Silvermines: a psychogeography

Walking Silvermines

2010-02-26T01:23:00.000-08:00

It's over a year since the last entry. During that time I have been working on the follow-on project which is now called Walking Silvermines/ Siuloid Beal Atha Gabhann. This public artwork in the form of a walking project consists of 13 double-sided signs, a map and guidebook. It has been informed by a long-term research process, drawing on material that was presented by the people of Silvermines during the Imginary Museum project, and on other material presented or uncovered since.

It is created with and for the community of Silvermines, something that reflects and addresses their desire for a presently absent tourist industry. It also provides an opportunity to present the 'heritage' of the area, something that is very important to this community, but it does so in a way that is not uncritical of the way that the Heritage Industry packages a place and a past for tourist consumption.

This project is made possible through the generosity of the people of Silvermines in sharing their knowledge and archive materials. It is being carried out with invited contributions from artists Clive Moloney and Sally Anne McFadden, and designer Dave Wrenne.

Silvermines;Becoming Utopia

2009-03-07T08:02:00.000-08:00

I created a self-published version of Silvermines; Becoming Utopia in the absence of any funding. A small section of the book can be previewed here.

Phase 2!

2008-11-14T06:03:00.000-08:00

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!

Silvermines: Becoming Utopia

2008-06-04T07:32:00.000-07:00

In many ways this unfolding project has been an attempt to discern the ways in which rural space is ordered and controlled and to locate occluded or counter-hegemonic practices and thinking.

The character of non-metropolitan space is quite different to that of urban space –topographically space tends to be more apparently open and horizontal but subject to an invisible architecture of regulation governing land-use; rural audiences or publics are more dispersed but often less transitory so encounters tend to be quite different; temporality is not linear and progressive as I described earlier but tends to include the past in a more real and concrete way; engagement with nature is integral to the social, economic and cultural matrix and then of course there are areas which are neither urban nor rural.

Silvermines is an area of ecological disaster; seven centuries of mining have left the watercourses and the land impregnated with heavy metals. It is also a beautiful place with an incredibly interesting and complex history. Imagining Silvermines; a psychogeography was developed in response to the passion for local history that I encountered all over Tipperary but particularly in Silvermines.

Using the Space Shuttle I entered into an agreed exchange with the people of the village; I provided a space and a display service arranging whatever material people brought to form the ‘collection’ of a temporary museum. In return they afforded me an opportunity to enquire into the narrative constructions and practices that were used by different groupings within that community to make sense of their place, including nostalgia, racing and burning out cars, graffiti, farming practices, a kind of epic poem tradition peculiar to the area, and also an unpicking of the construction of local history.

In response to that first encounter stage and with the intention of extending the notion of psychogeography that informed it I am developing a publication Silvermines: Becoming Utopia for distribution back into the community that befriended me and vice versa. The intention is to reflect the ‘tactics’ employed by different groups of people to make sense of this place.

The publication is also an attempt to place the project in critical relation to itself, to subvert conventions of ‘reading’ and include the participant-reader in the act of meaning making. To that end the publication will include a number of movable elements and sections, a number of board games designed around the realities of the place, a fictional ‘I’ve Been to Silvermines’ tourist merchandising line based on the legacy of mining for a much-desired but presently absent tourist industry, and a selection of material and maps gathered or generated through the project that may be real or fictional.

The completion of the project is currently funding-dependant and will be developed in collaboration with Clive Moloney, Sally-Ann McFadden (artists who worked with me during the first stage of the project) and Dave Wrenne, graphic designer.

Still here!

2008-02-20T08:05:00.000-08:00

Things have been very quiet in terms of the public face of this project for a while, but I have been collaborating on the book with Clive Moloney, Sally Ann Mc Fadden and Dave Wrenne (designer) over the last few months.

The book is taking quite an interesting form; it's going to be far more expensive to produce than I can afford so we need to get one or two dummy's together and look for funding.

I went to Silvermines yesterday to take some images for the publication; it was a beautiful misty day but the sun broke through when I arrived. I managed to take some shots of the ochre slag (for the cover) and also went up to Shallee mines to get another shot of the 'canyon'. There has been quite a lot of work done there, and an ad has been placed looking for companies to tender and take over the management of the place - in advance of development maybe, I am not sure.

Magcobar has been closed and fenced off, to keep the travellers out I expect. The usual story, just lock the travellers out rather than deal with their need for space.

I wandered up and down looking for the big area of subsidence; despite having a map from Robin Wallace showing me where to find it I just could not. Unless I actually stood on it, but that looked like a slag heap to me.

The Shadow of a Project

2007-09-18T08:09:00.000-07:00

The Space Shuttle quietly departed Silvermines yesterday and headed for Kilfenora in Co. Clare.
Billy Grace, the principal of the school was kind enough to send me these photos of the space preciously occupied by the s/s in the form of the Silvermines Imaginary Museum.

End of an era

2007-08-29T23:50:00.000-07:00

Miles 151
Carbon footprint 44kg
Expenses 15 euro hardware 150 euro on food for the pub night

Well, it's all over. I can't say I am sorry - it was such a strain really in the end on family, work, domestic life in general.

Anyway we arrived on Friday morning, en famille (it was the start of our holidays). A few people turned up with stuff, including Michael O' Brien with some amazing implements.

Clive and Sally turned up to finish work in the Handball alley with the graffiti project, looking a bit hassled and distressed. It turned out that some of the youngsters who were not signed up had been giving them serious grief and stealing paint cans and graffiting on the back of the handball alley.

To be fair to the youngsters, they did it out of sight. They could have sprayed somewhere really public and caused a lot of trouble for us, but I think they just wanted to have a go.

I had to talk to them about their disrespect and ask them to behave, basically. They only kind of listened to me - not really. Sally and Clive agreed to do 20 mins with them after the project had finished painting over the bad language stuff by showing them how to do something a little more cool.

At 2 pm Robin Wallace came by and took me down Shallee mine - so that was terrifying. 2 billion tons of unsecured rock over your head, water running and dripping everywhere, it was like something out of a nightmare really. We went on a circular route through some really dark tunnels and then had to clamber over a deep rushing river and around the edge of a bottomless pool. And as we got close to the entrance (luckily we could see daylight at the time) we heard a sound like a low-flying aircraft except it remained constant. I thought it must be a machine of some kind, but I couldn't think what machine would be operating so close. Then the two of us suddenly got really nervous that what we were hearing was the collapse of the entire cliff! I made a bit of a dart for the exit, but then it seemed to stop. Later I talked to a man who had been a miner and told him about it - he said 'oh you heard the rock creaking'. I asked him if it was really rock creaking and he said he didn't know, it might be water or wind in the tunnels, but that's what they call it.

We went to Nenagh in the afternoon to stock up on food and wellies for the kids, in preparation for an entirely wet summer holiday.

Saturday dawned and I had a lot to do, putting up the new stuff that had arrived. The marquee came at about 3.15 (cutting it fine!) and Melanie arrived - we went over some stuff in advance of her speech and it's possibly the first time I talked with her about the actual nature of the project from my perspective as an artist.

I think the important part was distinguishing between this stage which I see as an encounter and the final stage which is where I will interpret the encounter and create an artistic product, that is the publication.

