Do not be misled

Miles 185
Carbon Footprint 52kg
Food 18 euro
Materials 62


I had to stop outside Thurles and photograph this - it was actually an election campaign tool, not mentioning any names but I wish I had thought of it.

In the morning I gave a presentation on my work to the artist training day in the Tipp Institute organised by North and South Tipp. Co. Councils. There were about 20 artists there, mostly older artists, which I had not expected. I think it went reasonably well, the questions at the end were very engaged and seemed to really get where I was coming from in terms of practicing.

I rushed into Nenagh to pick up the key for the Space Shuttle which arrived on Monday.

Then out to Silvermines to carry out the first session of the schools programme. I probably inundated them with a little too much information, but we'll see - they were all very enthusiastic and it was great fun.

I am finding it hard to be enthusiastic about the project at the moment, because I really want to do some artwork, and it's really hard to do it, both because of the other demands of the residency and also for lack of a space in which to work.

I'm feeling really frustrated artistically at the moment.

Place, Tourism and Regulation

Just back from a research residency at Grizedale Arts in the Lake District in Cumbria, UK. Very interesting, particularly in the context of what's happening around the Burren debate, and also the Silvermines project I am working on, which is a sort of anti-matter tourism thing.

Have arranged for the Space Shuttle to be delivered to the machinery yard in Nenagh next week; I hope to get into it to do some preparation work in advance of the siting at Silvermines.

Next Wednesday will also see the commencement of the school programme in Silvermines; I have a lot of prep work to do this weekend around that.

The Secret Stuffed Animal Museum!

Mileage 185
Carbon Footprint 52kg
Expenses Food 12 euro Photocopying 13.70

A couple of weeks ago, I got a phonecall from a man in response to the ad I placed in the Nenagh Guardian looking for stuffed animals. He said he had 'a few birds'.

I finally got around to visiting him today. First of all, we went into a kind of workshop where he showed something he had just bought over the Internet - it was a fox about to pounce on two rabbits, a magnificent thing - the fox was enormous, nearly as big as my part-labrador mongrel. He reckons it's about 100 years old.

Then he showed me a case with an assortment of ducks and fowl type birds; maybe 12 or 13 in total. Again, very nice, male and female of each species.

'I have a few birds of prey upstairs' he says and up we go. At the top of the stairs is a lovely pair of peregrine falcons under a glass dome; really beautiful. 'There are a few more in here' he says, unlocking the door of a room

. . . . . . . It's so hard to put a word on how stunned I was. There must have been 30 cases or more, stacked three high, containing every bird of prey in the British Isles. Red Kites, Golden Eagle, Golden Auriole, Snowy owl, Barn owl, Buzzards, Goshawks - loads of others I can't remember. A heron, squirrels, - so many things, and a lot of them Victorian, at least 150 years old but immaculate.

Then he opens a cupboard which is full of uncased songbirds, waders, woodpeckers . . . . .

I asked him if he goes bird-watching. 'Not really' he says, in his lovely, soft-spoken, unassuming way. 'I think these are better than the real thing. Real birds can be very dirty'.

Even though I had my camera I was relucatant to photograph anything. It seemed - too beautiful to capture that way. Or I felt it would be kind of voyeuristic. I explained to him that what I really want to do is photograph the creatures outdoors, without their cases; to my amazement he says 'well, this case comes off, and this one slides out, and these are not in a case. . . about half of them might come out'

'Do you have any green space out the back?' I asked him. 'No' he says, and we both fell silent.

And then, he says 'you could take them away somewhere in the car' . . . . I nearly fell over. 'Um, I wouldn't like to do that' I said 'I wouldn't want to risk your precious collection in any way.' 'Oh, they're fairly strong' he says.

???????? Such trust - he doesn't know me from Adam. He's not looking for money, hasn't asked me what's in it for him.

So, I tell him I will make a plan and come back in a couple of weeks; I take my leave and drive around the small town looking for suitable locations. Then it hits me - what is a suitable location? There's not a lot of green space anyway, and as I look at them and drive out into the surrounding countryside looking at fields I feel confused about how to place these extradorinary objects in a setting in a way that reflects what I am trying to do - tease out some strand of the complex relationship between nature and culture.

Apart from that part of the day, I spent some hours in the Library in Thurles gathering maps and things together for the Silvermines project. I hardly spent any time in the glorious sunshine, which felt even worse after I got a phone call from my family who were at the beach!!

Also did some work organising the trip for artists from North Tipperary to go to EV+A.

Everybody's talking (is anybody listening?)

The issue of branding the Burren which I have raised on the Shifting Ground website (see rural culture section) is bringing in some really interesting responses, but all of them by phone or to my face; no-one wants to go public with their thoughts.

It's a sad world we live in, where people who interface with officialdom must self-censor in order to be able to continue with their work. Probably the most informed person to respond is of the opinion that Branding of Place is a done deal, and trying to argue against it is like trying to hold back the tide. I don't think that's a good enough reason not to speak up myself, but I get the point.

So far, most responses have been respectful, agreeing or agreeing to disagree; some comments have been angry and attacking which I just don't understand. So we disagree - what need is there for ire?

It certainly all relates to my MA proposal; Theme Park Ireland or the corporatisation of everything.