BA in Visual Art Sherkin Island 2009 - Update - Dublin Institute of ...

BA in Visual Art Sherkin Island 2009

BA in Visual Art Sherkin Island 2009

Educational Meitheal on Sherkin Island
Daniel Reilly Chairperson, Sherkin Island Development Society
It has been almost ten years since the first seeds of this programme were planted here on Sherkin island, and now after a
very long growing season, it is harvest time. It gives me great pleasure on behalf of Sherkin Island Development Society,
and the entire Island community to congratulate our first seven students to be conferred with a BA honours degree in Visual
Art. This may be very rare for a rural community but it is definitely a first for an offshore island.
This programme is of huge benefit both economically and socially for the Island. As the programme is run from September
to June, which is off peak to our traditional tourism period, it gives our Island businesses - ferry services, hotels, pubs etc a
vital boost at a time which would normally be very quiet. The programme also provides much needed employment on the
Island.
The social aspect, however, is even more important as the comings and goings of our students, their families and friends,
together with the lecturers brighten up what would be otherwise dull winters. The numerous social gatherings associated
with the programme and attended by the students and locals alike have been great fun. Many of our students after all this
time have been reluctant to leave. I suppose you would get a little institutionalised after almost ten years.
I want to thank our partners, Dublin Institute of Technology and West Cork Arts Centre, for their great dedication in ensuring
the BA in Fine Art is now on a very sound footing and we look forward to many more years of collaboration. I would also like
to thank Majella O’Neill Collins, Programme Facilitator (SIDS), for her vision and dedication in helping to develop and
implement this programme. Bernadette Burns, Programme Co-ordinator, Margaret O’Reilly, Administrator and Marc Holden,
IT Support, are also invaluable to the programme and I also thank them.
Finally I want to express my gratitude to the people of Sherkin Island who have made our students and lecturers feel very
much at home.

Where We Now Stand – an Educational Context
Professor Brian Norton President, Dublin Institute of Technology
We at the Dublin Institute of Technology are delighted to see our first group of graduates come through the BA in Visual Art
programme in 2009.
This four year modular honours degree programme emerged from the School of Art, Design and Printing’s experience of the
pilot Art and Culture Programme (2000 – 2003). Developed by DIT and Sherkin Island Development Society (SIDS) the pilot
highlighted a willingness on behalf of all those concerned community, school and participants alike to engage in a
learning process which saw the redrawing of traditional educational boundaries and the desire to develop an accredited
Degree structure.
Building on the key elements of the Pilot Art and Culture Programme, the BA in Visual Art is distinguished by its
emphasis of forging a learning environment in which the living patterns and knowledge base of a community are respected
and included in the structure of the learning environment. The BA in Visual Art’s structure seeks, through its foundation in
collaboration and through the strategic use of both live and virtual contact, to support and maintain the emergence of a
worthwhile learning community in the context of lifelong learning.
One of the most innovative aspects of this programme is its delivery designed specifically for a local community combining
live classes, face to face tutorials, group work and seminars, learning portfolios, pre-recorded lectures, virtual classroom
technology and online research resources. In all of these methods there is a significant emphasis upon individual reflection,
critical engagement and collaborative learning.
Delivery of the programme is centred around intensive group learning blocks on Sherkin Island. Participants meet and work
together for concentrated sessions of workshops, studio practice and critical analysis. Each session begins and ends with
discussion and a critiquing of each individual’s work. Through this process the participant becomes engaged in a learning
process that is reflective in nature and which implicitly involves the participant in the construction of their learning and that of
their peers.

This form of educational delivery has attracted international interest in the programme. This is evident in the alliances
formed with a range of third level institutions arising largely on the basis of the initiative. Such institutions include: the
University of Ulster, The Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen and the University of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland,
Loughborough University (UK) and Kingston University (UK).
While recognising the importance of this model and its delivery it is also time to view and experience the work of these
graduate students. Many of the graduates were participants on the Arts and Culture programme. Their practice is evidence
of the value of collaboration and operates by both acknowledging the local and its contexts within the wider contemporary
art world. Their dedication, drive and application to their studies has been exemplary.
From, literally, ferrying portfolios and art materials across to Sherkin Island, developing environmental landworks in gale
force winds and ordering library books and seeing them delivered to the hall in cardboard boxes, they fully acknowledged
the unique aspects of this programme and used them to their strengths. We sincerely wish these first BA in Visual Art graduates
every success in their future work.
I would like to thank and acknowledge the commitment of all the staff at DIT who have worked on this BA, particularly the
programme co-ordinator Bernadette Burns. We are most grateful to our partners Sherkin Island Development Society and to
the West Cork Arts Centre for showing such dedication and enthusiasm for this BA and to the Pilot Programme. Without their
commitment, dedication and co-operation we would not be here celebrating the work of these graduates.
The influential American writer and arts activist Lucy Lippard, who delivered a public lecture on Sherkin Island as part of the
Art Council’s Critical Voices Programme in June 2002, spoke of the local as being “the intersections of nature, culture,
history, and ideology that form the ground on which we stand.” Building on Lippard’s definition it is perhaps our own
intersection of defining, collaborating and delivering a BA programme from the local to a national and international context
that will further inform us on where we now stand.

