MARCH/APRIL 1983
Crafts Council of Ireland Thomas Prior House Merrion Road Dublin 4
Telephone 680764 / 603070
Kilworth-Presentation of Parchments On 3rd March, in the Kilworth Craft Workshops, the Minister of State at the Department of Industry and Energy, Mr. Eddie Collins, TD, presented the outgoing participants at Kilworth with hand written parchments as a record of their time there. Once again, Beverley Courtney wrote the parchments by hand, their fineness and individuality proving, as if such proof were needed, that the high quality hand made items will always be of greater significance and value than the mass produced. In his speech, Mr. Collins made reference to the WCC-Europe Conference to be held in Ireland in September, going on to say that it was a signal honour for the country and much credit was due to the Council for securing the Conference. He also referred again to the very successful National Crafts Trade Fair held in January. Talking about the Kilworth Craft Workshops he said "it is a unique initiative which has now completed its second year. It represents a major success for the combined cooperative efforts between the Kilworth Community Council, the Crafts Council of Ireland and AnCO. The Workshops are a unique initiative aimed at enabling young craftsmen of talent who have completed formal studies to develop their entrepreneurial skills to a stage when they can confidently set up their own workshops. AnCO provides allowances for the training programme which includes accounting, costing, marketing and other business interests. Some specialist additional craft training is provided by master craftsmen. Aside from the necessary craft skill, the attributes required by potential participants include dedication and a commitment to setting up in business".
Of those who have completed the 1982 course, four are remaining within the area, though only one is of Cork origin. Ger O'Sullivan and Conor O'Brien are setting up their print workshop in the old Church of Ireland schoolhouse in Midleton. Lucy Braddel, a weaver, will move into a workshop built by Midleton UCD. All three are being helped to get into business by IDA grants. Weaver, Angela Forte, will be taking up an IDA Pearse Street workshop and both Brenda O'Brien, the potter and textile printer, Mel Bradley, are working with their respective County Development Officers in Kildare and Wicklow to find suitable studios. Anna Kee, the other potter, will return to Kilworth to set up a workshop here. Finally, Deirdre Campion has already made arrangements to remain in Kilworth to pursue her craft of applique/embroidery. Mr. Collins, describing Kilworth, said that a unique initiative was probably the right
The eight Kilworth Participants show their hand written parchments during the recent ceremony at which Mr. Eddie Collins, TD, Minister of State at the Department of Industry and Energy made the presentations. Also pictured is Alison Erridge, Vice Chairman, Crafts Council of Ireland and Lynne Glasscoe, Supervisor, Kilworth Craft Workshops.
phrase as it is not a project with infinite possibilities for reproduction. "The standard of intake must remain high. The numbers who apply are few - less than twenty this year with only seven chosen. Kilworth is not in the numbers game! It is important that this small number of trained, dedicated young people set up and succeed. That is better than going for larger numbers, whose standard of craftsmanship and business ability might not be high enough for lasting success."
Pensions for Craftsmen
Category II:
Kilworth New Entrants
Farrell Quinlivan and Associates Ltd., have approached the Crafts Council of Ireland with proposals for an 'umbrella type' pension scheme which would give preferential rates to all participants. If such a scheme should be developed at the wish of craftsmen the following apply for all members.
Company directors and employees.
Following two days intensive interviewing early in February, the 1983 participants in the Kilworth Craft Workshops Project were chosen.
THE PENSION PROVISION There are basically two categories of people to consider in terms of pension provision: Category I: Those who pay tax under Schedule D or who are in non-pensionable employ ment. Under this category, the individual would effect what is known as a personal pension policy. Up to 15% of net relevant earnings may be paid to this type of contract to secure pension benefits, (net realisable earning are broadly defined as actual earnings minus certain expenses) Advantages (1) The total contribution is fully allowable at the individual's marginal rate of income tax. (2) The fund in which contributions are invested is tax-exempt so that the invest ment potential is maximised. (3) Up to % of the accumulated fund may be taken in tax-free cash at the chosen retirement age, i.e. between age 60 and 70. The balance of the fund is then used to secure an income for life in the form most appropriate at the time. Example Take a man aged 45 who wished to invest £1,000 p.a. to secure a pension at the age of 65. His marginal tax rate is 50%.
