Visual Art Residencies
CURRENT RESIDENCY
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Abi Ighodaro, Artist in residence at no.72 John Street
23rd March - 15th May 2009
From a series of Improvised Dance and Drawing Installations
The Daghdha Space, Ireland (2007)
London based artist Abi Ighodaro will commence her eight week residency at Kilkenny County Councils Arts Office, no. 72 John Street on Monday 23rd March 2009. Abi graduated with a BA Fine Art from the Slade School of Fine Art, London in 2002. In the same year she received a University College London Expedition Grant and travelled to Senegal, Mali and Niger and she has since undertaken a number of commissions, exhibitions , residencies and performances including 'Bag Lady' at Portlaoise Biennial: Urban Interventions' 2007 and she undertook the Mentoring Programme in Dance and Choreography at Daghdha Dance Company, Limerick, 2006 / 2007. She was also Assistant Project Co-ordinator at the Mediated Bodies: Media Technology in Dance project and worked in the Baldoyle Family Resource Centre, in their Community education programme in African dance and Folk tales.
Abi's artistic goal is to make works that explore a personal and relevant idea of Africa. She moved to Ireland from Nigeria with her family at the age of nine. Being away from 'home' and isolated from the culture there fostered a strong curiosity in it. This led her to studying the context and representation of African Art as part of her Fine Art degree. Her main interests lay in Traditional Textile and West African Masquerade traditions. From this formal anthropological course of study she began exploring a more personal and insider view point of Africa. In 2001 / 2002 she won grants to travel to various countries in West Africa to research traditional dance and festivals. These journeys are a major influence on her current work - a series of experimental documentaries. Exile (2007) is the first, and she is currently working on a second film. During her residency at Daghdha Dance Company in Limerick Abi was introduced to Michael Klien, Steve Valk and Rosemary Butchers ideas on drawing and dance in performance. These methods tap into stream of consciousness drawing and how the act of drawing affects dance movements. This will be the starting points of her exploration during her time resident in Kilkenny.
The artists studio space is the large ground floor area at No. 72, John Street, Kilkenny, Ireland. The studio is situated underneath the Kilkenny County Council Arts Office which is a public space; therefore the artist agrees to also engage with the public. The aim and focus of the Artists Residencies at No. 72 is to enable the successful applicants to research and develop their own practice. But also to give insights into how and why artists create their work and to build relationships. This has been a very successful aspect of the residencies as they as they tend to create an ongoing dialogue between the artists, the members of the public who visit them and their continual updates on the residency blog enable people to keep up to date with developments as the weeks go by even if they are not in a position to visit in person on a regular basis. They further promote the Arts providing an awareness and further appreciation of the Arts and cultivating and developing new audiences.
For further details on this or any other Arts Office activities please contact the Arts Office, No. 72, John Street, Kilkenny on 056 7794135.
E: Mary Butler, Arts Officer mary.butler@kilkennycoco.ie
Niamh Finn, Arts Administrator niamh.finn@kilkennycoco.ie
W: www.kilkennycoco.ie/eng/Services/Arts/
Artists residency blog: www.no72artistsresidency.com
Kilkenny County Council Arts Office Partner Local Authority of the ArtLinks Programme www.artlinks.ie
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PAST RESIDENCIES
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Niamh White, Artist in residence at no.72 John Street,
February / March 2009
Offaly based artist Niamh White will commence her six week residency at Kilkenny County Councils Arts Office, no. 72 John Street on Monday 2nd February 2009. Niamh graduated from The National College of Art and Design with a Degree in Fine Art, Sculpture and is currently Outreach and Education Officer at the Dunamaise Art Centre in Portlaoise. She has led and participated in a number of community and Outreach projects since graduating; including a Mother and Toddler Photography Project in Portlaoise, Artist in Residence Kilenard National School in Laois, Resident artist in Cois Mara, Rosslare and a Sculpture in Woodlands programme in Wicklow.
