Art Projects
1. Ground Up - Contemporary Art in a Rural Context
Clare is predominantly a rural county. The majority of artists living in Clare reside in a rural setting, yet the arts, for the most part, take place in urban locations. The Arts Office of Clare County Council initiated Ground Up to foster a new type of engagement between Public Art and rural contexts.
As well as a desire to generate debate and discussion amongst practitioners and the rural ‘constituency’, Ground Up set out to fulfill a number of other objectives;
- To create opportunities for artists to make interesting, challenging artworks where they live, independent of the gallery system.
- To create opportunities for artists to inspire one another, and to interact with national/ international practitioners. Read more
2. X-PO Local Exchange
Kilnaboy, Co. Clare
REACTIVATING COMMUNITY EXCHANGE
Artist Deirdre O’Mahony has re-opened the old Kilnaboy Post Office. Her aim is to reactivate the kind of incidental community exchange and contact point that was once commonly associated with the day to day business of rural Post Offices all over Ireland. The X PO will be formally opened to the public on 9th December. The initial focus is on Mattie Rynne who was the former postmaster in Kilnaboy. Deirdre has created an installation in the private former kitchen space of the building with the archived the books and belongings of Mattie Rynne. The former postman of the district, Peter Daffy, a recent graduate from the Crawford College will exhibit paintings of Mattie and his friends in the renovated former post office space. It is hoped that seeing the exhibition, artefacts and objects will trigger stories about Mattie acting as a starting point in the documentation and archiving of local knowledge about the area. The customs, knowledge and the networks of the community in the past will thus be preserved and give pause to think about the needs and aspirations of the community of the present and future.
The X-PO will have two rooms open for community use for the following six months. One of will be available as a gathering point for clubs, groups and individual members of the community; examples could be a book club, knitting, photography or painting clubs, and film or philosophy clubs. The other room will become an archive/office and exhibition space showing examples of historic and contemporary artists work which has a direct connection to Kilnaboy. It will also house a computer, scanner and recording equipment to gather local stories and photographs of Kilnaboy.
The location and history of the Post Office at Kilnaboy, as well as the wealth of local anecdote connecting the community to the place, should make it an ideal start point for a cultural hub. The potential will be there for it to continue beyond the timeline of the X-PO project and continue as a self-sustaining local cultural resource. Documentation of the project will be made available to the community to assist in future applications to maintain such a space in Kilnaboy.
For more information contact Deirdre O’Mahony
Tel: 086 8699973S 065 6837177
or by email on xpo.kilnaboy@gmail.com
3. Ground Up Artists' Collective
The Ground Up Artists' Collective arose from a four year project devised by the Arts Office of Clare County Council titled Ground Up; this was an experimental programme of Public Art in rural contexts. Membership of the collective currently stands at 26, with members drawn from Ireland, Australia and Hungary. read more
4. Imagining Silvermines; a psychogeography
North Tipperary Visual Artist in Residence project
North Tipperary Arts Office created a part time Visual Artist Residency in North Tipperary for a six month period from February – August 07. The aim of the residency is to provide opportunities for a Local, National or International artist to research and develop their work practice, in response to their time within the North Tipperary region over the six month period.
Due to the distinctive rural context of North Tipperary the Arts Office expressed a particular interest in artists developing work and exploring
Arts in Rural contexts
Arts in the context of Regeneration
Arts & Ecology/Arts and the Environment
Land Art
Artists were asked to make a proposal as to how they would approach the residency and what they would hope to achieve, and also to address the legacy to be left by the Residency.
Fiona Woods was selected for this Residency. . . .read more >>
4. Development of Rural Arts Module
GMIT is committed to the development of an innovative Rural Arts module which will equip their students with skills to approach rural communities and contexts in an informed and meaningful way.
As resarch for this module students Emily Good and Emma Petterson, with lecturer Deirdre O’Mahony each made a temporary artwork for Rabbit Island in Dromore Woods, Co. Clare as part of Bio-Diversity Day, May 27th 2006 (organized by the Heirtage Office of Clare County Council). These ranged from a ‘mapped treasure trail’ through the woods to a celebration of the fleeting phenomena of wild bluebells, to an exhibition of photographs located at the site of their taking. Read more