Phase 2!

Well, after I found out that the Arts Council had declined to fund the Silvermines publication, I went back to the drawing board.

All credit due to the Arts and Heritage Offices of North Tipperary County Council who were willing to work with me on the development of a follow on project, which I have provisionally titles 'Silvermines Story Map'.

This is the proposal for the project:

This artwork will develop through a process of discussion between the artist and the local community, working to create a map of walking routes in the area and a series of signs along those routes presenting texts and images related to all aspects of the area; urban myths as much as heritage, stories that may be factual or fictional but are part of the mythology of the village.

A public meeting took place on October 9th to discuss the project in Hickey's pub.

Report from Public Meeting, Hickey’s Bar
October 9th 2008

Fiona gave a short presentation looking back at the Imaginary Museum and the Story Map that she created inside the front door there.

The stories on this map were drawn from lots of sources – people, books, newspaper articles, material on the Internet etc.

She outlined that her idea is to take some of these stories and create signs with images and text that will go in the locations from which the stories are drawn (number of signs subject to budget). She will then create a map of walking routes along which the signs can be viewed.
Fiona showed work from two art projects in America – one in New York and on in Atlanta – where they created signs in particular places to commemorate hidden histories or overlooked stories.

There were many discussion following this about what routes should be ‘mapped’. While there are a great many walks in Silvermines of historic interest, not all are publicly accessible at the moment.

It was suggested that the project concentrate initially on the village itself and surrounding area, and that it might be possible to build on that in the future, seek more funding and create something similar at Shallee or other mineworks.

People had good suggestions for further funding opportunities that might be sought. Fiona explained that she had spent 10 months seeking Arts Council funding to do a follow-on book project which had not been forthcoming in the end, and so rather than waste any more time she thought it would be better to plough ahead with the funding that is available and perhaps build on that in the future.

Fiona agreed to try and keep everyone informed of developments through a newsletter and to return for a public meeting with her designs for the actual signs and map.

Many thanks to Tommy and Catherine for their hospitality and lovely welcoming fire!