ArtQuake at the Joinery Gallery is an exhibition and silent auction of contemporary Irish art in aid of HAVEN, a registered charity specialising in rebuilding homes for the people of Haiti (see www.havenpartnership.com).
The exhibition will feature works in painting, photography, drawing and textiles from artists such as Kate Warner, Logan McLain, Lisa Crowne, Brian Cregan, Mariann Hughes Browne and creative collectives Nouveau Vadge and A4 Sounds.
Opening: The exhibition opens at 7pm on Friday 2nd April Dates: The exhibition runs until 5pm Sunday 4th April. Contact: artquake.exhibition@gmail.com Venue: The Joinery Gallery, Stoneybatter, Dublin 7
Ok so this post is a mix of what I do at work and what really pissed me off in the gym a while back when I spotted a guy walking around with “Eire” tattooed on his arm. I was sure of two things when I saw him:
This dickhead clearly didn’t know enough Gaeilge to qualify any proclamation of Nationalism, especially in the form of a permanent (bad) example of body art.
His name was probably “Anto”.
So while attempting to kick start my creativity in work by trying my hand at a totally awesome Photoshop Tutorial to turn a photo of grass into a shit cool piece of typography (try it here) I decided to turn it into the shape of our fair nation. Yes, yes, deep down, I do love Ireland despite occasionally wondering how much better it would be if we introduced selective breeding (three generations later and everyone is “middle class”. Much better).
Now while I don’t profess fluency in our native tongue I am confident enough to be able to hold a ‘comhrá‘. What annoys me though is people’s disregard for the wee little fadas over our lovely little vowels, a point in case being the word Éire. Without the fada it means burden. Now why would you tattoo that on yourself?
I have a folder on my computer called “Images”, in it are a totally random collection of images that I have come across while browsing around the web. For one reason or another when I saw them I was compelled to right click and “Save As”. There are no selection criteria and my thoughts when saving them have ranged from “Man, that looks cool” to “LOL!” Below is a selection of these images which I often simply look though for inspiration or entertainment.
So it’s Valentine’s Day and all that. I know my friend Conor must be feeling lonley today. Probably crying his way through a few 500ml tubs of Phish Food, an Indian take away, an extra large bag of Marks & Spencers Ready Salted Crisps, the entire Eurosaver Menu in McDonalds… and a diet coke. So Conor, here’s some Love just for you. (Don’t forget to purge.)
Here’s a powerpoint presentation on Composition I put together for the night course I teach, if it’s useful to you feel free to download it and change it anyway you want.Download the File (3MB)
My mate Tannith (also known as my evil twin) came over tonight with an idea for a hoodie inspired by her boyfriend’s love of the US version of “The Office”. Watch the video and you’ll understand. Exactly my sense of humour. She bought a blank nike hoodie that just has the red “NIKE” swoosh on the chest and we matched the colour and then stitched on “Just Do It – that’s what she said!” – came out pretty well! Now isn’t she the best girlfriend ever?
What is it with women and spiders? Arachnophobia is defined as an uncontrollable fear of spiders, one of the most unnecessary phobias as far as I can tell. I’ve even met men who are afraid of spiders which, in my opinion should only develop in a severe case of Anuptaphobia – Fear of staying single. Forever. You Pussy.
(Check thephobialist.com for a full and oh so ridiculous list of irrational fears, are there actually people like this?)
Anyway, my poor mother was the test subject for my latest bad thought process which went something like:
I’m bored because I’m not in Liverpool watching the match.
Someone needs to suffer for this.
“Maaaaaa?!”
Yes, she hit me with it and refused to have it in the room while she slept.
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Know an Aracnaphobe? The Spider Pillowcase makes the perfect gift to make their worst nightmares come true and ensure they’ll never sleep again. Be a sadistic bastard and order your very own Spider Pillowcase for only €10 (Incl P&P) today.
Yay a delicious commercial project – I was approached by CreativeCakes (seriously look at their website, you will drool!) to customise their chef outfits with their tasty little logo. I’m hungry now… and have been thinking about the Little Britain sketch I used to love…”I love a bit of choclit cake!” watch it!
While in London I came across the Ladybird series of greeting cards by Simon Spencer (available on his website) which made me laugh so hard that people in the shop were staring at me and I came close to wetting myself. The last one is definitely the best! (My kind of humour). I really like the juxtaposition of image and text to put a modern twist on something old and well established that reflects how much society has changed.
Here is photographic evidence of the physical abuse I suffered over the course of my New Year’s holiday in London. I was viciously attacked by my own alleged friend Conor Hickey (former Rose of Tralee). When police finally apprehended and questioned the young Kerry man it became apparent that the reason for the assault was a lack of commitment on my part to keeping my blog up to date, all Hickey (23)…[stone]… had to say was “That’s what you get for not updating your website.”
Got an e-mail tonight from random music blogger who informed my of a site called Wordle which is fitting nicely in with my new interest in typography. (Yeah, I’m digging fonts, words and layout right now). Anyway, Wordle is a fun toy that automatically generates “word clouds” from whatever text you enter, then you can tweak fonts, colour, layout etc. Give it a try.
I used to love pac-man, my cousin actually had one of the Atari machines so we used to sit for hours playing it.
if you fancy a game click here for a free online version.
The past month has been extremely busy as I started teaching along side Rosemary Cullen and Emma Brennan on the night course in NCAD. So far the experience has been really fantastic, it’s very interesting to see the variety of approaches taken by all the students as they explore their ideas. I’m really looking forward to seeing how everything develops over the coming weeks.
To learn more about CEAD at NCAD click here
Last Wednesday, Thursday & Friday I took part in the Higher Options Fair at the RDS with the Crafts Council of Ireland. We were there to talk with and advise students who are considering Art, Craft and Design as a possible career path. I also had my PR-620 on site so I was able to do some practical work with students as I talked to them about what it’s like getting by in the working world with a creative qualification.
Students got to design their own small embroidery using the software on my laptop and then watch as the PR-620 Digital Embroidery Machine realised their designs in stitch in just a few short minutes. Many students took advantage of the service to make small personalised gifts for their significant others…aww.
Irony is reading a conversation on Facebook about how Twitter is a waste of time. There are people out there with endless social network pages and no real friends.
(Ok, I bought a new battery charger)
I was amused when my mate Bobby was ‘taking the michael’ out of my for basically squiggling in my notebook. I spent a good part of the day idling around the house with him and Seeareh (that’s Ciara to you) basking in the classical atmosphere. The Wicklow mountains were just outside (we had all the windows closed of course) while Seeareh attempted to beat the Mac at a game of chess, Bobby lounged in the armchair reading a photography book (if it’s possible to read a book full of photos and I was squiggling. At an MA level of course. These aren’t your everyday primary school take a line for a walk squiggles… these are two years of post-graduate education squiggles.
