sheelaghnagig

Sherkin Island Community Arts Project

2009-05-26T18:15:00.002+01:00

This blog will be a little quite over the next few months, as I have created a new blog for the Sherkin Island Community Arts Project -
A Cosmopolitan Cosmology, which can be found here

Cape Clear Pinhole Project at West Cork Arts Centre

2009-05-26T18:06:00.002+01:00

The pinhole images made at the workshop on 3rd & 4th May are on display now at the West Cork Arts Centre. The pinhole images were printed on acetate and displayed in a light box as part of the Ealaion na Gaeltachta project 'Cape and I'.

May 2009 Cape Clear Island Slow Photo Workshop

2009-05-06T20:45:00.003+01:00

These are some of the images captured at the workshop last weekend. Each participant made their own coffee can camera and then subsequently experimented with it to see what would happen - Something definitely happens with these images that is quite compelling. I think I am missing a few images that are still on Cape, if I get them I will load them on also.

May 2009 Cape Clear Island

2009-05-06T20:36:00.004+01:00

The May Bank holiday weekend passed in a frenzy of activity, making cameras and photographs. Thanks to Catherine Ryan who co facilitated. I hope the pictures below are a reminder of the fun we all had.

Pinhole on Cape Clear Island

2009-04-25T21:40:00.005+01:00

I am really looking foward to next week. I have been invited to Cape Clear Island to do a pinhole camera workshop over the May Bank Holiday weekend.

I am busy assembling materials wondering what it is that I will inevitably forget to bring with me and whether I will be able to source its alternate on the island. Cape Clear is about 40 mins by ferry and 15 minutes by car from the nearest hardware shop so you can see why I am a bit concerned.

The workshop will be contribute to a larger project being run on the Island by Bernadette Cotter. My part is to facilitate those with an interest in alternative photography to create pinhole images that will be shown alongside other work.

I have been scavenging materials from many sources. I have the basic Lidl coffee can, but also some cans appropriated from the civic amenity site in Macroom.

I think that this may be one of the last pinhole workshops that I do as disposal of the toxic corrosive chemicals used in developing photographs is such a problem...unless I can find a better way to develop images, I intend to concentrate on solargraphy.

Artist in the Community 2009

2009-04-19T21:52:00.003+01:00

A Cosmopolitan Cosmology is the name I gave to the next phase of the solargraphy project initiated on Sherkin last year. The project revolves around the idea that it is relevant to all people at all times in all places, but most especially those who have a link to Sherkin Island.

It will explore space and time through the process of solargraphy and strengthen relationships between those who live on the Island and those in whom the Island lives (although they may live many miles apart).

The project application was made in association with Sherkin Island Development Society and was awarded a second round of funding by the Arts Council through the Artist in the Community Scheme managed by Create.

I have setup an initial blog for this http://sherkinisland.blogspot.com

Epiphany of the Mulroy Bay II

2009-04-07T20:54:00.003+01:00

These are movie stills taken by photographer Marc Holden of the installation on Sherkin Island, Jan 23 - 26 2009

Epiphany of the Mulroy Bay II

2009-04-06T23:10:00.003+01:00

This is a phone video of the installation
at West Cork Arts Centre 01/03/2009 - 21/03/2009

Photos from Degree Show & Graduation

2009-03-03T08:42:00.000Z

A big gaping hole

2009-03-01T18:23:00.008Z

After the exhibition opening at the West Cork Arts Centre, we were invited back to to Sherkin for a get together. I took the opportunity to go to the community hall to spend some quiet time there on my own. The hall has doubled as lecture theatre, library, workroom and gallery. It has been the scene of intense debate and activity, tears and laughter. Now that time has ended. I will miss it.

BA Visual Art Degree Show at West Cork Arts Centre

2009-02-27T20:28:00.004Z

Clockwise from top left Jill Hegarty, Ciarnad Ryan, Tess Leak, Sheelagh Broderick, Geoff Stephens, John Desmond and Gill Good
at West Cork Arts Centre.
Opening Sunday 1 March 2009 at 3.30pm.
Exhibition continues until 21 March 2009

Below is the publicity material from WCAC website

An exhibition of work by final year degree students from the BA in Visual Art, Sherkin Island – a joint initiative between the School of Art, Design and Printing at Dublin Institute of Technology, Sherkin Island Development Society Ltd. and West Cork Art Centre. The programme is supported by the Department of Rural, Gaeltacht and Community Affairs. This exhibition will feature work by the seven degree students who will be the first cohort to graduate from this exciting and innovative programme.

The four-year modular honours degree programme offers a dynamic and creative education in the visual arts and combines delivery through live and electronic media. The methodology employed presents a viable model for linking third level institutions with isolated communities and presents the opportunity for future collaborations.

By developing a mechanism for linking isolated communities with third level institutions a true sharing of knowledge can arise. In this way, educational programmes addressing the needs of specific communities may be devised and validated. The process enables isolated communities to retain their structural integrity while gaining in confidence and the resulting sustainable development broadens the economic base of the community.

Along with the other partners, West Cork Arts Centre is committed to the development of transformative educational provision at the higher levels of educational achievement which this programme provides. It also provides opportunities to build capacity in the arts so that artists can live, work and study on the islands - underpinning the capacity for living in remote and rural island and coastal environments.

The BA in Visual Art Programme brings professional artists to the area and creates opportunities for students, other artists, communities and arts organisations alike. It invigorates the process of engagement with the arts, it supports the establishment of learning communities and it leads to the development of networks, to promote exchange between communities of interest and the interrogation of contemporary arts practice.

I am a positively revolting hag

2009-02-13T10:32:00.002Z

It is well over a decade since my first encounter with the ideas of radical feminist philosopher Mary Daly. She has a unique worldview that defiantly addresses the hubris of patriarchy. She is playful at times in addresssing what can be a very tedious academic topic of language as power.

The WEBSTERS' FIRST NEW INTERGALACTIC WICKEDARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, with images dawn by Jane Caputi is a 'brilliant, wild, and humor-filled Web-Work of words that frees the English language from its patriarchal and confining patterns by Weaving a fascinating, feminist, linguistic revolution'.

In the book she provides new phrases and interpretations of phrases which reveal hidden structures of power through language. Here are just a few that make me howl with laughter;

ACADEMENTIA n normal state of persons in academia, marked by varying and progressive degrees; irreversible deterioration of faculties of intellectuals

BORED, CHAIRMAN OF THE n any bore-ocratically appointed bore who occupies a chair - a position which enables hime to bore others all the more

COCKALORUM n a self-important little cock.

COCK-AND-BULL STORY n patriarchal history

And finally

POSITIVELY REVOLTING HAG : a stunning beauteous Crone, one who inspires positive revulsion from phallic institutions and morality, inciting Others to Acts of Pure Lust

Yesterday was a great day for me. In lots of different ways. But in relation to this post, I had a moment of self-realisation of myself as a positively revolting hag.

I had a difficult meeting at which I had to express the truth of my reality as I saw it, and in the process, jeopardise something I had been seeking for a long time.

Afterwards I just felt relieved that I was able to speak my truth and felt that that what I had said was received in good faith.

Being able to speak without fear or anger made the exchange a lot easier for everyone and made me realise what a long way I had come from the feelings of rancour experienced a decade ago.

