Live From Dublin: Taking Up Residence

Fade St stars

 

 

 

So I’ve arrived and have taken up my place as artist-in-residence at Project 51! As some of you might have been following on Facebook, it’s been a busy first week. The day I arrived, an Irish reality TV show called Fade Street came in to shoot a scene in the boutique of P51. The crew ended up asking me and a few of the other designers to be props- act like store browsers while the characters ran their lines. 13 hours in country and already on Irish telly!

Clare O'Connor, Sinead Clarke, Me

I also attended a benefit fashion show called Celtic Fete Fatale on Saturday with some of the designers from Project 51. The outfits and accessories from P51 designers looked great!

I’ve been making my way through the list of wonderful museums and galleries here in Dublin and got a chance to meet the director of the Crafts Council of Ireland yesterday at a reception held at the National Gallery. My Irish art history course at Trinity College has begun and I think its going to be really interesting.

P51-Center, white painted front

The flat couldn’t be in a better location- we’re in Dublin’s creative quarter, just blocks from the best museums and Trinity College! And so many great cafés and restaurants- no, it’s not ALL Irish stew, meat pies, and Guinness, but that’s good too. My flatmate, Sinead Clarke, is as sweet as she can be and has been teaching me how she designs and makes her knitwear.

To top off my first week was a visit from the distinguished Aidan Breen. We had a lovely chat today over afternoon tea and I’m looking forward to my future visits with him.

Well, as Eoin McDonnell, founder of Project 51, laughingly told me yesterday, after such an adventure, it’s downhill from here. HaHa  Here’s to more adventures to come! Cheers!

In The Studio: The Women

September 2011

As I’m sure folks have noticed I haven’t been producing a lot of work these last few months- busy working to save money for the Ireland trip. But I have managed to eek out a couple of things. First was a set of mother-daughter, white gold and aqua marine rings made for my mother, sister, and myself. All are the same design; I selected and set the stones, and engraved each with all of our initials. Happy Birthday to my lovelies!

I also managed to complete a silver brooch for my great-aunt, Nelda. This brooch was created using the repoussé technique and has a double pin stem. I wanted to post a picture of it here since I will wait to add a new section to the Gallery until I have more pieces completed. We were all so busy chatting and visiting, I never got a chance to snap a picture of her wearing it.

Live From Dublin: September Press

So a quick post before I get on the plane- Project 51's launch on 8 September went really well with a big turnout so congratulations to them. They did an interview for radio the morning of and mentioned me by name and spoke about my work. I'll have to post it later as I'm having trouble getting it uploaded and I need to finish packing, haha.

Also, my local newspaper came out this week to interview me about the trip and the story ran in Sunday's paper (9/18/11). Gainesville Times Article

So this is it, I'm off for the wild blue yonder. Talk to everyone from the other side of the pond!

Live From Dublin: Turn Of Events

Also known as- The Power of Networking

It’s official! I now have a place to live in Dublin and studio space from which to work. But during my accommodations hunt and in an incredible turn of events, my work is now on display at Project 51 on South William St, Dublin.

To explain—through a line of networking both stateside and across the pond, I ended up being introduced to an Irish jeweler named Eily O’Connell. Eily recently joined a group of Irish artists in a design-collective called Project 51. Designers engage the public directly, selling hand-crafted fashion, jewelry, millinery, and accessories through their luxury boutique at street level and some of them work from the design studios above. They started to get the word out through their participation in Designer Dublin, a collaborative initiative to promote craft and design in Dublin during the month of June. But now they are celebrating the official launch of Project 51 and the opening of the boutique 8 September, 2011. There will be hob-knobbing, partying, and media attention.

These artists read about my research trip on my site and wanted me to get involved with them. I’ll be renting a studio space from the collective. They asked me to send one of my pieces to them to put on display in the boutique. And asked if they could talk me up along with their story during the Launch! They requested Siegfried, from my thesis collection, be sent and they’re even considering having a model wear the piece the night of the launch! I’ve heard from Eily and she says Siegfried has arrived, safe and sound.

I’ll also be sharing a flat with another of the artists from the collective- Sinead Clarke, a knitwear designer. I’m looking forward to meeting all of these artists, talking craft, and perhaps collaborating with them on some projects. Who knows…possibilities and opportunities abound…

While I won’t get to mingle on 8 September, I wish Project 51 the best of luck and say a big congratulations to them on what I know has been hard work and dedication to get all of it together in time. If you want to learn more about any of the above, check out these links:

Project 51- www.facebook.com/Project51Dublin

Eily O’Connell- www.eilyoconnell.com/
Sinead Clarke- www.essenc.ie
Eoin McDonnell- www.precious.ie 

I’m so excited and can’t wait to get started- 15 more days! And before I sign off, a big Thank You to Georgia Strange and Seliena Coyle for the introductions.

Also, thank you to Georgia Strange, http://georgiastrange.net, for becoming a corporate sponsor. Your support has meant so much.