Paula Henihan - blog

2012-02-13T12:35:00.000Z

Directions on how to use a western toilet, Kuala Lumpar airport.

2012-02-13T01:28:00.001Z

Sleeper train from Hoi An to Hanoi / Meals on wheels in Ha Long city

2012-02-13T01:26:00.000Z

Beautiful cafe in the heart of the mayhem in Hanoi, Vietnam

2012-02-10T04:28:00.000Z

Street food, Hoi An

2012-02-10T04:27:00.000Z

Hoi An, Vietnam

2012-02-10T02:09:00.002Z

We were lucky to be in Hoi An for the local lunar celebrations. The city lights are switched off all over the old town and all bars, cafes and streets are lit up only by candlelit lanterns. Locals burn small fires in tins on the roadside outside their homes. Bundles of burning incense sticks are squeezed into cracks in the pavement and into nooks in the ancient roadside trees. Small tables or personal shrines are exhibited outside homes and shop fronts with sweets, money, rice, fruit or beer laid out as offerings to ancestors and to bring good luck. Hundreds of colorful floating lanterns are placed in the river by the throngs of locals that roam the riverside streets. Ancient games and performances are played out in dimly lit street corners with intent to revive the golden days of Hoi An. It was great to experience this romantic and magical event.

2012-02-08T11:39:00.000Z

Hoi An, Vietnam

2012-02-08T05:06:00.004Z

Some memorable visuals from Laos.

Long narrow boats / Pink plastic mirrors / Miniature bananas / Geckos finding bright walls / Fishermen standing on rocks / Car seats drilled into the boats / Old tiny ladies / Rice baskets with hats on / Spotty frogs / Long eared cows / Rubbish being thrown over the window down into the garden space below / Wizened sun drenched flat faces / Embroidered long wrap around skirts / Polite bows / Buddha like babies / Wicker triangular hats / Frilly lace finishes in the windows of the buses / Tiny fish drying on nets / Wicker fish traps / Bamboo fencing / Wooden make shift houses on stilts / Muddy squat toilets / 80's style textured tiling / Home made hydropower gadgets in the river / Hammocks / Large sealed mud clay ovens / Tropical flowers like on surf clothing patterns / Random heaps of construction rubbish / Fishing nets being woven together / Gentle water buffalo roaming around / Baby chickens / Bicycles with three kids balancing on / Mopeds with four fat pigs loaded cross ways / Flies buzzing around dim lightbulbs

2012-02-07T07:55:00.000Z

Hoi An

2012-02-06T09:31:00.000Z

Far from the familiar Laos jungle and spoilt with tasty food choices in Hoi An!

2012-02-06T09:23:00.000Z

Hoi An

2012-02-05T08:56:00.000Z

Textures from Hoi An, Vietnam

2012-02-05T07:18:00.002Z

Plants in Hoi An, Vietnam

2012-02-05T03:18:00.001Z

Hoi An, Vietnam

2012-02-04T17:42:00.001Z

Wall Design,Hoi An

2012-02-04T09:34:00.001Z

Cycling through the town of Hoi An. Old lady with the wisdom of three centuries or more on her face. She sees us, smiles and shouts at Emmet. "You need hair cut, I cut your hair" and laughs out loud.

2012-02-04T02:22:00.000Z

Hoi An, Vietnam

2012-02-01T07:24:00.001Z

2012-02-01T06:33:00.003Z

My collection of photos of my old orange Birkenstocks in different places around the world has come to an end. Eight years was a good record for a pair of sandals. That doesn't mean photographing my feet is off the cards.

Don Khone, Laos

2012-01-31T13:28:00.005Z

Kompong Phluk, Cambodia

2012-01-31T13:28:00.004Z

Waterfalls on Don Khone, Laos

2012-01-31T13:27:00.002Z

Emmet asked this lady if he could use her machete to cut the coconut himself. She had a good giggle at him and then finished the job off right! Emmet reluctantly enjoyed his juice but admits it would have tasted better if he got it open himself.

2012-01-31T03:51:00.002Z

Don Deth, Laos

2012-01-31T03:50:00.001Z

2012-01-31T03:48:00.000Z

Don Deth, Laos / Ankor Thom, Cambodia

2012-01-30T06:11:00.006Z

We rented a motorbike for four days and drove around the Bolevan Plateau near Pakse in Laos. The adventure and sights of rural life, local coffee and tea plantations and friendly people made up for the butt numbing unsealed endless rocky roads.

