Irish Arts Blog

My next exhibition _ Mairead DeBlaca-Artist

by Mairead deBlaca

You are all invited to my next exhibition in Mount Pleasant Lawn Tennis Club Thursday 15th November, 2007 This exhibition focuses on my love of moving water, oceans, lakes and rivers. I recently took up sailing and i love it - of course I am not very good - but I love it. Each piece explores the various elements of my and all of our relationship with great bodies of water. Our fear of them and our need to tame and harness them. What I love about sailing is the sense of freedom it gives me and the opportunity to become one with nature. I love the movement of the sea, the flap of the sails, the wind in my face and the different perspective the sea offers us. Watch this space for updated snaps of the great occasion!

This is one of my favorite pieces - it is a mother and child walking down by the canal - anther body of water which is a huge landmark for us in Dublin. A simple walk we have all done over the years.

Pressure: Michael Ray Sculptor

  Some of us thrive on it  other hate it, I've come to realise that given a deadline  I will wait and wait til I only just have time to complete, barring any unforseens which when creating are frequent. Two exhibitons to complete for, fours days to go. Side by side at the Hunt Museum Limerick with the Crafts Council, Christmas show in Wexford Arts centre. Some of the work is still only in my head,some has been 'deconstructed' several times already and maybe ready to go. Thick chunks of layered glass alongside vessels containing embedded collaged and layered photographic images, to sit, or stand 'side by side' images of another time, a sailing vessel born in west cork yet working its passage around the Falkland isles for most of the twentieth century. Worn out it has  been returned from whence it came, soulfully sad it sits slowly rotting while people quietly forget its significance.

 

Immortalised as a postage stamp both here and in the Falklands. My inspiration for a body of work looking at transistion, beginnings and endings.

by Michael Ray

dreaming, Cliodhna Quinlan Artist

So, I have just returned from a two week intensive course in Toltec shamanism. I am in the door about half an hour, had a shower, washed some clothes and am now experiencing the familiar sense of feeling slightly lost that I always feel when I come back from a trip anywhere. I generally need to sleep a night at home and then the next day I get back to the 'normal' routine.
I love doing these courses, they give me so much. As well as the inner knowledge I receive and sense of direction, I also come out of them with so much that I want to paint about and put into images. I find it helps consolidate what I have learnt and also a picture says a thousand words.
I was at the pyramids in Teotihuacan (just outside mexico city) first and then to the most incredible village just south of Mexico   city for a dreaming workshop. It was set in a hacienda surrounded by tall craggy mountains on three sides and a view to the far valley of cuernavaca on the fourth. Scorpions abounded and a centipede about eight inches long. The scorpions are actually quite shy but the centipedes are mean critturs.
I suppose a bit of backround is in order seeing as this is the first blog. I am living in Guanajuato Mexico right now and am coming back to dublin to do the RDS craft fair. I have been shifting between Mexico and Ireland the last two years. My boyfriend works in the gold mine here in Guanajuato and I met him while I was teaching english to the miners. I was supposed to be teaching him spanish also (he's from montana) but I wasn't very succesful and sure as soon as we started dating the spanish classes were quickly forgotten. he would always find some excuse not to do them.... like going for dinner instead!
I have done a few solo exhibitions in Signal arts centre in Bray. A very friendly wonderful space, lots of light. I am progressing slowly into the world of the professional artist, trying to balance making money and staying true to my voice. I have recently started making bags with embroidery and beading (they are what I will be selling at the craft fair) and it is a kind of a day job (though I still love making them) which I will approach as commercially as I can while then painting pictures or making embroideries exactly as I wish.

Its a trap I don't want to fall into, the needing to sell my art to survive. I have caught myself in the past a couple of times trying to paint paintings I know will sell and have to re-evaluate myself and remind myself that its not why I am doing it. Trust that if I stay true to my art and my voice then it will all work out.
I have been influenced by my time in mexico. The colours here are incredible, the indigenous crafts are wonderful. Oaxacan rugs, made with natural dies and complicated patterns. The stitching from Chiapas and the carved obsidian from Mexico   city area. My favourite is the Huichole art. They make a pilgrimage every year to Real de Catorce and take peyote as part of sacred ritual and then they have shared visions which they make into images using wool or beads. They are incredible. You can see them on the web if you google 'Huichole art' and follow what comes up.
I also live near San Miguel Allende which is a hot spot for modern artists. Americans come to San Miguel specially to buy art and the place has as many galleries as an irish town has pubs. They are all packed with art that is pure happy colour and strange interesting sculptures. Its an inspiration to walk around and see it. I think Ireland needs to loosen up and shake up its ideas of art and how to sell it and what to sell and where to sell it. It is improving I suppose but I think maybe we take ourselves too seriously at times
Ok, better go and see if my washing is done. Its amazing here, in the sun, clothes are dry in an hour and its sunny 90% of the time. I am coming back to Ireland for the next 6 or 7 months and although I am looking forward to seeing my friends and family I get tired of the weather very fast. Its a nice change for about a week and then I start missing my flip flops and the freshness of the morning in the sun. We have to get started and invent those molecular transporters. I can nip back to Ireland for a good curry and a gossip with a few friends and be back here for morning juices at the market and always perfectly ripe avocados.
My  website is www.cliodhnaquinlan.com and if you are at the craft fair I am under Glorious Designs. Call by! I am on the balcony in the main hall, it is my first craft fair so I am looking forward to it, I have no idea how I am going to do but I am putting out good vibes to the universe. Should be fun.
Ok till next time.. x cliodhna

Durie Design: Lynn Durie Jewellery Maker

 One of my favourite things to do, is to create a unique piece based upon a person’s personality or hobby. This was a private commission that I did for a groom. I didn’t know the man at all, only that he was getting married and was into mountain biking. So I fiddled around and presented the bride-to-be with 3 designs, crossing my fingers that she would go for this design as I was most excited about how this one would turn out. To my delight she did indeed choose this design and I got stuck in. The brushed finish was an after-thought but I think it created a more masculine finish than the high polish originally planned.

