from online to paper

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art, books, Dublin Book Festival, Ireland, literary magazines, Magazines and their Makers, publications, reading, writing

After spending my Saturday in the world of blogging my Sunday afternoon was filled with the written word on paper. The Dublin Book Festival was hosting the event Magazines and their Makers, a session with editors and publishers of five of the leading literary magazines in Ireland.

As an avid reader and an attempting writer it was interesting to hear from those who take the chance and publish less mainstream works. It seems that Ireland is experiencing somewhat of a ‘golden-age’ of literary journals and magazines as over the past few years several new ones have joined the more established names.

Most of the magazines on the panel, like Gorse, Crannog, Cyphers and Winter Pages, all focus on fiction writing, poetry and other forms of artistic collaborations The Dublin Review also focuses on non-fiction writing in the form of essays, reportage, travel writing and memoir writing. 

When asked why choose print over online all the panel seemed to be of one mind. They expressed their love for the published form as an object, something tangible and long-lasting. They spoke about how our ‘instant age’ has the desire to ‘slow down’ and ‘concentrate’ on what is in our hands.

And while all are more or less are classified as magazines they saw their literary collections as ‘artisanal’, nothing that would be quickly disposed of but would be an item to collect and take pleasure in time and time again. Of course each magazine is of its time, but like a time capsule it conserves it and gives insight into the years gone by.

Another thing that all of the editors and publishers on the panel agreed on was that the magazines were not created for the writers but for the readers. That no matter what form they decided on, what pieces they chose for publication, how well constructed something is or how experimental a writer goes, if the reader isn’t included, isn’t able to partake it will not work.

All in all it was refreshing to experience people who invest so much time and effort into the literary form even if financial success is very unlikely.  There truly is something inspiring about people who do things because they love it.

the power of words the force behind this train

a book turned into sculpture, the words brought to life

Weekly Photo Challenge: tiny

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art, photography, photos, St Petersburg, TINY, travel, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge: TINY

While traveling I often find myself looking up at windows, gutters, roofs and lights and often I find a kinds of beauty just above my gaze. On one of my trips, to St Petersburg a few years ago, I spotted these tiny musician jamming atop a light fitting. I loved the patina of the bronze miniature and only wished that I had been able to hear what tune they were playing.

tiny musicians

late Easter parcel – perfect timing

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art, crafts, drawing, late Easter, parcel, post

This morning a parcel arrived filled with Easter treats – my brother and his family had sent me some sweet reminders that they were thinking of me. But the nicest thing hidden in between the marzipan eggs and other delicious German sweets was a hand drawn me an Easter Egg.

He is four-and-a-half years old (a half is really important at that age) and he is quite the little artist. I have a few of his creations and was delighted to add another work of art to my kitchen gallery.

And I have to admit it was a lovely way to start the day – week even. Especially since I feel quite stressed with the work load I am currently carrying. In a few weeks time I have to hand in so much work for my Masters and since the semester is coming to an end there is a lot of grading piling up. So the sweet pick-me-up was greatly appreciated and  made me smile.

So even if it was a little late for Easter the parcel arrived at the perfect time !

my nephews art work

a date with art

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186th Annual Exhibition, art, Dublin, Fergus A. Ryan, Ireland, paintings, RHA, Royal Hibernian Academy

Today is varnishing day at the RHA (Royal Hibernian Academy) – the precursor to the  186th Annual Exhibition that shows hundreds of works of art by known and unknown artist living in Ireland. This year the exhibition is running at an earlier than usual date to coincide with the 1916 Exhibition that was burnt during the 1919 Easter rising.

And lucky me, I was invited to join my talented friend Fergus A. Ryan to get a sneak peek at the exhibition before it officially opens tomorrow. The oil painting he is showing is called Entwined and depicts my beautiful niece, the artists inspiration for his beautiful work.

I can’t wait to see my niece hanging in the gallery – which The Guardian recently named the best art space in Dublin – after all, as a proud aunt, I love spending time with her, even if it is only in picture form.  So with that in mind I’d better get ready for my date with art.

Entwined (Oil), by Fergus A. Ryan

Weekly Photo Challenge: Life Imitates Art

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art, Dragana Jurisic, Ireland, Life Imitates Art, My Own Unknown, photos, photos photography, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge: Life Imitates Art, Wexford, Wexford Arts Centre

On Saturday I took the train down to Wexford to be at the opening of my friend’s Exhibition. For one month Dragana Jurisic will be showing the first chapter of her current work ‘My Own Unknown’ in Wexford Arts Centre.

It was well worth the trip – the work is thought provoking and beautiful. I traveled down with Dragana and we spent some time in the Gallery before the opening, I got a sneak peak at the work, she documented the exhibition.

