Indigenous Feminism

 The day after I arrived in Winnipeg, I attended a fabulous workshop/lecture Indigenous Feminisms through Visual Art at MAWA (Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art). Dr Suzanne McLeod led the group through an inspirational history of Indigenous feminism discussing both past and current work by Indigenous women artists. One of the contemporary artists discussed, KC Adams, who had a public sculpture at The Forks in Winnipeg and I took the opportunity to see it in person. 

Niimaamaa, the title of this collaborative piece, means “mother” in Cree, Ojibwe and Métis languages. It is an outline of a pregnant woman, apparently the first time this subject has been depicted in public sculpture in Canada. 

It is a mixed metal work representative of motherhood and Mother Earth. This sculpture is a collaboration between three Indigenous women: KC Adams, Jaimie Isaac and Val Vint.

Further along the pleasant walk at The Forks one comes across the sculpture Education is the New Bison by Val Vint. 

It is a mostly corten steel sculpture composed of “books”with laser-cut author names and titles that are important to Indigenous culture.

The bison is created from books written by Indigenous authors or allies.

Further along yet again, lies the inspirational corten steel piece by Jaimie Isaac The 8th and Final Fire. 

The tipi-shaped flame at the front continues as a series of echoes as one walks around the sculpture.

The plaque (in several languages, though I have only included the English words) gives a full explanation of the thinking behind the sculpture.

Protectour at Port Laoise

After several years of working on it, Protectour by James Hayes, was finally finished and launched on Culture Night 2022 (Sept 23). I got to see it beforehand, however, as we had stopped by Port Laoise to view the finished work on our way out west at the end of August. 

It is made of polished concrete with stainless steel features and includes a time capsule to be opened in 50 years. This is located in the bottom section of the stainless steel feature on the central portal and was designed by Hayes to be accessible by the Laois Arts Office at that future date. 

The work is highly visible from a number of locations and will be a durable meeting point in the town with its location very near to the O'Moore Park GAA grounds.

It is also very close to the O'Moore roundabout, which is named after one of the seven septs (clans) of Laois that were transplanted from Laois to the southwest of Ireland (Munster) in the historic transfer of power that the sculpture also references.

The shadows cast by the central portal of the sculpture are very dynamic.

Culture Night 2022 saw a number of people who were directly involved with the project and members of Laois County Council flanking the Cathaoirleach (chairperson), Ms Thomasina Connell, who cut the ribbon to officially launch the sculpture.

 

Uillean piper Joseph Byrne played a traditional tribute to the seven septs of Laois and everyone then retired to a reception at a nearby café for tea and coffee and absolutely amazing sweet and savoury snacks! 

When the commission was being offered before xmas 2019 the long road to it's completion at the end of August 2022 was not envisaged. There were many hurdles to be overcome (not least, the covid pandemic!) but the finished sculpture certainly stands as a testament to the perserverance of Hayes and the team of people behind the making of Protectour. The launch on Culture Night was a chilly autumn early evening, but at least it was dry, and the reception afterwards was charming.

Quick visit to Belfast

Since a hard border is becoming a real possibility with the impending Brexit, I wanted to make sure I got in a visit to Belfast beforehand, because it is not very likely I will bother returning if there is a guarded border like there was before the Good Friday Agreement.

I love Belfast, especially the multitudinous public sculptures! We were just on an overnight, so after dinner we walked down the street to look at the full moon through Dan George's "The Spirit of Belfast"

Dinner, of course was at Little Wing, which has the best pizza EVER. I think this small chain business only exists in the North, but I wish there was one closer to home. We absolutely love getting the giant pizza with pepperoni on one half, and artichokes, purple onions, tomatoes,and olives ["giardini"] on the other half. Chili flakes, chili oil, and extra parmesan are for the asking. YUM!!!

After breakfast the next morning, We had a pleasant 5 minute walk to The MAC in the Cathedral Quarter of Belfast. This is one of the happiest looking streets I have ever seen. I imagine it must be hopping in the evening.

All the galleries at The MAC were devoted to MAC International, an open biennale with a large prize fund [£20K]. I was surprised that all the work in the exhibition seemed to focus on installation and video/film, with a special interest in the Beuysian concept of lecturing. The work of the prizewinner, Nikolaus Gansterer, was partly created in situ. It seemed to me that one of video lectures included the torture of a group of snails, and I found this quite distressing.

The MAC is a large arts centre, which has a reading area and lots of café space.  Like a ray of light, Mark Garry's "The Permanent Present" (according to The MAC brochure it is also "referred to affectionately" as "the rainbow") is a permanent art piece in the centre.

On the short walk back towards the carpark, I noticed this building but could not really see what was happening with it till I got closer. The wonky reflection in the glass is a much older building across the road. I like it!

I have always liked this sculpture, "The Rise" by Wolfgang Buttress, and finally had my phone camera out in time to take its picture as we were leaving the city under a very dramatic sky.

It rained as we were passing the Mountains of Mourne, but once we got across the soft border, the rain stopped for the rest of the drive home, though the dramatic skies continued.

Barcelona 1

My recent break to Barcelona started with a walking tour around the Gothic Quarter. I had earwigged on part of a walking tour during my first trip to the city in 2012 and was so impressed that I hung on to the Travel Bar leaflet and simply looked them up once my recent trip was planned. I highly recommend the tour, and also the friendly bar that is headquarters to a number of tours.

