Working Artist Studios

Feasts and Festivals

It’s August in West Cork and we’re going to need a holiday to recover! July was a blast – here are a few highlights – The West Cork Literary Festival (I was on stage at Future Forests as part of a joint Lit Fest and Ellen Hutchins Fest Seaweed and Sealing Wax presentation, to a large and enthusiastic audience; A Fusion Feast at Levis’s with good friends and cooked by Rob Krawczyk and, both with their own Award Winning Restaurants; the Launch of Holy Wells of Cork by Amanda Clarke; and a continuation of the high standards of exhibitions at The Blue House Gallery in Schull, with Oonagh Hurley, Catherine Weld and Shane O’Driscoll – including this rug designed by Shane and made by Ceadogán Rugmakers.

The wonderful Kilcoe Studios also organised an innovative series of events titled The Fibre of Our Being, “exploring contemporary textiles which draw on tradition to reinvigorate their process” and involving several different artists, including our friend and neighbour Liadain Aiken – see here for our post on Robert’s sweater.

August started with the 10 Hands Exhibition at the Working Artists Studios. 10 Hands is the brainchild of Angela Brady, architect, film maker and craft historian. This year, the ten artists and makers have been joined by 6 more from the Working Artists Studios team, and the result is very impressive. Lots of variety here, and an exceptionally high calibre of vision and execution. I am craving one of the incredible standards lamps by Ania Surazynska – here’s one example. This artist is new to me, but I see a very, er, bright future for her. You heard it here first.

While we weren’t able to get to the opening last night, we are planning a trip out to Union Hall tomorrow for the annual and always-outstanding West Cork Creates Exhibition. This show has now moved to a marvellous new establishment, the Cnoc Buí Arts Centre. We visited last month and were delighted by the exhibition we found there, of sculptures, paintings and books by Nathalie Vessié-Hodges. Here she is signing one of her books for me (it was published by the Louvre!). A fairly recent blow-in to West Cork, I predict we will be seeing more of Nathalie.

Also on our list for tomorrow is the West Cork Rare Book Fair – we attended last year at the lush Inish Beg Estate and this year it is being held at the home of Innana Rare Books just outside Skibbereen. Doesn’t this look inviting? (It’s a screenshot from the Innana website – thank you, Holger and Nicola!)

And then it’s right into the West Cork History Festival. Robert and I have organised the field trips, and we are looking forward to our own contribution to those – a tour of the historic Church of St Barrahane in Castletownshend. There are several other options – including walks and swims with Gormú, a walking tour of Ballydehob (oops -sold out!) and an historical Kayak trip through Castlehaven. The Program of Talks features leading academics and writers, and there’s a hot rumour that Micheál Martin will do the opening honours. I’m particularly looking forward to Friday night’s opening session with writer Glenn Patterson who will be in conversation about his latest book The Last Irish Question: Will Six into Twenty Six Ever Go? followed by a panel ruminating on what we have learned from the Decade of Centenaries about our past and our future.

For history buffs, you just can’t beat this Festival, this year in the magical surroundings of Inish Beg Estate. As soon as it’s over I will be hot-footing it to the events of the Ellen Hutchins Festival – a feast of delights for anyone even vaguely interested in the natural world, inspired by the life and work of Ireland’s first female botanist. I’ve signed up for several events – lots of them are free and many are suitable for children.

And once all that is over, I might just have to retire. Wait, what? I AM retired, I hear you say? Ah – so no excuse needed to do more of this – having leisurely lunches overlooking Roaringwater Bay?

Oh – you have another question? What’s Graham Norton doing in the top photo? That’s easy – he lives part time in Ahakista on the Sheep’s Head, and there he is, doing his stint as Quizmaster at the annual Ahakista Festival this weekend. We attended one year and it was predictably hilarious.

Art, Noodles and World Championship Turnip Racing: West Cork in the Summer

We’ve been enjoying a week of laid back excursions, In Ballydehob and Skibbereen, as we take time this week to enjoy what’s around us in West Cork at this time of year.

