Skip to main content

Artist Residency Ireland


For the month of September I'm doing an artist residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in County Monaghan, Ireland.  The 450 acres and buildings are stunningly beautiful.
Tyrone Guthrie (1900-1971) was an acclaimed English theatre director who also wrote plays for radio, including one series that he wrote in Montreal on Canadian history for the Canadian National Railways Radio, which eventually became the CBC.
In 1953, he was invited to help launch the Stratford Festival of Canada. Intrigued with the idea of starting a Shakespeare theatre in a remote Canadian location, he enlisted actors Alec Guinness and Irene Worth to star in the inaugural production of Richard III. All performances in the first seasons took place in a large tent on the banks of the Avon River. He remained as Artistic Director for three seasons, and his work at Stratford had a strong influence in the development of Canadian theatre. 


I'm staying in one of the self-catering cottages, pictured above.

The sitting room of my cottage.


The walking path along the lake in front of the Centre.



Horses in the field at the end of the lake.


My artist friend from Wisconsin, Rebecca Crowell is here at the same time as me. We've been here three days now and I'm beginning to settle down from all the newness and excitement.  As he was showing us around on the first day, Paddy-the "go-to" person here-said that this place is the 'centre of loveliness'.  What a positive way to begin our residency here.

 We went for dinner in the big house last night and met the artists who are residents at the moment..it changes constantly. Twelve artists were at the table for dinner last night.  Some people come for a month or six weeks, others come for one week.  Many are from Ireland and many are writers or poets or multi-discipline artists.  Most have been here numerous times.  One of the musicians is leaving tomorrow and so someone suggested that we have a 'session' in the music room.  The music room is an enormous open space, with a wide-planked wooden floor covered with a thick blue carpet.  Tall windows open up to the courtyard below.  A huge, ornate chandelier hangs from the 15' ceiling and a grand piano sits ready to play.  One slim, intense man from Switzerland plays electric guitar.  A small slender blonde woman from Germany improvised with him.  She plays viola and does voice improv along with her own playing.  She used every sound imaginable with her voice, nose and throat (although not a beat box kind of sound)...and was accompanied by the guitarist...it was absolutely incredible. When I closed my eyes her voice became another instrument playing every range of sound and emotion.  Then, another man in the group, who is an Irish-born poet, spoke one of his poems to the voice/guitar sounds while another women artist did some improv chanting.  The performance made me cry it was so haunting and lovely.  The poet/voice/guitar group improvised three pieces together, and another woman read a story she'd written, then sang A cappella. 

If I get nothing else out of this residency, this one evening would be enough.


Comments

  1. sukipoetSeptember 15, 2011 at 4:52 AM

    this sounds like a magical place to be. i have had residencies at art colonies in the US but to be in Ireland! What a dream. good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nancy NataleSeptember 15, 2011 at 5:18 AM

    A lovely post! What a beautiful place you are in. I hope your work is inspired by it. This was a wonderful introduction to your blog. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Judy WiseSeptember 15, 2011 at 9:10 AM

    Thank you for the well-described music session; I could almost hear the sounds myself from an ocean away. To commune with artists, to create a world of feeling, sound, vision, imagination and harmony. This is so good, the best human experience.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Janice Mason SteevesSeptember 15, 2011 at 1:22 PM

    Thanks for all these terrific comments. It is a really special place, and if you are all artists, I'd encourage you to apply....www.tyroneguthrie.ie
    They say that 70% of artists return here. I can understand it. Tomorrow I go to visit Newgrange with my artist friend, Rebecca Crowell. I've been before but it's the sort of place in the world that you can visit many times.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Liminal Time

 The word liminal comes from the Latin, limen meaning threshold. an in-between place, a place of transition, a time of waiting and not knowing. Dawn and dusk are considered liminal places. Crepuscular animals, like foxes and coyotes are most active at this time of day, a time that is considered a magical time in Celtic spirituality and to Indigenous people which is perhaps the origin of their designation as tricksters.   As I write this, the northern hemisphere has just passed the vernal equinox, where day and night are of equal length.We are in a liminal space between winter and spring right now, unsure if we will have one more storm or snowfall before spring finally settles in. We're also in a liminal place as we live through this pandemic with the  anxiety and discomfort of not  knowing. A  time of great transition for the entire world, wondering what we've learned from this and what lessons we'll carry forward.     Author and Fr...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lessons that Stone Walls Teach

Dry stone wall in the Burren, Co. Clare, Ireland   I've just returned from teaching a Workshop in Wild Places class in the Burren in County Clare, Ireland. Writing this post, I'm reminded of another post I wrote after visiting Inishmaan, the middle of the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland several years ago. Stone walls crisscrossed the island in tight webs like a fisherman's net. I wrote then that the web of stone walls made me think of the idea of putting limitations on our painting as a way of exploring more deeply and how walls give limits against the limitless. You can read that article   here. As our group hiked in the Burren with our guide, Marie McGauran we learned that the walls are stronger because of the holes in them. The wind can pass through. The oldest stone walls, estimated to be 3500 years old are at Skara Brae, a Neolithic site in Orkney. Most walls were built in the 18th and 19th century, marking areas of private ownership and resultin...
Post a Comment
Read more

I Can't Wait to Travel Again

                        I miss travelling! I’ve always loved to travel especially to wild and remote places  but living on an artist’s unsteady salary, I’ve learned to find inexpensive ways to travel. Several years ago, I discovered  artist residencies, which provide accommodation and small studio spaces. These are available to artists all over the world, some of which are free depending on acceptance of your application, others cost a small amount. I prefer ones that are remote but provide accommodation to a small group of artists rather than just one person. The interaction with artists from other countries is a stimulating, enlightening and enriching experience.                  St. John's Newfoundland 2019 After I’d been teaching painting classes for several years in various parts of Canada, the US, as well as in Sweden and Iceland, I had the idea to combine m...
Post a Comment
Read more