One of the nights we stayed in a village called Tad Lo. It was like something from my national school history books: fullacht fias (underground ovens), animals roaming among the village huts, people doing chores with basic tools, children playing inventive games with their flip flops. Everyone being friendly and waving so excited at the white foreigners. Women washing in the river as the sun goes down, men casting homemade fishing nets. Chickens, water buffalo, cows, piglets piglets and more piglets! Lush vegetation and kids dressed in dusty clothes and happy faces. Life is the focus: plants, animals, humans all sharing communal outdoor living space.

2012-01-30T05:48:00.001Z

In south Laos the internet is few and far between. Where it is available, I can only imagine it is being run from a clever make-shift rotary engine powered by a nearby waterfall !

In Pakse we joined a group to go trekking in the jungle with one English speaking Laos and two local village Laos guides. We trekked, we zip lined high high above deep crevasses above huge water falls and the jungle canopy. We ate in true Laos style, with a few banana leaves on a rock as our table. We experienced extreme tropical rain for a few hours and a welcome group fire on arrival to our jungle hut that evening. Next day we awoke in our open air tree-hut way up high with no ladder in our out... Zip lined to breakfast in the coolest location beside 2 waterfalls. Trekked more, cooled down in freezing waterfalls and climbed up some seriously vertical rock faces which were pretty challenging, with the help of u-bolts for footing and safety cables.

Really enjoyed fireside dinner with the group and had some cool conversations with the local guides. Peth, one of our guides told us that "once in a movie, he saw a concrete house with a fire inside and a hole (chimney) to let the smoke out." We told him this is like our houses and he got very excited to hear how it works!

Arrived back to Pakse wrecked and with muscle ache... great to finally be exhausted from exercise, something that's really hard to manage in hot humid countries.

2012-01-30T05:44:00.001Z

Ankor Wat and Ankor Thom, Cambodia

2012-01-30T05:40:00.001Z

Muang Khong, Laos / Kampong Phlong, Cambodia / Bolevan Plateau, Laos

2012-01-30T04:08:00.002Z

In Tad Lo in Laos, we were invited to join an extended family for some dinner on the floor outside their house. They were Vietnamese living in Laos. The head of the house tried out his English on us and was full of talk and probably had a few too many Laos Laos rice whiskeys since he tried to set his daughter up with Emmet! His children, in laws, wife and mother were all a bit shyer than him. They asked us about our story and very quickly we became the talk at the table...they all were struggling with the idea that we were together for 11 years and then we decided to get married. The father explained that it's not so hard to get married in Vietnam, find nice man for my daughter, 1 month, married. Easy!

2012-01-30T03:50:00.002Z

Jumped on a local minibus for a three hour drive to Si Phan Don in South Laos, on the Mekong. Thought it would be a walk in the park, no problem! What an experience.

It reminded me of driving to school with half of the neighborhood in the back seat and Grace and me squashed in the front. Add some motorbikes on the roof, chickens in sacks rustling and moving about among us, half a market load of watermelons, vegetables, plastic bags of soups and sauces, massive sacks of rice, a 350 watt amplifier, children being passed down the isle to sit on strangers laps, wooden windows, roof tiles and sheets of corrugated metal along with our two rucksacks on the roof. Every inch of space was utilized. Unfortunately for Emmet, leg and foot space also.

Pakse station was a kind of market / farm / sleeping space / bus depot in one. We depart the bus station after a 1.5 hour wait to load the bus with goods and humans.

The journey came to a halt many times by the locals shouting out over the blaring music (louder than any late pub music in Ireland)... Stop stop for toilet; we all jump out for a roadside squat... Stop stop, many shout at roadside vegtable sellers who sell vegetables to them through the windows.

What an experience. Glad we did it, next time we will take the Farang bus...which is the exact same vehicle but seats are saved solely for the monster sized tourists who are used to private space.

2012-01-26T12:19:00.001Z

Flowers in a village near Paxong, Laos

2012-01-22T12:10:00.001Z

Normal lady going about her day in Pakse, Laos.

2012-01-22T11:35:00.001Z

Arrived in Pakse, Laos yesterday. A small sleepy town with little to do except plan your activities in the countryside from here. Again, it's nice to be around the genuinely helpful Laos people. No pushy sales, just honest help.

