Artists Residency ArteSumapaz, Colombia

Beginning my residency in the Colombian mountains with Fundación ArteSumapaz, an arts and culture center located in San Bernardo, Cundinamarca, Colombia.  A unique setting embedded in natural beauty that includes projects focusing on organic agriculture, reforestation, and intentional community. Something I seek out in my freelance practice is to be surrounded by supportive, creative and varied community of like minded people. Given the right context, environment my intention is to make interesting work happen, work that i am excited about again - the mantra here is Trust the Process - and what a better way to start than from here - More details about these initiatives and get a real taste of this magical place - https://artesumapaz.org @arteSumapaz

Decade of Centenaries Historian in Residence, Liz Gillis

Revolution in Dublin: A talk with Decade of Centenaries Historian in Residence, Liz Gillis.

A wonderful talk, insightful and passionate story from the War of Independence to the civil War and beyond. Especially interesting was St Endas’s and the Pearce family story- this talk really gave me a clear picture of events and the people involved- many thanks to SDCC Historian in Residence, Liz Gillis.

Primary Sources for Inspiration

A privilege to have access to these beautiful editions books from South Dublin Library’s archives . Looking at a wide source for inspiration books, documents and literature relating to Irish heritages. Discovered an important writer that I never heard of before called Katharine Tynan 1859 – 1931 who was a prolific and an important cultural female of this time-part of my research is to highlight or shed light on unknot or lesser heard of female characters 1921-23 from South Dublin.

Decade of Centenaries Artist in Residence Appointed - SDCC

https://www.sdcc.ie/en/news/decade-of-centenaries-artist-in-residence-appointed.html

Over the moon to be selected as Artist in Residence for Decade of Centenaries with South Dublin County Council- a wonderful opportunity to develop my work and importantly share the stories and history of this pivotal time 1921-23 with nationally and internationally. This project is supported by the Decade of Centenaries Programme from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.  Such an honour and I’m so excited to start this. I will be posting weekly blogs about the project - new ideas and discoveries as I start this process. This is also another way to document my process and reflect on things here so comments are welcomed- it would be interesting to get other perspectives on things.

The idea of illustration as a visual essay is the focus of the residency, looking at the following themes.

·       The Foundation of the State (1922)

·       The experiences of women from South Dublin County during the revolutionary period and their changing role in society.

·       An examination of specific personalities, (including local civic leaders), events and themes from this period of significance to the history and culture of South Dublin County.

So any comment suggests on the above are very welcome. This is really illustration through research as one informs the other so its an interesting space to work in. The end result will be an illustrated book - at the moment everything is quite looses I start to gather lots of visuals, texts and learn inept about this time in Dublin.