Celebration
Majella O’Neill Collins Chairperson West Cork Arts Centre
The BA in Visual Art Degree Show 2009 at West Cork Arts Centre celebrates the work by seven students who are the first to
graduate from the BA (hons) in Visual Art Programme, Sherkin Island. The development and implementation of this
programme is supported by a partnership between Sherkin Island Development Society Ltd (SIDS), the Dublin Institute of
Technology (DIT) and West Cork Arts Centre (WCAC).
Along with the other partners, West Cork Arts Centre is committed to the development of transformative learning provision at
the higher levels of educational achievement which this programme provides. It also provides opportunities to build
capacity in the arts so that artists can live, work and study on the islands - underpinning the capacity for living in remote and
rural island and coastal environments.
As an organisation concerned with the development of the arts and with issues of access to and participation in the arts for
all sectors of society, West Cork Arts Centre recognises that the BA in Visual Art Programme is a significant arts and cultural
resource for this region. It has extended the range of creative opportunities not only for islanders and the broader West Cork
community but also for the students and lecturers of DIT, Dublin.
The BA in Visual Art Programme brings professional artists to the area and creates opportunities for students, other artists,
communities and arts organisations alike. It invigorates the process of engagement with the arts, it supports the
establishment of learning communities and leads to the development of networks to promote exchange between
communities of interest and the interrogation of contemporary arts practice.
We are delighted to show this work by Sheelagh Broderick, John Desmond, Gill Good, Jill Hegarty, Tess Leak, Ciarnad Ryan
and Geoff Stephens and to showcase both the Degree Programme and the individual emerging artists involved.
We would like to thank the seven students who are the first to graduate from this programme, for their enthusiasm, hard
work and commitment to both the programme and to this exhibition. We would also like to congratulate them on a wonderful
first exhibition of which we hope there will be many more.

artist
title
medium
sheelaghnagig
Epiphany of the Mulroy Bay I I
Movie still
I am an artist practicing in the lifeworld, using light as a tool to illustrate, document and illuminate.
I am drawn to process based and performative works. I am constantly struck by the deep vein of knowledge
resident in our communities and am interested in how these knowledges can be stretched and documented
through collaborative processes.
email: sheelaghnagig@gmail.com
blog: http://sheelagh-na-gig.blogspot.com

artist
title
medium
dimensions
John Desmond
The Holocaust, Roll Call, Roll Call, Roll Call
Charcoal, crayon, pencil, felt markers, and chalk on paper
Scroll, 63cm approx
The Influence of Art on a Historical Event, the Holocaust. The period between 1939 and 1945, known as The
Second World War, is a defining moment in modern history. In this capsule of time there came about an
unbelievable horror where a government enslaved, tortured, starved and eventually systematically killed twelve
million innocent men, women and children, of whom six million were Jewish. Bigotry, racism and hatred in a
complex set of circumstances all funneled together and resulted in this tragedy.
In my art practice and thesis I have set out to try and examine why and how this could happen in a supposedly
civilised society. What influence had the visual arts and film making on this event? What was the effect on society
of the use and power of icons and symbols? And finally, how did modern philosophies explain how and why the
holocaust happened?
tel: 02838102
web: www.islandcottage.com

artist
title
medium
dimensions
Gill Good
Meán Fómhair
Oil on canvas
41cm X 51cm
“That which we flippantly call reality is not there and not real for as long as it has not become reality through art.
In other words art never makes a statement about reality, but is itself the only reality which is there.”
Gerhard Richter
My work is based on an exploration of The Visual Language of abstract art and its many structural units;
I chose to concentrate on the Visual Language of colour. I express my emotional connection to the landscape
through the use of simple powerful forms in vibrant colour. Sunshine and light are essential to my inner life and
are celebrated in my paintings. My practice is based on nature and I work to simplify images, letting colour be my
guide. Magazine articles, memory, poetry, my own photography, images of my local environment, all inspire my
work. Like Richter the fundamental theme of my practice is painting itself.
Having explored the Visual Language of abstract art I now appreciate the need to disguise or conceal the object,
in order to hold the interest of the viewer (Richter). My present explorations are based on a response to autumn’s
colour richness. I will continue investigating colour through landscape and nature. As Sile Connaughton-Deeny
puts it, landscape “is primarily a sensual and spiritual response to the earth which gives us succour”.
tel: 021 4778294
email: gillegood@yahoo.ie