Guerrilla Lighting

2009-02-10T16:24:00.002Z

Glad to hear that 2009 has been 'brilliant' for Guerrilla Lighting. They featured in Lightwave 2009 curated by the Museum of Science at Trinity College and in a collaborative Flash Lighting event in January and on Eco Eye Feb 3rd last - if you click on the eco eye link it starts at 22:40 (I say this to save you from having to listen to Duncan Stewart for 22 minutes and 40 seconds). I am looking forward to the next Guerrilla Lighting event and hope that I can participate myself.

Chaka Khan at Paradiso

2009-02-05T21:46:00.001Z

The best venue in Amsterdam

Good times and not so good times

2009-02-03T14:58:00.006Z

I got the results of my final exam today and am very happy. I put a big effort in over the last 12 months and feel fortunate that it has been recognised. In general it seems that everyone did well and that the examiner's were happy with the overall standard.

Of course this has been a long time coming. We first registered on a pilot arts and culture course in 2000. I remember going over to Sherkin for the preliminary interview and feeling quite intimidated. I know Ber was there and I think John O'Connor too and maybe Maj. The past plays curious tricks on my mind

The following three years were a rollercoaster for me. Learning how to sit through a crit was agonising. I couldn't bear to be seated for such long periods and became restless easily. Of course, the class was bigger then. We had 14 students including ; Tess, John, Gill, Geoff, Catherine, Adele, Fiona, Jenny, Sarah, Naoise, Clare and Rosemary - I know there were others too, but again my mind is curiously vacant in this regard.

The modular approach gave us unlimited access to lecturers in specialist areas that could not be replicated on a city campus. We were worked hard and had fun sometimes too.

DIT staff disrupted there families to come to Sherkin for a period of days to teach and evaluate. It was exciting as the pedagogy was being evaluated simultaneously to our own arts practice. Sometimes it seemed like being in a doubleskinned fishbowl and you know how that can distort your perception.

Amazing energy was found in SIDS. Josephine, Liam and Breda were a crack team. They traveled all over the country to meetings with Ministers and bureaucrats to secure support for the project. Although they were tireless in their commitment, not everyone was as enthusiastic leading to a four year interregnum between the end of the pilot phase and the commencement of the mainstream model.

I realise that there is a price for everything and today I don't want to forget the price that was paid for our success.

Today I am saying thank you to all those involved past and present.

Solargraph from Kerry

2009-01-31T09:32:00.005Z

Margaret Fitzgerald

There are still a few more solargraphs to collect. The one above came from Keel in Co. Kerry - thanks to the collaborators there. It is a really interesting image to look at, as the horizon is repeated twice. This probably happened because the camera was moved during the period of exposure - another happy accident. I haven't got the exact details of the period of exposure and must chase this up.

More Thanks You s

2009-01-27T17:55:00.004Z

I got a lot of support this year so I want to say thank you to DIT Staff, Ber Burns, Majella O'Neill Collins, Marc Holden, Brian Fay, John Mayock, Patricia Hurl and Tim Stott.

All at Sherkin Island Development Society, especially, Dan Reilly, Maggie Reilly and Matthew Stephens.

Gillian Treacy of St Johns Central College, Cork.

Resource agencies were also very helpful in particular Katherine Atkinson, CREATE and Ann O'Connor Arts Council of Ireland.

Thank you all.

Commercial Sponsors

2009-01-27T17:46:00.005Z

Now that the assessments are over I can begin to start thanking all the people who supported me in my work during the year. Today I am thanking my commercial sponsors who helped me with in kind support.

Nick Walsh of Acme Blinds donated a roll of white blackout blind fabric, which was used in the Pinhole Car Camera Project and also for the graduate assessment installation.

Dave Madden of Maddens TV lent me audiovisual equipment for the the graduate assessment installation - I didn't get to use it this time because the weather was so bad and I didn't want to risk the equipment getting damaged as the journey involved car- ferry - taxi and then the same in reverse - but maybe next time?

Thank you both.

BA Visual Art Graduate Assessments

2009-01-26T13:11:00.003Z

Phew I am glad thats over! Final assessments were held last week for the seven fourth year students. Our work was on display for assessment in the Sherkin Community Hall, and in two private studios on the Island.

The period leading up to our assessments was intense. The drama was exacerbated by storm force winds that resulted in cancelled ferries and falling electricity lines.

Our work was assessed on Friday 23rd February by a team of Lecturers from DIT. This was followed by individual interview with our extern examiner Helen O'Donoghue, Head of Education & Community Programmes, at IMMA.

On Sunday 24th February there was an open house invite to all Islanders to come and see the work, which proved to be a very relaxed and sociable event.

Now we look forward to receiving our individual grades, a very special graduation day, a group exhibition at the West Cork Arts Centre and exhibiting with the 2009 DIT graduates based in Mountjoy Square, Dublin.

Last of the Solargraphs from Finland

2009-01-15T17:17:00.009Z

Michael Stephens 28-09-08 21-12-08

Michael Stephens 28- 09-08 21-12-08

Tara O'Donoghue 28-09-08 21-12-08

These are the last of the unprocessed 35mm film cannisters I sent to Finland. I think the results do warrant the wait. There seems to be more colour in some of the images and this may be down to the use of different scanners - another piece of research for the future.

I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone involved in the project - it was great working with all you pinholers.

Thanks to the Arts Council who funded the project through the Artist in the Community Scheme managed by Create. Katherine Atkinson was a great support there, Tarja Trygg of the University of Art & Design, Helsinki and last but not least Sherkin Island Development Society and their development worker Matthew Stephens.

Solargraphs returned from Finland

2009-01-13T10:07:00.009Z

Tarja Trygg from the University of Art & Design, Helsinki returned the first batch of solargraphs sent to her after the winter solstice. These solargraphs were taken using plastic 35mm film cannisters and I could sit and look at them for hours.

Maggie O'Reilly 28-09-08 21-12-08

Jo Jefferies 28-09-08 21-12-08

Sherkin Island National School, Senior Class 03-10-08 21-12-08

Sherkin Island National School, Senior Class 03-10-08 21-12-08

Kordula Packard 28-09-08 21-12-08

There are two possible explanations why there are no sun tracks . a) the film cannister was was probably pointing too far north to catch the sun, or b) if it was facing south, it has too much foreground and not enough sky to catch the sun's path.

Sheila O'Sullivan 28-06-08 21-12-08

Sue O'Hanlon 20-06-08 21-12-08

Cork Film Centre

2009-01-10T18:43:00.003Z

A big thank you to Maximilian le Cain at the Cork Film Centre for his help in editing Epiphany - I had done several drafts in Windows Movie Maker, but my computer kept crashing - it couldn't cope with the resource overhead. Max was able to take my image and sound files and put them through Final Cut Pro to give them a really good finish and I am really grateful. Thanks Max!

Collaboration has been a really great part of this project, I couldn't have done it without so many supportive and talented people.

Sherkin Island Solargraphy

2009-01-05T17:53:00.004Z

We had a great day yesterday and were very excited to finally reveal the solargraphs that had been exposing since late September.

Terry Farnell

Micheal Stephens

Tara O'Donoghue

Conor O'Riordan

Sherkin Island Artist in the Community Workshop 4th January 2009

2009-01-01T10:59:00.004Z

The last workshop in this series will be held next Sunday. Looking back to last September its hard to believe how much has been achieved in such a short time.

making pinhole cameras
learning basic dark room techniques
printing some great images
setting out solargraph cans
portraiture session with the old meagher camera

Whats next ? Well, I have already collected and scanned some solargraphs which are really impressive. Next Sunday I hope to scan the rest of them and put them up on the web.

