Get Together 2022

Get Together 2022

JOANNE LAWS AND THOMAS POOL REPORT ON VAI'S ANNUAL NETWORKING EVENT FOR VISUAL ARTISTS.

Stephen Doyle, Dylan is ainm dom... 2018, detail, mixed media on board (oil and neon glass); image courtesy the artist and Crawford Art Gallery Collection.

VAI GET TOGETHER 2022 utilised a blended approach, comprising two days of online talks (16 and 17 November) and an in-person Speed Curating event on 22 November at The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (RSAI) in Merrion Square. Speed Curating was extremely well attended, with hundreds of artists and dozens of curators travelling from all over the country to participate in fast-paced one-to-one sessions. There was a lively and friendly atmosphere as attendees received feedback and professional advice.

Local Opportunities

The first of three online panel discussions focused on local opportunities for artists. Róisín de Buitléar has been working as an artist for 35 years and considers her vast array of projects as an interconnected web of people, place, and materials. The artist is interested in problem solving through materials, and the history of the anonymous craftsman. She has previously undertaken public art projects for a range of institutions including healthcare settings, where pragmatic issues such as maintenance, cleanliness, and accessibility need to be considered when installing works of art. Róisín’s community engagement projects include ‘Caution! Fragile’, a collaborative project with factory workers from Waterford Crystal, focusing on Ireland’s glass-making heritage.

Ann McBride is a Clare-based artist, illustrator, and ceramic designer. Her background in graphic design lends itself to the decal technique, which allows her to transfer detailed figurative drawings onto assorted ceramic surfaces. She works closely with a printer in Stoke-on-Trent – an arrangement that has become more challenging in recent years. Ann’s ceramic work considers various themes: sea life, the natural world, movement and the body, the romance

and whimsy of folk art and fairy tales, as well as elusive and rebellious figures like Maud Gonne. Ann’s work is included in ‘Made in Ireland’ – a touring exhibition of the Design & Craft Council Ireland (DCCI) which continues at the FE McWilliam Gallery in Banbridge until 23 January.

Kate Hickey is a mentor with Dublin City Local Enterprise Office (LEO), which offers a range of opportunities for artists within Dublin City area. This includes subsidised training courses on starting a business, social media and marketing, web design and finances. An eight-month training programme on building your craft and design enterprise is being run through LEO in partnership with the DCCI. Artists can also avail of LEO’s mentoring programme, which offers advice on developing a business plan, strategy, or mission statement, attracting a customer base, identifying audiences, platforms, and funding streams.

National Opportunities

The second panel discussion, focusing on national opportunities, was opened by Megs Morley, Director of Galway Arts Centre (GAC). GAC offers professional development workshops, curated exhibitions for emerging and established artists, and an artist-in-residence programme. Morley also highlighted some of the other organisations in the region that support artists, such as 126 Artist-run Gallery, Engage, Artspace, Áras Éanna on Inis Oírr, Creative Place Tuam, TULCA, Misleór Festival of Nomadic Cultures, GMIT, and the Burren College of Art.

Anne Mullee, Programme Curator at Mermaid Arts Centre, gave a talk entitled ‘Arts Practice Initiatives’. Launched in 2021, Mermaid’s ‘Transform’ programme invites Wicklow-based artists to become part of the fabric of the arts centre, providing paid employment of 20 hours per week. The programme has helped various artists propel themselves into the next stages of their careers. Mary Cremin, Director of Void Gallery, gave a presentation on Void’s exhibition programme. Void hosts five exhibitions a year in their brand-new gallery space, and works primarily with mid-career artists who focus on socially and politically engaged practices. Jaki Irvine and Locky Morris have an upcoming exhibition in March, which will showcase their interdisciplinary practice fused with the digital. During the Q&A, panellists discussed the best way for artists to approach them, emphasising the need for artists to make sure their work fits with the gallery programme, and to submit to open calls, residencies, and other opportunities before approaching gallerists for exhibitions.

International Opportunities

The third panel focused on international opportunities with insights from London-based Irish artist Elizabeth Magill, Stephen Snoddy, Director of The New Art Gallery in Walsall, and Nora Hickey M’Sichili, Director of the Centre Culturel Irlandais (CCI) in Paris. Elizabeth spoke in a reflective way about her practice, which combines painting and screen-printing. A sense of visual disruption or environmental threat permeates the landscapes she depicts. Elizabeth moved from Northern Ireland to London in the early 80s. Her first big break came when she was selected for The British Art Show in 1990. However, she stressed that the nature of interest in artists constantly shifts; breakthroughs come and go but are mostly out of one’s control.

Stephen Snoddy is a curator and artist from Northern Ireland who has been working in the UK since the late 80s with various art organisations and is currently Director of the New Art Gallery in Walsall. Stephen reflected on leaving Belfast at the height of The Troubles, and how this distance let him appreciate the powerful work being made by Northern Irish artists. He curated Rita Donagh’s retrospective at Cornerhouse in 1995, which coincided with the announcement of a ceasefire. As Director of Southampton Art Gallery, he organised a solo exhibition by Chris Ofili, which helped the artist win the Turner Prize in 1998. Stephen

was also responsible for building the collections, which required consideration of historical works and their interplay with contemporary acquisitions.

