variety of high quality craft produced in Dublin City. Running throughout June, craftspeople are joining forces to present exhibitions, workshops and seminars aimed at showcasing their work and promoting the craft sector as a whole.
Particularly enticing is a craft trail involving 20 studios that will provide a rare opportunity to discover new work from up-and-coming designers, each offering special discounts on Friday 10th June from 5pm-8pm.
Craft will also be featuring outside the gallery and studio too, with this year’s ‘Bloom’ event taking place in the Phoenix Park in Dublin 2nd – 6th June. As Ireland’s largest gardening, food, craft and family event, Bloom provides visitors with a wonderful opportunity to experience the stunning craft-inspired garden, as well as see craft demonstrations, and take part in workshops. And, of course, some time must always be set aside for some serious retail therapy.
Many of Ireland’s top cultural organisations have also included some great craft events as part of their own programmes throughout the year, including, for example, Galway Arts Festival, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Waterford Tall Ships Festival, The Ark, National Museum of Ireland, Temple Bar Cultural Trust, Baboró International Arts Festival for Children, and Bealtaine Festival. And it is exciting, encouraging and reflective of the global market that craftspeople find themselves in, that there is a strong international dimension too, with high profile shows taking place in New York, Edinburgh, London, and Paris.
So as well as being an opportunity to present some fantastic events and exhibitions both at home and abroad, the Year of Craft 2011 will also raise awareness of the very real and significant role that the craft sector plays in the artistic, cultural, economic and social life of Ireland today.
Various venues across Ireland
www.craftinireland.com
Admission: See individual events for admission information
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Crafts Council of Ireland, “the main champion of the craft industry in Ireland, fostering its growth and commercial strength, communicating its unique identity and stimulating quality design, innovation and competitiveness”.
To celebrate the event the CCoI has joined forces with Craft Northern Ireland (Craft NI), and designated 2011 as Year of Craft.
President Mary McAleese is the patron of this major initiative, which supports and celebrates craft by presenting a diverse range of exciting events and programmes.
All around the country, the very best of craft made on the island of Ireland today will be presented and promoted in a series of exhibitions, festivals, open studios, lectures and workshops all aimed at engaging children, families and craft enthusiasts of all ages and levels of experience. This year, there really is something for everyone.
In Kilkenny, the headquarters of the CCoI, the National Craft Gallery is continuing to present a stimulating series of exhibitions throughout the year.
National Craft Gallery will also host ‘21st Century Icons’, which runs from 10th June – 28th July, presenting contemporary takes on the iconic Celtic torc by some of Ireland’s most innovative and exciting makers. This exhibition is a reminder of the real strength of Ireland’s craft and design legacy which stretches back to time immemorial and is, of course, renowned the world over.
Elsewhere, other interesting contemporary visions are on display, such as Galway Museum’s ‘Modern Languages’, curated by Katy West,
and running from 11th – 24th July. This exhibition considers vernacular Irish craft through the eyes of five very different makers, each of whom has a different relationship with Ireland – tourist, member of the diaspora, or resident. In today’s quickly changing society, and at a time, perhaps, of renewed focus on the importance of creativity to ‘Brand Ireland’, this exhibition is sure to prompt and contribute to some timely and relevant discussions and debates.
Like other cities around Ireland, such as Cork, the Capital is in fact designating a whole month to craft, with ‘Designer Dublin’ celebrating the abundance and
ARTIST ROOMS: Jeff Koons
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
19th March 2011 – 3rd July 2011
www.nationalgalleries.org
Admission: Free
'.jpg) Jeff Koons ‘Caterpillar (with chains)’,2003 |
Perhaps the most commercially successful artist of the day, Jeff Koons is the focus of this spring’s display at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, where 18 major works, in a variety of media, chart the artist’s career from the 1980s until 2003. Interestingly, all of these works have been taken from ‘ARTIST ROOMS’,
a collection of modern and contemporary art from a collection assembled by Anthony d’Offay, and held by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland for the nation. Supported by the Art Fund, this touring initiative has been devised to enable these works to reach new audiences, and particularly to engage young people.
Koons made a significant impact on the New York art scene in 1980 with ‘The New’, an installation of ready-made household objects, displayed as they might appear in a shop or perhaps a museum, enshrined within a glass case. Stripped of function, they become art objects - elevated and untouched. Consciously referencing the work of the pioneering conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), Koons calls into question the established values of the art world, and explores still relevant ideas of culture and taste.
Highlights from other iconic series are also on display, including ‘Made in Heaven’,a series of provocative images and sculptures featuring Koons and his former wife, the Italian politician and adult film star Ilona Staller. Elsewhere, in the ‘Popeye’ series, Koons revives an earlier fascination with cast inflatable toys and combines these with ready-made objects. In ‘Caterpillar Chains’, a brightly painted aluminium cast of a child’s pool toy is indistinguishable from the plastic original, and is suspended, or perhaps constrained, by red chains.
‘ARTISTS ROOMS: Jeff Koons’ is as entertaining as it is questioning. In a commercial age, this exhibition once again reminds us that Koons is the commercial artist.
Tracy Emin: Love is What You Want
Hayward Gallery, London
18th May - 29th August 2011
www.southbankcentre.co.uk
www.loveiswhatyouwant.com
Admission: Adults st£12; seniors £11; students £9; children £7.50 and U12 free
|
Tracy Emin is one of the most celebrated artists of her generation, and love it or loathe it, her artwork is guaranteed to stimulate discussion and heated debate.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the current exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, ‘Tracy Emin: Love is What You Want’, has already done just that, with a parental warning having been put in place, and organisers insisting that under-16s are accompanied by an adult.