I couldn’t resist when I saw the artist taking a photo of a portrait of herself to take a photo too – life imitating art in a very multidimensional way.

portrait of the artist taking a photo of a portrait of herself

planing a RHA visit

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Amanda Coogan, art, I’ll sing you a song from around the town, performance art, photography, photos, RHA

As I sit over my calendar trying to figure when to do what my mind keeps drifting back to a gallery opening I went to on Thursday evening.

I’ll sing you a song from around the town is renowned performance artist Amanda Coogan’s latest work and combines live performances with sculptures. Over a series of six weeks the Irish artist will move from sculpture to sculpture and perform individually designed performance pieces. As she moves on a collaborator will take her place, in the end all six performance piece will run simultaneously.

I am looking forward to experiencing this exciting and unique living work of art, even if I am not quite sure that I will fully understand it. After all, even though I am interested in the Arts,  performance pieces often elude me.

So as I try and figure out how to fit everything in to my 168 hours this week I am trying to find a time slot that I can use to visit the RHA over the next six weeks – I want to see the domino effect of performances and experience this Irish Artist in the stunning setting that is the RHA.

So as I ponder performance art and wrestle with my calendar I can’t help but feel grateful for my first world problem.

stunning sculptures waiting their turn in Amanda Coogan’s six week performance piece

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photo-book – YU: The Lost Country

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art, Dragana Jurisic, Dragana Jurisic YU: The Lost Country, photo-book, photography, photos, YU: 'The Lost Country'

Photographs, like memories, are fleeting; they capture a moment in time and frame it forever. And like memories, photographs invite us to imagine, dream and conjure up stories to help form our identities.

The photo book YU: The Lost Country is Dragana Jurisic’s visual account of her search for her own identity. Born a Yugoslav she sees herself as an exile, a wanderer who has no roots since the destruction of the utopia that was Yugoslavia in 1991.

To help her find a path through a country that no longer exists Dragana Jurisic sought the guidance of the British writer Rebecca West. Published in 1941, West’s masterpiece Black Lamb and Grey Falcon weaves three separate trips through the Balkans into one complete memory of what the Yugoslav identity was about.

Following in West’s footsteps, Dragana Jurisic captures glimpses of these memories through her lens and recreates a fictional version of a modern day Atlantis. The muted palate of colours and hazy, sometimes a little out of focus, contours add to the sensation of memories once forgotten, now remembered, a dreamlike world just beyond our reach.

Punctuating these images with words, a combination of her own and West’s, Dragana Jurisic allows the viewer to enter into the images and gain an insight into a lost world. And while memories may be subjective, just as the creation of photographs is subjective to the viewfinder of the photographer, the memories become real, an objective representation of something nearly forgotten.

YU: The Lost Country challenges the idea of what defines identity and encourages the reader to rethink what they believe to be true, but it does this in a very delicate, subtle way. This understated approach is also reflected in the sophisticated exterior of the book, its canvas cover is pleasant to the touch, and the elegant design invites the eye to linger and revisit. A small issue is the closeness of the print to the edge of the pages; one or two millimetres would have saved the illusion of toppling off the edge.

Not only is YU: The Lost Country an unusual photo book, as it gives more than just imagery and frames the stunning photographs with words, memories and history, it also resembles a time-capsule that stores lost knowledge for generations to come.

YU:The Lost Country

YU:The Lost Country

 

living with an artist

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art, artists, books, Dragana Jurisic, Dragana Jurisic YU: The Lost Country, Dublin, photography, photos

Over the past week I have been sharing my home with my wonderful friend and gifted photographer Dragana Jurisic. It had been an exciting week for her as her long awaited book YU: The Lost Country was launched, she was part of a group exhibition –  (It’s kind of like) telephone – as part of Photo Ireland and the English Independent Magazine featured her work in it’s weekend supplement.

For me it has been a busy and interesting week as well – for many reasons – and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. Between writing and appointments I have relished experiencing, first hand, what living with an artist is like.

Lounging in bed for most of the morning seems to be big a part of it, but it’s not lazy dreaminess that keeps the artist trapped between the sheets, its the cozy comfort and  proximity to the plugs attached to the socket in the wall that keep her captivated. Her laptop and iPad balanced on her knees while her fingers hurry across the keys, always communicating, always working, her ears covered in bright-red earphones, drowning out the sounds of the mundane world outside.

Always the good hostess I have provide coffee and breakfast in bed, prepared healthy, hearty lunches and savoured the insightful banter, laughs and creative chit-chat along with my salad dressing.

