IS IT JUST ME??

Is it just me, or is this campaign by Failte Ireland a bit sinister?

Smile for Ireland . . . .

We're all part of the team, but not all of us benefit or have a say in how tourism is managed.

ADMIN admin

Miles 48
Carbon Footprint 15kg
Expenses food 5 euro

Today I spent from 10 - 5 working on admin stuff for the Silvermines project, organising transport quotes, vinyl sign quotes, insurance quotes, and arranging material for printing.

The day just goes by. I still don't know if it will be ready to go for next week . . . .

Countdown begins

Miles 172
Carbon Footprint
Expenses food 22 euro (including lunch for assistant) Materials and equipment 96 aplus an IOU for assistant travel expenses.

I arrived in Silvermines at 9.15 to photograph the Model Town, this being the last day of school.

Off to Nenagh to meet up with Clive Moloney who has just graduated from LIT with a degree in sculpture and is interested in getting some public art experience. I saw his work in LIT last week and I liked it.

I took a stop off to buy some plywood and materials and then a quick trip into Civic Offices to check in with Martina. Still no word on the Councillors special meeting . . . . *¬^#~*^$

Anyway, Clive and I got to work, fixing up the partition, making new inserts for the windows - basically turning the thing into a white cube. We sat down together for a philosophical discussion about the project. Clive doesn't like the work Imagining in the title but couldn't think of an alternative under pressure! As agreed I set the voice recorder to record our conversation but I don't think I remembered to switch on the microphone. The plan was to make all of our conversations part of the research.

I explained to Clive that I don't have a budget for an assistant but that I could cover his travel and food expenses. I do have a budget for a project with teenagers which he may well take on and I will offer him some kind of space in the outcome publication in exchange for his input.

Don't want to exploit anyone.

We met with Canadian artist Laureen Marchand for lunch; she has been on a 3 week residency in Connemara, leaving tomorrow. After that we took a trip out to Silvermines, looked at the different places in the town. A couple of the boys from school said 'hello' and one of them told me his mum is interested in the museum.

I was keeping an eye open for public places to exhibit the Model Town; I think the porch of the church could work. I'm not mad about using something that is exclusive to one group of people (Catholics) even if they are in the majority in Silvermines - I prefer to make things available to everyone. Still, in the absence of public space, it could be a good starting point.

Back to Nenagh just in time to phone around some transport companies - still no word from on high re; planning. I dropped Clive to the bus, returned a call to the Tipperary Voice (they want to do a follow up piece on the Space Shuttle - I said I would let him know by Friday if there is any movement).

I have publicised that it will be open next Wednesday so this is very frustrating.

I drove back to Ennistymon and worked until 9.30 in the office designing lettering and a notice for the outside of the Space Shuttle.

Model Town!

Miles 142
carbon footprint 40kg
Expenses 7 euro food 25 euro materials






Today was the last day of my schools programme. I had decided to spend all day in the school in an effort to create a model of the main street. We had taken photographs of the main street on our walk a couple of weeks ago and Eamonn had drawn the children's attention to some of the architectural details.

It was a bit of an undertaking to try and do it with 32 kids in the space of 5 hours; on more than one occassion I found myself thinking I must have completely lost my mind, as we had done no sculptural work up to that point.

Still, the room was full of boxes and egg cartons of every conveivable shape and size so off we went. By lunchtime we had a series of 'buildings' that were covered in masking tape and wet wallpaper paste; it looked like disaster for sure.


And yet - by 2.30 with the application of paint, the whole thing had really come together! I breathed a sigh of relief and remembered that I planned it for a number of reasons

1) to really focus the attention of the children (and the local audience for the work) on the character of the buildings which are not architecturally thrilling but seen as models have a compelling visual interest!
2) to create something of public interest from the schools programme that could become part of an 'exhibit'
3) NOT UNIMPORTANTLY! to generate goodwill through my work with the kids so that it will be less strange and threataning when I arrive in town creating this odd exhibit.

When I got home I had an e-mail from the Arts Office enclosing the positive planning report regarding the Space Shuttle; all that remins now is for the Director of Services to call a special meeting of Councillors to approve the decision.

The wheels of bureaucracy.

Trip from Tipp

Miles 128
Carbon Footprint 36kg
Expenses 6.50 food

Today was the day that I organised for local artists to travel en masse by coach to Limerick to see the EV+A show. This was something that I had agreed to do in the Aims and Obejctives that I set out at the start; it was an attempt to involve local artists and initiate some discussions and networking opportunities - building capacity as the jargon goes.

I had arranged a gallery talk with Paul O' Reilly, a former curator of EV+A and present coordinator. There were 12 artists plus Martina Finn and myself. We met up with Clive Moloney in Limerick who has just graduated from LIT and is possibly interested in working with me a bit on the Silvermines project.

Clive's work was really interesting; it's just amazing to see how younger artists are engaging in a complex way with the rural. He actually quoted from and referred to Ground Up and the Shifting Ground website - that's so significant from my point of view, because it shows that the project has a life, has had some impact on the thinking of younger artists in an ongoing way.

I made a successful application to the Arts Council to establish an alternative art journal, one that will critically engage with the notion of West; that's West as metaphor for the non-metropolitan discourse. It's going to be very interesting to see what effect that has in the longer term; I'm so tired of the art press ignoring all of our work.