We happened to think about our visa options for Vietnam, sheer luck that it came to mind. Asked around about and found out there just happened to be a Vietnamese Consulate in Pakse. It's Chinese new year and so Tet national holidays in Vietnam began yesterday and for 10 days in Vietnam everything was due to shut down. We thought we were out of luck. We wandered over to the consulate official building where everything was shut. I peeped under the gate, shouted hello hello and a dude came out. With hopeful smiles and happy new year greetings we asked nicely can we please buy visas! He went away, asked some questions and summoned us into a big building. We were greeted with smiles...possibly some happy new year hiccup smiles! Fifteen mins later we had our visas and stamped passports! And of course the "tip" for the holiday favor - $10. Easy peasy! Sweet... after Laos, Vietnam.

2012-01-21T03:25:00.000Z

Goodbye Cambodia

2012-01-20T10:55:00.001Z

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

2012-01-20T10:53:00.000Z

Angkor Thom, Siem Reap, Cambodia

2012-01-20T10:46:00.000Z

Boys hanging out ready to pose!

2012-01-19T09:15:00.001Z

My new favorite drink. Fresh coconut juice. Cut with a machete, goes down easy!

2012-01-19T09:07:00.001Z

Kampong Phluk near Siem Reap, Cambodia

2012-01-17T13:33:00.003Z

To be honest, I was nervous about visiting Phnom Penh having heard it may be a difficult place where I would see harsh poverty and tough conditions, which is true to a certain degree. Each evening I appreciated my very comfortable bed inside a sealed, clean building. I am so very glad to have stayed 3 nights so that I could observe and encounter a pinch of the positive, determined people of Phnom Penh.

Some of the things I'll remember:

System-less traffic flows with mayhem and ease like a noisy river. Mopeds, cyclos, cars, tuk tuks, bicycles, pick up trucks, and pedestrians beep and signal in what looks like complete chaos, but all move to and fro in slow and tolerant streams, with or against the current... anything goes. No lanes, no traffic lights. Forward is the only direction.

Market sellers close shop for the night at 9pm and bed down in the same spot. Hammocks are hung in a tree nearby or sometimes, if they are more equipped, a mosquito net is hung above their market stall table which becomes a bed for the family. Pick up trucks become mobile homes, and a mat on the main river promenade becomes a sleeping spot for a woman and six tiny children. Showers happen street side, several throw buckets of water over themselves for an evening scrub up.

Beautiful, cunning kids aged about 5-12 work the corners with DVDs, books, and bracelets and have every trick in the book to try get a dollar. I don't want to think about where they bring their hard earned dollars to at the end of each day. They seem playful on the streets and joke a lot and stick close together in packs.

Market food beyond my courage! Fertilized eggs, beetles on sticks, rats on skewers, sticky rice wrapped in banana leaf (yum), sugar cane squashed down into a bamboo shoot, snails, shell fish, the list goes on.
The potent smells send my stomach upside down and make me feel like a weak, disinfected western! I admire their tough guts but I'm content with my non-experimental approach. I write about it, but I won't touch!

Hens stand on a table waiting to get cut and bled. A woman sits lotus style in the middle of a market table surrounded by large chunks of raw meat. She has a gigantic knife and a wooden board in front of her. Two small motors suspended from coat hangers spin plastic bags around in circles in an attempt to keep the flies off her meat. Gorgeous local fruit and veg are colourfully displayed in woven wicker baskets. Organic in-season slow food at its best, with no packaging.

These are some of my first impressions of Phnom Penh which to me as a first timer stood out as different and interesting. It may seem negative but actually the visit was really positive. I want to write about my lasting impressions of Phnom Penh and the few people I met in another post... a project for my next long journey.

2012-01-16T06:14:00.002Z

Phnon Penh, Cambodia

Second border crossing; Thailand to Cambodia

2012-01-16T01:46:00.004Z

Arrived in Phnom Penh 2 nights ago after a long boat and bus ride from Koh Chang, across the border at Had Lek, and then onto Phnom Penh.

The border crossing was everything we had read about. Before we could get out of our bus, our bags were whisked away by many guys waiting for us. They just want to wheel them 100m down the path to the 'quarantine' zone! I did notice that the locals did not need to go into this zone, only the farangs (the foreigners).