I will collect and send the remaining 35mm film cans to Finland for the Global Map of Solargraphy project.

If people are willing we can turn the dispensary into a darkroom for one last pinhole session.

I am preparing documentation of our work, so we can spend some time selecting favourite images to be included in the photobook.

So a busy day on Sunday and looking forward to it.

Artist in the Community Solstice Solargraphs

2008-12-23T17:52:00.006Z

Solargraph by Mags Reilly Sherkin Island 28-09-08 - 21-12-08

Solargraph by Jo Jefferies Sherkin Island 28-08-08 -21-12-08

Congratulations Mags & Jo, your solargraph images are really great. I hope you like them too!

Solstice Solargraphy

2008-12-21T23:59:00.001Z

This solargraph was exposed for 6 months using a film can, It was collected in very wet weather . When I brought it home, I took the paper out of the cannister to dry in the hot press. The changed orientation of the sheet caused the image to slip in the wet surface, almost entirely obscuring the sun track - I am not unhappy with this - the surface is richly textured giving a caustic appearance.

Solstice Solargraphy

2008-12-21T20:33:00.009Z

Harvest time has come. Even though we are in the middle of winter, my crop is ripe. Six months ago at the Summer Solstice, I put out loads of pinhole cameras. Now today on the Winter solstice, its time to bring them home. These are the initial results and I am really pleased.

This solargraph was taken using a Sharwoods curry can , with the photographic paper wrapped cylindrically around the can. The pinhole was on the cap and laid horizontally about 6ft off the ground. I can't decide which I prefer positive or negative.

This solargraph was taken using a coffee can pinhole camera from Camden Road, Crosshaven facing into Cork Harbour. I probably had it pointing a little far North as there is little evidence of sun tracks.

Sherkin Artist in the Community Dec 2008

2008-12-08T16:20:00.003Z

Ok I know I am a bit slow getting these images up. I developed the images straight away when I got home and was really disappointed with the negs. With all the chaos of working in the office and moving into the hall. the paper must have got flashed - so despite all our efforts to use the meagher correctly - we were foiled.

Anyway eventually i did get round to scanning the images and to be honest the positives are much better than I could have hoped from first glance at the negs - one or two images did not come out at all.

So now I am determined to come in on the 4th of January on the 10:30am ferry and with your help set up a darkroom so that we can get immediate feedback on what we are doing.

Public Art

2008-12-06T15:54:00.001Z

“So what separates the work artists do in the area of social interaction from the work of people doing similar things, but who don’t label themselves artists?

If the work is looked at from an aesthetic perspective, it can fail in social terms, but still function as art….

If the project is assessed for its effect in producing social change in the world beyond the event itself it can be seen as a failure.

But if the event is viewed as having created a space for people to discuss and learn more about a wide range of issues, it succeeded…"

You can be a failure while still being a success".

Catherine Harty

from script of video performance for Art in the Lifeworld,

Breaking Ground, February 2008

Sound and Light - Sons et Lumiere

2008-12-01T01:22:00.000Z

A few years ago I went to an exhibition at the Pompidou and the experience has stayed with me ever since. In particular the piece, L’EXPÉDITION SCINTILLANTE, ACT 2, UNTITLED (LIGHT BOX), by Pierre Huyghe affected me deeply.

This was simply a double layered light box, with music and dry ice shown in a darkened space. It had the essential elements to reach out to each viewer/audience member and people moved reluctantly on from the room. It conjured other worlds elsewhere in fact and fiction.

Sherkin Island Artist in the Community Workshop 23 Nov 2008

2008-11-19T10:51:00.000Z

Our next Artist in the community workshop on Sherkin will be at 2pm, Sunday 23rd November

At the last workshop participants learned how to use a pinhole camera and saw that you can arrive at some pretty amazing images with very basic technology.

At the next workshop we will look more closely at how this process works using a studio pinhole camera.

We will be using a late 19th century studio camera manufactured by Patrick Meagher, Southampton Bow, London.

I would like to use the camera for what it was intended - portraiture -

Participants please take a few moments between now and then to think how you would like to be photographed, bearing in mind that you will need to be still for around 5 seconds!

The Meagher camera design had a movable back focusing screen connected by a bellows to a lens board. For storage the back was moved by rack and pinion to the front and the hinged baseboard lifted up to protect the focusing screen and if present a side gate was swung across to protect everything that was secured in position with a slotted strut and screw.

p247 Encyclopedia of Nineteenth Century Photography, John Hannavy, 2008

This is quite a unique camera and we are fortunate to have it on loan from Alison Trim.

Epiphany of the Mulroy Bay II

2008-11-17T15:35:00.005Z

Photos by Marc Holden

Click on the image above to see full size view

Epiphany of the Mulroy Bay II

2008-11-17T15:15:00.006Z

Photos by Calvin Jones

Click on the images above to see full size view

Epiphany of the Mulroy Bay II - We did it!

2008-11-17T08:51:00.006Z

Photo by Marc Holden

Yes, indeed we did!

We had a great team. There were two boats carrying a total of 14 volunteers - 3 were documenting the spectacle using still and video cameras and 11 were torchbearers. Ashore, we had another still and video camera team with a driver to take them to pre-identified locations and we had 3 torchbearers ashore to light up key landmarks.

Myself, Chantelle Stewart & John Harrison had worked hard all day visiting the locations by land and by sea. The sping tides meant a very low - low water, so it took three attempts before we could do a walk through of all the locations. In the meantime we were back at the house putting together a plan, documenting it and getting ready for the team to assemble.

We had a team briefing at 4:30 pm , where I explained the concept for Epiphany , Chantelle then gave a brief introduction to sustainable public lighting and the actions of guerrilla lighting in Dublin, a detailed plan of the lighting design, which was presented very much like a play with different scenes, was given to everybody with the press release and then I went through all the safety considerations. People were assigned boats, everyone was given a buddy to work with and everyone was checked for lifejacket and personal torch.

We were at the pier at 5:15 and headed down to Church Strand in twilight. This is where it became magical. As darkness descended, we entered a different environment where you become sensitised to the sound and smell of the sea.

We took up our positions and were ready to go at 6pm. The cameras were having difficulty focussing, as the boats were only lit with domestic torches, we were reserving our main beams as much as we could because the battery lasts only 20 minutes.

Then Chantelle blew the first horn signaling to all of us to commence the first scene and turn on our torches, minutes later we got the signal to turn off the power and get ready for the next shot. And that is how we went from scene to scene , we had some small difficulty in communicating with the shore, but this was quickly remedied.

It all flowed in a very slow and measured manner. There was an undercurrent of nervousness that gave way to excitement that became more palpable as the shoot progressed. ... and then were done, we finished about 7:30pm and headed back to Baltimore pier.

Not all the torch batteries had been exhausted, so on the way back we lit each other up and became stars in our own private spectacle.

What a night - making soul memories. Thanks to everyone.

Epiphany of the Mulroy Bay II

2008-11-16T11:15:00.007Z

Photo by Marc Holden

Photo by Calvin Jones

The Epiphany of the Mulroy Bay II

Yesterday I teamed up with lighting designer Chantelle Stewart and a band of volunteer torchbearers, photographers and videographers to light an abandoned fishing boat at Church Strand, Baltimore, Co. Cork.

The Epiphany of the Mulroy Bay II, which is lying beam on in the mud at Church Strand, Baltimore, was illuminated in a multi-coloured display symbolising the realisation of a moment of destiny – the vessel will never put to sea again, she will never fish again. The hopes and dreams of those who built her and fished her are dashed.

