Exhibiting…doing the whole showing it people thing

Áine's Art Meanderings

Jun 25

Waterford Gallery Of Art exhibition and Barnavave one-day exhibition

Near the end of June and feels like a lot has been happening and happened since my last post. I had two events happening in April and May; Waterford Gallery of Art Survey of the Landscape exhibition and Barnavave Tread Softly one-day exhibition, Co. Louth.

A Survey of the Landscape (4th May - 4th November 2023) is an exhibition I have two pieces in. It 'focuses on how the environment has been captured, depicted, and reframed by artists, and will feature works by some of Ireland's most renowned artists including Mary Swanzy HRHA, Seán Keating PPRHA, William Conor RHA PPRUA, Eileen Murray, Paul Henry RHA, Dermod O'Brien PPRHA, Bea Orpen HRHA, Donald Teskey RHA and more' according to the WGOA website. I was thrilled to be contact by Luke Currall, the visual arts coordinator in WGOA and curator of this exhibition. Footing, 2021 and Make Do, 2021 are the two pieces that are part of this show.

These pieces, Footing and Make Do explore the complex ties that bind us to past generations, traditions and the landscape. Materials of the land, such as turf, evoke thoughts around themes of place, identity, memory, and belonging. The man in the photograph is my father, John Ryan, footing turf in Moanyarha Bog in the Comeragh Mountains during the late 1980s. The intangible knowledge and skills used to work the land are slowly disappearing between farming generations as new technologies emerge. This growing distance, between us and our cultural heritage, echoes the deepening disconnect which exists between humans and the landscape that surrounds us. Make Do is a reflection of this physical and emotional disengagement from the land being tenuously kept together with baling twine, a ubiquitous material found on every farm in some mode of mending or repair.

The opening was a wonderful, heart warming event with a live DJ set upstairs and a live performance by Lunatraktors, a performing/singing duo who mesmerised me with the harmony in their voices. They led the audience upstairs like the Pied Piper and treated us to more singing mixed with their instrument playing. Speaking to people during the evening about my work was lovely, everyone so complementary about my work and asking questions about the thinking and making behind the work.

Make Do, 2021, Turf, baling twine, wool, 6mm steel rod, Photo credit Seán Daly

Footing, Agfa 1980's photograph, H10xm x W13cm

Installation shot of Footing and Make Do at Waterford Gallery of Art

Barnavave Tread Softly (20th May 2023) was another heartwarming and confidence boosting event to be part of. It started with an email from Suzanne Carroll, an artist I met last year during the dry stone wall workshop in Tipperary. Her initial email was probing for my interest to be involved in an exhibition with 8 other artists based on our response to a deserted village in Co. Louth. This was then followed by another email filled with more detail about the area, a brief to guide us and a proposal to all visit the site. So a few days after Easter I headed off on the 3 hour journey to Barnavave in Cooley Peninsula, picking up Deborah, fellow artist, along the way. Meeting at a local restaurant, I instantly felt a good connection with the other artists involved. We headed to the site and after a short up hill walk we found ourselves in the middle of the stone walls of the homes and farmstead of the families that once upon a time called the hillside home.

This unique outdoor exhibition presented new work by Suzanne Carroll, Deborah Corcoran, Orlaith Cullinane, Úna Curley, Mel Galley, Gráinne Murphy, Rosie O'Reilly, Erin Redmond and Áine Ryan, curated by Shannon Carroll. The artists' work responded to the site and its concerns, whilst working within the parameters of sustainable exhibition making and the concept of Leave no Trace.

Situated on the Cooley Mountains on the edge of the medieval town of Carlingford in Co Louth, the exhibition will include site-specific work from eight artists from across the country, installed within the walls of the deserted village known as Barnavave. This intriguing site is of interest to historians, archaeologists and geologist alike and has connections with many well-known stories from Irish mythology.

My work is a piece of remembrance for those that called Barnavave their home. Using personal objects as repositories for memory of lives lived here, shoes and a flat cap appear to both fade into and emerge from the ground and stone walls of the site. Generations of past inhabitants were formed by the landscape they were surrounded by. Images below were taken during the one-day exhibition.

Sunday Shoes (sheep's wool) II, 2023, installation image at Barnavave Tread Softly

Studio image taken of Sunday Shoes (moss) II

The day spent up in the deserted village was wonderful as we, the artists, got to interact with everyone that walked through the village. From hill walkers that accidentally came across the work to those that had set out and came to Barnavave especially to see our exhibition. And what a crowd we had. We estimated that over the 5 hours we were there that perhaps 150-200 people visited the site. Again, getting to speak to people about the work and the concept behind was a confidence boosting experience. I particularly remember comments from people that were filled with emotion and appreciation for my making behind the shoes and cap. Once we removed the artwork and welcome station from the hillside we retreated to a nearby pub to bask in the day that had been. My sincere thanks to Suzanne and to Shannon Carroll, our curator and conductor, for a wonderful experience on the Cooley Peninsula.

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