In quarantine we were shepherded through many steps.
1. "Health check": guy in plain clothes with temperature gun type thing clicks it at ur forehead, gives you a yellow slip as a health guarantee: 20 baht! Proof of the yellow slip is not needed for any further part of the process.

2. "Visa form": guy takes your passport off you and fills out a visa form, returns many minutes later to get signature. Still no sign of getting passport back: 20 baht!

3. "Retrieve bag": guy holds your bag tight until you pay him and then he complains that it's not enough until you ignore him: 20 baht! Some people paid 100 which sounds a lot but is about €2.50 so no robbery, just bribery.

4. "Pay for visa": you are brought into a room with darkened windows. Four officials in khaki coloured generals uniforms and two other random serious dudes sit in the room plus a guy with a plain t-shirt with 'police' screen printed onto it in comic sans font! Tense atmosphere, questions asked and $40 charge each. We know from research that it costs $20 so we start to explain what we have heard. Emmet is told to stop talking, stay quiet, only listening and do what is told by the big guy in the corner. We explain we have only $26 each and they accepted reluctantly.

5. Thumb and finger prints and get visa and passport from dude who filled out the forms: 20 baht!

All done, out of foreigners quarantine, say goodbye to the many local touts selling rip off cigarettes and cans of beer, unsealed bottles of water and... Onto the 9 hour rocky roll-y slow bus ride to Phnom Penh!

Must mention that we then enjoyed 9 hours of really loud Cambodian karaoke music videos on the bus.

2012-01-13T05:10:00.002Z

Koh Chang, Thailand.

2012-01-11T07:23:00.003Z

Koh Mak, Thailand

2012-01-11T07:22:00.003Z

Kuang Si Falls, Luang Prabang, Laos

2012-01-10T07:51:00.001Z

Outside Luang Prabang, Laos

2012-01-09T13:22:00.002Z

Koh Mak, Thailand

2012-01-09T09:04:00.000Z

Koh Mak, Thailand

2012-01-09T07:36:00.002Z

Koh Mak, Thailand

2012-01-06T17:12:00.003Z

So I'm pretty happy to have a mobile internet device the size of my pocket with me on my travels. It used to be my text message machine, now it's my lifeline. Everyday I can communicate by text,email, visual image, voice call or live video - all for FREE! Haven't gone to an internet cafe yet. All I'm saying is "Hello future, I knew you were here but I had not fully embraced you till now! Go on d'iphone!"

2012-01-06T16:56:00.002Z

Kuang Si Falls, Luang Prabang, Laos

2012-01-04T16:35:00.001Z

Luang Prabang, Laos

2012-01-04T16:32:00.000Z

Luang Prabang

2012-01-03T16:29:00.000Z

Just off the slow boat down the Mekong river, dodging rocks, rolling through currents. The trip from Thai boarder down to Luang Prabang took two seven -hour journeys with a stop over night in Pak Beng. Our trip included a crash into the rocks after which our driver, who stripped down to his undies, swam under the boat, detached the warped propellor from the boat and hammered it back to working condition! Towards the end of our first day we sailed in the pitch dark with no lights to guide us other than that of Buddah I guess! Well we got here in one piece and found out that it was a normal day on the river for the Loas drivers.

My upload was just this moment interrupted by a town power cut... And we are back on the grid again now, and so are the two outrageously loud Laos karaoke's I can hear from here!

2012-01-03T16:04:00.003Z

Chiang Khong, Thailand

Bangkok, Thailand

2012-01-01T11:25:00.005Z

All of a sudden...and a tad too soon!...we have hit very basic and wild territory. Chiang Khong, in Thailand is beside the Mekong river. Looking across, I can see Laos. Tomorrow we are intending to venture into Laos, if the boat is full enough to go!

2011-12-30T14:25:00.001Z

Phranakorn Nornlen Hotel in Bangkok is an oasis of calm that I'm sad to leave. It's interior is covered with beautiful hand painted decor, the custom furniture is made from reclaimed materials. This place calls itself an 'anti-hotel', and is more of a boutique creative retreat from the madness of Bangkok with crafty workshops in hand made paper, soaps and sewing. My five euro thai massage was so good!

2011-12-30T13:47:00.000Z

Priority seats at Bangkok airport; monks get first dibs!