I pass these fishing boats every day and they are such a sad sight as they lie crippled in the mud, that I felt I had to do something to mark their demise, I got in touch with Chantelle and she immediately saw the potential for a strong visual display.

High powered torches and coloured filters were used to light the fishing boat in an exercise that required meticulous planning, taking into account weather, tides, sunset and moonrise. Volunteers were taken by RIB from the pier at Baltimore to Church Strand, where different lighting displays were directed at the stricken vessel. The Mulroy Bay II's final resting place, beneath the graveyard at Tullagh, added further pathos to the scene.

The decline of the fishing industry has had a huge cultural, social and economic impact on small communities such as Baltimore and this event touched a chord with many. The project got great support from the local community and there was no shortage of volunteers.

Stewart, from Ballybofey, Co Donegal but now working in Dublin, has been active in public lighting display for several years. Last Month she staged Guerrilla Lighting Dublin in the capital, speaking of this event she said ‘it's great to come out to Baltimore and help a community use lighting design to create something that speaks of the history of the people of Cork".

The Epiphany of the Mulroy Bay II will be exhibited at the West Cork Arts Centre next Spring and online at http://sheelagh-na-gig.blogspot.com and www.guerrillalighting.net.

A big thank you to all involved!

High Dynamic Range Imaging

2008-11-13T10:58:00.006Z

Taking good photographs in the dark at a distance over water is not easy. I discussed this with Marc Holden in advance of the epiphany shoot. He referred me to the technique of HDR and a great online tutorial by Trey Ratcliff

HDR is a set of techniques that allows a greater dynamic range of exposures (the range of values between light and dark areas) than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDR is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows.

This method was developed to produce a high dynamic range image from a set of photographs taken with a range of exposures.

http://www.flickr.com/people/vinjhed/

http://www.flickr.com/people/12034714@N02/

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=trey%20ratcliff%20hdr&w=all

You can see from the images above that HDR can capture distant, dark images very well. This technique is perfect for the epiphany shoot and I am looking forward to seeing the results.

Gillian Kenny

2008-11-12T22:21:00.003Z

Earlier this year, I had begun to expieriment with screen printing using a photo sensitive mask. This was ideal for use with photo negatives /found objects and it is something I want to return to in the future.

An artist I will reference before beginning again is Gillian Kenny
Gillian Kenny: New Work , Phatory Gallery, New York, 9 September - 2 October 2004

Gilian Kenny: Bins , oil and acrylic silkscreen on steel, 15.5 x 22 cm; courtesy the artist

"The realistic nature of photography has unfortunately led the medium to be associated with pragmatic truth, where each supposedly functions as a given of the other. Gillian Kenny chips away at this long-standing paradox within a series of fifteen pieces that use the silk-screen process to render a different photographic image upon each unframed, steel surface. Suspending her work between perception and depiction, Kenny then scratches or applies paint over these representations, so as to transform the objective to subjective. In the end, these pieces play with machinations of personal memory" (Jill Connor Art Critic NY, RECIRCA 2005)

Epiphany - Location Visit

2008-11-10T17:01:00.003Z

We went out again today, to look at safety issues on the water.

We have an agreed route for getting past the boats and mooring lines safely, a landing point on the pontoon and an alternate platform if time and weather allow.

Each RIB will have a boat driver and assistant , each has navigation lights, high power torch and VHF.

Above is the alternate view

As well as illuminating the fishing boat we may also light this abandoned church which overlooks the bay

This shot was taken at high water. Note that the superstructure is very submerged. High Water on Saturday will be even higher as it is a Spring tide, so that is why we have the alternate view.

Epiphany - Update 1

2008-11-09T10:08:00.005Z

I took a good long look at the external exigencies regarding the project and as a result have revised the timeline somewhat.

On 15th November High Water is at 18:21. These are spring tides with a height of 3.6 metres.

Sunset is at 16:28

Moonrise is at 17:47. This will be a waning gibbous moon 95% full.

On the basis of this information it would be much better to start at least an hour earlier. Get everyone in position in twilight. Do the shoot as soon as darkness falls and before the moon rises to high in the sky. The torchlights will primarily be directed in an Easterly direction, so too much moon light could affect the display. The rising moon will make for an easier RIB journey back to the pier.

Revised Plan:

Briefing & Safety Check at Lios na Si 16:oo
Board Ribs at Pier 17:00
Commence Illumination 18:00
Debrief at Lios na Si 19:30

Lastly but most importantly this is all weather dependent. At the moment weather for Saturday is not great, Front crossing Ireland late on Friday night giving F6 SW winds. There is an area of High Pressure to the South so at this early stage I am hoping that it will keep the weather at bay for another 24 hours.

Windguru is a great weather resource for this area. Check out the weblink or search for windguru and sherkin to find the nearest station.

Epiphany - The Plan

2008-11-08T13:01:00.002Z

Its a green light for next weekend, and probably red and blue as well. I have spoken with all the main collaborators and we have a plan in place for next weekend.

We will do a site visit on the water next Saturday afternoon at 2:30 pm to finalise torch positions and camera angles.

A briefing will be held at 6pm to ensure that everyone is aware of their role and the different parts each will play. Most important is the safety of everyone concerned, everyone will have a lifejacket and a buddy.

We have two RIBs each with a driver and an assistant to direct light. VHF on board

The ribs will take torchbearers and photographers/videographers to the illumination points.
One VHF for torchbearers.

On land we will have a liaison for shore based viewing/photographers who will also have a VHF. The best viewing point from land will be the road near the graveyard at Tullagh, which overlooks Church Strand.

It is not intended that there be a large viewing audience, but it is essential that good quality photographs and video are taken and that these activate conversation subsequently. Exposure to the press will be important in generating discussion.

Very importantly we will have a Feast of the Epiphany afterward so that we can relax after what will be a very exciting event for those involved. I am tingling already!

The whole event will not take more than half an hour from start to finish

Epiphany of the Mulroy Bay II - Scoping

2008-11-03T18:12:00.007Z

These shots were taken today at dusk, with a basic digital camera so images are fairly poor. These are the places I consider most accessible /safest to access. If they are not suitable we will have to go to plan B.

The shot above is taken from the graveyard 180^ from the one below

Graveyard at Tullagh Baltimore

Mulroy Bay II from Graveyard Tullagh

Tullagh Graveyard

Tullagh church taken from the foreshore

Mulroy Bay II - this is the closest we can get on land - I like the angle of presentation.

This is slightly further away, but slightly more accessible.

Epiphany of the Mulroy Bay II

2008-11-03T13:14:00.003Z

Epiphany of the Mulroy Bay II

A temporary public spectacle, a collaborative project instigated by artist Sheelagh Broderick and lighting designer Chantelle Stewart of Guerrilla Lighting, with a team of volunteer torchbearers, photographers and videographers.

Abandoned fishing boats at Church Strand, Baltimore are iconographic landmarks of our past and our future.

Why an epiphany?

An epiphany is an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure: a revealing scene or moment symbolic of revelation or insight: it is a sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something: an intuitive grasp of reality through an event usually simple and striking usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

An epiphany cannot be planned, this project is contingent on many factors: weather, tides, moonlight and torchlight.

Source Photographic Review

2008-10-27T21:12:00.003Z

Contemporary photography is documented quarterly in Source magazine. They have established links with University Graduate shows to publish an online graduate gallery.