Niamh's work is concerned with relationships, the workings of and structure of social expectations within relationships, domestic patterns, rules that apply to people and how the rules change from person to person. Ideas of nurturing, dependence and maintenance of relationships are recurring themes, as well as a strong connection to physical environment and living history. Accessibility is a key consideration of her work and she often involves others in her work. She has been a practising Community Artist since training with CREATE in Dublin in 2002.
During her time here in Kilkenny she intends to to focus on the mechanics of relationships, the workings that are unseen but those that form the basis for survival. Whether indeed the relationship is between two people or a chemical relationship such as respiration and photosynthesis. She presents the following poem as something that will inform her work, as will her previous research into biological processes.
Atlas U A Fanthorpe
There is a kind of love called maintenance
Which stores the WD40 and knows when to use it
Which checks the insurance, and doesn't forget
The milkman; which remembers to plant bulbs;
Which answers letters; which knows the way
The money goes; which deals with dentists
And Road Fund Tax and meeting trains,
And postcards to the lonely; which upholds
The permanently rickety elaborate
Structures of living, which is Atlas.
And maintenance is the sensible side of love,
Which knows what time and weather are doing
To my brickwork; insulates my faulty wiring;
Laughs at my dryrotten jokes; remembers
My need for gloss and grouting; which keeps
My suspect edifice upright in air,
As Atlas did the sky.
The artists studio space is the large ground floor area at No. 72, John Street, Kilkenny, Ireland. The studio is situated underneath the Kilkenny County Council Arts Office which is a public space; therefore the artist agrees to also engage with the public. The aim and focus of the Artists Residencies at No. 72 is to enable the successful applicants to research and develop their own practice. But also to give insights into how and why artists create their work and to build relationships. This has been a very successful aspect of the residencies as they as they tend to create an ongoing dialogue between the artists, the members of the public who visit them and their continual updates on the residency blog enable people to keep up to date with developments as the weeks go by even if they are not in a position to visit in person on a regular basis. They further promote the Arts providing an awareness and further appreciation of the Arts and cultivating and developing new audiences.
For further details on this or any other Arts Office activities please contact the Arts Office, No. 72, John Street, Kilkenny on 056 7794135.
E: Mary Butler, Arts Officer mary.butler@kilkennycoco.ie
Niamh Finn, Arts Administrator niamh.finn@kilkennycoco.ie
W: www.kilkennycoco.ie/eng/Services/Arts/
Artists residency blog: www.no72artistsresidency.com
Kilkenny County Council Arts Office Partner Local Authority of the ArtLinks Programme www.artlinks.ie
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Gypsy Ray, Artist in residence at no.72 John Street,
January 2009
Kilkenny based artist Gypsy Ray commenced her four week residency at Kilkenny County Councils Arts Office, no. 72 John Street on Monday January 5th. Gypsy is a professional artist with 32 years of experience behind her. Her work has always been primarily based around photography and drawing and she has exhibited extensively in both groups and solo shows. Her exhibitions have taken place in a variety of galleries including Airfield House, Dublin, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Pajaro Arts Centre, Santa Cruz County, USA and Middle Tennessee University's Baldwin Photographic Gallery, USA. In 2007 Gypsy produced a book of her own Holga Prints entitled "Poetry of Place" and she has featured in a number of publications over the years. Gypsy also has work held in a number of collections including the British Museum Wellcome Trust Collection, London, the Library of Congress, Permanent Collections, Washington, DC, the Special Collections, University of California at Santa Cruz, USA, the Special Collections, Goddard College, Vermont, USA and the Archive of Women Photographers, Arcata, Ca., USA.