2011-12-29T01:28:00.002Z

Arrived after 25 hours in transit. Glad to have had a somewhat broken but at least a horizontal sleep behind me.

2011-12-17T17:35:00.004Z

Back on my blog again! Going to post things about my travels here if and when I can access internet.

Spring will soon have sprung

2010-02-07T21:50:00.004Z

It's interesting - this time of year I get a deep need to start making and feeling creative. Winter time is usually a creative hibernation for me, although crafts do feature heavily close to Christmas. It is the same feeling each year and I have begun to recognize the pattern.

The seeds have germinated so here's to the natural creative shoots becoming re-exposed.

2010-01-28T17:31:00.002Z

The work I have been doing in school is all up online here.

So how is Zurich?

2010-01-20T23:54:00.011Z

When I visited home at Christmas I was asked so many times - "So how is Zurich, I'd say it's really quiet? I'd say there isn't much crack to be had?" Here's some words that come to mind thinking back on my time here so far....

Ankle deep snow. Heavy trams grinding. Underfloor heating. Nature / City balance. Little to no rain. Old fashioned bikes. Conservative clothes. Cobbled streets. Vanilla pod Yoghurt. Smell of hot chestnuts. Ice rink view through window. Frequent silent trains. Church bells ringing. Heavy ski boots. Farms in the city. Bundles of tied paper. Water fountains. Magical Winter lights. Grapes from the vine. Second hand havens. Wilderness park. After school swim in Zurich lake.

All in all a pretty good experience so far.

Short film: Shadows dancing

2009-12-22T12:27:00.004Z

I recently completed a shadow puppet project with students aged 4 and 5 years.

Nollaig Shona Dhuit

2009-12-21T16:03:00.001Z

Visual response to music

2009-11-14T22:03:00.007Z

I am currently teaching Art in Zurich International School. One of my class groups have been focusing on Kandinsky and his abstract art work. Yesterday I taught a really enjoyable class. The students created visual responses to four contrasting styles of music. It was interesting to see some obvious contrast in shape, line and colour throughout the four drawings. Each student then named the style of music they had listened and drawn to, which became the title of each drawing.

Music extracts by: 1. Mile Davis / 2. Daft Punk / 3. Lemon Jelly / 4. Sufjan Stevens

Found it!

2009-11-08T20:31:00.006Z

Franz Schubert’s Nocturne in E-flat Major (Op.148)

The backing track to Ian Breakwells video piece The Other Side which is part of the Tate Britain collection. It is a beautiful video piece he created while on a residency in East Sussex. This is one of my favorite pieces of video art, along with Bill Violas 'Five Angles'. I feel privileged to have had a private tutorial with Ian Breakwell while studying Art in Galway.

Informal Artist Interview

2009-10-23T20:40:00.003Z

I recently was interviewed about my practice and attitudes and experience of making art and my pursuit of being a practicing artist. It was a good morning, I was in writing form and I really enjoyed giving some honest opinions on things I had thought about before but hadn't ever put on paper. I was encouraged to post it here...and so....nervously I do.

What is the most important idea, issue, dilemma or thing that you want to address in your art?

Science, living things, life, urge, nature, instinctual drive, inability to control our greater actions and movements, questions of mortality, cycle of living things

Why do you make art?

Sometimes because I need to make things – at times I feel 'hungry' for a period until I create and feed that need. Sometimes because I want to feel I have produced something successful or beautiful or interesting (this is the superficial egotistical side to my practice when I find myself concentrating on the result and reaction rather than the process). Sometimes because I feel like a have to - for example from a personal pressure I put on myself to continue my career as an artist.

Do you find yourself more attracted to work that is not like your own, or work that has similarities to yours?

At times I am attracted to work that is similar to my own. I know that certainly in college I used to search out artists who made work that looked like the stuff I was doing at that time. More recently I think I find contrasting styles interesting. I am now more open to areas outside of fine art as a direct influence. Contrast in imagery and form interests me. In particular in the design world, the teaching world the world of science and the architectural world - I find myself picking up ideas and visual reference which may not directly influence what my work looks like, but it certainly influences how I talk about my work, and how I approach my practice time and how I see myself as an artist, educator, and person. Interior design websites and simple child-like processes of creation interest me. Clever three dimensional work using natural materials makes me want make things....simple ideas make perceptive art and astute design.