The DIT do have representation, but not from fine art. The School of Media BA in Photography are represented by 11 students in 2008. Registration is easy, a fee of €33 is charged and with it come four free editions of Source Photographic Review

Pinhole Images by Kordula Packard Sherkin Island

2008-10-25T11:06:00.009+01:00

These images were created using coffee can pinhole cameras on 27 & 28 September as as part of an Arts Council sponsored artist in the community Project on Sherkin Island. A pinhole camera was made by each participant and so each had their own unique piece of equipment. The paper negatives were developed in a temporary darkroom on the Island and then scanned into photo editing software to be inverted to a positive image. No other digital alterations have been made. They are as you see them.

the forbidden and the impossible

2008-10-21T21:31:00.006+01:00

"in a way I try to photograph, what cannot be photographed"

Barbara Ess - Pinhole Photographer

People often discuss contemporary art wondering what does it mean? French philosopher, Jacques Ranciere proposes;

"a concept of artistic modernity, which lodges the forbidden within the impossible, by making modern art as a whole, art constitutively dedicated to the witnessing of the non representable" p15, Rancier J 2006 "The Ethical Turn of Aesthetics and Politics" Critical Horizons 7:1 pp1-20

"I Am Not This Body" photographs by Barabara Ess, essays by Barbara Ess, Michael Cunningham, Thurston Moore, and Guy Armstrong

Solargraphs so far

2008-10-21T14:52:00.000+01:00

This is a collection of negative and positive solargraphs in an experimental phase.

Click on the images above to see them enlarged

Global Map of Solargraphy

2008-10-20T12:58:00.001+01:00

Tarja Trygg emailed me the images from the film cans I sent to Finland for her Global Map of Solargraphy. I am very pleased with the results. It is quite astounding how much colour is in teh image considering the paper is B&W.

Both images were exposed for the period 20-06-08 to 21-09-08 and despite having the worst Summer in decades - the sun is a constant throughout.

These images have been uploaded to the gallery on the solargraphy.com website

Pinhole images from Jo Jefferies Sherkin Island

2008-10-19T17:16:00.008+01:00

These images were created using coffee can pinhole cameras over one weekend at the end of September on Sherkin Island. The paper negatives were developed in a temporary darkroom on the Island and then scanned into photo editing software to be inverted to a positive image. No other digital alterations have been made.

Wochenklasur at ev+a 2006

2008-10-18T12:45:00.004+01:00

The plus sign (+) incorporated into the word ‘visual+’ in the exhibition’s title and with the letter ‘v+’ in the logo, does not represent the conjunction ‘and’. Rather, it calls attention to the fact that that art as product and process engages and integrates all the senses, not mainly or only the visual sense. All art springs from how we perceive through all our – at psychology’s recent count – eleven senses.

At the invitation of the sixth EV+A Biennial in Limerick, Ireland, WochenKlausur realized the “Belltable Open”, a cinema with a special film program targeted at ethnic minorities. Because cinema and film are important cultural catalysts, WochenKlausur conceived a monthly film event for immigrants at the Belltable Arts Centre. Every month, immigrants from a different country would be given the opportunity to arrange screenings on a free evening. In order to arrange showings of the movies selected by the immigrants, WochenKlausur contacted film distributors, production companies, festivals and directors around the world, negotiating with them for access to prizewinning films free of charge. A free admission policy enabled everyone to see the films, regardless of income. The group also succeeded in organizing buses to transport people from the city’s three refugee centers to the evening film events.

Lyon Festival of Light

2008-10-17T23:08:00.005+01:00

Photo source http://www.flickr.com/photos/zopeuse/78128992/in/set-1646974/

Lyon in France is host to an amazing Lighting Festival. Maybe we could learn something from their experience - I am particularly thinking about the regeneration of Limerick, which desperately needs some inspiration and hope.

As a city develops, it becomes necessary to design area-specific lighting plans including the adaptation of light to the rhythms of city life, the reduction of light pollution and in order to realise these aspirations, a bringing together of urban lighting expertise.

The Lyon region has all the necessary expertise relating to town lighting, from research, to material production, to lighting design. In September 2004, a training scheme was initiated in partnership with the AFE (Association Française de l'Eclairage, French Lighting Association), leading to the qualification of 'Outdoor Spaces Lighting Electrician'. The setting up of such a project with the French Department of Education is proof that Lyon sets a shining example - and not just in its lighting.

Camera Obscura

2008-10-17T22:42:00.006+01:00

Tanya Kiang, Director of the Gallery of Photography, Templebar, Dublin wrote a great essay exploring the history of the camera obscura as a prelude to building one in Dublin. The article

Dark Wonder

was written for Circa magazine in 2001. The Camera Obscura had not been built when I visited in June 2008, so I guess it will take a little longer now that we are crunched.

She cites the following artists who use camera obscura in their work.

Paul Brewer

Jacqueline Griggs

Peter Richards

Lindsay Seers

Abelardo Morell

Barbara Ess

Richard Torchia

f/stops

2008-10-17T18:31:00.011+01:00

Photographer, Marc Holden, gave a great explanation today on calculating exposure times.

When an f stop is halved, the area of aperture is reduced but the value increases (counter intuitively). The diagram demonstrates this and the relationship with exposure time.

diagram reference

Using a light metre on his Hasselblad, we determined that in the light conditions prevailing we needed an exposure of - 100 ASA film for 0.25 sec at 4.5fstop

but we were using an old Meagher camera like the one pictured below

To extrapolate the values taking into account we were using a paper negative of 6 ASA.

Adding 25% for reciprocity failure the total time required is 5 seconds.

Reciprocity failure is a characteristic of 'slow' film and the following table gives an indication of the compensation required.

X-ray photography

2008-10-14T18:49:00.005+01:00

I am trying to work something out in my head -

I want to print the solargraphs in a way that preserves there delicate luminosity and also in a way that is consistent with my research aims.

I have been thinking about printing to film - ideally the weight and size of an x-ray - so maybe why not an x-ray. Trying to find out information about this type of printing is difficult. Below are the references I have found...so far.

Artist Nick Veasey has a great website and his worked is featured along with other artists in Cult Case an online culture and art magazine that did a special feature on xray photography. The interdisciplinary crossover of Floral Radiography also provides some great images.

Public Art

2008-10-09T23:10:00.006+01:00

This interactive installaton has x-factor appeal!

Marie Sester trained as an architect before diverting her interests to public art specifically with respect to transparency, visibility and access.

Her installation ACCESS combines all three interests. Using surveillance technology, a website, a robotic spotlight and an acoustic beam system, remote users can lock the spotlight onto unidentifed individuals in public space.

Sester says;'Some people will really hate it and run away, while others will just enjoy being under the light, but it’s my job to look at values and assess how you get access to information, and how we behave within those values. I want to look at things that we accept as a given, generation after generation, the things that make up a whole world, a whole system. ACCESS, with its embodiment of the pleasures and fears of authority, surveillance, and control, offers a good starting point'.

Guerrilla Lighting Dublin

2008-10-09T17:32:00.009+01:00

Theresa Shibhan writes in light for Guerilla Lighting,

Glasgow 23rd November 2008.

Just this evening Guerilla Lighting lit up Smithfield and the Four Courts in Dublin as part of their campaign to promote sustainable architectural lighting. See the RTE News report here

Lighting events worldwide bring public art to where people are, they illuminate, spotlight, highlight, radiate, inspire and … often provoke.

Projects draw attention to our surroundings and associated understandings. They can imagine the world in a new light or reveal darkly hidden secrets. It can encompass public, private, internal and external spaces. The following links demonstrate the exciting breadth of lighting practices.

