"Irish Bog Project"

 

Blog...

Inspiring people through my multidisciplinary art practice to remember to love and listen to and to honour the land.. The ancient people knew this, we are one and the same as the land, nature, plants, our cell patterns mirror each other, we are all one with the universe.. All we need to do is remember this knowledge that is already within our own genetic imprint..

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".....Back in 2020 during my Identity and Context module while undertaking a Visual Art Degree @setuvisualartdept I began the process of investigating introducing natural organic materials from the land into my artworks. I used reeds, heather and bog oak, along with synthetic paints to create a large-scale layered almost sculptured painting inspired by the Irish Bog.. In 2021 during the Major Art Project in my final year I took this a step further by creating an installation of works created from only natural materials. I used hazel rods, reeds, turf sods to create sculptures and also to create hybrid artworks of sculptural prints/paintings on natural cloth. For the marks on these I used natural ink/paint that I created from leaves that I gathered in the local native forest and from the bogs.

This research has been ongoing over the last few months and currently I am continuing investigations. I have spent most of my research time recently on experimenting with creating natural colours from plants and creating natural paper from plants. Generally investigating how we can create art materials from the earth, from our own environment and how we then can use these to create artworks.

Also I continue to create paintings using synthetic paint @mary.doyleburkepainting My artworks and paintings are inspired by nature, the essence and stories of the land and also the divine feminine and the feminine body as a form for art and how connection to nature can release emotions from the body back into the land.
I continually take notes and compare uses of both natural and synthetic materials. I work from my studio in Kilkenny @an_chead_tine workspace......   "

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".......Photos of my journey creating pigments and inks from the land, creating paper from plants, creating organic sculptures and paintings from these pigments, paper, paper pulp, found materials on the land: hazel sticks ( the native sacred diviner, I carry one from my own land everywhere I go for there is great healing and wisdom in the hazel) bog oak, peat, bog cotton, reeds, stones, bark, turf sods cut and saved with my own hands and the hands of my mother before me and her mother and so on ( a way of life, that methodical slow repetitive movement that comes with art or craft or those who for centuries have worked the land or sea, ..... the land once held all the stories of the people and the people once turned to the land and for healing, we are one and together connected through the universe, .) So this journey is so rewarding for me as I let the land through my art direct what message she has and I get to put my hands back into the earth, explore it's colours, pigments and organic materials and using my research methods to explore how to use these materials in my art practice.
As part of my Irish Bog Project, I will be running a workshop on creating pigments and painting on organic paper out in the Bog and also one in Kilkenny.
There will be also a workshop where the participants will create a collaborative sculpture from found materials on the land. Dates to follow in next few days.