What are your methods of visualisation? How does the process of creating an art object begin?

I think I work quite similarly to a sculptor or installation artist, I think in three dimension mostly or I should say I plan with a specific space in mind...and my greatest urges to make involve installation ideas, and sculptural ideas. I do not sketch or draw a lot, I write down detailed descriptions of installation ideas, along with simple drawings. I visualise overall exhibitions and their layout before even making work. I love the presentation and installation side to exhibiting. My exhibitions have all been very much about the space I show in so I see making a body of work as one big project rather than making individual pieces. My individual pieces need each other to create links and develop a collective communication. When making mixed media paper pieces, I again work on a collective and usually have several on the go at once. I love working with collage and mixed media and feel really confident when making paper works from several tools and materials. Editing is another tool in my process of 'drawing'. My 2dimensional work could be compared to layout or desktop publishing. I studied web design for a year and so I work with photoshop every week and this process of using photoshop has definitely influence how I conceptualise and create drawings. Layering, transparencies, layout balance, colour balance, contrasting line quality and imagery...

What are your expectations?

My expectations were once great and vast and unrealistic but now they are very much contentedly small scale! I am more comfortable when thinking about small scale micro effects and experiences that my art practice has the potential to elicit. My aspirations to become a 'famous' artist have been flooded by a realistic awakening that slow and steady is the only way to progress honestly or genuinely as an artist.

Genuine interest, persistence, personal challenge and the urge to document are only a few of the ingredients I now know I need to achieve the kind of results which will satisfy my own expectations.

Do you think about the audience in the process, finished piece, exhibition and beyond that?Who do you imagine your audience to be?

This is something I have blogged about a few times. Andy Goldsworthy once siad,

The relationship between the public and the artist is complex and difficult to explain. There is a fine line between using this critical energy creatively and pandering to it." The audience can kill creation... I went through a year of fearing what critical eyes would be judging my upcoming solo exhibition and what their opinions about my work would be. This self consciousness driven by the notion of the 'audience' almost paralyzed my making for some time.

Two years ago I cared a lot about my audience, in a negative way, I mean I was self conscious about my audience. But recently, I am feeling more and more confident about what I do. Everyone is different and all are entitled to their opinions, as long as they are their own, and they are their honest opinions. It is the pretentious side to the art world audience that I have trouble with, and I know there is a pretentious side to all scenes but this used to effect me since I was working alone on my stuff, and while I am making I don't communicate what I am doing much to anyone until I feel it is concluded to some degree and then it was exposed for the slaughter! I guess your audience and who you think 'they' are really reflects what kind of person you are yourself - how you react, how you prepare and how you defend yourself from a critical audience. Notice how all those things I said were negative. I also blogged about Ken Robinson - he champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity. He defines creativity as “the process of having original ideas which have value.” If one has a fear of being 'wrong' or 'critically analysed' they will not have the scope to come up with anything original. Its a simple teaching philosophy, without a safe environment no one will have the courage to speak out. As a practicing artist my aim is to allow myself the oppotunity to invent, create and express original ideas.

The positive side to audience is the interesting feedback I receive regularaly from people about my work, ideas, approach to art making. And i have learned more about my work through others and their reactions and discussions relating to my work. I realise now looking back on my blog that I do write about this topic a lot....heres a link to an experience at my art installation at electric picnic in 2008....http://www.paulahenihan.com/blog/2008/09/listening-to-words.html

And also... here is a link to my comments on the experience of being the artist at the opening to my own solo exhibition.... http://www.paulahenihan.com/blog/2009_06_01_paulahenihan.html

What do you think galleries can offer as places for experience?

I have broken my answer into descriptive words that come to mind when thinking about different types of galleries.

White cube space.

insight, enlightenment, silent, shock, inquiry, confusion, anger, inclusion, exclusion, white space, escape, false importance, investigation, awkwardness, hostility.

Arts Centre

(although I do resent that some arts centres have forgotten that they are providing a cultural service for the entire community and not simply a select few)

inclusion, confusion, comfortable, community, social space, learning, involvement, participation, discourse, communication,

Arts collectives

activity, involvement, inclusion, exclusion, clique, social, interesting, engaging, inviting, inventive

Portfolio Course 2009

2009-08-26T09:41:00.005Z

I recently finished teaching two intensive two-week portfolio courses with second level art college hopefuls. It was a full on month but it was great to work with students who are enthusiastic and keen to exercise their creative minds. Lots more of the students work is up on flickr.

