The Cattle Raid of Cooley

Lisa wrapped up a fantastic project as part of the Roscommon Artists in Schools scheme. All the classes at Abbeycartron N.S. were involved in the re-telling of The Cattle Raid of Cooley, which they turned into an artist's illustrated book (PDF, 1.1MB) and puppet show. Gabe went down with Lisa to video the puppet show and then last Thursday I spent a day at the school helping them edit the video into a DVD that is included with the book. Good stuff.

Underground Venus

I dashed over to the Royal Academy yesterday to pick up a book from the Cranach exhibition. Unfortunately I was rushing to catch a train and only had the chance to squeak through the shop. I did take a moment to shoot one of the outside banners.

The Venus image was initially BANNED from the London Underground on "matters of taste." I find this ironic since I remember the Kate Moss Obsession ad campaign being plastered on buses and billboards everywhere. The power of commerce over art ...

Paris by foot

I set out this morning to roam the streets of Paris and see some art. The highlight was the L'atelier d'Alberto Giacometti exposition at the Pompidou. I've never seen such an exhaustive exhibition documenting an artist's life, including letters, ephemera, articles, over 600 works, his studio ... truly exhaustive. Even though Giacometti is best known for his sculpture, he is a fantastic painter. One of my favourite pieces of ephemera was an invoice from Brassai for some photographs he had taken of Giacometti's sculpture.

Check out the webcams at the Pompidou.

Beautiful Words

Lisa is in the final round of selection for a large public art commission in Donegal. Ireland has a vibrant Percent for Art scheme. Four finalists were selected and Lisa prepared a public exhibition this week of the proposal and we pulled together this mini-site around her submission for all to see. Decision soon!

Eat your veggies

Maybe they should use this image to inspire kids to eat their vegetables. Too incredible not to post the image.

Till Nowak has created a masterpiece “Salad”, a fantastic digital image of Alien made out of vegetables. His tribute to HR Giger and Giuseppe Arcimboldo.

via Laughing Squid

iSteal

Lisa had her submission to the Heal exhibition stolen out of the gallery. The piece is on an iPod so viewers can meditate through a series of images and a repetitive chant of positive phrases and intonations.

The works selected for the exhibition aim to contribute positively to the healing process, enhancing physical and mental well-being and transforming the patients experience during a period of anxiety, discomfort and isolation in one of the following environments; a geriatric ward, a maternity ward, a communal area in a hospice, a pediatric ward or a casualty waiting room.

Technically this was our first experience directly with crime in Ireland. Though it happened indirectly over a hundred miles away in a gallery in Belfast.

Arts community

Art is much more integrated into life here. There are strange examples like the Stuart Davis prints hanging in the McDonald's on O'Connell Street in Sligo. And then there are the examples of me having a single phone conversation with filmmaker Johnny Gogan regarding the Leitrim Mobile Cinema. "We're screening the rough cut of my latest documentary at my house this evening. Would you like to come?"

Lisa and I drove a mere ten minutes down a rural road from our house to discover a handful of folks outside a small shed and a country house. We watched the 90 minute rough cut of a feature-length documentary on Cathal Coughlan's transformation from 80's frontman to his latest incarnation in a poetic song-cycle with mixed media called Flannery's Mounted Head. The audience provided some feedback to the filmmaker and most of the group headed to the pub for a pint as we headed home. How cool is that?

Delacroix's Atelier

One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to Delacroix's home and studio. There are so many museums in Paris, and there are small gems like this as well. How often do you get to walk the same rooms as a great artist and stand in their studio where great works of art were created? On your next trip to Paris, be sure to plan a visit here.