So, everyone arrived, tea and buns arrived. It was a good crowd, a nice local mix. Of course I didn't manage to talk to loads of people but that's always the way.

Just as the speeches were beginning, my 4 year old who had been complaining of a pain in her tummy puked violently all over the place, and partly on the county manager. Andrew whisked her away and the speeches went on. I hate that part, I always want the ground to open up and swallow me.

In the evening I went to the pub with Andrew for the story and song night. We had arranged a local girl as a babysitter she was great. The evening was not really what I was hoping for but I met some people I had not really spoken to before and that was great.

Next morning we had to rush the 4 year old into the doctor as we started to get really worried about appendix. It was kind of inconclusive and the doc suggested we go back in the evening. I opened up just before mass ended and there was the most amazing gathering in the museum after mass, all the 'heavyweights' as Andrew called them, talking over the photos, the contents of the museum and so on. I was kicking myself that I had no recording gear set up. It was a great conversation.

Anyway, I took everything down and closed up and we rolled out of town. A bit like the circus really.

I think it worked. I think there was trust generated and good discussion and a real sharing of thoughts, memories, stories, ideas. Looking forward to starting work on the book.

And to top it all off, the sun came out for the whole week of our holidays. I felt like I had never seen the sun before.

Admin

2007-08-13T10:16:00.000-07:00

6 hours doing admin and updating the website. Quite a lot of time spent on the phone.

second last weekend

2007-08-12T22:15:00.000-07:00

Miles 151
Carbon footprint 39kg
Expenses Food 24 +65 euro (returned jigsaw)

I went to Nenagh to bring back the crap jigsaw that never worked. Arrived in Silvermines just before 10; the sun was out for a while, and it was nice setting up and getting things in place. Jim Quirke arrived with a few pieces for the collection and then Clive and Sally came. They showed me some images from the site-specific piece up at Shalee which is looking fantastic. They have taken sections of the toxicology maps and painted them onto the weird infrastructure up there. They have also been collecting mottos from Mining Companies and Mining Workers Unions and inscribing them as text works. (I’m not sure that they have quite got the massive and important political distinction between the motto of a Mining Company ‘Employ the People; Enrich Yourselves’ and that of a Mining Workers Union ‘Strength Through Unity’ but we will have that conversation at some point.)

I told them that so far only one person had signed up for the Youth Art project, none of the kids from the estate. They spotted a couple of the teenagers wandering down the road, and went off to see whether they were planning to join.

After a while they came back looking a bit 'frit' as my friend would say. 'None of the estate kids are doing it' said Sally. It turned out that Daryl would be on holidays, so his girlfriend won't do it, so her friend won’t do it, so the other two boys won't do it because the girls aren't doing it . . . . etc. etc.

We went on a bit of a campaign. C&S got in touch with Father Moloney who agreed to do a big announcement at mass and then they made big colourful posters.

After we had hung up the posters they headed off; I went to see Michael O' Brien to borrow his photo album. I met Pat Keane on the way back we had a chat and then I had to excuse myself so that I could listen to the Lyric FM programme. It was a bit heavy on the 'Space Shuttle' metaphor for my taste, a bit lacking in content. I'm not sure anyone would have a clue what I was up to from listening to it, although the whole context aspect got fairly well clarified.

I started work on a hand-drawn map of the area for the story map which in a way is the real heart of the psychogeography aspect. I wish I had been able to do it weeks ago, but I suppose you get there when you get there.

In the evening at about 6 an absolute deluge came in from the south-west; a real wall of blackness and rain with some incredibly loud and close thunderstorms. I felt quite nervous about being in a stainless steel box, so I went and sat in the campervan. There was just no let up - it went on and on for ages, with the thunder really close and prolonged.

Eventually I got bored and figured that if it was going to hit anything it would probably be the church steeple across the road, so I went back into the museum. I locked myself in so that I could get some work done (not due to open again until 7).

Then there was a banging on the door; I could not find the key so whoever was out there was standing in the absolute downpour. Finally, I found the key and opened the door to M, a young teenager from the area, who wanted me to drive her to a town about 10 miles away. 'I can't possibly do that' I said, and inquired where her parents were. She said they were all out or away, and that she was locked out of the house and could I lend her 10 euro to get a taxi. On the basis that if I didn't she was planning to hitch (in the dark and pouring rain) and knowing that I would probably not see the tenner again I agreed. I felt really nervous wondering if it was the right thing to do. Should I have turned her out in the rain? I just didn't know.

After mass a few kids came in to get forms for the youth art project, so Father Moloney had worked a bit of magic.

Sunday morning dawned quite bright and sunny; mass was absolutely chockablock. There was a bit of a rush after mass, some visitors and some people looking to register for the youth art.

Martina Finn arrived; she has taken over as Community Development officer having been Acting Arts Officer for the first two thirds of the residency. We talked over and around some stuff; on lots of things we really agree but there are aspects of the residency relationship that maybe neither of us handled that well so some lingering discomfort with that.

Darren and Pressure arrived, wondering whether they could still sign up for the Graffiti Project, but too cool to ask directly. First they had to spend a while insulting the project and then mine and Martina’s cars respectively (I’ll give you 300 for it). I do like them both – I doubt they will do the project though. They don’t really do 10 o clock in the morning, or 5 days a week – they just want to show up for the painting in the Handball Alley.

To close up I really emptied the place and turned it finally into a 'museum' for next week's finale. I went to see Tommy Hickey about the evening of story and song - he has already put up posters but seemed to think I would do MC!!!!!!!!! He has obviously never seen me in action in public. Completely hopeless on any kind of stage.

So, really looking forward to the end of this thing now, although it's been great but I am worn out and I am looking forward to working on the publication. In private.

First Weekend gig

2007-08-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

Miles 150
Carbon Footprint 39 kg
Expenses 15 hardware, 20 food

I had to bring my young girls with me so we left home at 8.45 pm on Friday evening. It was really windy which is a bit nerve racking when I am driving the camper van as it kind of blows all over the road.

Anyway we arrived safely, though the girls were very nervous about the sound of the wind in the trees close by to where we had parked.

images from the evolving 'collection'

Opened up at about 8.30 and did some work setting up. I started work on the timeline which had previously been in the form of post-it notes and then set about putting up material. I had a few visitors including Anthony Collins, who was very proud to see his Miner's Helmet in the Nenagh Guardian! He had a great suggestion which was that I organise an evening of story, poem and song in the local pub. As he was talking a young man whom I had not seen before was looking at stuff; he turned out to be a documentary maker from Nenagh who is making a programme on Silvermines for TG4.

Quite a number of visitors throughout the day. At 3 pm we took off for Nenagh and did some shopping and various things, drove around the area showing Andrew some of the sights.

Sure enough, as predicted, cheap JigSaw turns out to be totally crap. Blade falls out immediately upon use.

I opened up again at 7pm and although there was a big crowd at 8 o clock mass just across the road, the rain had become a bit of a downpour by then so only one woman came by. It was good actually, because I spent the evening putting the threads in place which is an important aesthetic and conceptual addition to the display; it links material to different facts and dates within the 'annal' created by the timeline and obviously introduces physically the notion of 'drawing' meaning.

Sunday morning was quiet; Robin the documentary maker came back bringing two great gas masks that his dad had used during his time working in the Mogul mine. Things were relatively quiet until after lunch when there was a bit of a rush. In fact I didn't manage to close until 4 pm rather than 3 as I had planned.