SwitchedOnLondon, 2008

LightsOnTampa, 2006

Lights in Alingsås, Sweden 2008

Paraeducation

2008-10-09T16:10:00.005+01:00

Artist Sarah Pierce and curator Annie Fletcher hosted a paraeducation workshop at the National Sculpture Factory, Cork on June 21st this year. A disparate group assembled to talk, to share, to provoke and to stimulate debate.

This is an extract from Organising and Art Practice, which outlines what motivated Pierce & Fletcher.

'When artists strategically apply modes of practice or methodologies used by other fields such as social work, education, community organizing, etc. to their own work it is often to build certain relationships (social, economic, political) and/or to subvert others through what might be termed 'socially engaged' practice. In many ways, this transfer of technique is an unambiguous response to trends that emerge through the institutionalization of art and its marketability, as well as to established patterns of trade regarding the instrumentalization of artists under the welfare state and their subsequent disenfranchisement under neo-liberalism. The artist does not function outside of society, but under what terms the artist will/can/should function under is open to debate. What we do know is that artists often use modes of practice relevant to, or originating through other fields in their own work. At times this process might lead to misinterpretations or distortions. At others, it can lead to understanding and respect. Here, practice is an ongoing channel, a way to learn from and relate apparently disparate pursuits (art-work and social-work) in order to impart common concerns.

An important step in this process requires pausing and asking: What is the role of the artist? How can the artist act in a given situation? What is the artist's purpose? Much of the criticism surrounding art-work that models the types of interactions rooted in social-work (or community-work, or education) either faults a generic instrumentalizing of art, (which is sometimes but not always the case, especially in artist-led projects) or faults the artist through an assessment of their effect. Analysis of 'positive' effect habitually alleges that the artist is filling-in where social service providers, and thereby the state, have failed; and analysis of 'negative' effect usually lapses into a plea for artists to leave social-work 'to the professionals'. In each instance it is important to ascertain whether a particular discursive moment is looking closely at the project at hand or is speaking generally, and more importantly, whether it functions to further a dialogue between different models of social interaction or end one'.

"Organizing and Art Practice", The Paraeducation Department, eds. Sarah Pierce and Annie Fletcher, Interface:Belfast 2006. Also published in Tracer 2, Wittte de With/TENT:Rotterdam 2005.

Public Art

2008-10-09T13:09:00.012+01:00

'Public art is not, according to my approach, art in the public space, but an art that institutes a public space, a space of common action among people'

Chantal Mouffe - Cork Caucus 2005

'She Changes', 2002, Porto, Portugal, Janet Echelman

Janet Echelman is a sculptor who shapes urban space. She transforms sites that are either unnoticed infrastructure that have faded from public memory, or iconic landmarks that are so overexposed they become almost invisible. At each location she considers the visual language and materials of the place, the historical ways of making things, and the current way that people move through the space. Using the physical environment to create living, breathing pieces, the work is often made of flexible, diaphanous materials that allow air currents to move and shape the sculptures. Passers-by are encouraged underneath or inside the sculpture's form, making them an active part of the piece rather than discreet viewers of it.

In an article in Newsweek regading controversy surrounding a public artwork for Phoenix, Arizona, she commented, 'It's good for art to make us think, to give us a shared experience that creates a dialogue, makes us talk to each other, including strangers'

Solargraph Baltimore Harbour

2008-10-04T12:57:00.003+01:00

This solargraph was taken using a coffee can pinhole camera and Jessops VC paper. It was exposed for the period between 20 - 06- 08 and 02 - 10 - 08. The camera was located at 51 28'91 N 09 22'70 W.

Below is the paper negative. One of the beautiful things about solargraphy is that no chemicals are involved in processing the prints, however, I am concerned about the negatives degrading post exposure.

This is where the pinhole camera was mounted - it is a bit askew as I am leaning over a slipway. You can see that the camera is very well taped to prevent camera movement and to make the camera as water proof as possible. Even still there was still water at the bottom of the can when I brought it home. A few hours in my darkened hot press sorted that out - I am always impressed by the durability of the paper - it seems to stand up to the most terrible abuse.

This is the view from where the camera was positioned - admittedly taken by my phone camera - the difference in panorama is quite astonishing.

Sherkin Island National School

2008-10-03T20:18:00.000+01:00

Imagine making your own camera out of a shoe box... a coffee can or ...even a teapot?

You can make a camera from anything with a few materials and lots of imagination.

Here are some examples of pinhole cameras made from ;

So how does a pinhole camera work?

We see things because light from the sun is reflected from the surface of objects through the pupil of the eye and an image is created on our light sensitive retina. Brightness and colour is determined by the nature of the object.

A pinhole camera is very like the human eye in the way that it works. It does not have a lens, it only has a very small aperture (hole) through which an image is projected on sensitised material (film or paper).

Light travels in straight lines through the pinhole aperture and is projected onto light sensitive material at the back of the camera.

The human eye works in exactly the same way - but our brain intereprets the upside down image and puts it back up the right way.

Note that the tree is projected upside down.

So is the rabbit!

This diagram shows what the inside of a pinhole camera looks like.

Photographic paper is placed opposite the pinhole and when exposed to light forms an image then it is processed with developing fluids.

Now look at some pinhole images made on Sherkin Island.

Another form of pinhole photography is called solargraphy.

Today we are going to mount some cameras for a solargraphy projectand leave them exposing for a three month period.

We will collect them on December 21st at the Winter solstice when the sun is at its lowest height in the sky. Hopefully the camera will record the sun track as it sinks in the sky.

We will send the cameras to Finland to be part of a global solargraphy project.

The best laid plans...

2008-10-03T18:17:00.003+01:00

I had a lovely afternoon at Sherkin national school. The children were marvellous, asking questions and thinking carefully about the complex processes involved and all without the aid of diagrams or photos.

I thought I had covered all eventualities. I had checked with the teacher that the school had an internet connection and data projector - which they did, but I had forgotten about net nanny. Both the blog - with all the information and photos that I had prepared - and the solargarphy website were not allowed to be viewed. Next time I will bring data on a memory stick.

Fortunately, I had brought quite a few cameras with me. An antique bellows camera which I have on loan from Alison Trim, the SLR Pinhole, a standard digital camera and some sample pinhole cameras (coffee cans and film cans) and photographic paper so that the children could actually see and feel the materiasl involved. I also had some images that had been made at the workshop last weekend and a catalogue of Harry Moores work on Cork docklands.

The children enthusiastically selected places for 4 coffee can cameras and two film can cameras to be mounted for a 12 week solargraphy exposure. Fingers crossed now that they are not knocked by footballs and sliotars!

I am looking forard to going back to the school in December as close as I can to the winter solstice.

More Sherkin Pinhole Images

2008-10-03T13:10:00.005+01:00

Orlaorange joins the team

2008-09-30T20:26:00.003+01:00

Welcome Orla Orange!

Glad you managed to negotiate the blog invite. You are the first team member to join. You should be able to make posts to the blog now. It might be useful if you want feedback on your own photos as well as on the photos taken in Sherkin last weekend.

On Sunday I gave a very hasty demonstration on how to scan negatives and invert them to positive images using Adobe Photoshop. I am hoping that the people involved in the project will share resources to scan the remaining images and send them to me to post on the blog or post them directly themselves.

If there are problems scanning the images let me know and I will see if I can help sort it out.

