Detritus

My spiritual home is a beach anywhere in Ireland that receives twice daily donations of flotsam and jetsam from the Atlantic.  Ballydowane is about 15 minutes drive away and a perfect size for around an hour's beach combing.  It is the best beach I have found so far in Waterford for beach plastic, the east coast being less blessed for this particular commodity than the west.  Wandering the tideline, I have always taken close up photos of the detritus washed in and since a fortuitous visit to Spanish Point in County Clare, almost a year ago, have been manipulating these into kaleidoscopic images of what the ocean leaves behind.  The results are so beautiful it has almost become an obsession.

I could go on, in fact I should probably start a new blog just for Ballydowane.  This series is called Detritus - I love the contrast between the image suggested by the name and the image itself and yet, this is what it is.

LIPS 2

There is nothing I like better than a good old artist's book or zine.  Portable art.  Some books and zines that have crossed my path have been so good they make me want to cry or gnash my teeth in a combination of jealousy and admiration (jealiration?!).  The 2nd Limerick International Publishers Salon had just such creations.  I made a couple of little zines of my own - my very first.  They were photocopied at Kilmacthomas Library which is a lovely little place near me, open 3 days a week and but a couple of doors down from 2 charity shops.  This is what is known as a win-win situation.

Here are some images from LIPS 2 (which I coordinated by the way) and some of my zines too.

Laura Little/Pink Parrot Press

Frank Rafter

Emily Robards

Laura Little/Pink Parrot Press

Jane O'Sullivan

Impact Press/Sarah Bodman

Chisato Tamabayashi

Roller Love

Bought in Tilburg and loved ever since.

20:20 Hot Bed Press Box Set

I don't even know why I'm posting this because I made a complete mess of the documentation for this print.  Anyway, for the sake of completeness, here it is.

Every year I try to take part in the 20:20 box set run by Hotbed Press in Salford, near Manchester.  It is the only time in the year I ever make an edition so I try to use a technique that I haven't used before just to make life more interesting.  You make an edition of 25 and send them off and in return to get back a box set of 20 prints, 19 plus your own.  This is the most exciting part for me as the printers taking part are from hundreds of print studios around Ireland and the UK and I love opening the box to see what I have.

My last two prints have been figurative and to be honest I would have liked to do this again but I was without a press and decided to do something abstract that could be easily reproduced.

I meant to photograph each step and started off promisingly but then I got caught up in making zines for the Limerick International Publishers Salon and caught up in experimenting with print processes and so I forgot to photograph the latter stages and the finished print which makes me a nob end but there you go.

So when I get my box set I will put up the finished print which ended up by incorporating some sewing as well but below are a few steps in between.

A perfect week in Tilburg

Last week I was in Tilburg, Holland for the Apprentice/Master programme there, run by Kunstpodium T.  It involves art students from colleges all over Europe and I went with several other graduates and post graduates from the Limerick School of Art and Design.  The aim is to create networking opportunities for emerging artists in order to further and develop their practices.  We had to present our work to all the other students, and the Master Artist Thom Puckey, who together with the organisers would be putting us into groups based on our work.  Later this year, or next year, we will work with this group and an artist to create a group exhibition in one European city.

The presentation part was nerve-wracking and looking back, I wish I had presented a more general selection of my work rather than just the degree show.  But I suppose that's what these events are for - to make you think about how you present yourself and what work you can use to fully illustrate your practice. It was fascinating to see how the ethos of the college was reflected in the students, lots of conceptual and object based art in all the European colleges, compared to more socially engaged work works from Limerick.  As a printer, I felt a bit archaic but it was good to be part of the mix.

We also got to visit De Pont, a fantastic art gallery with some great works, housed in a former woollen mill.  Photographs of some of them are below.

I loved Tilburg, especially the bicycles.  I am almost wishing I get a Dutch city just to ride bicycles again.  Here are a few photographs - my camera died whilst I was over there as an indirect result of my beachcombing.  All the sand at the bottom of my bag got into the lens mechanism.  So I'm back to my trusty but heavy DSLR.

Beach comb-ing

One week in Waterford, before I headed to Tilburg in Holland (of which more later), I found my ultimate prize on the glorious Bunmahon beach.

Bye bye Limmers

This will be my last post from lovely Limerick.  We are moving to Waterford (have I mentioned this already?!).  To celebrate the rural bliss we are leaving behind, here are some analogue photos of Nobby's bulls.  These fellas are no more alas - they went to the abbatoir last autumn and I was very sad, in particular for the white-faced fella that features prominently in these pictures.  He was a lovely, gentle soul, often apart from the rest.  I used to see him standing under the ash tree in the top field and he would sometimes scratch his lovely curly poll on the branches hanging down.  I almost wish I could have bought him from the farmer and kept him.  I would have called him Mack.  But then finding accommodation would have been even harder - 'house wanted, must allow pets (2 dogs, 2 cats, 1 bull)'.