I spoke to Tommy Hickey about the idea of the song night in the pub on the 18th as part of the closing event; he was totally enthusiastic. Robin Wallace will probably come and film that which will be fantastic.

Got home just after 6 pm.

Radio Interview

2007-08-01T08:45:00.000-07:00

Miles 140
Carbon Footprint 37 kg
Expenses food 9 euro

Artzone, the Arts programme on RTE Lyric FM contacted me to say they were interested in doing a piece on the project. I arranged to meet the interviewer in Silvermines today to coincide with the Public Meeting in the evening regarding the Youth Art project.

I found his questions quite oblique - I mean I would start answering them but find that I was going round and round without being sure what I had been asked. So, I suspect that I am going to sound like a prize waffler. In particular I got really brain-dead around the question 'where is the art in this project' even though it was actually my own question!!!! and also on how this kind of relational work can be critiqued.

It's really clear to me that the Imaginary Museum is the encounter stage of the project; while that would count for something within the realm of relational aesthetics but that's not sufficient for me. Although the project is continuously evolving I suspect that the real art aspect will be in the publication.

In the evening Clive and Sally came for a public meeting regarding the Youth Art project. I expected parents - at least a few, but what we got were 11 kids, not all within the 10 - 16 age group. It was a fairly boisterous affair, but 8 kids took forms away with them so we will see who comes back to register.

Got home at 10.30.

Rain and more rain

2007-07-28T00:29:00.001-07:00

Miles 151
Carbon Footprint 39 kg
Expenses assistant travel 60 euro food 24

Clive Moloney's picture from inside Shallee mine

Arrived in Nenagh at 9; bought some food and picked up my jigsaw from the Hardware shop. I feel a little nervous of a power tool which has typo mistakes on the packaging.

Anyway got to Silvermines and opened up for 10. Set about putting photographs on the wall. My daughter Eve was with me so she got various jobs to do. I decided to go for hand-writing the label information onto the walls with pencil. I think I preferred it without the writing, but then I would have to do a tour of the objects each time someone comes in, and for some reason I don't think that's right. It's not my role to be the guide to the objects, that comes from the people themselves. I have to maintain a certain distance from the Museum collection, because I don't want to get too identified with it, as though it's my collection.

Clive and Sally arrived and we talked through their proposal for a Youth Art project which is really good; they went off scouting around, putting up posters and things. Various people passed through, but not such a good stream as other days.

Word started to filter through the youth community about the 'graffiti' project. They started showing up in great numbers wanting to know if they could sign up immediately!

Clive, Eve and Sally headed up to the Shallee mine. Luckily they met someone there who is working on the rehabilitation projec and he promised to give them a safety tour of the area. He also took them into the actual mines, something that we hadn't done the previous week.
Had a few more people through in the afternoon; Tommy Hickey came carrying a folder with a great range of material - receipts dating back to the 1890's for land rental from Lord Dunally and all kinds of stuff.

After the evening session I brought the folder back to Hickey's pub and we had a drink and a chat and watched some television. I met someone whose father bred and trained a Cheltenham winning horse just outside of Silvermines - the father would almost certainly have loads of material but I can't seem to get out to visit people, I have to wait for them to come to me really.
The next morning was an absoloute deluge. A few of the young lads arrived and hung out for a while; then Melanie Scott came and we talked through various logistics around the project and the final event.

We will try to arrange some kind of afternoon tea and sandwiches event on Saturday 18th, with an official opening by the Mayor and maybe some local input - music? Singing?
I have to design some kind of invites and get them to the Arts Office for printing.
Towards the end of the meeting Michael O' Brien came by; I have been hoping to meet him for ages. We arranged that I would call to his house after 2.

A researcher from ARTZONE on RTE Lyric FM phoned to ask if they could send someone out to do a piece. We arranged for him to come next Wednesday, in advance of the public meeting to discuss the Youth Art project.

I called to Micheal O' Brien; he had a great wealth of interesting material - like that the main street used to be a river bed! Not that long ago, maybe 120 - 160 years. The mining activity drained away all of the water.

Also, a most wonderful story about John 'Fiery' Gleeson. When Macgobar came from Texas in the 1960's and decided that they wanted to mine in the area where the Dunally castle was, the government was more than happy to give them the rights to the minerals under the land (reminders of Shell). The farmers had no rights to the minerals under their land, so they really had no option but to sell up to Macgobar.

Some held out for longer (and for better prices) than others, but John 'Fiery' Gleeson, with some assistance, traced back the ownership of his farm to 1660, when Charles 2 granted it to his family in return for their loyalty to the crown during the Civil war and the Cromwell years. What made that so important was that the King was the owner of the mineral rights; so in that granting of the land the rights to the minerals remained with the Gleeson family! 'Fiery' got a big sum of money, though he was never prepared to say how much!

But as a final aside, he also got permission to remain in his house on the land while his mother was still alive - she went on to live to 100!!

The house was completely overgrown with ivy, but has now passed to a niece who is doing it up. It's a really interesting looking house - I didn't have my camera with me but will get a picture for next week.

Pat Keane was visiting with Sally and Clive when I returned; he brought me an old rabbit trap and an old primus blow torch.

Clive Moloney's pictures from inside Shallee mine

Shallee Mines at last

2007-07-19T14:56:00.000-07:00

Miles 155
Carbon Footprint 40 kg
Expenses hardware 54 food 18

This is a short account of last week; had good passing trade, some interesting new additions to the 'collection' went to see the mines with Clive and Sally (recent art graduates) including the lake that has formed in the open cast mining at Magobar - "The Biggest Hole in Europe" literally.

Green colour of the lake is due to minerals; when they used to pump water out of this mine, the wells in the surrounding countryside would run dry.

This was the site of the Dunally castle that belonged first to the O' Kennedy's who were the chieftain in the area way back, and then passed into the hands of Col. Henry Prettie, a Cromwellian solider who was 'granted' land in Silvermines as pay for his services. His descendent later became a Lord and took the name Dunally after the castle.

Clive and Sally liberating a found object from Magcobar crushing plant

We also took a trip up to the old mine in Shallee - that was absoloutely amazing. To get there, you just have to look out for a really overgrown lane next to a farmhouse. It doesn't look like anything except that there are a couple of derelict 1950's buildings

Still standing!

2007-07-12T05:12:00.000-07:00

Miles 151
Carbon Footprint 39 kg
Expenses; 30 euro travel for assistant, 8 euro on timber and hardware.

I arrived in Silvermines at 8.45, quite nervous about what I would find. It was still there - no broken windows, no missing letters, no spray paint!

There's a sort of ritual starting up process now; open up, put out the ramp, unshutter the windows, plug in the electricity, and start the process of putting visual form on the concept!

After morning mass I had four visitors; not much to show them, but we had a chat about the project, the fact that the collection can only be assembled with the collaboration of the community.

Melanie Scott (Arts Officer) came out about 11 bringing Clive (recently graduated art student getting some public art experience).

She had a conversation with the Source Arts Centre about me having a solo show there next year arising from the residency; we plumped for September/ October, which gives me a good run at it over the summer. I have to find out what kind of package they are offering.