Nora Hickey M’Sichili discussed the visual arts programme at CCI Paris and its mission to present and support the work of Irish artists. Aideen Barry’s exhibition ‘Oblivion’ launched on 16 September as part of the centre’s 20th anniversary celebrations and was attended by over 1300 people. The touring exhibition, ‘Martin Parr’s Ireland’, opened at CCI on 11 November, and was complemented by a group show of four University of Ulster alumni, offering exposure for lesser-known artists during Paris Photo, which attracts hundreds of gallerists, collectors, and curators to the city. In 2023, CCI will present exhibitions by Niamh McCann, Colin Martin, Anita Groener, and Michael Hannah.

During the Q&A, panellists discussed strategies to increase international opportunities for Irish artists, including organising tours of Ireland and Northern Ireland for curators and directors working abroad; reinstating the Northern Irish pavilion at the Venice Biennale; and touring more Irish exhibitions internationally. Nora suggested that applying for residencies or funding is a good way for your work to be seen by panels – she has previously invited unsuccessful residency applicants to take part in group exhibitions. As the only artist on the panel, Elizabeth shifted the focus back to art making, stating that if you’re happy with your work, you shouldn’t be fussy about where you show – just get the work out there, and things usually come from that. Sometimes you only need one person to take an interest in the work to give it momentum.

Artists Speak

At Get Together 2022, there were three iterations of the ever-popular Artists Speak, with presentations from diverse groupings of VAI members. Nasrin Golden is an Iranian artist living in Ireland since 2012. Using various media (including photography, painting, and moving image) and drawing on tropes of self-portraiture and surrealism, the artist explores femininity, repressed sexuality, motherhood, and women’s bodies and identities within a patriarchal society. Nasrin’s solo exhibition, ‘Camouflage’, ran at D-Light Studio, Dublin, from 24 to 27 November 2022. Stephen Doyle was born the year after homosexuality was decriminalised in Ireland, which is significant in terms of the artist’s queer identity. Stephen’s practice has been enriched by spending time with LGBT+ activists in Russia and China. His work Dylan is ainm dom… (2018) is the first piece to openly discuss transgender identity within the national collection. Ayelet Lalor, presented documentation of various works depicting archetypal goddess figures. Religious and pagan influences resonate in her work, along with a sense of storytelling and humour. Ayelet works across different scales and materials, and has previously presented an ‘edible art exhibition’ at the Doorway Gallery in which visitors were invited to eat the sculptures.

Tunde Toth has been a practicing artist and researcher for the past nine years. Her work is socially engaged and focuses on themes of collectivity, solidarity, and participation. She utilises art as a tool to invite social change. Daire O’Shea is a sculptor, lecturer, writer, and motorcycle enthusiast moonlighting as a UX designer. He graduated from LSAD in 2016 with a sculpture degree and is interested in digital art form the 1990s and early 2000s, meme culture, and connections between text and image. Rouzbeh Rashidi is an Iranian filmmaker who moved to Dublin in 2004. He founded the Experimental Film Society (EFS) in Tehran in 2000, which became a film production company in 2017, and recently released a book for its 20th anniversary. Rashidi likens his films to the work of David Lynch due to the pervasive atmosphere of dread. Street and spectacle artist, Caoimhe Dunn, became engaged with street theatre as a teenager. Her recent work includes Queen Maeve’s Cattle Raid parade and Biddy’s Festival in 2019, and Samhain Lantern Procession, as well as Spraoi in 2022.

Samir Mahmood’s artistic practice focuses on the tensions between growing up in Pakistan, and his new life in Ireland. As a queer migrant artist, he explores an existence where in one country you are criminalised, and in the other, you are free. Recent mixed-media works focus on queering notions of masculinity, often incorporating imagery from the Sufi and miniature painting traditions. Kerry-based artist, Ber Earley, seeks to find beauty and magic within the mundane aspects of ordinary life. This was especially pressing during lockdown, when Ber created a series of paintings highlighting the importance of human contact, friendship, laughter, connection, and togetherness. Catherine Callanan creates figurative sculptures using a broad range of media, including plaster casts and textile elements. The artist is very curious about the human psyche and what keeps us going through adversity, and these themes deeply inform her art practice. Gillian Fitzpatrick is heavily influenced by space exploration. Projects include recreating the lunar landing on a sandy surface in a gallery context, organising an event at A4 Sounds in Dublin to mark the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, and crafting a tiny artwork to fit inside a 1cm cube – one of 100 artefacts sent by the Moon Gallery Foundation to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2021.

Inspiration

Artist Rosie McGurran’s talk, ‘One Woman and an Island’, took place virtually on the first day of Get Together 2022. McGurran was inspired by the beauty of Connemara when she visited Roundstone in 1989, where she eventually moved. She helped start an annual week-long summer residency on nearby Inishlacken. Her work draws heavily on the local landscapes and seascapes, the ‘casualties of winter’, and the ‘otherness’ of life.

Mark Francis’s presentation, ‘Echo Vision’, chronicled key aspects of his artistic career and a recent series of paintings which focuses on capturing sound as an image. The artist described how his techniques are rooted in his skills as a printmaker, such as painting horizontally but displaying vertically. Music is a constant in his studio and greatly influences what he creates. Francis was joined by Stephen Snoddy in a Q&A session, during which they discussed the influence of music on artistic practice, and the influence of other painters on their early work.

Samir Mahmood, Agonism / Antagonism, 2022, image transfer on panels, acrylic paint, crinoline tubing; photograph by Sinéad Barrett, courtesy the artist and Sample-Studios.