Projects

Development of Rural Arts Module

As part of the Shifting Ground project, GMIT are developing an innovative module in rural arts practice. Deirdre O’Mahony lecturer in painting at G.M.I.T. proposed this development n recognition of the fact that the students of the college are drawn from a largely rural hinterland. To develop a pedagogical model of arts education focusing on contemporary practice in the rural context involved working towards the development of a philosophy, pedagogy, strategy and model of Rural Arts Practice. O' Mahony staged a series of 6 public seminars to stimulate and provide a focus for discourse on contemporary rural art practice. The second area of research was an intervention at a community event, the Bio-Diversity Day in Dromore Wood, Co. Clare in May of 2006 organised by the Heritage Office of Clare County Council.

Art Interventions; Bio-Diversity Day, Dromore Wood, Co. Clare, May 27th 2006

O’Mahony and two of her students, Emily Good and Emma Petterson, made temporary public artworks for Rabbit Island in Dromore Woods, Co. Clare as part of Bio-Diversity Day, May 27th 2006 (organized by the Heritage Office of Clare County Council).

Emily Good created a mapped treasure trail through the woods, marked with a number of stop off points where the public were encouraged take time to uncover things, to engage with the site and to engage with the work she had done.

“Reclaimed wood made into small boxes and recycled jars will act as the containers. Inside these I will be putting my own imagery, which will be influenced by my documentation of the site. I will also be using honey and bee's wax; they are natural preservatives and also are deeply rooted with physiological significance.”

Deirdre O’Mahony made a piece of work that celebrated the fleeting phenomena of nature. Boards painted to the exact colour of the wild bluebell were placed in the groves where they had recently bloomed as a reminder of their brief presence. Badges in the same painted blue were given to people visiting the Shifting Ground stand in exchange for their thoughts on the intervention.

Emma Petterson exhibited photographs taken on various places along the trail during a walk in the woods. She hung or placee the photographs on the same site as they were taken. The
sites were not marked on a map, so the audience had to look keenly into the trees on either side of the path to spot the photographs; small sheets of paper and a variety of drawing materials were given to the public to record their own experience or observations of the same space. At the end of the trail the artist traded these drawings for postcard reproductions of the photographs.