Melanie has arranged an additional budget to do a project with the teenagers: I just have to figure out how that is going to work. Tim Bradford has referred to them as the Teenage Tipperary Situationists - I like it!! Have to figure out how to encourage them to see themselves as Situationists now. Burnt out cars is somehow part of that, part of their aesthetic . . . .

There was a good run of people throughout the day; all local, all interested, some younger boys, a couple of teenagers, and then in the evening one tourist - a rare species indeed in Silvermines.

Clive and I had a guided tour of the Old Road Estate with Sean, Tristian and Paul doing the guiding; they sang a rude song about someone in the estate that Diggler (local boy wit) had written, so I recorded them singing that.

I spent the evening looking at the space and trying to figure the aesthetic of it all; myself and Clive had a conversation in which I said that I felt we were involved in a process of trying to discover the 'art' in this project. The publication at the end will be a kind of safety valve in that it will be the art if nothing else emerges in the process.

The not knowing is important.

I stayed overnight in the camper van and got up at 7 to do some work on the timeline. I realised that I want as little as possible stuck to the walls, I would prefer if everything including text was directly on the wall, but I don't want it to be physically hand-written. I need some technology to do that but don't know what it is, some kind of transfer technology.

Lots more people came in through the day. The first to arrive were four English tourists; ironically I ended up giving a sort of introduction to Silvermines! They were not really interested. It made me realise more that this is not about instant gratification so it makes the level of engagement by the locals all the more significant for me.

I interviewed Pat Keane who brought some great material and then Clive went off to learn how to make hay rope or Sugan's as they are known. No-one makes hay anymore so they had to use live grass, but even so they worked amazingly well.

Later in the day John O' Rourke came with some photographs; he used to play in a band on Sunday nights in the hall for dances; I am hoping that he can bring me some material relating to that and I will try to record him playing the accordion when his health improves

We closed up at 2 and had a quick wander around the Wealz plant part of the mining works that went up in 1950 and closed in 1952. Amazing place, like a ghost town, big buildings, and slag heaps everywhere, but also orchids and lots of wild flowers in pockets.

We put up shutters and left at around 4; needed to bring Clive to Birdhill for the bus and I had to get home for the Burren brand meeting.

Touchdown

2007-07-05T02:54:00.000-07:00

Miles 160
Carbon Footprint 40 kg
Expenses Food 10 Transport of Space Shuttle 302.50

At last the Space Shuttle arrived in Silvermines.

I arrived in Nenagh at 9.30, spoke to the foreman in the Machinery Yard about the possibilty of getting a small crew to come out to Silvermines and help to position the shuttle off the truck. The truck was due to arrive at 10.30 but as these things go it then became 11 o clock, then 11.45, then 1 o clock and finally it arrived at 1.20.

The truck driver Pat was a very nice guy, totally cool about the whole thing, not a bit worried about the fact that it was lunchtime so we probably wouldn't be able to get a crew for Silvermines.

So he positioned it exactly where I wanted and then began the work of turning it into the Imaginary Museum. It was still a real mess inside, half painted in some areas, repair work still taking place around one of the windows etc.

By evening I was removing the old lettering from the outside to replace it with new text. A bunch of teenagers arrived, one of them I had worked with in the school. They helped to position the new text and told me lots of stories about how boring Silvermines is, nothing to do but drink when you can. They agreed to show me the drinking spots (some of them - probably not the most current one, which they need to keep secret). They said that Silvermines is very rough, lads from Limerick drive cars up to the Magobar mines and burn them out up there.

It didn't look rough to me.

A while later some young lads arrived and asked me lots of questions about why it was here, and how could I possibly think Silvermines was interesting etc.

A few of the smaller boys came and started collecting rocks for me from up around the old mining area. By 9.30 or so I had to tell them to stop, that I had enough rocks!

Quiet night in the camper van. I got up at 6.45 to do more painting in the shuttle. The principal of the school arrived at about 9.30 and gave me the key to the school so that I could hook up to the power supply, which I did. It's amazing to have full access to the school like that - I can use furniture etc. as I need it.

I was expecting the Arts Officer, Melanie Scott and Acting Arts Officer, Martina Finn (on her last day) to arrive for a meeting at 10. My friends 'the rock stars' were hanging around wanting to do some more work on their collection.

The meeting was reasonably cordial, although the Arts Officer didn't like the tone of an article that the Tipperary Voice had published about the Space Shuttle getting the go-ahead to move. I imagine that my previous journal entry wasn't popular either, though none of us mentioned it. Luckily for me the Nenagh Guardian had also printed a piece which was word-for-word the press release that I had sent to both papers, to I could point to journalistic re-working of the text.

We went through the fairly extensive 2nd interim report that I had submitted; Melanie said that the Arts Office was keen to offer support from this point forward to ensure the successful realisation of the project and also to 'take the pressure off' me as an artist.

I pointed out that most pressurised period was pretty much over, but I do appreciate the offer.

During the meeting Jim arrived ( I had met him the previous night). He worked in the mines all his life and says he has loads of interesting material but won't lend it to the museum because he plans to sell it for big money. He also described how he sent a drawing to the ESB to show them how the huge tailings pond up the side of the mountain could be converted into a Poulaphooca type Hydro electrical plant, which he seemed to think would lead to a hotel on top of the mountain with cable cars going up to it! He thinks the ESB are very interested in the idea.

Then Pat O' Brien arrived with a lovely piece for the collection. He reckons it's an old piece of school slate - it has a fragment of writing on it that says mines.

So I have about 5 things now in the collection.

A few more people passed through during the day; my three rock start Sean, Tristian and Danial hung around using a printing set I had and helping me to do bits and pieces.

Then in the afternoon I got a full visitation of the teenage boys. It's a very particular energy, so volatile and hard to relate to at times. I really wanted to stay on their good side and was trying to talk to them about what interests them.

There was a lot of talk about how windows get smashed in Silvermines regularly, with each of them pointing their finger at the others as being responsible. I tried to talk to them about why people would do that but they didn't want to engage with that, it seemed a stupid question.

Eventually they drifted away 'up to the mine'. It was quite a relief.

I was getting ready to go for a guided tour with the three younger boys at about half three, when one of them said to me 'the older boys will definately break the windows and peel off the lettering after you go'.

I felt really upset and I could see that it was almost certainly true; probably the very lad who had helped me to put up the lettering would be the first to take it down. It's a really strange thing - it's not malice it's just a kind of absence of feeling for things.

It's what Eric Fromm talked about - the need to create or in the absence of that, to destroy.

A completely untapped testosterone fuelled energy, frustrated by society's failure to give it an outlet.

So, I spent another hour drilling new holes for the window shutters and putting clear contact over the vinyl lettering.

God only knows what condition it will be in when I get back.

A Bad Day

2007-07-03T21:01:00.000-07:00

Expenses 71 printer cartridges 120 vinyl lettering for Space Shuttle, 14 paint and masking tape.

Today was a really bad day in the residency, absoloutely the low point.

This is what my week looked like;

The Space Shuttle is being moved from Nenagh to Tipperary tomorrow, and I was informed today that the County Council will extend their insurance to cover the Space Shuttle while it is in situ but that the owners of the Shuttle (in this case the Ground Up Artists' Collective) must insure the structure and that I must also indemnify the council with my own insurance. The suggestion was that 'I should have known' that would be the case. While this would have caused me some considerable ire in May when I asked the Arts Office to look into the question of insurance, coming the day before it moves to Silvermines, after it has already been delayed for 2 months as a result of the planning requirement I find it totally unacceptable.