In this category the main points are: (1) A company may pay a premium sufficient to secure for a director or employee, the maximum benefits allowable by the Revenue Commissioners which are (assuming 10 years service) 2/3 of final salary with associated widows pensions and lump sum death benefits. (2) The premium would be fully allowable as an expense of the business and will qualify for profits tax relief. (3) The premium payable does not represent "benefit in kind" in the hands of the director or employee so that the individual's personal tax situation is not adversely affected. (4) At retirement, up to 1% times final salary (depending on years of service) may be taken as a tax free lump sum, the balance of the accumulated fund being used to purchase a lifetime income in the form most appropriate at the time. Schemes of this nature would be designed on an individual basis to suit the members precise requirements. For further information contact: Crafts Council of Ireland Geoff Healy, Healy Potteries Ltd., 9 Duncairn Lane, Bray, Co. Wicklow. Dominic A. Quinlivan, Insurance Broker. Tel: 01 522564
Total gross outlay (20 years) Less tax relief
£20,000 £10,000
Net outlay over term
£10,000
Irish Craft Stamps
Benefits at age 65 (1) Tax free cash (2) Income p.a. payable for life
£23,100 £11,611
The Department of Posts and Telegraphs announced details in January of the stamp issues for 1983.
It is important to note that in the event of death at any time before normal retirement age, the total accumulated fund would be returnable to secure an income for the policy holders depen dants. The investment is variable from year to year, depending on the income tax situation, once off payments may also be made and are normally fully allowable against tax.
On September 15th, when the European Conference workshops are completing their week or so of creativity and just before all the participating craftsmen meet in Dublin for the week-end of conference and discussion, a set of four stamps will be issued in an Irish Hand Crafts series. Denominations will be 22p, 26p,29p,44p.
Whereas in 1982 there were no jewellers, this year sees two, and unlike each previous year, there are no weavers, as those applying had, it was felt, more research to accomplish before they could be at the stage when they could be accepted to their advantage. Those chosen were: Gabrielle O'Connor from Dublin (jeweller). Heather McFadden from Belfast (jeweller). Adrienne Hume from Offaly (screen printing). Josephine Healy from Cork (screen printing). Michael Byrne from Dublin (ceramics). Catherine Gallagher from Donegal (ceramics). Kevin O'Callaghan from Cork (musical instrument maker).
Patchwork Artists Guild The Patchwork Artists Guild of Ireland has been formed to hold exhibitions on a travelling basis throughout Ireland and abroad. The aim of the Guild is to promote patchwork as an art form in its own right and to raise and maintain standards of patchwork and quilting throughout the entire country. Exhibitions will be held in art galleries around the country, and the entry date for the first is 15th October, 1983. Further information may be had by telephoning Jean Cantwell 521689; Helen Hardesty 091-80165; Elizabeth Monahan 091-85253; Evelyn Montague 021-504495; or Ann Smith 0824774 422 or 452.
WASTE YARN FOR SALE suitable for hand weaving, machine weaving and tufting. Available in both dyed and berber shades. Telephone (04536) for further details.