Top, above and below from the West Cork Creates Exhibition: Alison Ospina’s chaise with Anne Kiely textiles; Angela Fewer paintings; Trees by Jim Turner and Etain Hickey

There are always excellent art exhibitions in the summer – we have written this summer already  about the always interesting Blue House Gallery and Judi Whitton’s watercolours, the marvellous art trail in the Skibbereen Arts Festival and of course the Ballydehob Arts Museum’s current exhibition, Ballydehob on Bahnhofstrasse.

This week saw the opening of what’s always eagerly anticipated – the annual West Cork Creates exhibition on Skibbereen. Curated by Alison Ospina of Greenwood Chairs, this show brings together the best of West Cork arts and crafts in an exciting mix of styles and materials.

Lots of jewellery at the exhibition and among them is this unique dresser pendant by Michael Duerden

Next to it is Geoff Greenham and Melanie Black’s Creative Spaces, a photographic journey through the studios of artists currently practising in West Cork. It’s a great idea and feels like a real privilege to catch a glimpse inside these spaces.

The two images above are borrowed, with thanks, from the Blue House Gallery, where an earlier exhibition matched the studio images with pieces of art from each artist. The first shows Brian Lalor’s studio and the second is that of John Doherty.

And yes, I thought, somehow those spaces do reflect the art that comes out of them. I’ve tried to photograph artists’ studios myself in the last couple of years, so I know how difficult it is to capture the essence.

No studio needed when you paint en plein air. This is Damaris Lysaght at work at a site we wrote about in our post Mizen Magic 13: Dunmanus Promontory

Do catch these two exhibitions if you can. Then make your way to Ballydehob and take in the new space that is the Working Artist Studios, right on the Main Street. We’ve all been looking forward to the opening of this venture, previously situated in Skibbereen but now adding to the thriving streetscape of Ballydehob.

The grand opening was well attended! (The railings are not for the WAS but for the Turnip Races, see below)

Working Artist Studio is an innovative idea that melds gallery and performance space with studios for artists at reasonable rates. Pól and Marie are bursting with ideas and plans and it’s wonderful to see this shop and house, surprisingly roomy inside, so nicely re-purposed.

The opening exhibition was by Caoimhe Pendred (above), titled Hy Brasil – her ethereal take on the notion of the mystical Isle to the West. It was opened by none other than Tim Pat Coogan (below), the Irish historian, and Caoimhe’s grandfather.

But woman cannot live on art alone, and we were delighted to welcome back Bia Rebel Ramen to our village this summer after a stint at the Taste of West Cork here a couple of years ago. Brian and Jenny have made a name for themselves with top restaurant critics as the best place in Ireland for ramen.

The truck is set up to serve the food at Levis’s Corner house. They are only here for a few more days

They normally operate out of their food truck in Belfast,  but are on ‘holidays’ in West Cork. Some holiday – they are so busy that they run out of food on a couple of hours. What can we do to entice them to stay here permanently? This is the best ramen I have ever eaten, and having lived in Vancouver (Canadian home of Japanese food) that is saying something!

Did you know that Ballydehob hosts the World Championship Turnip Races? This Irish Times article in 2006 described it, and 13 years later it’s still going strong and still great fun, with Barry O’Brien (below in the pink shirt) doing the marshalling.

And to round out my week, a major thrill. I hitched a ride on my friend Jack O’Keefe’s Drascombe Lugger as he participated in the Ballydehob Crinniú na mBád. I wrote about this wonderful event a couple of years ago, but it was a whole other experience to be out on the water with the boats as they gathered at the mouth of Ballydehob Bay and then sailed up the estuary. See Robert’s post today, Ballydehob and Boats, for some more of my photographs of this event.

All around us summer is in full swing – we have just mentioned a tiny fraction of what’s going on. Why don’t you join us next year? We can’t guarantee good weather, but you won’t be bored!