IS IT JUST ME??

2007-06-29T02:39:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-28T03:13:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-27T06:36:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-06-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-20T13:31:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-15T13:44:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-06T13:37:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

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.

Do not be misled

2007-05-25T07:48:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-18T04:12:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-05-02T04:02:00.000-07:00

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?)

2007-05-01T11:20:00.000-07:00

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.

Election time

2007-04-26T13:30:00.000-07:00

April 26th

It's election time again here; the charade of democracy where politicians come around and promise the sun, moon and stars, then sell everything off to corporations once they get their hands on power.

Or, in the case of Shell, give everything to corporations.

Public Meeting #1

2007-04-25T04:29:00.000-07:00

April 25th

Miles 171

Carbon Footprint 48kg

Expenses 16 euro on food

It turns out that the planning process is an 8 week process, not 6 as I had been told last week. I went to see Tom Barry, the Director of Services, who will try to call a special Council meeting as soon after June 20th [new closing date] as possible.

The planning process will now take longer than the time that the Space Shuttle will be in position!

So, it's all part of engaging with public space in a rural context and of being an interface between the world and the Insitutions that control it.

I worked some more on the National School programme, then dropped the final version of the Planning documents to the sites where they can be publicly inspected (Silvermines National School and the Area Office, Newport). This was my first trip to Newport; another little gem of a place. Very real and interesting; a combination of Tidy Towns and ramshackle-ness.

I drove the scenic route back to Silvermines - wow! The road was so steep that I didn't dare to stop and take photos! Three young deer jumped across the road at the top, it gave me a shiver down my spine.

I met with Pat Keane in his house in Silvermines, a very nice man with a lovely dog and a house full of photographs. I hope to go back and talk to him some more.

In the evening I set up the Public Meeting in the local hall, which is a wonderful building from 1951 - huge! And it has a large stage with functioning curtains and wonderful dusty, musty old wooden floors. I set the meeting up in a small backroom.

There were 9 people in attendence; that was a very good turnout for a small village and there is great enthusiasm for the 'museum' idea.

I stressed, but will need to keep stressing, that my project is not a real museum; its Museum as Metaphor. The idea for that project is evolving and can be seen on the Silvermines section of the website.

I got some great leads on my Stuffed Animals!!!!

silvermines - the groundwork

2007-04-24T14:32:00.000-07:00

April 24th

Denis O' Sullivan asked me to do a live interview on the Arts Show of Tipp FM this evening to discuss the project. I agreed reluctantly - alone with children this evening, and 7-8 is about the noisiest time of the day when they are both tired and fight like cat and dog.

I tried to go into the garden to speak, but the phone kept acting up. One of the children stepped on a penguin christmas decoration, which then played Jingle Bells continuously throughout the interview, and they fought over a bicycle which caused the dog to start barking furiously.

The longest three minutes of my life. I have no idea what I said as my concentration was entirely on trying to stay out of range of the noise.

Anyway, just finished putting together a programme called Imagining Silvermines to start the project off in the National School. It's a way of introducing psychogeography to the project, creating maps based on experience rather than topography or infrastructure.

I also put together a short presentation for the talk tomorrow night; just a few slides - don't want to bore them. It's about listening to their ideas and answering their questions.

planning permission required - groan

2007-04-18T14:49:00.000-07:00

April 18th

Miles 170
Carbon Footprint 44kg
Expenses 10 euro on food

At 11am I finally got to meet Tom Barry, the director of Services to discuss the logistics of the Space Shuttle in Silvermines. In particular I wanted to discuss planning, insurance and power.

To my horror, it emerged that I would have to go through the planning process. From that moment I had six days to organise a planning application (and get a notice into the local paper) in order to give the public the requisite six weeks to make submissions and still be in time for the June 18th Council meeting.

The day got turned completely on it's head from that moment. I had to meet the Administrator of the planning dept. and find out what was needed for the application (Site Notice, Planning Notice, Map with boundaries of site marked, planning document describing project etc. locations of where planning documents could be viewed for the six week period etc.)

The first thing I had to do was find someone who could authorise use of the green space adjacent to the National School as a site for the Space Shuttle. I rang Billy Grace, the prinicipal of the National School, who was shortly leaving to take the children swimming. I jumped in the car and raced out to Silvermines; he turned out to be totally supportive and felt that the green space would be a good location for the structure. He reccomended some local people to approach about it as well, and agreed to attend a public meeting with me the following Wednesday evening.

I drove back to Nenagh and tried to get all of the documentation together; got the planning notice into the Nenagh Guardian and printed up some posters for the Public Meeting. Arranged the use of the local hall. Drove back out to Silvermines, put up some posters, met the Parish Priest and asked him to include a notice in the parish newsletter that Sunday; also rang Nora Ryan who does the Silvermines notes in the Guardian and asked her to include a piece.

Drove home and did an e-mail to all of the local press [three newspapers and two radio stations].

It's all part of the investigation of public space in the rural context of course!

Silvermines in the evening sunshine

2007-04-11T14:47:00.000-07:00

April 11th

Miles 171
Carbon Footprint 44kg
Expenses 112 food and materials

Left home at 7.15; drove to Limerick to buy microphone for mini-disc and DV tapes and discs. Drove on to Silvermines, did some recording in Cuan Mhuire of the birdsong. Drove to the Irish Aluminium Co. in Nenagh and did some more filming. Met Martina Finn after lunch, discussed the direction and also the logistics of locating the Space Shuttle in Silvermines.

I met with Gearoid Fitgibbon, community development officer in Newport, discussed a few ideas. Went out to Dromineer, just to check out Neddy’s cottage again – really like the cottage, but not so inspired by the surroundings. Can’t really imagine how it would work there for an art project. There’s a sort of ‘transient’ feel to the community (boats, tourists).

The sun came out and I wanted to see how Silvermines looked in the evening, how the light fell on the old mines and also if there were any teenagers hanging about. (Have not see any to date). Met up with Martina Finn, walked around, checked out the Handball Alley (good for evening films in the summer) went into Hickey’s pub in the evening and met Tommy Hickey who has wonderful stories about the place. Asked him if I could go back and interview him, to which he agreed.

SPACE SHUTTLE!

2007-04-05T14:47:00.000-07:00

April 5th

I got a phone call from PS2 to say the the Ground Up Artists’ Collective was awarded the Space Shuttle, so I have the use of it for my residency from May!!! Hooray, changes everything.

Day off

2007-04-04T14:45:00.000-07:00

April 4th

Had nothing planned for Tipp, so took a day off. At home I wrote to the Principal of Silvermines National School and proposed working with the children. Phoned all of the press and radio stations to find out if they would carry public notice about my search for Stuffed Animals. Proposed ad as follows;

Do you have a stuffed animal? Or know the whereabouts of one? Fiona Woods is Visual Artist in Residence for North Tipperary; she is conducting an audit of all the stuffed animals in the county for a photographic art project and she would like to hear from you. Please email fiwoods@eircom.net

Tipperary Star; two column ad, 1” costs 63 euro (plus vat I think).
Nenagh Guardian suggested I contact the editor and ask him to take it as a feature (which to their credit they did!) Tipp Midwest Radio included it free in their noticeboard, twice a day for one week. Tipp FM didn’t call me back, but the ad was quite cheap.

