Irish Sculpture Awards at The Mill Cove Gallery

Two of our top sculptors from the Tower, Elizabeth O'Kane and Seamus Gill, are among the artists invited to exhibit at the Irish Sculpture Awards with the Mill Cove Galleries,  The Beara Peninsula, West Cork.  The exhibition opens at 2pm on Sunday 5th May and runs until 26th May.   The opening is in aid of RAWR, Rural Animal Welfare Resources Ltd.  Elizabeth will be showing her bronze pig, Porcellino, and Seamus will be exhibiting Flowering Podforms.

"I am thrilled for my bronze pig to be showing alongside the other entries in the Irish Sculpture Awards." Liz O'Kane

Porcellino, Elizabeth O'Kane

Flowering Podforms, Seamus Gill

For more information on these two artists visit their websites:

www.elizabethokane.com
www.seamusgill.com
www.millcovegallery.com

The Gathering - Irish bridal inspiration

Bridal headpiece designer Aisling Nelson from Rangoli, was involved in an inspirational photo-shoot, created to celebrate this year’s Irish-fest, The Gathering. The Gathering Ireland 2013 is a spectacular, year-long celebration of all things Irish. Photos by Paul Kelly of Studio 3.

The Wedding Crew styled the shoot, which was inspired by the natural beauty of the Irish landscape. Boyne Hill House estate was the perfect backdrop with its wild woodland and riverscapes. Sarah Foy designed the delicate, ethereal dresses that January wore.

Aisling created two gold headpieces. The piece seen above is made from delicate gold crochet strands, woven with pearls and blue topaz stones. The design continues around the back of the head where it is woven into the hair.

The second gold headpiece can be worn on the forehead or as a wide filigree hairband. Aisling works to commission as is based in The Design Tower in the Dublin Docklands.

More photos from this romantic shoot were featured on the Irish wedding blog One Fab Day as well as the UK blog Want that Wedding!

The Wedding Crew are an Irish wedding collective, comprising hair stylist Lorraine Browne, make-up artist Naomh Kirwan and photographer Paul Kelly.

    Credits:

    Photographer: Paul Kelly | Studio3
    Photographers Assistant: Feena Kavanagh
    Location: Boyne Hill House

    Hair: Lorraine Browne
    Make Up: Naomh Kirwan
    Bridal Gowns:  Sarah Foy

    Jewellery: Rangoli
    Flowers: The Informal Florist
    Cakes: little birds bake
    Stationery: Dusty Boy Designs
    Models: January and Jordan from Morgan the Agency

The big egg hunt

Ayelet Lalor took part in a charity exhibition for the Jack and Jill Foundation, where one hundred artists were given a 2.5ft fibreglass egg to do with what they chose; paint, demolish, add to, sculpt, anything goes. Below is a description taken from the Jack and Jill Foundation website;

"From February until Easter, Dublin will be home to the biggest Easter egg hunt in the history of the state when over 100 fibre glass eggs will be secreted around the capital, each one decorated by well known artisans. Big artist names decorating the eggs include Guggi, Ayelet lalor and John Rocha. 

Eggs will go on display on Pancake Tuesday 12th February for 40 days and 40 nights across Dublin. The locations of the eggs will not be revealed, its up to you to find the two and half foot eggs. It’s a family affair. Get the family involved in the Egg Hunt, all they have to do is find twenty eggs , each egg has a code which you have to identify to enter the draw for a grand prize ( diamond pendant earrings for Mum, chocolate factory visit for kids, and a years supply of chocolate from Lily O’Briens) it’s fun and easy.

The eggs will then be auctioned for charity in aid of The Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation. The online auction will begin on 12th February culminating in a live auction at the Four Seasons Hotel on 23rd March. Anyone can buy them . The hand crafted eggs are destined to become highly collectible and valuable works of art."

Here is Ayelet to tell us more about how she created her egg!

Concept illustration for the egg design

"Initial illustration and  drawing to scale, then trying to figure out how the hell to get it onto the egg without getting myself caught up in tons of paper."

"Starting to block out the colours, then slowly paint up the texture and layers. God, there was a lot of surface area on that egg, it just went on and on."

"Getting closer, starting to look finished, thank God!"

It was a really fun project to be part of, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.

 

For more information visit the Jack and Jill Foundation website and facebook page.

A Journey without a Destination

“It is good to have an end to journey towards;

but it is journey that matters in the end...”
author unknown

A journey without an destination is a joint exhibition by Philip Murphy and Mika (Marta Nowakowska-Bartosik) from the Misery Hill Gallery.