Craft Trophy Presented At the presentation ceremony for the IDA Perpetual Craft Trophy to Michael and Johanna Roche of Kiltrea Bridge Pottery, Mr. Pat O'Brien, Executive Director of the IDA congratulated the Crafts Council on the continued success of the National Crafts Trade Fair at which the Roches won the Trophy. Making the presentation Mr. O'Brien said that the Pottery's use of the excellent clay deposits available in the Enniscorthy area was a fine example of a small company using native raw materials and processing them to high standards to produce top quality products in an attractive design. "We have evidence of pottery making in Ireland as far back as 3,000 BC", Mr. O'Brien said. "It is one of those great functional skills that predates the machine age and of which people like Michael Roche are today's standard bearers." Stressing the IDA's commitment to the further development of the craft industry, Mr. O'Brien said that the IDA had already spent close to £1.5 million on the provision of craft centres. "The development of these centres will provide further opportunities for Ireland's craftworkers to enhance the country's growing reputation for the production of high quality craft products." He added that the centres at Marlay Park and Powerscourt Town House in Dublin, Strokestown, Co. Roscommon and Roundstone, Co. Galway were now well established. "The centre at Pearse Street is almost completed and 18 of the 28 units there have already been reserved," he said. During 1982 alone, Mr. O'Brien said, the IDA had committed £0.5 million to 84 crafts projects. "This brings the number of projects approved by the IDA over the past five years to 320 and the IDA's grant commitment to well in excess of £2 million," he added. The award of the trophy is one of the measures taken by the IDA to encourage the continued development of quality craft products in Ireland. The winner is selected each year by an independent selection committee. The trophy, which was awarded for the first time in 1981, is a traditional loving cup design. It was won'last year by Studio Donegal, Kilcar, Co. Donegal which produces a range of handwoven tapestries, shawls, rugs, jackets, hats and scarves, while in 1981 Mr. Pat Flood of PF Designs Ltd., Fade Street, Dublin became the first winner of the trophy.
Craftsman Register The Crafts Council of Ireland will shortly be sending to all the craftsmen on its files a new form to be filled in and returned as quickly as possible. This is to form the basis of a comprehensive Register of all craftsmen in the country. The Register is necessary as it provides the basis of all the Council's knowledge of the status of crafts in the country and this information is necessary when trying to press home to Government Departments or other organisations both in the country and throughout the world, the needs of the sector. The Register will also be the Council's mailing list to craftsmen and if you are not in the Register you run the risk of not hearing in time about such thinks as trade fairs and conferences or other Council activities. In addition, members of the public looking for the work of craftsmen in your discipline may not receive your name when they apply to the Council. It is very much in your interest to help keep the Council's Register as accurate as possible so please return the form as soon as you can in the pre-paid envelope which will be provided and keep the Council up to date with your activities.
Michael Roche (left), Pat O'Brien, Executive Director, IDA, and Johanna Roche of Kiltrea Bridge Pottery at the presentation of the IDA Perpetual Craft Trophy which the Roche's won for their stand at the Seventh National Crafts Trade Fair.
Arnotts Craft Promotion Having space free in their wholesale premises in Henry Street, Dublin, after Christmas, Arnotts Ltd., approached Crafts Council of Ireland and the Irish Goods Council with a view to letting craftsmen set up stands in the vacant space and sell their products from them. No charge was made for the space and, with the Irish Goods Council providing some of the stands, the fascia boards being donated by Crafts Council of Irefand, the cost was minimal. Twenty-two craftsmen from Cavan, Dublin, Roscommon, Nenagh, Achill and Clare took part in the promotion which was held from 1st to 19th March and was considered to be quite successful by the majority taking part, in view of the fact that it was held during the lull after the Christmas holiday period.