The People Behind the Cameras

2008-09-28T20:26:00.006+01:00

A lot of work went into making the images displayed in the last post. Here are some photos to remind us of what it was all about and who was involved.

Sherkin Island 27 September 2008

We will be back again on Sunday 23 November to discuss how we can progress the project and again on Sunday 21 December to harvest the solargraph cans.

Keep a watch on this website for more references and hopefully comments and suggestions from the group.

More Sherkin Pinhole Images

2008-09-28T14:22:00.010+01:00

Sherkin Island Pinhole Images Work in Progress

2008-09-28T14:22:00.009+01:00

The community hall on Sherkin Island was a hive of activity yesterday. Eight pinhole enthusiasts turned up and worked hard all day making coffee can cameras, taking photographs and developing negatives in our temporary darkroom. Each and everyone threw themself into the challenge of learning what can be a very tricky process and each and eveyone produced results that were beyond any expectation.

The work was varied in subject matter and the challenge of calculating exposure times was exacerbated by a change in weather conditions. We had bright sunshine yesterday, but today was quite overcast. The photos show familiar territory and faces in a new light.

There were some technical challenges too. I am more comfortable with a PC than a Mac, but we did manage to scan images and produce positives.

There are many more negatives to be scanned - I hope participants can make the technology available through Sherkin Island Development Society work in this regard. If not get back to me.

I will post more images on the blog when I get them.

Solargraphy film and coffee cans were distributed and will be exposed for three months until the winter solstice on December 21st.

Connor O'Riordan

Kordula Packard

Matthew Stephens

Sheelagh Broderick

Anne McConkey

Joe Jefferies

Michael Stevens

Orla Gleeson

Mags Reilly

Sherkin Island Artist in the Community Workshop

2008-09-27T11:15:00.004+01:00

Today we are going to dive in to the world of pinhole photography.

We will each make a pinhole camera from a coffee can, make exposures and develop negatives. The negatives will be scanned into the computer and then the image inverted to make a positive.

Each participant will receive a pinhole film can which will be exposed for 3 months approximately, before being sent to Finland in a solargraphy project.

The following links demonstrate the concept and application of pinhole photography.

a bit of theory first;

Camera Obscura

Diagram

How does a pinhole camera work?

Pinhole Artists

Global Map of Solargraphy

As part of this project we will be using the technique of Solargraphy

to capture images over an extended period of time. These images will then be sent to Finland to be part of a project mapping suntracks worldwide in global map of solargraphy in association with Tarja Trygg of the University of Helsinki.

Have Fun!

MFV Mulroy Bay II

2008-09-25T18:28:00.007+01:00

51 29.248 N 009 21.623

These are the coordinates in latitude and longitude identifying the position of Mulroy Bay II in Church Strand, Baltimore, Co. Cork where she has been abandoned. In the distance you can see MFV Atlantic Mariner.

MFV Atlantic Mariner

2008-09-25T18:10:00.007+01:00

51 29.388 N 009 21.581 W

These are the coordinates of latitude and longitude identifying the position of the MFV Atlantic Mariner which now lies on its beam in Church Strand, Baltimore Co. Cork.

This is how she looked before she keeled over. To see what fishermen have been saying about her click here .

Solargraphy

2008-09-23T20:24:00.004+01:00

Remember when you were a child and you thrilled with anticipation? Parents returning home, chocolate at Easter and presents at Christmas were all part of my childhood anticipations, but as an adult I had lost this ability to enjoy this feeling.

This weekend I was really excited - after three months I retrieved some of my pinhole film cans that I have secreted around about where I live. These cans were left out on the Summer solstice and were exposing through to the Autumn equinox.

I had done some shorter exposures over 10 days earlier in the Summer, but these really capture the track of the sun. Now I have the Winter solstice to anticipate a further crop of solargraphs.

I am sending some of the cans back to Finland to participate in a global map of solargraphy being coordinated by Tarja Trygg. It is a great project with some fantastic images.

Church Strand

2008-09-21T09:32:00.003+01:00

National Sculpture Factory - Temporary Projects at the Docks, Cork

2008-09-20T20:26:00.006+01:00

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, The Weather Station

The station is precariously perched on the edge and with a slight overhang of the dock wall - it conveys the idea of risk for the artwork itself as well as for the viewer. Using solar panels to power the weather station, information about the micro climate within the container is registered but not recorded - feeling but not thinking.

Sorcha O'Brien and Eli Camaano, Ballon

This projects is a light, airy and frivolous a counterpoint to the inorganic weight of docklands landscape.

Seamus Nolan also had a piece entitled Docks Tour, but unfortunately I did not get a photo of the horse and trap with the very congenial jarvey, Micheal. The tour offers access to the working docks or what is left of the working docks and if prompted by the participant, Micheal, whose father was a docker, will respond with stories of working life on the docks.

A seminar, The Expectation of Spectacle, followed a tour of the temporary projects with very interesting contributions in particular from John Bewley of Locus+

Church Strand

2008-09-20T20:17:00.003+01:00

This is Church Strand, a place where fishing boats have been abandoned to rot and rust where they lie.

The art of surveillance

2008-09-19T16:44:00.004+01:00

Ever since the first photograph was taken, it has been used as a tool for surveillance. Google has taken this potential with street view proving 360 degree panoramic street levels views that allows viewers to proceed through an area as if at ground level.

Artist Hasan Elahi who was picked up as a potential terrorist on returning to the US post 9/11 has since published every aspect of his life on the web. He publishes his real-time location, daily photos validating his whereabouts, his bank statements, the meals he has eaten and even the toilets he has visited. All this in order to avoid being mistaken for a terrorist again. The regime at Guantanamo Bay leaves one with little confidence in the precept of justice, innocent until proven guilty.

For this artist going public was the only way he could ensure his privacy and primary right to freedom.

Shifting Ground

2008-09-18T19:10:00.008+01:00

Fiona Woods

Pink Sheds
February 2005, Finavara, Co. Clare For three consecutive evenings after dusk a small farm shed blazed with pink light for a number of hours. Artist Fiona Woods set out to highlight the fact that people work in this beautiful but contested landscape and to draw attention to an existing rural aesthetic of which these sheds, taken as sculptural forms are a part. ‘It’s about making the familiar and ordinary beautiful and extraordinary, just for a moment’.

Maria Kerin

Sweet Bellharbour

Maria took 49 white cotton sheets and embroidered the name of one individual on each, in silver thread; these were hung in a triangular field in Bellharbour for a period of two weeks in the summer of 2005; the sound-work was played over a tannoy system from sunrise to sunset each day.

These artworks are part of a series of initiatives in Clare, examining Contemporary Art in a Rural Context.

Clare is predominantly a rural county. The Arts Office of Clare County Council initiated Ground Up to foster a new type of engagement between Public Art and rural contexts as a response to the phenomenon whereby a large number of artists live in a rural setting, yet the arts, for the most part, take place in urban locations.

In 2006 a conference was held, Shifting Ground New Perspectives on Art and Rural Culture

The conference called for a new cultural discourse, to place the rural at the center of a debate about arts practice, social engagement and sustainability.

Rural contexts and audiences have not been considered significant in the development of the contemporary cultural discourse. Increasingly it is becoming clear that the rural is a contested zone, where some of the most pressing issues of our time are being played out – issues of environmental sustainability, issues of global economics versus local economies, issues of food production and genetic modification, issues of community breakdown, issues of cultural commodification – and so on.