Expenses

Must write these down while I remember . . . .

Materials for space shuttle improvent 25
Art materials for school project 23
Film for camera 77.70
processing of kid's cameras 63

I know that I am forgetting stuff.

making maps

Miles 155
Carbon footprint 44kg
expenses food 10

I arrived in Nenagh at 9am and went in search of the manager of the Machinery Yard. I was trying to get a handle on how I could move the Space Shuttle to Silvermines; they have no truck with a crane arm, which means paying for one again, groan.

Trying to make contact with the man who promised me alternative energy sources; I think he is really some kind of international spy and this is all just a cover, as he never, ever answers his phone, or texts or e-mails.

I had coffee in Civic Offices and met Martina and two women working as consultants on something - one of them told me about a man in Cavan who has a private cultural centre, and organises walks of the Smuggler Routes along the border; I want to find out who he is and make contact. She is supposed to send me info.

Second last day of the schools programme; we worked on their A3 trails - most of them are quite modest walking tours, but some great drawings and some great stops. It's very time-consuming scanning them and getting them up on the site.

So, I think the title of the project is now, conclusively, Imagining Silvermines, a psychogeography. I am beginning to think about a publication, also a mural (which they have requested) and a Walking Festival over 4 days maybe towards the end of August., culminating with a community bar-b-q because Eamonn has indicated that some community building might be a good thing.

I got the film for the square format camera so I am off to Dromore Woods this Sunday to photograph some stuffed animals, a sort of practice run. Oh yes, and bought a book from Amazon called Cartographica Extrodinaire, because I saw an Aztec map from it and it gave me an idea for the mural. Cost 65 euro including priority post, but what the hell.

work in between

Materials; 66.50 equipment 35

I spent a few hours posting material on the website. I have started working on a piece that is a combination of woodcarving, knitting, drawing and possibly something else. Definately arises from the Tipp residency research.

Children and sunshine

Miles 155
Carbon footprint 44kg
expenses food 22.50 Materials 57.50




A beautiful sunny day; arrived in Nenagh at 9.15 and did some photocopying in HQ; then drove over to the machinery yard to have a look at the space shuttle, could not meet with the head of the yard though because he wasn't there. Then I drove to the Town Hall where its possible that I might have use of a room as a studio; the manager was away so I was shown a room that might be available. I'm not sure how or if that will be useful at this stage - it might just dilute my focus a bit, although I could have done with it earlier.

I went on to Silvermines, sat in the meditation garden and recorded bird-song for half an hour or so. Then I went to the school and set up for our guided walk with Eamonn de Stafford. It was great to ramble around town with the children - they add such a vibrancy to what is a very sleepy little village. Everyone smiles to see them out and about. They did some great maps for their homework; impossible to pick out a favourite, so here are some diverse samples;




I arranged to interview Eamonn at 4.30 so did a quick spin into Nenagh for lunch and to pick up the papers. Nenagh guardian carried a piece that I sent them about looking for material for Silvermines.

I did an interview of an hour or so with Eamonn then chatted with Maire about their 'foreign dolls' collection which I love. Their whole house is full of collections of one kind or another.

I really have to pin down my work for the next few weeks. Luckily Sean Hogan rang me - he was formerly the president of the students union at Tipp Institute and seems to have excellent leads on alternative energy options for the space shuttle.

I hope to meet him in Nenagh next wednesday.

More stuffed animals

Miles 155
Carbon Footprint 44kg
Expenses Materials 22.70 food 16



I drove into Silvermines in the morning intending to interview Tommy Hickey and Pat Keane; when I got there I discovered that I was missing the mini-disc headphones, which meant that I couldn't check the recording levels. I knocked on Hickey's door anyway, but there was no answer and Pat didn't have his phone switched on. I submitted to fate and sat in my car in the rain, working on my computer and feeling acutely homeless.



From 1 - 3 I had a session in the National School; we worked on some more trails and postcards of the 'sights' of Silvermines. I am going to ask them to make postcards of all the things that should not be presented for tourist consumption as well.



After that I drove into Nenagh to buy a current Ordnance Survey map of North Tipp; as I drove past Starr and Sons I suddenly realised that it's not a shop window but a constantly changing installation. I was kicking myself for not photographing the display that included the Mona Lisa or George Best. Horses now take up the central position, and I bet there is a reason for that, but I don't know what it is.

Starr and Sons, May 30th 2007

Starr and Sons, Feb 21st 2007

I met with Martina Finn, and she asked for an update on the project. I found myself humming and hawing, not really being able to say much about anything and I realised that I am in a kind of limbo with everything.

She brought up the issue of a studio space; in all the time that the residency has been going on she never offered one before, and I never asked for one! But it's the very thing that I am lacking, a place to spread out stuff and consider ideas.

In the evening I went to see the stuffed animal collection of Dick and Betty Gough. They are just the most interesting people, with a wonderful house and garden, jammed with odds and ends and collections of all kinds of things. I spent a lovely hour or so there and shot some record photos of their stuffed animals in preparation for going back with the square format.

Drove home in the evening sunlight and did some work in my sketchbook.