Euro Conference 1983 DETAILS ANNOUNCED The Crafts Council, hosts to the WCCEurope Conference to be held in September, have sent to the various countries in Europe for distribution to craftsmen, details of the various workshops with application forms. These have also been sent to the Craft Organisation Members of the Council. Confined as the workshops are to fulltime professional craftsmen, and in particular to a majority of European craftsmen (it is after all a European conference) nevertheless the Council has made every effort to ensure that during the evenings and at other times, those taking part in the workshops will have time to meet with their opposite numbers in a relaxed atmosphere. Much of the workshop content is expected to be at a very high level and, indeed, may at times seem to be far removed from the ordinary every day work of a production craftsman. The leaders, who are eminent in their disciplines in their own countries and in an international sense as well, are chosen because they are the innovators, the creative artists whose work will, perhaps, set the direction for many. The workshops have been envisaged as points of departure, environments in which creative minds may meet and ideas and techniques and experiments interplay. End products may not always be arrived at, but, the directions will hopefully be indicated. The final weekend in Dublin may see a coming together of examples from all the workshops: sketches, discards, finished works, the whys and why notes and what ifs, the gropings and the certainties in one great statement. Workshops will be held in various places in Ireland and will take place between, at the earliest 7th September and 16th September. All workshops will be creative and exploratory and will mainly led by craftsmen of international reputation. These workshop leaders will be catalysts and motivators rather than teachers. Details: General Ceramics, Courtmaosherry, Cork, 50/60 committed professionals. Leaders Jean Biagini and Hugo Rabaey. Ceramics, porcelain: Whitegate, Clare, 12 professionals led by Vivienne Foley.
Lillemor Petersson, co-leader of the Architectural Ceramics workshop at the WCC-Europe Conference to be held in Ireland in September.
Architectural Ceramics in the National College of Art and Design, led by Lillemor Petersson. Woven Textiles in the Galway Regional Technical College for 15 professionals the themes being experimental Ikat and space dyeing and the leaders, Marianne Strauband Mary Restieaux. West of Ireland in Miniature — A textile workshop in Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare for 20 professionals being led by E. Gwenfred Shries and June Tiley. An experimental textile print workshop for 15 professionals in the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. The Cork Art School will host the workshop where the creative use of fibre in woven construction in situ of a children's school playground, led by Mie Preckler, will be held. Exploration of particular aspects of hot glass techniques in a colour and free form context, using sheet and hot glass, led by Bert Van Loo, will be in the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. Another glass workshop for the free exploration of hot crystal techniques in a production context will be held in Jerpoint, Kilkenny for 10 professionals led by Anders Wingaard.
Brooch in titanium inlaid with silver, etched and anodised using resists. The colours are predominantly blues and purples with lighter areas of golds and pinks. The brooch is designed to hold fresh or dried flowers. It is in a private collection in Dublin. Designed and made by Ann Marie Shillito, co-leader of the Jewellery Workshop to be held at the WCC-Europe Conference in Ireland in September. Again the National College of Art and Design will host a workshop, this time for creative jewellery in refractory metals such as titanium, tantalum, zirconium, niobium led by Ann Marie Shillito for 12 professionals. A creative exploration workshop, of pre-agreed techniques in the development of contemporary holloware in precious metals, led by Ib Andersen, will be held in the Kilkenny Design Workshops for 10-16 professionals:
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An interesting goldsmithing workshop for 6 professionals will be held in Cashel for the exploration of literary and archaeological sources of inspiration and the application of related goldsmithing techniques to contemporary art jewellery. An exploration workshop of the possibilities and paradoxes applicable to leather including forming, stretching, laminating, etc., will be held for 10 > professionals in Inistioge, Kilkenny and led by Marc Goldring. At An Grianan, near Dublin, the free and creative developments of the various, not always obvious possibilities of unorthodox
Two silver bowls and a Curve Continuum by Padraig O Mathuna, which will represent the craftsman himself and Ireland at the Triennale of the German Goldmsiths "Europaische Siber", Hanau in March.
A piece entitled 'Object', using a crochet technique with copper and silver wire and metal beads, made by Verena Sieber-Fuchs, co-leader of the Lace workshop to be held during the WCC-Europe Conference in September.
materials and techniques in lace, with an emphasis on crocheting in the widest sense, will be held for 20 technically advanced craftsmen, the leader being Verena Sieber-Fuchs. An exploration of artistic developments of creating works with natural materials such as willow, rush, split wood, roots, etc., will be held, also in An Grianan, for 20 technically advanced and professional craftsmen. In Kilkenny and Rathdrum 4 professionals will take part in a workshop for techniques in holloware using non precious metals such as bronze, copper, etc., the two studios co-operating with each other and the leaders being Peter Donovan and Brian Clarke. In Kilkenny a contemporary jewellery workshop will be held with the theme of jewellery techniques in a small workshop, for 4 professionals and led by Rudolf Heltzel and Liam Costigan. A workshop for Administrators will examine their role and their organisations in the respective countries with special reference to their relationship with craftsmen — their needs, state and international aid and interventions as well as the minimisation of official paperwork which is disproportionately high for small studios. On 16th and 17th September all of the participants will gather in Dublin for the Conference which will be an open discussion on the potential and problems of professional craftsmen in the context of the workshops attended.