Assessment of the project so far.

2007-03-31T14:31:00.000-07:00

March 31st

Having spent ¼ of the time allocated for the residency, this interim evaluation is an attempt to look at what I have done in that time, what I would like to do, and what can be realistically achieved, bearing in mind the aims and objectives that were set out at the beginning of the residency.

What I have done to date

At the outset, I set myself a 6 week period to travel around, talk to people, follow my instincts and see how the context of North Tipperary would impact on the development of my practice. During that first six weeks I traveled every Wednesday to Tipp, leaving home between 5.30 and 7.30 am and getting back at midnight.

I have been filming a different stretch of the road on each of those days; this will form the basis of an audio visual piece that I have in mind. The video will be combined with a sound piece based on the song ‘It’s a long way to Tipperary’ plus the information about my journeys and the carbon footprint of those. To date I have driven 1,125 miles and generated a carbon footprint of 315 kg.

I have created a section on the Shifting Ground website that functions as a public journal and sketchbook of the residency. This currently consists of 16 web pages with images, text and links. I have spent approximately 18 hours working on that website on non-residency days. There have been four articles in the local press, one radio interview and one article that I have written for the CAVA newsletter. I have given one public talk as part of the Visual Dialogues series [attended by Martina Finn only!] and conducted quite lengthy interviews/discussions with 9 people. I have attended four of the Visual Dialogues artist talks and had some initial discussions with local artists.

I have had some discussions with the acting Arts Officer about the work of the Arts Office with particular reference to art in rural contexts, artist development and networking and Public Art. In terms of geography I have traveled in most areas of the county, with the exception of the area around Roscrea and south of Thurles. I am particularly drawn to the area around Silvermines [more of which later].

I have made a connection with someone in Silvermines and through discussions with him have further developed an idea that was germinating in my mind. I believe that I want to develop this connection and develop a project that involves local school children initially, local people with whom I develop contact and from there I would hope to involve a large number of people in a collaborative project. This is a project that would in itself leave a ‘legacy’ and would hopefully have a positive community development aspect also.

Making connections with local artists

I have already had some initial discussions with local artists, one or two who have approached me directly and asked for my ideas on their work or projects. I plan to arrange some meetings for Wednesday evenings, traveling to where the artists are and seeing what comes of that. The idea of a large get-together for artists is something that interests me, but I want to have these informal meetings first.

Generating discussion about the future of art in rural contexts.

My idea is to organize a day-long series of seminars working with local artists, the Tipp Institute and some invited speakers, titled Imagining the Future of the Rural Context. Venue yet to be decided.

Opening discussions with local rural organizations on cultural development as an aspect of rural development.

I have yet to identify small rural organizations at work in North Tipp; excluding the most obvious – Tipperary Institute, IFA, Teagasc, ICMSA – all of which are large and likely to require a more formal approach. The Village seems like a possible organization but my feeling is that the Village is more ‘urban’ in outlook at present, despite the name! My proposal relating to the Housing Public Art budget might be the best way to take this aspect forward – encouraging local organizations to work with an artist over an extended period.

Aiming to generate a sustainable element or activity.

I have one idea in mind, which has to do with the distribution of my own work and which might also continue to have a life for North Tipperary in the future. I anticipate that some of my work with local artists will generate ongoing developments, but on a small scale. Again, I believe that I could make a significant contribution to the Public Art programme as a curator in a way that would generate some very sustainable projects. I anticipate that my work in Silvermines will produce a project that outlasts the residency.

What I can probably achieve in the next 18 weeks

I will put in place a community projet; when I have made some initial contacts I will have a better idea of the project structure and a timeline.

I intend to begin work on a series of photographs, but first I need to locate a large number of stuffed animals in the North Tipperary region.

I will shelve my idea for gallery based works until a later date, and hope to develop these for a future exhibition in the area [longer term view].

I plan to purchase some film-editing software from the residency funds to allow me to carry out my own editing [much cheaper and gives me more editorial control].

I want to work on a series of drawings of maps in the County Council offices.

I will meet with artists on Wednesday evenings. In association with the Arts Office I will devise and organize a discussion event titled Imagining the Future of the Rural Context.

Project Legacy

A community based project in Silvermines, involving collaborative works in public locations and a map of these [a kind of art-trail]. Possibly some public ‘launch’ event as well in the summer.

A gallery exhibition in Tipperary next year of works made in response to the residency.

I will draw up a report on my meetings with local artists, making suggestions regarding their professional development needs.

A discussion event called Imagining the Future of the Rural Context that will be recorded, transcribed and made available through the Arts Office website.

Sixth day - last research day!

2007-03-28T14:28:00.000-07:00

March 28th

Miles = 158
Carbon Footprint = 45kg
Expenses = 10 euro food

I had made an arrangement to meet the current owner/manager of the Irish Aluminium Co. in Nenagh, which is in liquidation; it should be completely closed in a couple of weeks.

Seamus Meagher is a very genial man; full of stories and anecdotes about the factory. His own father was one of the first employees, sent to Wolverhampton to train in 1934.

I spent some time filming in the factory; it's in the process of being dismantled so there is an eerie stillness amid all the huge machines.
To my great interest, there is still a very vibrant sign-factory in the rear of the building. They have the contract to make all of the goverment road-signs; some of these are cast in aluminium. A foundry is still in operation with a sand-casting area and ingots of aluminium stacked in the middle of the floor. Made contact with the manager of the company - had always envisaged doing something with signs, so it's a very fortuitous meeting.

Arranged with film-maker Fiona O' Dwyer to spend a day there in two weeks doing some 'proper' filming with good camera work and hopefully some on-film interviews.

Next stop Civic Offices, where you get a great cheap lunch, some conversation with Martina Finn about various things.

Having spent most of Tuesday night lying awake I had a real urge to go up to Silvermines and talk to people [have a really good idea forming for an engaged community project]. Met with Eamonn de Staford and his wife Maire - a retired couple with a wonderful cache of stories to tell. Eamonn worked for Shannon Development and was involved in the development of a proposal for a Mining Heritage Museum in the early 90's; all was agreed, the money was in place and then it was discovered that the holding ponds from the most recent bout of mining had dried out and were blowing toxic dust all over the area. All plans were halted.

Eamonn has a wonderful perspective on the place and he was really interested in my idea. He suggested I contact the principal of the National School.

After that I drove up to Neddy's cottage in Dromineer - three rooms, there seems to be electricity although I had no way of testing the sockets or storage heater to see if they worked, but no water. Such a particular space. I would love to do something there, but I don't know it I can manage it within this residency. No point in trying to do too much and doing nothing well.

I drove north to Portumna - it's such a different place up around there. Flat, lots of trees, Protestant heritage.

I really like Tipperary. It's very richly ordinary, if that's not too contradictory.
I missed the last talk in Source due to family bereavment. I would have liked to see Aileen Lambert and Michael Fortune talk about their work.

That concludes my first six weeks; I gave myself that much time to drift around without commitment. Now I have to start focusing in on a few ideas, which is hard. I have a lot that I would like to do.