Vintage Swiss postcard

2009-08-26T08:49:00.001Z

Nice find.

2009-08-23T16:05:00.001Z

Hattie Newman makes sweet little paper sets, illustrations and animations that are worth a browse.

Listening to Words

2009-08-23T15:59:00.003Z

"My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy and we should treat it with the same status."

Ken Robinson, taken from his talk on TED.

Hello Switzerland!

2009-08-17T13:02:00.004Z

Preparing for a big move to Switzerland this coming September. Very excited to live in a new culture and climate as well as get stuck into learning a new language. Four weeks left in Ireland. Altogether....auh!

Teaching and Tinkering

2009-07-31T20:18:00.006Z

Here's a four minute video I found to remind teachers of why we teach!... Discovery, questions, invention, failure, challenge and satisfaction!... I genuinely hope that teaching and learning may move in this open and inclusive direction for future generations.

Sandals

2009-07-31T19:42:00.001Z

My age old sandals have tramped through lots of places.

Making Installation Art for Electric Picnic.

2009-07-17T12:22:00.004Z

Its that time of year again and I've been slaving away making outdoor paper sculptures for the Electric Picnics Body and Soul area this coming September.

What do you do when you're online?

2009-07-06T23:26:00.011Z

I find myself back on the same sites each day for interesting videos, podcasts, some reads but mainly visual and aural research (as well as the odd food search to keep me enthusiastic for cooking).

Visual feasts : Etsy Flickr Design Sponge Bonbi Forest Vimeo

Art / Cultural Interest: Lonely Planet Visual Artists Ireland Printmaking Blog Moma

Podcasts: Radiolab

Cooking : Good Food Twecipie

I know, I know .... you're probably thinking... I could do this on Delicious but if I just linked to this it wouldn't look so nice... my bookmarks are public here , I am hoping to expand this pretty pathetic little collection of clicks soon!

Bloomin' ek!

2009-07-06T22:36:00.003Z

The first of my Sunflowers to bloom, Friday 3rd July.

Written after exhibition opening last year

2009-06-03T21:01:00.010Z

A handful of people begin to arrive. Nerves are high and the air is thick. Temperatures rise as the pristine white rooms become crowded with curious art viewers. I squeeze out a smile and look forward to the end of this awkward formality that is - ‘the exhibition opening’. Many stand and stare, others dare not look closely for fear of their reaction - or lack thereof. Red wine flows, faces flush, tensions wane. Conversations turn to concept, technique and visuals, with a pinch of name dropping thrown in for good measure. My sister arrives; a sense of calm. She views one of my installation pieces which consists of mouth imagery, string and several mounds of earth, her instant reaction is straight and abrupt. “Oh, I get it - so this piece is all about talking s*@&t - am I right?” Thanks Grace - although far from the original concept…I love your take on it!

The Escape Plan

2009-05-29T15:15:00.004Z

Getting out of the city and into the country this weekend - bank holiday! Yeah! Found this great image on Annabelles flickr.

National Drawing Day

2009-05-26T15:44:00.006Z

To celebrate national drawing day I carried out a drop-in drawing project as part of the Airfield arts program. Ecosystems were the hot topic of four large group drawings that I had loosely planned and asked participants to execute in their own way.

2009-05-19T18:10:00.008Z

I am exhibiting my work and teaching in The Ark as part of their summer programme Earth Explorers which looks great. The Ark is a Cultural Centre for Children in Temple Bar, Dublin. I will be exhibiting one of my sculptural print installation pieces along with fourteen Irish contemporary artists in the Arks' Earth Explorers Exhibition. The exhibition is on from 21st June to 15th August.

Image from The Ark.

Listening to Words

2009-05-19T15:37:00.003Z

"In the design process, drawing is the act of thought."

Richard Mac Cormac

Nice recent finds

2009-05-14T22:05:00.005Z

Valerie Hammond, US printmaker based in California

Nigel Peake, Irish illustrator and architect based in Edinburgh

Listening to Words

2009-05-13T16:04:00.002Z

"The lines I trace with my feet walking to the museum are more important than the lines I find there hung up on the walls."