The themes traditionally explored in her works are certainly predominant in this show, with sexually explicit paintings, profane text works, sculptures and memorabilia all revealing Emin’s most intimate and personal emotions, thoughts and memories. But there is more going on here too, and by presenting key works from throughout her career, the organisers hope to dispel the narrow focus that the general public have of Emin and her artwork, and instead demonstrate the diversity, depth and expanse of her artistic career.
So does this major retrospective exhibition of Tracy Emin’s work provide a fresh and illuminating insight into the artistic career and mind of the ‘Enfant Terrible’ of British contemporary art; or really have we all had far too much insight already? – the jury is out!
The Art Books of Henri Matisse
Chester Beatty Library, Dublin
26th May – 25th September 2011
www.cbl.ie
Admission: Free
 ‘…On dirait qu’elle ne m’a jamais vue…’, from the illustrated book Pasiphaé, ‘Chant de Minos (Les Crétois)’ |
A real treat is in store for visitors to the Chester Beatty Library this summer, with the first public display in Europe of the art books of Henri Matisse. Some of the artist’s most celebrated works are included, such as ‘Jazz’, on loan from the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Collection who co-present this event, displayed alongside works belonging to library’s own collection.
Viewers may also be surprised by some lesser-known pieces also on display such as one book, inscribed from the artist to Chester Beatty, which reminds us just how significant the collecting activities of one man were, even to his contemporaries. And a copy of Matisse’s illustrated version of James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ provides a, perhaps, unexpected Irish flavour to the show.
As one of the world’s most iconic modern artists, Matisse’s instantly recognisable images are simply breathtaking in their purity and sensitivity, and still have the power to entrance the contemporary viewer. There are also a number of events organised as part of the exhibition programme for adults and children alike, including talks, workshops, films and more.
This really is a not to be missed exhibition, and a unique opportunity to view Matisse’s exquisite books in Dublin.
Vanitas: Patrick Redmond
Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford
10th June – 23rd July 2011
www.wexfordartscentre.ie
Admission: Free
|
Some themes recur throughout the history of art, captivating artists and audiences alike and challenging them to interpret issues in new ways and with fresh insight.
In his latest body of work, created especially for Wexford Arts Centre and presented in association with the Molesworth Gallery, Patrick Redmond does just this, exploring the age-old ‘vanitas’ theme with meticulous paintings of soup bubbles and stuffed animals.
The fragility of a bubble and the suddenness of its disappearance, as well as the fact that the wind will blow it in whatever direction it chooses, seems to perfectly capture all of the traditional connotations of this theme – the meaninglessness of earthly life; the ephemeral nature of our human form; and the unavoidability and suddenness of death. But unlike the typical motifs that artists have used to symbolise these ideas, such as skulls, hourglasses and decaying fruit, Redmond’s paintings of bubbles have a hopeful quality too. Painted against black backgrounds, perfectly curved, and kaleidoscopic, they are reminiscent of images of the solar system, or the beautiful photographs taken by astronauts from space. They have a stillness and an ‘otherworldly’, spiritual dimension that is at once indefinable and clear.
Even his series of paintings of stuffed animals, which at first seem more direct in their associations with the theme, are intriguing. In fact in these Redmond cleverly considers the role of the taxidermist who symbolises humanity’s vain attempt to exercise control over nature and pause the passage of time. And elsewhere, hunters stand proudly beside their kill, reminding the viewer of the split second that separates life from death.
Still Life
Lismore Castle Arts, Lismore, Co. Waterford
9th April – 30th September 2011
www.lismorecastlearts.ie
Admission: Free with entrance to the Castle Gardens at adults €8, U16 €4
|
Each artist uses different modes of expression to produce their work, and this leads to some unusual juxtapositions. In the main gallery, for example, Carnegie's paintings of flowers in a vase, hang alongside Leckey’s film work, ‘Made In ‘Eaven’, and although the space does at times feel too sparsely hung, through repetition and the inclusion of series of works, the central theme does becomes evident.
Particularly exciting, however, is a new site-specific work by Wright that has been installed in a round garden building known as the Monkey Tower. Reminiscent of the work of Sol le Witt, the interior walls have been plastered white and a black triangular motif has been meticulously repeated throughout.
While some may criticise contemporary art shows such as this for being too ‘high brow’, I was delighted by my young daughter’s excitement at telling me that she had just fallen down the rabbit hole with Alice!
Dare to Wear: Glass Dresses by Diana Dias-Leão
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
27th March – 30th September 2011
www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker
Admission: Free
|
Be it the Victorian trend for corsets that nipped in the waist so tightly that there was hardly room for breath, or today’s skyscraper heels which promise never ending legs at only the slightest risk of a broken ankle, image conscious women have been squeezing and contorting their bodies into fashionable garments for centuries, and all in the pursuit of beauty.
Confronting this theme, and complimenting Walker Art Gallery’s main exhibition, ‘The Rise of Women Artists’, ‘Dare to Wear’ is a stunning display of glass dresses and barbed wire corsets by Diana Dias-Leão. These works are not made for practical wear, of course, and in fact their razor sharp edges would pierce, gash and scar the skin. But they are incredibly beautiful sculptural objects and as such they encourage debate on issues surrounding beauty and body image. With disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and self-harm increasing at an alarming rate, and often connected with issues such as image and self-confidence, these are relevant, and perhaps helpful, discussions. And certainly the artist herself hopes to express an inspirational message through her deadly garments. As she puts it, “Even though the image is glittering, it is the person inside that is priceless.”