"This exhibition is a record of a beginning of a journey without a
destination .... instead of carefully planning a theme and working on it, we
decided to allow the work to evolve instinctively . The same when starting
a journey , if we give up the idea of reaching the destination we are able to
focus and to give full attention to everything around us. Such a journey can
be surprising and unpredictable, exactly how life is... too often we try to
make our work and journey linear, we want it to lead somewhere and we tend
to forget that diversions do much more than merely divert us. Anything we
experience , any person we meet, could change the direction of our journey
and can lead us to an unexpected place... if we are ready to follow ...we
decided to follow ,not to judge but rather to record what happened on the way
and share it with you ... not all of what we see is beautiful nor do we render
it beautifully, but we believe art is something more than only a decorative
painting to hang on the wall. We hope you will enjoy it anyway....

We have different background, culture,nationality, experiences but as artists
we share the same approach in making art, desire to push the boundaries, to
experiment, and serve rather our souls than egos. We try to shape and reshape
our personal experience and explore the territory of human emotions and
report perceptions that could seem unbearable to others.

As during the journey there are parts which are funny, playful and colourful
and other which are disturbing or turbulent, so they are in this exhibition. This
is a record of our shared sixth month journey ... to be continued. Thank you for
being part of it ..."

Exhibition runs from 7th December -21st December
Misery Hill gallery, Unit 66 , 6th Floor
Monday to Friday 11am- 5pm

 

Contact information:
Philip Murphy: 087 252 1227
Mika: 085 755 3644
email: philmiseryhill@gmail.com

The Olympic Torch passes through the Dublin docklands!

Athlete Mark Pollock carrying the Olympic torch on Macken Street

We're a little bit late posting this photo of athlete Mark Pollock who was one of the carriers of the Olympic torch on 6th June. The torch relay passed by The Design Tower during the Dublin torch relay.

Some of the Tower designers joined the crowds to cheer on blind athlete Mark Pollock as he passed by their studios on Macken Street. The torch was passed to Mark on Macken Street from footballer Paul McGrath. Dublin had forty torch bearers, including Jedward, Sonia O’Sullivan, Ronnie Delaney, Ruby Walsh, and Michael Carruth.

 

Bronze sculpture of Mark Pollock by Elizabeth O'Kane

Below is a feature taken from The Irish Times, 7 June 2012.

"BLIND ADVENTURE athlete Mark Pollock said he was “overwhelmed” by the number of people who turned out on the streets of Dublin yesterday to see the Olympic torch relay.

Pollock, who lost his sight in his early 20s and was paralysed from the waist down after a fall more than a decade later, was one of 41 torchbearers who carried the torch through the capital.

“I was overwhelmed by the amount of people who were out on the streets. It was a much bigger event than I thought it was going to be,” he said.

“It was a huge privilege to be associated with the Olympics in any small way.”

The Trinity graduate was speaking at an event held in Trinity College Dublin last night to honour students that took part in the Olympic Games over the past 100 years.

A total of 45 Trinity graduates have taken part in the Olympic Games since 1908 and many of the Trinity Olympians collected an award for their achievements.

Maeve Kyle, who graduated in 1950, became Ireland’s first triple Olympian for athletics at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964.

Mark Kenneally, TCD’s first London 2012 Olympic qualifier, was also selected as a torchbearer in yesterday’s leg of the relay.
“It was incredible. I didn’t expect as many people to be out and for it to be as big as it was,” he said. “There was just so many people around, it was an unbelievable experience.”

For more information about Mark Pollock, visit his website and blog.

The Design Tower Summer workshops

The popular Design Tower Summer Workshops will be held on Saturday June 9th and Saturday 16th 2012.

This is a chance to learn a new skill from practicing makers. The workshops take place in the individual studios of The Design Tower and are limited to between three and six students to allow for quality tuition and individual attention.

Students at an Ayelet Lalor ceramic workshop

 

Workshop courses include:

• Portrait Sculpture with Elizabeth O'Kane
• Leatherwork with Roisn Gartland
• Silversmithing with Seamus Gill
• Jewellery design and handskills with Da Capo goldsmiths
• Porcelain paperclay with Ayelet Lalor
• Design and Jewellery making with Breda Haugh
• Papermaking with Pat Mc Bride

Breda Haugh giving a soldering demonstration

For more information, have a look at the poster below or contact the individual designers via our Design Tower Website.

Elizabeth O'Kane

Elizabeth O'Kane will also be showing new work in the following exhibitions:

RHA Annual Exhibition, Ely Place, Dublin 2, from 28 May to 18 August.

Sculpture in Context, Botanic Gardens, Dublin, from 6th September to 19th October 2012.

Little League, Riverside Park, NYC, Watercolour

For more information on Elizabeth's work, visit her website.