The VAT Crisis The Crafts Council of Ireland is seeking an urgent meeting with the Minister for Industry and Energy over the threat that the combination of a 35% VAT rate and a recession at retail level is having on this vulnerable sector. Since the early seventies the growth of the craft sector has been dramatic in both the number of craftsmen who have developed viable workshop units and the quality of the products they have produced. The strength of the sector has been such that it has been recognised as a valuable element in the creation of stable jobs requiring relatively little infrastructural cost. The present crisis is seen as having a dangerous effect on the confidence of .he sector whose members will always be vulnerable because of size. J
Professor Justin Keating, Chairman of the Crafts Council, sees the danger in quite stark terms: "What has developed successfully over little more than a decade could be lost in a year and could take a generation to build up again if the many Irish craftsmen working and contributing here along with their overseas fellows should leave the sector or the country. It would be a tragedy not only in measurable economic terms but in cultural terms as well". Any suggestion that an increase in the ÂŁ30,000 VAT registration threshold would be a solution is seen as "only partially helpful as the larger VAT registered outlets will still have to charge the customer VAT and the many non registered craft shops are reluctant to buy from a registered craftsman. The real solution lies in a reduction of the 35% rate as it applies to craftsmen, who could be registered as such by the Council if it would answer the problem."
EXHIBITIONS QUILTS AND WALLHANGINGS The Members of the Irish Patchwork Society will present their first National Exhibition of quilts and wallhangings at the Bank of Ireland Exhibition Hall, Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2, from May 5th to 18th, 1983, between the hours of 10.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m. Monday to Friday and on Saturday May 14 from 10.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. During the past decade, there has been a worldwide revival of interest in all aspects of needlework. To foster and encourage communication between those interested in the art of patchwork, quilting and applique, the Irish Patch work Society was inaugurated in June '81. Some of the most dramatic and innovative contemporary design in Ireland today is displayed through the medium of textiles. Through the Exhibition, the Society hopes to present to the public, the high standard of workmanship currently being produced by its members.
Objective: To promote and encourage the development of the artistic and technical quality of creative lace. The "Gold Bobbin": During the preview of the exhibition, which will be held in Brussels the following trophies will be awarded: A Gold Bobbin, a Silver Bobbin, a Bronze Bobbin. Photographic reporductions included in the application files will be used for the catalogue. Applications: Applications must reach the office of the organisers by 1st August, 1983. For further information and an application form contact Crafts Council of Ireland.
SDI/AGM
Manus Coffey NDAgrE MIAgrE MSDI, Industrial Engineering Designer.
SOCIETY OF DESIGNERS IN IRELAND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING At the tenth Annual General Meeting of the Society of Designers in Ireland, held on Monday 14th February 1983, the result of the postal ballot for Council officers and members for 1983 was announced as follows:
President Elect George Hutton MSDI Graphic Designer.
"Leather is unique among craft materials in the directions of its life: it owes its properties and its very existence to a living creature" Marc Goldring, USA
This prestigious event will provide comparison of the various current trends emerging in the field of creative lace. The competition, open to all, will be based on the theme of: "Lace Art and Techniques"
If you would like further information on the Society, contact Grania McElligott, The Irish Patchwork Society, The Hill House, Naas, Co. Kildare. Telephone 045-76121.
President (elected 1982) Peter Metcalf MSDI DiplndDes (Eng) MDesTech, Industrial Designer.