Gypsy's studio will be the large ground floor area at No. 72, John Street. The studio is situated underneath Kilkenny County Councils Arts Office which is a public space; therefore the artist agrees to also engage with the public. The aim and focus of the Artists Residencies at No. 72 is to enable the successful applicants to research and develop their own practice. But also to give insights into how and why artists create their work and to build relationships. This has been a very successful aspect of the residencies as it creates tend to create an ongoing dialogue between the artists, the members of the public who visit them and the artists continual updates on the residency blog enable people to keep up to date with developments as the weeks go by even if they are not in a position to visit in person on a regular basis. The residencies further promote the Arts by providing an awareness and further appreciation and by cultivating and developing new audiences. These residencies also enable the Arts Office to support Arts Practitioners by 'assisting artists in realising their artistic ambitions' (Arts Council of Ireland).
Gypsy recognises that this residency is a wonderful opportunity for her to work away from home and to work in a space which is ideal for creating more than one work at a time. The size of the space will also enable her to assess her images as they progress. She has started out working on an ongoing series of large scale drawings about swimming, but she is open to the unforeseen possibilities that residency opportunities offer. She is also more than aware of how the space within which one works can alter your practice be that by a change in your thought process, your subject matter, the size of work etc the possibilities are endless.
One thing that she is sure about however is the invitation she is giving to all who visit the space over her time here. Gypsy is inviting you to do a blind contour drawing with her. This style of drawing enables the most inexperienced and even those fearful of drawing an opportunity to create a drawing without any concern about the outcome. It's a fun and very worthwhile drawing exercise and one where the end result doesn't matter at all - what is important is observing..... Therefore she sees the engagement with you the public as having the potential to be very rewarding, enjoyable and gratifying for all.
For further details on this or any other Arts Office activities please contact the Arts Office, No. 72, John Street, Kilkenny on 056 7794135.
e mail: Mary Butler, Arts Officer mary.butler@kilkennycoco.ie or
Niamh Finn, Arts Administrator niamh.finn@kilkennycoco.ie
Website: www.kilkennycoco.ie/eng/Services/Arts/ www.no72artistsresidency.com
Kilkenny County Council Arts Office is part of ArtLinks. www.artlinks.ie
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Aisling Keating, Artist in residence at no.72 John Street
November / December 2009
Kilkenny County Councils Arts Office space, no. 72 John Street has recently been renovated in order to enable us to expand upon our residency programme. The aim and focus of this Artists Residency Programme at No. 72 is to enable the successful applicant to research and develop their practice. Also to give insights into how and why artists create their work, to build relationships and further promote the Arts, to provide an awareness and further appreciation of the Arts and to cultivate and develop new audiences. Therefore the Arts Office is really excited to introduce its first resident artist who will be focusing on movement, dance and the visual arts.
Aisling Keating is a multidisciplinary artist who for the last number of years has been developing a synthesis between Dance/Movement and Art Performance. This form has evolved from her varied background in Art, Music and Dance. Inspiration is harvested from her continuing investigation into what she terms 'the symbolic language'. It was many years ago that this investigation began with an avid interest in dream symbols. She believes that just as a dream tells a tale steeped in visual, aural and physical meaning, she tries to weave the threads of interpretations sourced in order to tell a story. A story told through picture, through movement, through sound and through spatial experience. During the course of this residency, she intends to further the synthesis between disciplines such as dance and art and any other disciplines that may become relevant as her experiences in Kilkenny unfold. She is taking a very open approach to the residency, that is, she has decided upon what theme she would like to explore but would like the shape of this to be influenced by the local environment, people and the experiences presented to her. Her aspiration is to create a coherent piece of work that provides a greater understanding of the chosen subject matter; to engage people from different backgrounds and to discover new ways of working.