It is impossible to walk through the Gothic Quarter without taking note of gargoyles; this picture features a unicorn and (middle right) an "elephant" -- crafted by someone who had obviously never seen an elephant before!

One lovely building houses a Moorish ceiling, a fantastic piece of architecture.

This same building, the Viceroy's Palace, is also home to a modern bronze door - also a fantastic piece of work. The St George door was created by Josep Maria Subirachs in 1975.

St George/Sant Jorda is the patron saint of Catalonia and appears in lots of carved embellishments around the Gothic Quarter. 

Rambling around the old city of Barcino history is written on its very walls: the various rulers made their mark by building on top of other buildings; the castle is a mish-mash of architectural styles and building methods. 

In the foyer of an apartment building one can view Roman columns that were formerly part of a temple to Caesar.

 The tour guide spoke of  festivals in Barcelona and how there was always a celebration of Catalonian sport -- castelling. During any festival their are competitions of "castellers", i.e. human towers. Although I did not see any castelling while I was in the city, I saw the gorgeous sculpture by Antoni Liena i Font, "Homenatge als Castellers" (Homage to Castellers), which commemorates the height of a human tower that was created in an adjoining square.

The stainless steel sculpture is 26.5 metres high and was unveiled in 2012.

Antibes outdoor sculpture: Le Nomade

A visit to Antibes is incomplete without paying respect to Jaume Plensa's Le Nomade sculpture looking out to the Mediterranean.

This summer was no exception. It was an easy enough short walk up the ramparts from the beach below, when taking a break from the water.

I've always loved that one can go inside the sculpture too, as it is an open mesh of letters.

Looking up at the pure blue sky from within Le Nomade is a pleasure.

In strong sunlight, the shadows cast by the sculpture are sharp and interesting. I am always expecting to see random words with all the letters of the sculpture, but in my annual visits to Antibes, I have never actually picked out a single word!

Visit to Edinburgh - 2 - Rose St

Walking around after dinner on the first evening in Edinburgh, I came across the lovely pedestrian Rose St. The street was full of patio restaurants, cafés and bars and I imagined that it must be really lively during the day, later in the evening and on weekends. Obviously my timing was off, it being a Tuesday early evening.

Rose St obviously celebrated poetry as there was a large board with a print featuring "poem of the month".

Since the street was not busy, it was great to have the opportunity to get a closer look at things. Most magnificently, there were a series of gorgeous laser-cut screens, illustrating a days-of-the-week poem.

The poem is Beachcomber by Scottish poet George Mackay Brown (1921-1996) and the screens were designed by Edinburgh based artist Astrid Jaekel. Her website can be seen here.

Mackay Brown was part of a group of poets who met regularly at pubs in Rose St in the late 1950s. They are known as "The Rose St Poets".

This series is a permanent feature of the street, whereas one may presume that "poem of the month" is temporary. Astrid Jaekel designed the mural and billboard for the changing poem also (first picture above).

Saturday screen!

Sunday screen!

An end screen.

An end screen that includes a plaque giving artist and poet details, as well as the poem Beachcomber in full.

Day in Dublin

I had a few things to do on the north side of Dublin and passed by this drawbridge. Actually, I am not sure exactly what this is (formerly a canal lock?) but it seems to be a bit out of place. It reminded me of old Dutch landscape paintings and I thought this was appropriate as I planned to go to the Eugeen van Meigham show at the Hugh Lane Municipal gallery later in the day (which I will post about next week).

In the meantime I took the opportunity to have a closer look at the giant iris outside the NCI building. I had spotted this on a previous visit to Dublin, but the rain kept me from further investigation then.

This stainless steel piece was created by Vivienne Roche and commissioned by the National College of Ireland (NCI) and entitled NC Iris.

On the way to The LAB to see a couple of exhibitions, I came across this plaque on Foley St  in commemoration of specific women who had fought in various places in Dublin during the 1916 Uprising, and generally to all women who had taken part in the activities of 1916, the War of Independence, and the Civil War, which followed.

Although it was in the smaller gallery at The LAB, Lucy McKenna's exhibition, "Astronomical Mashup", was  definitely the main attraction (and totally perfect in the entrance exhbition space).

McKenna combines sci fi mythology with factual knowledge about Mars to examine the way information is understood about our neighbouring planet in specific and on a wider scale in general.

The exhibition is intriguing: it possesses both beauty and humour. McKenna's small scale painted images are delicate while the large graphics are in-your-face technical wallpaper! The overlaps keep perspective shifting while all the time the viewer is aware of the set-like tentacle streams (a la War of the Worlds) hanging from the scenery, and always in peripheral vision in this small space.

Like a moth, I was drawn to the curiosities of the light bulbs, which had subtle photographic images on their back surfaces: a darkened crescent moon on one and tiny spots (the Pleiades) on the other.

I also enjoyed the other exhibition, IAWATST (Interesting And Weird At The Same Time), which took up the main gallery (including upstairs space). It was a group exhibition of work from the OPW collection curated by students from an inner city primary school. I didn't get any pictures from this exhibition, but they are available online and further information is available on The LAB website.