The Day Nobody Died

2008-09-18T16:42:00.015+01:00

Last Spring I went a little crazy on ebay purchasing all kinds of photographic oddments at rock bottom prices. One of these items was a 156 metre x 15.6 cm roll of Kodak Royal colour paper. I was itching to do something with it , but was unsure how I could process it. Well, as is the way of the world someone else used this technique already.

In June of this year Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin traveled to Afghanistan to be embedded with British Army units on the front line in Helmand Province. In place of their cameras they took a roll of photographic paper 50 meters long and 76.2 cm wide contained in a simple, lightproof cardboard box.

They arrived during the deadliest month of the war for the British army. Ignoring events that normally would be recorded by a photographer, they instead ufurled a seven-metre section of the paper and exposed it to the sun for 20 seconds.

The evacuation of content and the strange abstract nature of the resultant image present the viewer with more questions than answers.

It is on exhibition at Paradise Row, London - The Day Nobody Died

Now what am I going to do with that roll of paper?

Lensculture

2008-09-18T16:42:00.005+01:00

My process is concerned with making the familiar strange - a common enough approach to making art. Melissa Fleming and Joachim Schmid engage with familiar materials in very different ways. There is a very physical aspect to the way in which both approach their work.

I like the work of Melissa Fleming as she exposes photographic paper to sea and sand to make beautiful prints.

http://www.lensculture.com/fleming.html

Joachim Schmid is obesessed with photographs to the point that he collects photographic garbage to restore and reassembles the detritus.

http://www.lensculture.com/schmid.html

These references come from an online magasine Lensculture.

Shadowlands

2008-09-16T14:21:00.003+01:00

Shadowlands is the title of a series of pinhole photographs by Cork based artist Harry Moore with accompanying poems and prose by the writer William Wall. This temporary installation, a commissioned work, is the first major exhibition in the new atrium of Cork’s City Hall.

Three photographs, printed onto canvas, are exhibited in very large format, accompanied by writings inspired by the images.

www.harrymoore.net

Solargraphy

2008-09-14T21:53:00.005+01:00

I have just put the header photo on the blog. It is one of my early solargraphs, a technique which will be discussed much further here, but for tonight I will just post another solargraph. Checkout www.solargraphy.com if you just can't wait for more.

Spencer Tunick in Blarney

2008-09-12T22:17:00.005+01:00

They say that kissing the Blarney stone will give you the gift of the gab (speech) - but there are some Corkonians keeping very quite about their participation in an art project commissioned by the Cork Summer Fest in June this year and featured on RTE News.

Over 1,000 people turned out at 3am on Tuesday 17th June in the grounds of Blarney castle for a collaborative artwork with Spencer Tunick. He is renowned for his installations of nudes in site specific spaces. The sheer volume of bodies there seemed to join together to become a new social body characterised by conviviality. I don't think I have ever been at such a good humoured event.

I am not saying who was there and who was not - except for myself and Ray D'Arcy of course! The official photographs will be released in the new year - all participants will get a print.

These are all temporary installations which are documented online here http://www.spencertunick.com/ and here http://www.thespencertunickexperience.org/oldindex.htm#Cork_2008. Watch a video here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7460005.stm

Aesthetics ?

2008-09-12T18:29:00.002+01:00

Check out http://isthisartorvandalism.blogspot.com

Street Art or Vandalism?

2008-09-12T18:20:00.004+01:00

This grabbed my attention when walking the streets of Dublin - looks like my mobile phone blogger is working now

Pinhole Photography in Dublin

2008-09-12T11:54:00.002+01:00

Living in a rural area can be very isolating especially when your interests include alternative photography. I spent a week at the Gallery of Photography in Templebar, Dublin last June honing my skills in the use of pinhole cameras. This one was taken at the bus stop outside Heuston Station. You can see the livery of Dublin Bus and the station behind, but not the bus !

Gameboy

2008-09-11T22:17:00.002+01:00

Gameboy Still

2008-09-11T22:15:00.001+01:00

How to make pinhole camera that takes film

2008-09-07T19:08:00.010+01:00

Any camera that has a detachable lens with a body cap can be turned into a pinhole camera very quickly.

First detach the camera lense.

Make a pinhole in some aluminium with a needle. Sand the pinhole to flatten the imprint of the needle

Drill a hole in the camera body cap.

Tape the aluminium pinhole to the inside of the body cap

Attach the body cap to the camera. The tape on the outside of the body cap is to keep the camera dust free when not in use.

Load film and experiment with your new pinhole camera - don't forget to remove the external tape when taking photos.

Minolta SLR Pinhole Camera

2008-09-05T20:55:00.006+01:00

The photos posted today and yesterday were taken with a Minolta SLR Pinhole Camera. It is a contrast to the black and white images of my other pinhole cameras - not to mention the added convenience of processing film.

This photo was taken on the road to Rath from Baltimore. Yesterday's photo was taken on the pier in Sherkin Island.

All this Summer I have been travelling on roads of all sizes. It occurs to me that they really reflect the changing nature of Irish society and culture. With the roads also come the telephone cables, electricity wires and poles that all come together to make a fabulously complex mesh that I would like to document them over the next year or so.

SOS

2008-09-04T18:55:00.002+01:00

Ring bouy on Sherkin Pier captured with Minolta SLR pinhole camera.
I hope I won't be needing one of these this Autumn!

Artist in the Community

2008-09-04T18:34:00.005+01:00

Its going to be a busy Autumn. I have been awarded an Arts Council Artist in the Community research and development grant based on Sherkin Island , West Cork. The scheme is administered by CREATE and able supported by Katherine Atkinson. I will be using pinhole cameras to provide a new way of seeing the world and create a dialogue on contemporary art.

I am going to use the blog as a resource for participants, posting web sites of interest as well as pinhole images created. If people are interested they can comment or post to teh blog to share ideas. All these posts will be labeled 'artist in the community' to distinguish them from other projects which I am thinking about.

I met with Matthew Stephens the Island Development Officer in the community hall today and we discussed how the project should proceed and have decided that we will begin on the last weekend in September .

There is much to do before then, preparing promotional and workshop materials, and transporting it to Sherkin - but I am very excited at the prospect of this collaboration.

Blog Background Colour

2008-09-02T19:47:00.000+01:00

This is the colour I use for the background it has a lovely number 191919 and I think looks dark and inviting...not a bit like me.

Zotero Reference Manager

2008-09-01T11:51:00.000+01:00

Assembling references for the thesis was a nightmare, early on I realised that I just couldn't cope with manual methods, so I looked into a variety of reference managers. Fortunately for me I found an open source reference manager that is easy to use and has really useful utilities. At the end of my research I could insert accurate references and a bibliography automatically from my Zotero Reference manager.

Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources.

Main Features

Automatic capture of citation information from web pages

Storage of PDFs, files, images, links, and whole web pages

Flexible notetaking with autosave

Fast, as-you-type search through your materials

Playlist-like library organization, including saved searches (smart collections) and tags

Platform for new forms of digital research that can be extended with other web tools and services

Runs in your web browser

Formatted citation export (style list to grow rapidly)

Free and open source

Integration with Microsoft Word and OpenOffice

Saves records and notes in any language; interface available in over 30 languages

Integration with WordPress and other blogging software

The next version will have the following utilities:

Remote library backup

Advanced search and data mining tools

Access to your library from anywhere via the web

Thank you Zotero!

Trial Run

2008-07-31T18:28:00.001+01:00

This is a trial run for the faint hearted blogger. I hope to be able to capture thoughts, through text & images.