Fifth day in residence

2007-03-21T14:21:00.000-07:00

March 21st

Miles = 207
Carbon footprint = 58kg
Expenses 17 euro on food

Usual route into Tipp - one of these days I need to come in by the Northern appoach - up around the lake and down through. Portumna. I had a plan to stop off briefly in the civic offices, look up taxidermists in the Golden Pages (none in Tipp), work out my filming schedule over coffee, and then hit the road. As it happened, I managed to get a meeting with Donal Purcell, Community Development Officer who is an absoloute mine of information. Then I met up with Martina, and suddenly it was 12.30. Finally got out to Castle Brand factory - met with the daughter of the owner; she suggested that I phone on Monday. Also told me that the newspaper article was wrong - they only wound up the place in 2005, not 1995 as reported. Something of a difference there. I really hope I can find the time to do something on it - I think it's a very interesting story.

Onto Nenagh Heritage Centre which is a complete gem. Museum in the old-fashioned sense of the word, not an interactive dispaly in sight and wonderful mannequins palying the roles of nun, telephone exchange lady and bartender. Really great and wonderful staff full of information and ideas. Also and excellent room for workshops etc. Headed off to Cloughjordan - I thought I had been there before but I was thinking of somewhere else. Kind of delapidated, deserted feel to the place, with these odd urban additions due to the new incoming Village population. Arty bookshop and cafe, with wooden toys, Cycle co-op. Couldn't find any foothold there. Headed out on a back road for Moneygall; very flat land, so rural. Incredibly untouched by tourism. Took a few backroads and boithrins and finally got to Templemore. Very wide streets, busy place but I could not locate the famous town park. If there were signs, I didn't see them.

Got tired of driving around in the rain and went to Thurles; did some work on photos. Talk by Shane Cullen in the Source; very interesting, wanted to ask him about locating his work within the genre of history painting, but the talk ran late and he had to catch a train. http://www.theagreement.org/

Have loads of ideas for work to make. Now I have to figure out how to engage with the local population.

website

2007-03-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

March 18th

Spent 1 hour updating website.

Fourth day in residence

2007-03-14T14:16:00.000-07:00

March 14th

175 miles
Carbon Footprint = 49 kg
Expenses Food 14 materials and newspapers 7

Left home at 7.30; spent an hour stopping and adjusting video camera which was strapped into the passenger seat. Filmed about 20 minutes of material - very happy with how it reads - claustraphobic focus on the road. First stop Nenagh. Met with Heritage Officer Siobhan Hegarty - what an amazing resource. She has the most astonishing collection of maps. Spent a good deal of the morning sifting through great piles of possibilities.

Next meeting, Lorraine Power, Environment Education Officer. Also, very very interesting. We agreed so much on the lack of vision that is apparent in development - where are the parks? Why are supremely wealthy developers not required to incoporate community centres and parks into their staggeringly profitable housing developments? Talked about Rights of Way, but Siobhan Hegarty told me that those rights of way have almost no legal basis - on the old maps you see Mass Paths and other paths marked but they were never formally allocated public right of way status.

I told her about Brian Holme's theory about self-instituted blindness to the world around us. We shook our heads and felt frustrated.

I spent some time writing an article for CAVA. Had lunch with Martina Finn, photocopied some maps, acquired some database info on artists, amateur art groups and others.

In Nenagh I bought a great Leprechaun in the pound shop - run up to Paddy's Day. I heard a broadcaster say that they are not allowed to call it that anymore. NOT ALLOWED?? Weird.

I thought about the new N7, the scarring effect of which I had noticed on my way into Nenagh that morning. What about billboards along the unfinished road?
Onto Thurles - bought the Nenagh Guardian and Ireland's Own special St. Patrick's Day edition. The Nenagh Guardian is fantastic. Full of information. Military notice regarding Army Rifle Range activity in Barnane, Templemore. Rang Dept. of Defence looking for map of this activity - left message.

Closure of Castle Brand aluminium factory in Nenagh - absoloutely amazing story. Want to go there next week.

Lots of interesting clubs and associations listed. Also visited Templemore webiste - incredible resource, old photos, list of clubs and voluntary associations, aerial photos of town etc. Very interested in that place which is near Thurles. Must visit.

Ireland's Own - bizarre. Wonderful comic strip, will scan and link.

Evening, talk by Christine Mackey in Source. First time I have seen her present about her work - very interesting. Similar interests to mine, but different approach.

On the way home I smacked into a rock on the road - just didn't see it. Had to get out of the car to check tyre - wonderful, starlit, fragrant night; the smell of spring.

I BADLY WANT TO DRAW. NEED A SPACE. So far I feel like artist in residence in my car.

website

2007-03-13T14:14:00.000-07:00

March 13th

I spent two hours working on the residency website.

Third day - first trip to Silvermines

2007-03-07T14:11:00.000-08:00

March 7th
Miles = 195
Carbon Footprint = 53kg
Expenses 10 euro on food

Left home at 7.30; beautiful, spring morning. Crossed into Tipperary at Ballina/Killaloe. Could not face going into the Civic Offices. . . .so I turned right off the Nenagh road for Silvermines. Very interesting place - really liked the Cuan Mhuire meditation garden, where there used to be a church. Listened to bird song, the sun was shining.

Walked up to the site of some of the mine works - not possible to get to the actual mines that way, but looked at some ochre material like pigment, piled up in mounds.
Spent most of the morning in Nenagh Library, then travelled to the Local Studies library in Thurles. A wonderful library but not very useful for an artist as you can't browse - have to type in a search word and request appropriate books. No good for a magpie like me.

Met with Martina Finn in Thurles for dinner - proposed an idea for a public art project involving local artists and mentors. Suggested that they ask me to curate the project.

Evening presentation by Aideen Barry - had never seen her work presented together before. She is a fantastic artist and a really interesting person. Had a discussion with local artist Philip who has 18 acres on the banks of the Suir that he would like to open up to art interventions. Suggested that I travel around meeting up with local artists and discussing ideas.

I need to meet up with Heritage Officer, Environemnt Officer, and others. Must write article for CAVA as well.
www.aideenbarry.com

Second day in residence

2007-02-28T14:05:00.000-08:00

February 28th
Miles 205
Carbon Footprint 58kg
Expenses 25 euro on food and various coffees; mini-DV tape.

Left home at 7.30 am; very windy. Video camera set up to film the journey for the first time. Crossed into Tipperary at Killaloe/Ballina, took the lakeside route through Portroe and onto Netwown, where I added a leprechaun to the image bank, then took a left for Dromineer just outside Nenagh.

Looked through the windows of Neddy's Cottage in Dromineer; potentially available as public space. Needs work. Dromineer very windswept and silent - like a ghost town.

Back to Nenagh; set myself up in the office, but discovered cannot access internet through my laptop.Will have to check out local library and wireless access at hotels. Interview with a couple of people about the context, using the following list of questions;

What makes North Tipperary unique or culturally distinct?
What is the most interesting thing about North Tipperary?
Who is the most interesting person I could talk to in North Tipp?
Is there something here that fascinates you?
What is the most overlooked aspect of North Tipp?
Is there a part of the history that has been largely overlooked?
What are the areas of friction or tension?
What is the best hope for the future of the place?