artist
title
medium
Jill Hegarty
Dish of the Day… Sherkin Oysters in Season
Installation detail
This is a cultural fluidity between Art and Commerce. Art reflecting on the connectivity between work and the
environment. Sherkin is an Island. Therefore its surrounding environment is water. I see this as a work capsule.
Oyster farming takes advantage of the Atlantic Ocean’s gravitational pull of the tides. The Moon is the clock
setting the rhythms of access to the oyster beds. Man steps into the natural world and nurtures nature over time
to produce an oyster fit for market.
Through my work I look at stages involved or related to this development from farm to food chain. This also
brings to attention the fleeting, fragile nature of human labour working in unison with the elements and individuals
in constant collaboration throughout the process. One of my influential artists is Pierre Huyghe who ‘has asserted
the work of art as a zone of activity, a form filled with human interactions, political and social phenomena’
(Bourriaud, 2006). My interdisciplinary interpretation of industrious activity on Sherkin led me, in giving form to
these factors, to work with photography, drawing, film, sound, sculpture, paint and paper. In contrast to the rural
domain on the island I have introduced some references to my own urban situation in my presentation.
I see this work as art reflecting life grappling with water. I want the viewer to stop and think about the struggle,
the time and timing of operating in this challenging environment and the lengthy process involved (in fact, 2.5
years per batch). Thereby, years to make – seconds to break.
tel: 087 2856404 / 01 8436839
email: jillhegarty@gmail.com

artist
title
medium
dimensions
Tess Leak
Safely This Far
White chalk on brown paper, black ink on white
90cm x 134cm
Since November 2008 I have been drawing in a room on the edge of Sherkin. Directly out of the two windows is
an ever changing expanse of sea and sky, three other islands and (at night) the beam from Fastnet lighthouse.
I made a series of large drawings called ‘on the watch for whales’ and others about distance: between two pieces
of land and between two people. I work at different times of the day and night, collect the drawings together and
divide them up again to see how this changes how they can be seen.
tel: 086 3689778
email: tessleak@yahoo.com

artist
title
medium
dimension
Ciarnad Ryan
Her Blue Car
Oil on canvas
50 x 40cm
My work is concerned with memory and childhood and is intended to be a comment on loss and change. I have
used the family archive of cinefilm and photographs to influence my painting direction. I am attracted to these
images because they are blurred, faded and oddly composed. I photographed the cinefilm as it played and used
these to compose the paintings. This gave me another layer of removal from the original event.
Because memory is so unreliable and childhood memories are saturated with nostalgia and myth my paintings
are not intended to faithfully represent my family, instead I present a fragmented collection of family legends.
tel: 086 3180804
email: ciarnad@gmail.com

artist
title
medium
dimensions
Geoff Stephens
Codex Pareidolia
Mixed media
84cm x 59cm
Originally I had looked at ways of documenting the passing of time when I found a vase of dying Hydrangeas.
Once they had been living organisms but now they were dead and although they had maintained their
structure, they were decaying. I thought about this process, how the gradual decomposition of matter is
inevitable.
Through my work I set out to capture the moment when one concept changes into another.
The metamorphosis of matter, as ageing reduces the living and once vibrant structure, in this case of a bunch
of Hydrangeas, but it applies to all of creation through the process of decay. In my original drawings I had used
pen, ink and wash, to capture the fading glory of a floral decoration. The next stage was to analyse in more
detail the structure of this organic world, as if seen through the eyes of a small insect that is crawling through
the vegetation. This I expressed by the use of heavily textured surfaces, the tactile quality being an important
consideration.
Recently the suggestion of the human form has crept into some of my work both the ‘organic’ and the ‘fire’
studies and I am allowing this Apophenia, or the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or
meaningless data to persist and collecting it together in a large notebook format. The Codex Pareidolia.
tel: 028 20984 / 0868779499
email: geoffstephens40@hotmail.com

Published by West Cork Arts Centre on the occasion of the
BA in Visual Art Degree Show 2009 West Cork Arts Centre, 1 – 21 March 2009
BA (hons) in Visual Art Graduation 2009 Sherkin Island, 2 March 2009
A joint initiative between the School of Art, Design and Printing at Dublin Institute of Technology, Sherkin Island Development
Society Ltd. and West Cork Arts Centre and supported by the Department of Rural, Gaeltacht and Community Affairs.
Sherkin Island Development Society Ltd.
Sherkin Island, Skibbereen, Co. Cork, Ireland, tel: +353 28 20802 email: sherkinart@gmail.com
The School of Art Design and Printing
Dublin Institute of Technology, Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1, Ireland tel: +353 1 4024138 email: artdesignprinting@dit.ie
West Cork Arts Centre
North Street, Skibbereen, Co. Cork, Ireland, tel: +353 28 22090 email: info@westcorkartscentre.com
web: www.westcorkartscentre.com
essays Daniel Reilly, Professor Brian Norton, Majella O’Neill Collins
photography Tom Kelly design Michael Stephens printed Tralee Print
ISBN: 1-904354-23-8
© 2009 West Cork Arts Centre, the artists and the authors. British Library Cataloguing in Publication data available. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic,
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