Symbols, Aisling says, emerge from emotional memory and are repetitively learned thought association with particular stimuli. She cites these symbols as ranging from the personal to the universal and as being dependent upon personal and collective/cultural memory. She believes this memory has a past, present and cumulative influence on the majority of people. It can also be said to be interdependent to the individual's perception of self, of others and of the world around them. Within the realm of symbolic memory, she has been exploring a personal and cultural dictionary. She believes these triggers to be pivotal in future interpretive responses and attempts to weave these meanings into a tapestry rich in communication. Recently, she has begun to explore the left and right brain and the influence of these modes of thinking on the body. Not only on an individual physical level, but also tracing the fluctuating dominance of these modes of thinking throughout history with an investigation into corresponding inventions. For example, the left brain sees things in individual parts and art has been compartmentalised into separate disciplines such as visual art and dance. The right brain sees things as a whole and sees nothing as separate. Like any good story in literary or symbolic language, the work will mean many different things to different people.
Aisling recently completed her Masters of Arts in Contemporary Dance Performance' at the University of Limerick and she also holds a 'Degree in Fine Art (Print)' - Crawford College of Art and Design, Crawford Sharman St., Cork where her main body of work comprised of Creative Movement for Film. She has also undertaken a diverse range of training in music and video etc. and has a wealth of experience in performance.
Members of the public and practitioners alike are invited to drop in to visit Aisling at any stage throughout her period here, November 4th - December 19th 2008. Also please visit our residency blog to keep updated with developments and Aislings progression. www.no72artistsresidency.com
The Arts Office is open daily from 9am - 1pm and 2pm - 5pm
Further information on this or any other Arts Office programmes are available on our website http://www.kilkennycoco.ie/eng/Services/Arts/ or by contacting the Arts Officer - mary.butler@kilkennycoco.ie or Arts Administrator - niamh.finn@kilkennycoco.ie tel 056 7794138 See: www.no72artistsresidency.com
Kilkenny County Council Arts Office is part of ArtLinks. www.artlinks.ie
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Lesley Frew Visual artist in residence at no.72 John Street
September / October 2008
Artist's residencies are extremely important as they tend to have a lasting impact on the artists ranging from substantial shifts in their work and or in the direction of their practice. They often enable artists to develop new networks and meet others from different backgrounds. Overall they also offer artists that much needed period of contemplation and reassessment. These residencies enable the Arts Office to support Arts Practitioners by 'assisting artists in realising their artistic ambitions' (Arts Council of Ireland).
Belfast based artist Lesley Frew recently graduated from the University of Ulster with a BA Hons in Fine and Applied Arts. Since her graduation she has been energetic to establish herself as a Designer / Maker.
Lesley will commence her six week residency at Kilkenny County Councils Arts Office, no. 72 John Street on Monday September 22nd 2008. Lesley creates her work from recycled plastic bags giving the materials a second life by transforming and reusing them.
She enjoys confronting people's expectations by taking a discarded material, giving it new value and showing it can be beautiful. Her work invades the confines of jewellery. As installation pieces become something else, worn by the consumer.
She envisages that the residency at number 72 will allow her the opportunity to develop her work further and to expand upon the crossing of the boundaries between art, fashion and jewellery.
The artists studio space is the large ground floor arts display area at No. 72, John Street, Kilkenny, Ireland. The studio is situated underneath the Kilkenny County Council Arts Office which is a public space; therefore the artist agrees to also engage with the public. The aim and focus of the Artists Residencies at No. 72 is to enable the successful applicants to research and develop their own practice. But also to give insights into how and why artists create their work and to build relationships. This has been a very successful aspect of the residencies as they as they tend to create an ongoing dialogue between the artists, the members of the public who visit them and their continual updates on the residency blog enable people to keep up to date with developments as the weeks go by even if they are not in a position to visit in person on a regular basis. They further promote the Arts providing an awareness and further appreciation of the Arts and cultivating and developing new audiences.
For further details on this or any other Arts Office activities please contact the Arts Office, No. 72, John Street, Kilkenny on 056 7794135.