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1st INTERNATIONAL LACE BIENNIAL Biennale Internationale de la Dentelle asbl and Internationale Kantbiennale vzw are organising in 1983 the First International Lace Biennial Event, which will take place in Belgium.
Honorary Secretary Frances McDonogh NDD Des RCA MSDI Fashion Design Consultant. Members: Gerry Brouder MSIAD MSDI, Interior Architect and Past President: Walter Bernardini MSIAD MSDI, Graphic Designer.
Michael Crotty ANCA MSDI, Designer Educator/Graphic Designer. Pat Crowley MSDI, Fashion Designer. Donal Gilligan MSDI, Design Manager. John Jenkins DipAD MDes RCA MSDI, Industrial Designer. Patricia Jorgensen MSDI, Textile Designer Louis Pieterse MSDI, Photographer. Alan Pleass DipAd MSDI, Television Production Designer and Past President. Frank Ryan FBID MICAD MSDI, Exhibition Designer and Past President. Graham Shepherd MSDI, Television Graphic Designer.
TEXTILES OF THE BURREN It is not often that close to 100% success can be recorded in anything. The success rating of a conference, seminar or workshop is a dubious calculation at best and in terms of concrete visible achievement hard to demonstrate. Manus Walsh's gallery at Ballyvaughan was the initial venue for showing the work of fourteen of the participants in the textile media workshop held in Ballyvaughan in October last as a 'dry run' for this year's European Conference workshop. It was confined to sixteen participants and was centered in the Burren which was to be the main source of inspiration and creativity. From sketchbook, trial pieces, Patchwork Hanging. Michele Hughes. Embroidery Picture. Alison Erridge.
discussions, tentative ideas and obviously, strong motivation, which was all that was tangible in October has come an exhibition of very positive interpretation and clear professionalism. Some sixty works range from wall hangings woven, appliqued, printed and dyed through patchwork, embroidery, clothing, paintings, all personal visions deriving from that October exercise. The Burren connection may be at times tenuous to the average eye, but clearly the spirit of the place has been captured as has the wealth of the not always obvious colour. Matt O'Connell shows some wall hangings in dyed cotton, strong, simple and geometric; Allie Kay's woven tweed casual outfit is equally as individual as her painted silk patchwork cushion covers. Marion Young, from Belfast, has three small embroidered pictures of a fine richness of colour, thorn bush a
recurring theme; Norah Meaney shows tufted woollen wall hangings; Sue Erridge's small weavings contrast with her large woven bowl, while Michelle Hughes's patchwork hanging is of an intensity of work, detail and colour that seems to sum up every mood and colour of the area; her large triptych is a cooler colour item. Alison Erridge's spare embroidered works are white on white with a simple bold plane of solid colour, with one strikingly richly coloured exception. Cecil O'Donohue's work includes a finely embroidered bag and Lucy Erridge translates her thinking into a knitted silk garmet and shows also some sketches. Workshop leaders June Tiley and Gwen Shries contribute respectively fine examples of the use of print on fabric and a number of paintings showing a masterly control of both draughtsmanship and the paint medium. Finally, work by three students of the Galway Regional Technical College, embroidery by Jackie Mulholland, weaving by Liz McCabe and print by Cathy McDonald all made an exhibition not to be missed and it is worth stressing the thoroughly professional attitude of those concerned that they should fulfill abundantly the October promise to return in April with the fruits of the design process. The exhibition will open in the Belltable Arts Centre in Limerick on May 21st and the Crafts Council is endeavouring to find a venue for it in Dublin. Embroidery Picture. Marion Young.