Spent a couple of hours in discussion with Martina about various things concerning rural arts development. Noreen at CAVA asked me to write and article for their newsletter. Might use that as an opportunity to make contact with local 'enthusiasts' and hobbyists. Also, want to track down informal, themed environments.Drove to Thurles in the daylight, beautiful road, such a different experience from doing it at night. On a whim took a turn for Templederry; a community that requested increased arts activity. Up into the mountains beyond Templederry, obviously not tourist country, nicer for that.

Second talk in the Visual Dialogues series; Mari-Aymone Djeribi and Dominic Stevens. Individual presentations about their practices as artist [former] and architect [latter], follwed by joint presentation Rural Lexicon which is kind of a new philosophy of living in and relating to the rural context. Very inspiring, as always. I found myself left with a question, as I was after last week's event - how do you de-centralise culture but keep new ideas, new work in circulation [without generating huge carbon footprints?]
www.mermaidturbulence.com

On the way home I had an absoloute brainwave, which I am not going to detail here! Need to keep it close to my chest while it develops.

Got home at midnight - not quite so tired as last week.

First day in residence

2007-02-21T13:56:00.000-08:00

February 21st 2007
185 car miles
Carbon Footprint = 52kg

Calculate your own carbon footprint at http://www.carbonfootprint.com/

6.30 am

Driving east into the sunrise. Crossed into Tipperary at Killaloe/Ballina, over Lough Derg. Reached Nenagh by 8 am. Looked for Ordnance Survey maps of North Tipp; none available [sold out]. Drove every route out of Nenagh and back in again, to get my bearings. 2 articles in Tipperary Voice re; residency, radio interview on Tipp FM the previous evening. Checked out coffee shops [nothing open before 9], second hand shops to see what people discard [not much wool there] and camera shops [nothing open before 10] and various gift/newsagent shops for Leprechaun items.Small shop for rent called New Amsterda(m) . Must check out the cost.

11 am; North Tipp Civic Offices - meeting with Martina Finn, acting Arts Officer. Discussion about aims and objectives of residency, followed by negotations around contract; these took up the whole day.
We agreed the following aims, objectives and indicators;

Aims
1. To research and develop my work practice in response to the context of North Tipp.
2. To work in a transparent and accountable way.
3. To generate a sustainable element or activity through the residency, something that can be built on post-project.
4. To generate discussion about the future of art in rural contexts, with particular reference to North Tipperary.
5. Create ongoing opportunities for the community to encounter and develop an understanding of the work practices of a contemporary visual artist.

Objectives
Develop a body of work comprising images, texts, photographs, drawings, found imagery, objects etc.
Maintain a public record of the process through a web journal on the Shifting Ground website
Connect with research being generated by Jay Koh/CityArts through the Research/Thesaurus/Process project [Shifting Ground is a research partner in that project].
Make connections with local artists with a view to sharing ideas and experience.
Open discussions with local rural organizations on cultural development as an aspect of rural development.

Indicators
Media coverage of residency and related aspects
Attendance at public events/discussions generated through the residency
Public feedback via e-mail and discussions
Development of work through the residency
‘Outcome’ of the residency whatever form that takes
Post-residency developments

Martina mentioned that various departments in the council have different kinds of maps of the county; I would really like to get copies of all of the different types of maps.evening; drove to the Source Arts Centre in Thurles to give the first talk in the Visual Dialogues series. Very windy road, raining, dark. Difficult to negotiate all those lights and bollards along the road - I find it visually very confusing.No-one came to the talk! This raises interesting issues around the existing culture of artist interaction etc.

2 1/4 hours drive home - very, very tired.

Why would a visual artist have any interest in rural knowledge?

2007-02-15T13:44:00.000-08:00

February 15th 2006

This question was put to me today by Denis O' Sullivan on the Arts Programme of Tipp FM. My answer was something to the effect that a number of visual artists, including myself, are no longer comfortable with the idea of producing more and more images - the world is already full of them. I call myself a visual artist but increasingly I see myself as a cultural worker; definitions of culture are much broader and more interesting to me than definitions of art.
Extracts from THE IDEA OF CULTURE by Terry Eagleton published by Blackwell Publishing;
‘Culture’ is considered to be one of the two or three most complex words in the English language, and the term which is sometimes considered to be its opposite – nature – is commonly awarded the accolade of being the most interesting of all. . . .culture, etymologically speaking is a concept derived from nature. One of its original meanings is husbandry or the tending of natural growth. The word ‘coulter’ which is a cognate of culture, means the blade of a ploughshare. We derive our words for the finest of human activities from labour and agriculture, crops and cultivation. Francis Bacon writes of the ‘cultivation and manurance of minds’ ins a suggestive hesitancy between dung and mental distinction. ‘Culture’ here means an activity and it was a long time before the word came to denote an entity.
The Latin root of the word culture is colere, which can mean anything from cultivating and inhabiting to worshipping and protecting.
If culture means the active tending of natural growth then it suggests a dialectic between the artificial and the natural, what we do to the world and what the world does to us.
Nature produces culture which changes nature.
Read more of Terry Eagleton's book The Idea of Culture
"MuHKA presents a series of dialogues on the term culture as a keyword around which individuals and societies produce, contest and share meaning, bringing together several leading figures working in this field. In his book Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, Raymond Williams gives a precise and useful account of the words that are instrumental in shaping our understanding of culture and society. Words, which although familiar, he believed, would benefit from further clarification; not in order to impose a finite meaning on them, but instead to describe their development, adaptation and translation between times and places and their relationship to other words. In his definition of ‘culture’ Williams describes this word as one of the two or three most complicated words and elsewhere as the original difficult word. It can simultaneously refer to: [1] intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic development [2] the way of life of a people, time or place and [3] artistic works or the output of aesthetic practices. According to Williams its complexity stems from the fact that the word culture plays an equally important role in a number of different areas of exper ience [art being one, society being another] between which it occupies an awkward place. By way of elucidation Williams traces the etymology of ‘culture’ back to its roots in plant or animal husbandry [to cultivate or to tend]; how it came to refer to the development of manners and the intellectual faculties, how it was extended to include more generalised social processes and how through its links to civilisation, class and civil values it acquired a contested status. The formulation and maintenance of cultural elites and the culture wars that saw previously excluded groups gate-crashing the citadel. Today the term ‘culture’ is deployed for a combination of progressive, bureaucratic and reactionary causes. As a remedy for social exclusion, for the empowerment of sub and counter cultural groups, as an instrument of government policy, and in the xenophobic ring-fencing of cultural values and norms on ethnic, religious and linguistic grounds. Williams believed that the awkward position that the word ‘culture’ occupies somewhere in-between social and artistic categories, rather than being a problem, instead produces a range and overlap of meaning that is the source of its significance. Indicating a complex argument about relations between general human development and a particular way of life, and between both and the works and practices of art and intelligence.This lecture series at MuHKA will take the slippage that finds ‘culture’ sitting in-between, artistic, social and theoretical discourse as its point of departure and consider the following questions: [1] Rather than divide culture into neat partitions such as art, politics and lifestyle can we approach it as a continuous field with many intersecting points? [2] How can we best challenge cultural norms which are exclusive and prescriptive and aim for a culture that is convivial and cosmopolitan? [3] Rather than accepting culture as commodity or policy objective, is it possible instead to imagine a culture that is always undisciplined, flexible and in motion?
lecture-series organised by Grant Watson [curator MuHKA]"