E: Mary Butler, Arts Officer mary.butler@kilkennycoco.ie
Niamh Finn, Arts Administrator niamh.finn@kilkennycoco.ie
W: www.kilkennycoco.ie/eng/Services/Arts/
New: www.no72artistsresidency.com
Kilkenny County Council Arts Office is part of ArtLinks. See www.artlinks.ie
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Liselott Olofsson Artist in Resident at no. 72
March / May 2008
Kilkenny based artist Liselott Olofsson wants to create a space in no. 72 John Street where people can come in and enjoy a calm, reflective environment. She hopes to achieve this by creating an indoor garden that will continue to grow and change over the weeks of her residency here at Kilkenny County Council Arts Office. The garden may involve elements of a Japanese garden, peat, sand and stones.
She will spend her time here working on themes of communication and the traditions of tea ceremonies, spiritual connection, landscape and sacred spaces. She will research the Zen art practices of flower arranging, sand mandalas, scroll painting and Zen gardens in Japan. She will also research sacred places in Ireland and create a series of drawings and paintings based upon this. In this way she continues to expand on her previous work and finds new ways to present it and engage with the public.
Liselott says of her current work 'We are always looking for new ways to connect to each other and I am looking for new ways to connect to myself and my work. I have always been interested in rituals that allow people to connect and communicate with each other. Drinking tea is an important ritual. It encourages conversations and contact with others'. She has invited people into the gallery space where they can make a tea bowl, a tradition highly valued in Japan. It is an opportunity for people to meet the Artist and enjoy the process of using clay in a calm and relaxed way. But why a tea bowl and not a cup? She wants to explore the philosophy and feeling of the tea ceremony and in doing so makes it a uniquely Irish experience.
Artist's residencies such as these are extremely important as they tend to have a lasting impact on the artists ranging from substantial shifts in their work and or in the direction of their practice. They often enable artists to develop new networks and meet others from different backgrounds. Overall they also offer artists that much needed period of contemplation and reassessment. Residencies allow the Arts Office to support Arts Practitioners 'assisting artists in realising their artistic ambitions' (Arts Council of Ireland). We welcome visitors coming to visit No. 72 John Street, to visit the artists to gain an insight into why and how artists create their work. Also to enjoy the work that has been created and to enjoy the developments over the weeks.
Keep up to date with Liselott's thoughts and work as it evolves over the eight weeks of her residency by logging onto http://no72.wordpress.com
For further details on this or any other Arts Office activities please contact the Arts Office, No. 72, John Street, Kilkenny on 056 7794138.
http://www.kilkennycoco.ie/eng/Services/Arts/
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Marie Connole Artist in Residence at no.72
February / March 2008
Artist's residencies are extremely important as they tend to have a lasting impact on the artists ranging from substantial shifts in their work and or in the direction of their practice. They often enable artists to develop new networks and meet others from different backgrounds. Overall they also offer artists that much needed period of contemplation and reassessment. Residencies allow the Arts Office to support Arts Practitioners 'assisting artists in realising their artistic ambitions' (Arts Council of Ireland).
Marie Connole will commence her six week residency at Kilkenny County Councils Arts Office, no. 72 John Street on Monday February 4th 2008. Marie's work weaves together oddities, fears and beliefs formed from observations of growths and the human body. These elements shape our individual psyche and, freed from reason, they attach and re combine with each other creating new stories and associations. The imagination is the ultimate means of exploration and escape; a place to confront and understand our experiences... just as encounters with the strange and bizarre are not always terrifying, neither is that which is small and beautiful always harmless. These are the contradictions we live by.
For further details on this or any other Arts Office activities please contact the Arts Office, No. 72, John Street, Kilkenny on 056 7794138.
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Hugh McCarthy: Artist in Residence at no. 72
September / November 2007
Visual artist Hugh McCarthy commenced his six-week residency on Monday 10 September at the Kilkenny Arts Office space at No.72 John Street, Kilkenny. In his work Hugh combines elements of popular culture and abstraction to create art that not only investigates the studio practice but also simultaneously explores personal and universal issues in contemporary society. Working in No. 72, John Street Monday to Friday until the 19 October the general public are invited to meet the artist. For further information on this residency please contact the Arts Office, Kilkenny County Council Arts Office, County Hall, John Street, Kilkenny.