COMMENTS
ISOLATION OF THE CREATIVE ARTIST At a time when such solicitous efforts are being made, the situation of creative artists seems, paradoxically, increasingly problematic in western societies. For those whose livelihood depends on a work contract, like actors, it is more common to be "resting", than to be at work. Those whose artistic condition depends on personal creative output, like composers, literary authors, painters or sculptors, are able to make a living from their art only in exceptional cases; the great majority of European artists are firstly ordinary wage-earners in government service or private firms or depend on social assistance. People are increasingly conscious of the "fragile status or art". But at present, there are other factors — such as economic recession and world political strategies — which complicate even more the status of the artist. This serious crisis affects the social situation of most cultural workers. The priorities that have to be defined everywhere — budgetary compromises and development options — are often determined at their expense, even though they are the most vulnerable to begin with; within this category of workers, the most fragile, in a situation of "chronic underemployment", are the creative artists. More deep-seated reasons than the precarious balance of world energy resources contribute to the questions of our societies and their creative artists are asking about the status of creative work. On the one hand, creation is becoming a collective gift, or is being supported as such; the "animators" are invented to represent the "inventiveness". The notion of "never-ending-creativity" leads to confuse genuine creative work with ordinary noise, polished craftsmanship and spontaneous expression to elude the much-feared term of "elitism". On the other hand, creativity is often confounded with technical, utilitarian ideals, obsessed with output (hence uniformity) and with social, egalitarian ideals, obsessed with a sense of justice — these are the rough and noble facts of democratic and industrial societies.
Citizen's indifference or disenchantment with art may not be foreign to these ideals of output and justice. This is why they are either interested in the works of art of the past or satisfied with a few chosen representatives of the "show business" and recorded "traces" of ephemeral artistic performances. School and university do nothing to create new approaches. While the place of the creative artist in democratic and industrial societies is far from being quite as eminent as it might be conceived, the at least anony mous trace of his activity is increasingly demanded in contemporary life. Such diverse phenomena as the evolution of the aesthetics of everyday objects, even the most standardised, the growing audiences for festivals or "cultural" tourist circuits, the development of magazines and practices, related to ordinary people's natural creativity (do-it-yourself, photography) bear witness to this development in modes of consumption and the utilisation of leisure time. Experiments in developing traditional policies to encourage creativity or consciously innovatory activity, have been increased over the last ten years by central governments or federal agencies. Probably at no period in history have the local authorities taken the interests of creative artists so systematically into account, as if their "raison d'etre" was for the first time in jeopardy, their very existence threatened. For instance, various attempts have been made, apparently never satisfactory, to solve the problem of artists' remuneration ranging from pure and simple salaried employment, an extreme approach to the role of the artist in society and a visible paradox by comparison with the traditional ideal of pure, free and irreverent creativity, to deliberate subjection to market forces, which everyone know deviate considerably from that same deal. (Extracts from Council of Europe Cultural Policy News Report 4-5/83).
"NEWSLETTER" The Council has received several compliments on its new masthead. The word "Newsletter" was written for us by calligrapher Beverley Courtney of Marlay Grange.
COMPETITION
GAA CENTENARY DESIGN COMPETITION The GAA is holding a competition for the design of GAA Centenary commemorative items of artistic merit, some of which will be commissioned for special presentations to guests during 1984 while others will be made available to GAA members and other people who may wish to acquire a fitting memento of the occasion. Proposals are invited from artists, designers and craftsmen for appropriate items. The competition is open to persons who have, or have access to, manu facturing facilities which would enable them to reproduce winning or other entries as required by the GAA. Entries for the competition must be totally of Irish manufacture and materials used must be of Irish origin so far as it possible. Proposals are invited for pieces in three categories i.e. pieces which could be reproduced by the artist/craftsman/ designer for sale to the GAA at the following prices: A - up to IR£50; B - between IRE50 and IRE100 and, C - between I R£100 and IR£300. A prize fund of IR£1,500 will be awarded as follows: I R£300 for the winner in each category with an additional prize of I R£600 to the entry which is adjudged to be the overall winner. Judging will be by a panel of selected persons under the auspices of the GAA Centenary Committee. For full details and an application form contact: Lorcan 0 Ruairc, Planning and Development Officer, Pairc an Chrocaigh, Baile Atha Cliath 3. Telephone: (01) 743111.