Sensory Upload

Skibbereen Arts Festival

In the words of one of the organisers, Robert and I have been doing a marathon – an arts marathon. The Skibbereen Arts Festival has been running all week and we’ve taken in as many exhibitions, concerts, events and experiences as we could. Last year we missed most of this festival, as we had just arrived and were occupied with settling in. This year we wanted to remedy that.

In the bottling plant*

In the bottling plant*

And what a sensory feast it was: music, art, dance, drama and various items that defied categorisation. There was something for everyone, no matter what your age and taste. We took two days to cover the art walks. There were several pop-up galleries – empty houses converted into pro tem exhibition spaces ideal for the kind of modern installations that leave you scratching your head and worrying that you’re not sophisticated enough. The Working Artist Studios, a building run by artists for artists, had opened all their rooms for the duration of the Festival. Some of the rooms functioned as galleries, while others provided a glimpse into the working process of an emerging canvas.

Works in progress
I want one!
Glimpsed in a studio
Working Artist Studios gallery

In one room we discovered Caoine by a young local woman, Michelle Collins, which explored the ancient practice of keening, the Irish funerary custom of women lamenting over the dead. In a darkened room, among scented candles, we listened to the sorrowful songs and sounds of an age-old tradition. To give you an idea of a keening song, listen to Iarla O Lionaird singing the Lament of the Three Marys, with its repetition of the phrase  Óchón agus óchón ó – which can translate as alas and alas, or my grief, my grief.

Old bottling plant
Space transformed
Janet Murran with cacti

At the other end of town an old bottling plant had been cleared out to become a perfect space for showing artists’ work. Several of these exhibitors had graduated from an innovative visual arts degree program offered on Sherkin Island by the Dublin Institute of Technology. We talked to Janet Murran and Donagh Carey who were enthusiastic about their experiences in the Sherkin Program – their work clearly showed mature artists seeking meaning in a variety of media. In one corner an intriguing little installation by Tess Leak featured Haiku written by Sherkin Islanders and inspired by island life. And in an adjacent building photographs, by Yvette Monahan, of Bugarach in France – where a new arcadia was supposed to begin once the world ended on December 21st, 2012. Moody and elegaic, the colour reminded me of the Agfa prints of my youth.

Robert is writing about Canon Goodman – see his post for more on the concert in his honour (and in his church) that has become a staple of this Festival. Another highlight for us was the staging of The Playboy of the Western World by J M Synge, a classic of Irish theatre: one which caused riots when first performed. This was an amateur production but it was hard to tell – the Kilmeen Drama Group had won the All-Ireland Drama finals with this production, had performed it at the Abbey Theatre (Ireland’s National Theatre) and are taking it to New York next. It was superb – full of energy and humour with each line singing with poetic expression.

The Playboy of the Western World

The Playboy of the Western World

To illustrate the sheer variety of what was on offer we also attended:

Men Without Names: a poignant exploration in poetry and music of the Irish diaspora. 

Sunrise/3Epkano: a classic silent movie with soundtrack provided by the group 3Epkano. A surreal experience, different from what I was expecting but in the best way.

The Vespertine Quintet: in the beautiful setting of Lissard House, an afternoon of gentle, haunting, minimalist music from Iceland mixed with baroque.

Croi Glan Dance: I have written about this marvellous dance company before – these two dances looked at the challenges of finding our place in the world and once again brought lumps to our throats.

Croi Glan Dance
Men Without Names
Sunrise/3Epkano
Vespertine Quintet

We couldn’t go to everything and I was sorry to miss the dancing at the crossroads and the sean-nós evening. Sean-nós is a traditional style of highly ornamented unaccompanied singing – here is Nell Ní Chróinín showing how it’s done. There were events for families, a river day, a drama day, outdoor movie screenings…But most of all I was disappointed that Starlight Serenade sold out before I could get a ticket. Moonlight kayaking on beautiful Lough Hyne with musical accompaniment. For a taste of what I missed, take a look at this, and add music. 

‘Paddling Through Stars’ on Lough Hyne

Next year! But I might have to call that one Sensory Overload.

*Sorry, I don’t know the name of this artist. Can anyone supply it?