RiseCreatives

This weekend 3^rd – 5^thSeptember the 2010 Ceramics Ireland International Festival will take place at the Pottery Skills & Design School, Thomastown, Co Kilkenny. A number of events are planned for this year’s festival including lectures, demonstrations and the festival exhibition. Sinéad Glynn will be demonstrating the firing process she used to create her pieces. She will also be showcasing her work at the festival exhibition which runs from the 3^rd – 5^that the Grennan Mill Craft School, Thomastown.

For more information and to purchase tickets visit the Ceramic Ireland website.

Art House Co-op, based in Brooklyn New York, started three years ago with the goal of bringing art to the masses. Since starting, they have interacted with thousands of artists from around the world, all brought together with the common goal of creating art and sharing it with each other.

They host many of the exhibitions of their projects at their gallery in Brooklyn, called The Brooklyn Art Library. In an attempt to give artists as much recognition as possible, as well as providing the opportunity to see the exhibition that they’re a part of in person, they have started taking select projects to guest galleries around the United States.

One such project is The Sketchbook Project where thousands of sketchbooks will be exhibited at galleries and museums as they make their way across America.

After the tour, all sketchbooks will enter into the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Art Library, where they will be barcoded and available for the public to view.

Anyone – from anywhere in the world – can be a part of the project. Check out their site to find out the details on how to get involved.

Ger Breslin of Ojee Jewellery will be launching her new jewellery collection called ‘Touchy Feely’ at the Ultimate Girls Day Out in the RDS which starts this Friday and runs until Sunday.

Ger predominately uses silver in her jewellery as she loves the challenge of working with metals. The concept behind her new collection is one of ‘touching’ the ‘feelings’ that you are wearing. Whether it is Joy, Hope or Love each piece reflects a feeling.

The Joy pieces are highly polished and smooth. The “Love” and “Hope” pieces are slightly textured with a high finish. According to Ger, “the collection is a reminder to us all to be aware of our feelings, of what we feel, who we feel it for and how we show them!”

Ger’s jewellery will be available at a discounted price exclusively for this special event.

Ger Breslin at The Ultimate Girls Day Out, this Friday til Sunday in the Main Hall at the RDS.

This month sees Sinéad Glynn in the Leinster Gallery in Dublin in a group exhibition called ‘Reverie’. The exhibition runs until the 31^stJuly. You can also see her work in Gallery 2 in the Kilkenny Design Centre from the 7^th – 16^thAugust as part of the Kilkenny Arts Festival.

Eily O’Connell and Sabrina Meyns will be exhibiting their new work as part of the Workhouse Studios in the Custom House Studios in Westport, Co. Mayo. The picture here is a sample of Eily’s new work called ‘Aladin’s Maze’.  This new piece is cast from potato sprouts and other organic material with quartz inset. According to Eily, the piece is called Aladin’s Maze because Aladin is a type of potato and it looks like a maze with all the intersecting sprouts grasping the treasure (the quartz). Both the name and piece have a magical feel!

The exhibition in the Custom House Studios in Westport Co. Mayo opens on the 19th August.

The Ceramics Ireland Exhibition at Rathfarnham Castle Dublin runs until the 11^th July, 2010. The Exhibition features aspects of contemporary clay practice including functional, decorative and sculptural. The exhibition is showcasing over 45 designer/makers including ceramic artists Lesley Kelly and Sinéad Glynn.

Emma Bourke, Fiona Byrne and Sarah Gavigan will be taking part in a group exhibition titled “Dolly Mix” at the Mad Art Gallery, Dublin. The exhibition showcases the work of nine emerging female artists and designers in 2D and sculptural works. According to Emma Bourke curator and exhibitor, “the collection of works in glass, ceramic, metal and fine art is tactile, diverse and demanding in responses from the viewer. Dolly Mix highlights the technical skill and the individual conceptual response from each artist to her craft based medium, resulting in a successful composition of Irish contemporary art and craft.”

The exhibition runs from the 10^th- 19^th June at the MadArt Gallery, 56 Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin 1

Emma Bourke (Glass Designer) is currently taking part in a summer group exhibition called “Sculpture in the Gardens” at the Mill Cove Gallery, Castletownbere, Cork. She is also taking part in another group exhibition at the Mad Art Gallery opening 10^th June.

Sinéad Glynn is one of the artists in the “Art of Clay” exhibition currently running at the Gallery Zozimus, Dublin.

Cherith Brown (Fine Art) is currently studying a Masters in Fine Art and her end of year show takes place from the 31^st May – 5^th June, The Station, Belfast.

The winners of the Future Makers grants and awards scheme were announced last Thursday 6th May. We would like to congratulate two members of RiseCreatives Sabrina Meyns (Jewellery Design) and Sinéad Glynn  (Ceramic Artists-Designer) on their success.

When Aisling joined RiseCreatives towards the end of last year we were instantly attracted to the quality of the materials she used to create each piece. In a recent Q&A session with Aisling I asked her about the materials she uses.

 “All my silver pieces are completely handmade. The materials used are predominately sheet silver, silver wire and recycled 9ct gold. The cabochon stones used for my ring settings are ethically sourced and are fair trade. I source the beads which include agate, quartz, amethyst among others from all over the world and I use heavy nylon coated stainless steel wire made from at least 49 stainless steel strands for my beaded necklaces. All the clasps and feature beads/pendants are.925 sterling silver and some of the clasps I hand make.”

Aisling’s jewellery is currently available at RiseCreatives.ie, Mira Mira in Sandymount Dublin 4 and Nell Jewellery Castlebar. She also takes commissions, and clients are welcome to visit her studio in Dublin.

Image: Handmade sterling sterling silver pendant with coral double strand necklace.

Sabrina Meyns is one of 7 artists who have been invited to exhibit in Makers Guild in Wales exhibition, “From Pulp …”. The seven artists are Sabrina Meyns, Carol Farrow, Shellie Holden, Sasha Kingston, Hannah Lobley, Gill Willson and Sarah Kelly. Each artist has selected unique methods of working with paper in some form. Sabrina uses handmade paper, seeds and fine silver to create delicate jewellery pieces. She says that, “this choice of media best translates my fascination with translucency, fragility and the ephemeral beauty that exists in nature. Light activates the work; illuminating the finest of details inherent in the materials and those which have been purposely trapped and worked into them.”

The exhibition runs from the 15th of May until the 4th of July at the Craft in the Bay Gallery, Cardiff.  

Sabrina was also recently selected by the CCoI for the Irish Craft Portfolio exhibition which runs from the 26th March to the 22nd May.