Hundertwasser 1953

House to Studio to House

2009-04-27T12:09:00.004Z

Move table into light, bring out materials, choose specific source material, draw, have tea, clear away materials, move table back.

Afterthought, a studio would be luxury!

The Dom-ster

2009-04-27T12:02:00.004Z

Had to post this great card made by my friend. Cheers for the visit Dom!

Winged Beasts Workshop

2009-04-22T15:38:00.008Z

I conducted a four day workshop with children aged 8-12 years over Easter. The workshop encompassed art practice and environmental science through practical classes, nature walks and talks. The two subjects compliment each other beautifully and the products of the week were proudly exhibited by the students on completion. Over the four days we prepared and created detailed drawings, dry point etchings, paper and wire sculptures, invented hybrid species, and large scale group mosaics.

Talks included life in the hedgerow, bees and the hive, pond life, importance of insects, and butterfly patterns. I learned a thing or to myself and now realize the world would be in bits without our amazing insects!

Making outdoor work

2009-04-02T10:37:00.006Z

Making work for a large outdoor installation which is planned to be exhibited as part of Body and Soul in Electric Picnic. The installation will be part of an amazing concoction of interesting visual, performance, interactive and decorative art works this coming August - go Body and Soul!

Green-ness

2009-03-31T16:12:00.009Z

I realized recently, I love planting seeds in earth and watching them peep out and stretch for the light, shed their husky seed and grow so perfectly. It is such a rewarding hobby and the best part is you get to water them and watch them over time. Next year, I must do some sort of time lapse of one growing.

This picture is an old graffiti I found in Portobello, Dublin last year. Me likes. One day me have garden.

2009-03-30T16:22:00.006Z

Daylight saving scheme - I warmly welcome thee. May our serotonin levels rise for another climatic summer season. The darkness is behind us again.

Image from Nigel Peakes blog.

Learning about teaching...I think!

2009-03-20T16:55:00.020Z

Teaching art is something I became qualified to do last year, and along with my qualification came an overwhelming sense of responsibility. Teachers can screw things up. I know I probably sound over-dramatic here but I fear committing every teachers main crime - to not teach well. Something that is done so so easily and so often. A teacher who practices his/her role well has the tool or method to ultimately change, or inspire a persons outlook on life, on a micro (or macro) level.

Robert Krulwich reckons that "teachers should be giving you more than just tension headaches. They should be giving you values, a deep respect for curiosity, for doubt, always doubt, for open mindedness. Teachers should encourage you to go wherever the data leads no matter how uncomfortable."

Taken from Tell me a story, Radiolab

The Book of Flanders

2009-03-18T22:46:00.004Z

When I was young I used to hang out lots with two nerdy neighbours, they were sisters and we shared hours of fun together. Thinking back I remember they regularly used the term doubting thomas to insult each other. It seemed weird to me in a kind of Rod and Tod Flanders kind of way back then; it seems so much weirder to me now.

What? What am I listening to?

2009-02-28T18:05:00.007Z

Go listen/watch!

2009-02-24T19:49:00.008Z

This week I was invited to be a visiting artist in Hartstown Community School in Dublin. I worked with a bunch of first year students. We made great mono-prints and I talked to them about my experience so far as a practicing artist.

The school has an arts week each year which is intended to bridge the gap between education and the world of art outside school. It is so important that each subject in our schooling is linked to their place in the world outside of school. This contextualization gives students a reason for learning, a platform for questioning, and an understanding of the possibilities and expectations of life after school.

2009-02-21T17:22:00.002Z

Listening to Lyrics

2009-02-21T17:17:00.002Z

I'm tired of being here

On this hill

No-one lives to be three hundred years

Like the way it used to be.

I think they were giants.

Midlake, We Gathered in Spring

Viewing things

2009-02-19T21:30:00.005Z

Marthas' Polariod diptychs are beautiful. Nature untouched, honest.

Listening to words

2009-02-19T20:51:00.008Z

"A building leads three contradictory lives: as a component of the surrounding community, as habitat and as property.

If you view your house as a home, you''ll adapt it and it will become gradually ever more interesting. If you view it strictly as property, just an investment, it will become ever more standard, to meet the imagined desires of potential buyers. Seeking to be anybodies house it becomes nobodies. All the years of life in the house end up meaning nothing."

Stewart Brand on How Buildings Learn a documentary series based on his book of the same title.