The afternoon then beckons the artist to leave her retreat and a flurry of showers, ironing and clothing decisions accompanied by a plan ushers the artist out the door and into a waiting world – a mixture of appointments (both work and social),  is a well constructed cocktail that paves the way into the evening which is filled with exhibitions, launches, free wine and lots of networking until late into the night.

After my week living with an artist and witnessing how productive this way of life can be, I am now – even more so than before – a firm believer that nine to five really doesn’t fit all and doesn’t always allow a creative mind to find it’s wings.

Dragana, beautiful inside and out (selfportrait part of the exhibition (It’s kind of like) telephone)

Th Independent Magazine goes all out

Dragana’s beautiful book YU: The Lost Country

road-trip around Denmark (part two)

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art, Öresund bridge, Denmark, Humelbaek, Karen Blixen, literature, Louisiana, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Malmo, Museum of Modern Art, photography, photos, road trip, sculpture, Smørrebrød, travel

After spending the day in Copenhagen my Godmother and I took the Öresund bridge to Malmo. This 8km long bridge links Denmark with Sweden and is quite amazing, sadly the grey skies and murky air didn’t allow a great view but it was an experience none the less.

I may not be a beer drinker but I couldn’t resist this licorice beer in the lovely gastro pub “Peas &Honey”, Malmo

still raining in Malmo but the old town center was very pretty

City Hall Malmo

fountain outside City Hall

After a wet morning in Sweden we returned back to Denmark and traveled up the coast of Zealand, the largest of the Danish islands, to the tiny town of Rungstedlund. This is where the Danish author Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen) was born, lived and died. She wrote the world renowned autobiographical-novel Out Of Africa and many other stories and books.

I may not have known much about her before I went but I was fascinated by her life story and really enjoyed my visit to her home, now a museum.

Karen Blixen’s house, view from the road

this was her home for most of her life, her only time somewhere else were the 17 years spent on her farm in Kenya

too wet to sit outdoors

little colourful birdhouses hanging on many trees

tranquil bridge

there are benches scattered all over the grounds, each with their own name – this one is called bench of praises (I hope I got the translation right1)

this door leads to the room where Karen Blixen wrote – it is still the way she left it

Karen Blixen’s life mask

After we had our Smørrebrød and a cup of tea/coffee we headed further up the coast to Humelbaek and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. This incredible museum has not only got a beautiful view but unique underground galleries. My Godmother and I spent a few hours wandering around and enjoying sculptures, paintings and photography – and of course another Smørrebrød before we left.

wood sculpture waiting for the next big exhibition

more preparations for the upcoming exhibition

A Henry Moore sculpture with a view

I loved this modern sculpture of a diving board

some moving sculpture

view from above

some more art

KUSAMA INSTALLATION – amazing in real life – not so good in photo

a detail from the famous ALEXANDER CALDER sculpture

even the seagulls like to hang out here

some boat passing by

an indoor lamp

As it was getting late my Godmother and I decided it was time to  find a place for the night so we drove back towards Germany and found a lovely hotel in Kerteminde, on the island Funen.

 

To read about how this trip began, and ended click on the links below:

road-trip around Denmark (part one)

road-trip around Denmark (part three)

dabbling with dance

Tags

art, Carl Jung, Catherine Young, dance, Dublin, Dublin Dance Festival, modern dance, quote

Deciding to try something a little bit different I went to a sneak peak of some modern dance yesterday afternoon. Not really knowing what I was getting myself in to, I was pleasantly surprised by the experience.

As part of the Dublin Dance Festival Catherine Young invited to take a first look at Ultima Thule, a discovery of the unconscious through dance.

When you look at old maps you often find sea dragons and other mystical monsters roaming the boarders of the undiscovered and unknown world. These unreachable spaces and far off lands are known as the Ultima Thule and often represents unattainable goals.

Inspired by this and Carl Jung’s Liber Novus (The Red Book) – the notebook in which Jung wrote down his fantasies, imaginations and visions – Catherine Young decided to look at unconscious movement, pushing beyond what bodies are trained to do to find what bodies want to do left unchecked.

By allowing her dancers to explore their unconsciousness, write down random thoughts and words, move freely, created shapes, motions and sounds Young has choreographed a unique new dance work.

And while you can still see (and hear) her love for African dance and yoga inspired dynamics, Ultima Thule pushes up against and passes by the known. The symbioses between movement, singing and percussion beats creates a very visceral experience, raw and primal and very intense.

So while I may not know much about dance, and I may be a novice to the world of modern movement, Ultima Thule made me think, and I believe that is what art is all about – no matter the form. And maybe I didn’t understand it all, or found some of it confusing, but I found beauty and inspiration between the steps.

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

Carl Jung