I’m heading to Woodbrook to check out the Gathering, my sister Joan has been a volunteer and crowds beginning to build as we speak, click on image for more info
Some of you may know that my full-time job is helping people in the arts in the south east of Ireland. I’m co-ordinating a regional arts programme across five counties for all types of creative people and groups. One of the main strands of the programme was to introduce a website to connect, support and profile artmakers 18 years and above and their work. You might be thinking how this influences my own work, but read on.
As you can imagine overseeing the development of such a website for such a diverse audience was both daunting and exciting (it still is) but you can hear about my efforts in a podcast interview here, where Krishna De ( a leading Irish based social media strategist) and Ken McGuire (an IT expert heavily involved in the arts in Kilkenny), asked me about my strategies and implementation of social media and ideas. They were both involved in setting up the first Podcamp in Ireland, an open forum on all aspects of social media to facilitate the development of vibrant online communities and I was lucky enough to attend. An introduction to such ideas and people actively intent on sharing their knowledge was a godsend in many ways but yes I can admit I was initially daunted - the informal but very professionally ‘unconference’ (where the emphasis is on active sharing) was ‘streamed‘ live to connect with online audiences who couldn’t attend, people were ‘twittering‘ (posting short comments live to followers) during talks and other sessions were being ‘podcast‘ (for online radio listeners). There was talks by ‘bloggers‘ too but what was also fascinating was the mix of people from business and the creative industries who were attending.
I’m often juggling many projects at the same time and can all too often see my art goals slipping away. My full-time job is also challenging but I know for my sanity’s sake I need to keep my art alive. In the last while I seem to have been on the lookout for new methods to keep my goals in front of me; I’ve used the back of envelopes, bought loads of notebooks but with rushing around and changing deadlines, its often ‘now where did I put that list?’
I’ve been reading recently an aptly named book called Focus -the power of targetted thinking, and one suggestion
was to try goal-setter software . Well, with nothing to lose, I downloaded goalEnforcer.com. It looked very basic but it’s higly visual - its a drag and drop system of entering your goals into ball shapes. I’m always putting things in circles of things to do and this is like that but you can also put in due dates- the circles turn red when overdue and you can edit on the fly - goodbye scribbled goals or worse, goals on lost envelopes!
The program looks very basic but I was suprised to see that my hometown university in NZ was using it as well as Oxford Uni. I’ve starting using it for my work goals and will be trying it out on my art goals soon - only wish it was hooked up to my google diary. Its fun too and sometime just getting your goals down is the first step to starting them 
From the editor of Apocalypse Now, Walter Murch, I discovered this small gem of a book on film editing. Can you imagine there was 4 tonnes of material to edit in that film!
What I found striking about this book is that it gives a view in how in our everyday lives, we all ‘edit’ reality continually. If you don’t believe me, read his chapter on ‘blinking’ and watch people when they blink (it’s a sure fire way to see if they have taken in what you have been saying).
So from someone who has worked on the biggies in Hollywood, I found loads of practical ideas for my small film attempts - printing out images and sticking on walls in rows to introduce new ‘cut’ options thereby allowing you mind to creatively mix and match new options. Basically It means you can communicate more strikingly… Printing out stills; it’s on my ‘to do’ list for my recent footage and it brings to mind what I learnt at a recent film masterclass about letting the visuals be more random and poetic. I’ve also found recently to work on the audio first and then add the visuals as I get too precious with the images, too soon.
He shares generously, so that even though its a complex subject, you come away inspired. I’ve recommended it to a few, including some writing friends - ideal if you want to make better projects for youtube!
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Hard to believe what a simple animation can achieve, but Annie’s youtube movie, thestoryofstuff.com, manages to bring a complex subject on the ecological and social effect of western style economics to
millions on the net. Her simple drawings and personal story, formatted into a small web-ready animation, shows how an idea, simply packaged and easily available, can be so effective. The personal element of Annie’s story I believe is an important, it scores highly on 10 PINK Rules of effective environmental communication which I’ve talked about before).
Enjoy the movie, there is just a teaser below, and the full movie link is below that ( I saw it first courtesy of Brian and Paul, from FutureProofKilkenny at one of their excellent Global Lunchbox events, thanks guys!)
then signup to Annie’s updates!
Grafitti draws attention to exotic timber use by local authority
Well, the man in this photo is not really an artist, usually, but I had to admire Tom’s recent graffiti work in Tullamore.
Tom has worked tirelessly for years trying, along with others, to effect change in Ireland’s policy of still allowing the unsustainable importation of exotic wood into Ireland, often from extremely poor and fragile communities.
Tom is best known for his Tree of Life exhibition that he tours to schools but his website is also an excellent resource for all things related to Ireland and global forestry. His pages from the WWF on Ireland’s total lack of committment to timber importation are truly shocking, see how Ireland has the poorest record in the EU in respect to illegal logging and timber use. Remember, the next time you buy anything made from
wood, to ask for its FSC (forest stewardship council) logo 
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“If we lose forests, we lose the fight against climate change.”
During the Carlow Eigse Arts festival last month I was very lucky to catch an enchanting puppet
Dog
version of this well-loved tale - the Puppeteers won the 2007 Eco Prize for Creativity. It tells the story of a French man, who with his faithful dog - (a rather shook looking puppet, a real rascal who easily stole the show), planted trees anonymously for decades in a barren landscape, turning it into a prosperous, peaceful and fertile region (a simple story and a powerful vision, worth promoting even more so now).
Most people who love trees or have forests will have encountered this short story before, it has been a mainstay amongst environmentalists, including Wangari Matthai, winner of the Nobel Peace prize for her community forestry work in Kenya.
The story by Jean Giono has and continues to inspire many ever since it was first published in the late 50s. I was delighted to see it coming to Carlow and glad I made the effort to see it, as the production was a charming, multi-sensory and humourous! Read the rest of this entry »
This talk looks very interesting, not sure if I will be able to make it.
White Cube, Green Maze: New Art Landscapes by Raymond Ryan (Curator, Heinz Architectural Centre, Carnegie Museum)
If in the 1960s and ‘70s, Art found a home in the clinical white interior (and, occasionally, the wilderness) and if, in the 1980s and ‘90s, many post-industrial spaces were impressively retooled for art, today new kinds of parks and gardens are emerging that fuse nature with architecture and landscape with work by leading contemporary artists. This lecture presents recent and upcoming projects for art and landscape in Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, Mexico, and Brazil.
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