 11.00am to 1.00pm. Workshops commence on April 28 and 29. They will break for the week of the May bank holiday (May 5 and 6) and conclude on May 26 and 27. The fee for Life Drawing is €45 per person.

A model, easels, drawing boards and refreshments will be provided. For further information, contact 028-22090 or info@westcorkartscentre.com.

This is how you write an artist's statement!

The following is an artists' statement by Senior infants and 1^st class boys from Scoil na mBuachailli in Clonakilty who are exhibiting two excellent felt pieces in our current exhibition, Abecedary

We had lots of ideas after our visit to the Alphabet exhibition in Skibbereen so it took some time to agree on the medium which we chose.

There are 23 boys in our class.  Each boy chose a letter.  The remaining letters were done in groups except for one letter which we left out!  We thought it would be a challenge to spot the missing letter!

Next each child created an image that reminded them of that letter for example; one boy Ethan said “I thought of science and stuff, and then I said what begins with G, in science and that made me think of galaxy!” 

Conor, Ethan and Oliver’s interpretation of E was as follows;  “First of all it started with elephant because we like elephants and then we thought about an egg and what an elephant could do with an egg, he could eat it, and then we thought of Ethan with big eyes eating the egg, then we said we would make the elephant look enormous and excited so we just couldn’t stop thinking of idea’s for E so we kept adding to it! It was fun!”

We took our artwork in stages;

Stage 1- We used paper and 3 crayons to draw our image.

Stage 2- We did cutting and sticking with paper to make the same image,

Stage 3- We used fabric and glue to create our scene and joined all the pieces together.

Stage 4- We used felt and sheep’s wool to create an image, some of us decided we wanted to do a new image using the wool and some of us did the exact same image again but it looked different with the wool!

Stage 5- We sewed them all together to make a felt quilt which we think looks amazing!

Here is another from 2nd class  pupils in Kilgarriffe National School in Clonakilty. Their piece is called Palindromes and is a work in mixed media on cardboard

This is their statement explaining their practice.  

For this art project the topic was the alphabet and we chose to do palindromes. For those of you who don't know what a palindrome is, it is a word or sentence that can be said and spelt forwards and backwards, for example 'race car' is a palindrome, just turn it around in your head and it is still 'race car'. Another example for a sentence is 'A nut for a jar of tuna', turn it around and it is still 'A nut for a jar of tuna'.

For the project we chose to do sentences instead of doing actual words. It took a lot of deliberation but we decided on these sentences: a nut for a jar of tuna, race fast safe car, stack cats, never odd or even, step on no pets, mad at adam, and mr owl ate metal worm. We each chose our favourite sentence. We wrote out our sentence on cardboard and then collaged each letter and the background with two primary and secondary complementary colours. We glued them to the cardboard with this super sticky glue and we then left them to dry overnight. We then sent them off to West Cork Arts Centre to go on the display.

Help Fund Your New Building for the Arts!!!

It's kinda cute, isn't it? That, there, is what will be the future West Cork Arts Centre Building. Below you've got your North view(from the town car park) 

and the South view from the 'Bridge' at Main Street.

It has a little way to go before it is finished. As you can see from it's current state, it is not quite there yet.

It won't be long though. The next stage will see the Corten steel facade applied, giving it its trademark rusted finish, and the windows will be installed. This means the building will be watertight and weather proof. For a few months, the building will look finished and ready to go, but inside a team will be busily fitting out the interior. 

It is really exciting stuff! To think that we are getting this landmark, purpose-built, state-of-the-art centre for art in the middle of a West Cork town!!! It is just what the place need as an attraction, as an economic boost and as a home for all things artistic and cultural!

But, we still need to raise some funds. You may have seen this little pairing in shops, bars and cafes throughout West Cork. 

Well, next time you do, take a leaflet, which will tell you all about the building, and make sure to leave some coinage (note-age is welcome too!). A project like this doesn't happen without the support of the people who want it to.

We are always open to your thoughts so if you have any ingenious ideas for fundraising, just let us know. Otherwise, you can check out our Fund The Building page here

We are very nearly there, so any contribution will make all the difference. Come on! Be a part of it! :-)

Practice

Have you been to our gallery lately? Well, currently exhibiting is Practice. Practice asks the question 'What happens when artists and children work together?' Well, here are a few examples...

UpSideDownWorld

The Cornerfield

Emily's Granda

Listening to John Kelly

Layers

These are some examples of what children from early years groups and primary schools created with artists Helen Barry, Ann Donnelly, Naomi Draper, Ann Henderson, Maree Hensey, Fiona Kelleher and Christine Mackey. There are many more pieces to be enjoyed in the gallery.

In the hours before the opening, the exhibiting artists facilitated an Artists' Day for artists and art students who have an interest in working with children. It was a long and intensive workshop, lasting from the morning until 5pm when the exhibition was being launched. Lots of ideas were exchanged and practices explored. Here's a peek at what they got up to...

The opening itself was a huge success. 

Orla Kenny, Director of KidsOwn Publishing

As an exhibition of work by artists in collaboration with children, and vice versa, it was great to see so many children there from as young as nine months and up.

Chalk was handed out to everyone present and, although there were initial plans for the creation of a live collaborative piece to include all who attended, the lead was taken by the children present who very much had their own idea of what they wanted to do. 

So, what happens when artists and children work together? Well, a bit of this...

Some of this...

and a little of this...

There is a programme of events that accompanies this exhibition. For further details contact 028 22090.

Practice continues at West Cork Arts Centre until February 22, but don't leave it until then as you'll want to see this exhibition more than once.