T: 056 7794138
E: mary.butler@kilkennycoco.ie
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Stephane Kiszak: Artist in Residence at no. 72
May - June 2007
Artist's residencies are extremely important as they tend to have a lasting impact on the artists ranging from substantial shifts in their work and or in the direction of their practice. They often enable artists to develop new networks and meet others from different backgrounds. Overall they also offer artists that much needed period of contemplation and reassessment. Residencies allow the Arts Office to support Arts Practitioners 'assisting artists in realising their artistic ambitions' (Arts Council of Ireland).
Stephane Kiszak is currently undertaking a residency at Kilkenny County Councils Arts Office, no. 72 John Street. Stephane's intention is to create a series of paintings developing a new technique of his incorporating collage, computer manipulation and paint on canvas. It's important for him to have time and space to explore and experiment with these techniques and materials in order to continue developing work he has started. He has already created two paintings which are an important starting point and will inform the work he will produce over the six week duration of his residency at no. 72. The primary benefit for him to work in this residency is to focus on this body of work and to meet people and talk about the project. As Stephane is a Belgian artist currently based here in Kilkenny this opportunity will also enable him to be involved in the Kilkenny community. He is also involving Eoghan O' Brien, an artist based in the KCAT studio in Callan. His technique is to collect images before painting and Stephane and Eoghan will exchange drawings. He considers his own painting technique to be really raw, directly influenced by l'Art Brut (raw art) and artists like Arnulf Rainer who did a lot of works in collaboration with disabled artists from Haus der Kunstler.
These activities enable the Arts Office to expose the general public, third level students, other artists and community groups to the working processes of artists as both the artist, Stephane and the Arts Officer welcomes visitors dropping in to chat to Stephane who is working in residence until Friday 29th June.
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PAST RESIDENCIES 2006
Kilkenny County Councils Arts Office undertook two visual artists' residencies in October - December 2006. The residencies focused on Drawing and Papermaking and were based in Kilkenny city and Castlecomer. Artist's residencies are extremely important as they tend to have a lasting impact on the artists ranging from substantial shifts in their work and or in the direction of their practice. They often enable artists to develop new networks and meet others from different backgrounds. Overall they also offer artists that much needed period of contemplation and reassessment. Residencies allow the Arts Office to support Arts Practitioners 'assisting artists in realising their artistic ambitions' (Arts Council of Ireland).
Patrick O' Connor has drawn since he can remember doing just that in red South African earth before he was four. Sixty years on he still believes that drawing fulfils a very basic human need and is a profound necessity. Although highly regarded in South Africa, with work represented in eleven public collections he is virtually unknown in Ireland. Patrick has thought and taught drawing throughout his life. He will undertake a drawing residency at the Arts Office, No. 72 John Street for the month of October, thus continuing his drawing practice. Throughout this residency he will explore mark making and mark development. The main objective being to explore drawings on a large scale and to create a one piece frieze like drawing as the space allows.
Polly Minett first began making paper in Japan where she studied the basic methods of Asian Papermaking. She continues to explore and investigate this art form today specialising in plant fibres. Polly has also worked in the field of education since the early eighties and she continues to pass on her skills through workshops and activities for adults and children. Kilkenny County Council Arts Office is assisting Polly in her research by enabling her to undertake a six week residency in Castle comer Estate Yard, Castlecomer Demense, Co. Kilkenny from November 6th to December 15th 2006. The aim of this residency is to facilitate research and experimentation within the medium of paper and fibres in order to further extend this developing art form beyond the usual two dimensional form. Polly's research will further her knowledge and repertoire of skills thus enabling her to further raise the profile of this art form in Ireland.
These activities enable us to expose the general public, third level students and community groups to the working processes of two individual Kilkenny based artists by way of pre arranged visits.
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