Sunday 27 November 2011

Cashel Arts Fest-November 2011

As part of this year's Cashel Art Fest there was a Pop-up Gallery ARt Trail around the town. Professional artists, sculptors, photographers and craft workers were invited to interpret the theme of animals and birds.  The art trail made use of the empty commercial spaces throughout the town.  This impromptu exhibition showcased eight professional and up and coming artists’ creations in a street gallery structure. Cashel was transformed, temporarily, into a gallery space with the shop fronts doubling as a frame for the works. This method of exhibition is a vehicle through which the art experience is integrated into and shared with the community in a gentle and unforced manner, making art more accessible to everybody. http://www.cashelartsfest.com/exhibitions.php

Below are images of the work I exhibited in the Art Trail.

We knock down their homes to build ours

 
Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness V, mixed media on Japanese paper, 13x19cm
 
Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness IV, mixed media on Japanese paper, 16x23cm

Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness II, mixed media on Japanese paper, 23x17cm

Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness III, mixed media on Japanese paper, 23x17cm

Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness I, mixed media on Japanese paper, 40x17cm

Go And Tell The King That The Sky Is Falling In, mixed media on Japanese paper, 70x50cm

Between the Folds, drypoint and carbarondrum on Fabriano, 23x17cm

Bird House Installation

Saturday 26 November 2011

More work from Dartmoor!

(See below for more information on Dartmoor Arts Project)

The Key Pieces (series), Mixed Media, 30x20cm each
  I expereimented with these prints, trying to create an old document feel, to make the print into an artefact in itself. I layerd different colours and overlapped different techniques (drypoint, screenprint and monoprint).  The drypoint plate was made using an old map reading tool found in an antique shop, which became part of the piece.


A Key Piece (close up of one)


I can read you like an open book, screenprint, 16x14cm (book size)





This piece was made by screenprinting on to the pages of an old book which were then sewn back together in a way where they are all join together but can still be pulled out.  The book is an old atlas, which fits in with my theme of travel and journeys. I often go through second hand bookshops looking for old books which are relevant to my practice.  Another book I worked on while at Dartmoor was The Pilgrim's Progress!  I found this one particularly interesting and relevant.  I love working with books, whether its printing onto the pages or turning them into something different.

Friday 25 November 2011

Show Time!!

During September 2011 I had my first solo exhibition at the Backwater Studios.  Below are a few select images from it.




Exhibition Statement 


Lost and Found 2011                                        16th September - 2nd October
      
                                      
Aoife Barrett graduated with a BA Honors Degree in Fine Art Printmaking from Limerick School of Art and Design (2010).  She also holds a BA Honors Degree in Archaeology from the University College of Cork (2006).

Since graduation she has exhibited in a number of group shows including A4 Printmakers, The Poly Arts Centre, Cornwall (2011), The Woman Factor, The Back Loft, Dublin (2011), Impressions, Galway Arts Centre, Galway (2010), The RDS Student Art Awards, Dublin (2010) and Limerick Printmakers Print Exhibition (2010).

Awards received include South Tipperary Emerging Artist Award (2011), Cork Printmakers Twelve Month Bursary (2010), Fine Art Travel Bursary, Horwath Bastow Charleton, Limerick (2010), RDS Printmaking Award (shared) (2010). 

My work explores the idea of what Jean Arp called the “secret soul of things”.  I combine and layer 3D installations, photography and prints, exploring the concept of objects as a container and symbol for our actions, experiences and memories.  All materials worked by human hands recount something about themselves and about us, to where connected ideas emerge.  I use the cast-offs of society to construct the unregulated yet vibrant expressiveness of the human being to personalise space and to create a visible inner world.

As an archaeologist I have always been interested in the role of archaeology and history in building an image of the past and how that effects the present. When we discover something that once belonged to somebody else, even something mundane, we use it to tell us something about that society as a whole.  As an artist I am more concerned with the individual.

I use words, combined with found objects and images of tents, boxes, books and other material things to connect to thoughts and emotions in the past.  These ideas demonstrate the role of the archaeologist who tries to grasp the human meanings that were held to artefacts, searching for traces of the human mind in the archaeological record.


Gallery space

Gallery space




Message in a Box (series)


The Key Pieces (series)


The Key Pieces (series)


Teabag Houses, paper installation


Teabag Houses, paper installation


Change Does Not Take Place, book, wax and tar gel etching


The Russian Doll Effect (a box in a box in a box), screenprint and varnish on wood

The Russian Doll Effect (a box in a box in a box), screenprint and varnish on wood

Everybody's Temple, Photo Riston

Pilgrim's Progress Part II, etched copper pipes and drypoint printed on book pages

The Cargo, print installation

The Cargo, print installation

Houses on Wire (Series of 3), mixed media


Thursday 24 November 2011

Exhibition Preparation (Sep 2011)

"The secret soul of things"- Jean  Arp
 
This Ship's Cargo, work in progress, mixed media






This Ship's Cargo: A heap of small boxes made up of etchings and screenprints. Subtle words and images hinting at the memories and thoughts they symbolise. The weight a person carries around or the meanings a person attaches to objects that are stored away for safe keeping.



Message in a Box (series), etchings and mixed media, 21x14cm each







 
Studio shot

As an archaeologist I have always been interested in the role of archaeology and history in building an image of the past and how that effects the present. When we discover something that once belonged to somebody else, even something mundane, we use it to tell us something about that society as a whole.  As an artist I am more concerned with the individual.

I use words, combined with found objects and images of tents, boxes, books and other material things to connect to thoughts and emotions in the past.  These ideas demonstrate the role of the archaeologist who tries to grasp the human meanings that were held to artefacts, searching for traces of the human mind in the archaeological record.  Unlike the archaeologist, however, my work is concerned more with the emotion than the fact. 


The Lantern, tar gel etching, 32x10x10cm



Photo Intaglio with Basic Bookbinding Aug 2011

Weekend course with Eimearjean McCormack at Cork Printmakers


Building the book!!

Letter press for cover









 
Everybody's Temple, Photo Riston, 18x16cm

Figuring It Out, Photo Riston 15x15cm (old family photographs and memorabilia)