I just love, love, love making chains. I find them wonderful on two levels... 1) They are incredibly theraputic to create, link after link, slowly building up,until suddenly you look down and you have a whole bracelet... just like that!!! 2) They are wonderfully practical. Chains are like shoes...I believe you can never have too many! The only part I find 'not-so-theraputic' is cutting the wire into jump-rings. Grrrr! I'm always relieved when that part is done.

This is my workstation... A total mess. And this is actually quite tidy! My wish is to have a proper studio to do my work in, with all the gadgets and gizmos that would make it qicker and more economical to produce well finished pieces. A shed would do nicely, but when you live in suburban South Dublin a shed is a luxury. I will have to make do with the corner of our living room for now.(I hope my landlady doesn't read this). Between my workstation and my partners musical instruments (of which there are many) in this very little house.. the cat can barely find a square cm to curl up on!He is not amused.

Researcher: Michael Ray - Sculptor

Just back from one side of the Isle to the other, my weekly visit to college in Dublin Buzzing with ideas insecurities and an awareness that there are not enough hours in a day and that I don't have enough hands either!

In an attempt to develope my creative practice I have begun a Masters in Glass....A daunting prospect at the tender age of 46. I find myself surrounded by teenagers full of hormones and enthusiasm and try to make sense of my new surroundings and the dialogue with other creative folk. This is what I wanted I keep reminding myself. Back into my workshop tomorrow to cut ,colour, melt and polish some new creations to help me make some sense of the new learning I have undertaken.

by Michael Ray

Feltpix: Sandra Richardson Crafts

Whales & Dolphins

I created this picture as it reminded me of a time when I experienced seeing a pod of  whales of the San Juan Islands in British Columbia and I often see Dolphins off the Wexford Coast. They are both truly magnificent creatures.

Some days I create lots of new designs, I'm busy drawing and getting the ideas out of head and down onto paper. Yet, other days I'm surrounded by different by lots of different scissors and piles of coloured felt and other fabrics and I sit and cut out my designs.

Ultimately, I love sewing. It is so rewarding to sit and sew!  I will sew for hours - selecting all the different coloured embroidery threads and hand stitch my wall art, adding beads or whatever else is to hand on the day.

The images I create are soft, warm and colourful.

 
Smiling Lion

Much of my inspiration is taken from my 3 children.  Mother Nature also plays a big part in my work. I look out onto my garden when I work and this inspires me endlessly, as do my own memories of when I was a kid.

Although the Lions image is sometimes fierce, my smiling lion is warm and welcoming and a favourite of mine.

Love Tree

What can I say about this picture - I love it!

The Big Wave

One of the favourite parts of my work is making a picture for a friend as a gift. The Big Wave was made for 2 friends as a gift for their new baby.  They were moving from living by the sea into the midlands. A new journey was beginning for them. I wanted to remind them of the sea that they so loved and respected and moving on to the next chapter in their lives.

by Sandra Richardson

Cristina Colli - Mosaic artist

Hi, my name is Cristina Colli and I’m a self-taught mosaic artist.

My fascination for art started when I was a little girl. I’m Italian and I spent most of my life in Tuscany, in a small town on the coast close to  Siena, Florence and Rome. I visited these cities lots of times, spending time in  museums and old buildings, breathing in the art..

My uncle is a painter and I spent hours just watching him paint or examining his art books, the smell of linseed oil and turpentine in the air. Through the years I experimented with different media until I finally found mosaic.

The things I love most about mosaic are its tactile quality, the slow, almost meditative quality of actually making a mosaic, the fact that fragments are assembled together to create wholeness, and its permanence and durability. I’m captivated by colour, shape, texture and light reflectivity, which I constantly explore to bring a sense of movement and fluidity to my art.

Reaching for the Dream - cm 30x40 - Materials: Mirror, Venetian Smalti, Mexican Smalti, Millefiori, Silver Leaf smalti, Paua shell

Reaching for the Dream is a piece about the universal search for our dream. The viewer can identify with the mirror figure, reaching out for the shell circular shape representing the dream. The resistance and obstacles we encounter in our quest are symbolised by the movement in the background, like strong water currents, while millefiori and silver represent the hidden treasures found in difficulties, helping us grow and develop.

Colours are chosen because of their significance in chromotherapy: Blue represents the spiritual aspects of our life and is linked with artistic expression; Indigo assists in finding inspiration, concentration, clarity, intuition; Violet enhances spiritual power and creativity.

If you want to see other work, please visit my website http://www.cristinacolli.com/