Tag: irish art

Last Chance to see Kinship

Hi everyone,

‘In the Botanic Gardens came the season of fruit and plenty, wildflower ceramics appeared in the moonshine.

The stumps of trees sprouted wool in many colours …

In the gardens red thread roots growing from a tree into the ground put my feet solidly on the grass…’

Esther Raquel Minsky, 29.08.22

This is the last week to see Sculpture in Context exhibition in the Botanic Gardens, Dublin. There are so many wonderful pieces of sculpture situated throughout the gardens that you could easily spend the day there. The gallery over the restaurant is a beautiful space and houses a large number of smaller pieces in ceramics, glass, fibre, bronze and teabags!

We are really pleased that our piece, Kinship, is slowly being colonized by nature as the grass, and the odd mushroom, grow tall around sections of spreading ‘roots’. The felted pieces, which nestle in the crevices of the fallen tree, bear the signs of insect activity, snail trails and fallen leaves. Just perfect! Here are a few images of it now….

Thank you to everyone who visited and gave us such great feedback. It was an interesting adventure for us to work collaboratively on one piece. Our thanks to the committee of Sculpture in Context for giving us this wonderful opportunity.

Our work is going abroad!

Greetings from the collective of artists that are element15. Since our online exhibition at the end of September we have been trying to get the creativity moving again without our monthly meetings to offer mutual support and peer critique. It is not easy during the current level 5 restrictions but creativity will out, one way or another.

We have had some lovely enquiries about work featured on our website which has evolved into sales of both featured pieces and work not yet shown. We are very grateful for the support and encouragement that comes to an artist with the sale of their work. Below are images of the pieces that have gone to new homes in Ireland and Australia. It helps that all the works from the recent ‘Impenetrable’ exhibition are unframed so are easy to ship/post.

‘Impenetrable Forest’ | Pauline Kiernan | 28 x 28 cm

Purple Haze | Dee Kelly | 10 x 13 cm

Running in Circles | Dee Kelly | 12 x 31 cm

Nature’s Headspace | Dee Kelly | 19 x 24 cm

Secret Garden I | Hannaleena Ahonen | 25 x 26 cm

No Way Through | Fidelma Barton | 33 x 42 cm

Works in Progress

It looks like we will have the makings of a really good exhibition or two by the time we can actually meet up and work together again as a group. Some of us (not me!) are finding the time, and the head space, to work with their hands, whether it is with the sewing machine, the needle and embroidery thread, the paint brush or the dye pot. A quick peek at some works in progress this week ….

Fidelma Barton is working on ‘The Past …is impenetrable’. She has dyed the base material using flour paste as a resist to create the background, then painted the window detail in acrylic. She is adding the brambles, leaves and eventually the roof using various types of stitch and appliqued textiles. The piece captures an air of neglect and a hidden history just waiting to be uncovered.

Trish Webb Duffy is working on a number of projects, one of which is a series of 18 small hand dyed and stitched squares. She may make them into little cubes or leave them in a grid formation – we will have to wait and see..

Hannaleena Ahonen’s forte is hand stitching and applique. She is definitely looking on the bright side of our current situation with this colourful and happy piece. Its’ sunshine colours would make anyone smile.

Lastly this is Kathrina Hughes’s lockdown project – based on a photo of her husband’s niece heading off into a field of buttercups. I don’t think it needs any words.

Stay safe everyone.