Thursday, December 15, 2011

Live From Dublin: No Goodbyes- Just ‘Until I See You Again’s


Have been busy the last couple of weeks- went to see another play, this time in Temple Bar; took a turn one afternoon around Phoenix Park, located on the west side of Dublin; and I took a day trip up to Northern Ireland to visit the Giant’s Causeway and Belfast. Let’s just say the giants were roaring! A storm rolled in and the snow blew like mad. The surf was huge and impressively crashed against the cliffs.

It finally happened- took about 11 weeks but I actually had one day where I did not consume not one cup of tea! The next day when I realized it had happened I almost felt out of sorts. HaHa

Eily O’Connell and I took a day trip down to Kilkenny recently. Kilkenny is the home of the Craft Council of Ireland. She did a workshop with jeweler Jane Heuston and I poked around the Kilkenny Design Centre, visiting the various studios and National Craft Gallery. I had a wonderful chat with jeweler and silversmith, Des Byrne, who told me his best advice for anyone was to “do work that you love since you spend so many of your waking hours doing it”. Eily and I also visited the studio of Rudolf Heltzel, a renowned designer and jeweler.

Last week, I met with Michael Kenny, Keeper of the Arts & Industry, National Museum of Ireland- Collins Barracks, who was so generous with his time and knowledge. He took me around all the silver collections in the museum. Even though I’d been through the exhibitions several times before and had spent hours looking myself, like a proud father, he pointed out details and “behind-the-scenes” information about pieces in the collection that I never would have caught otherwise. It was a wonderful experience and I am so grateful!

And finally, I have completed my new collection of work. It is entitled Duiblinn: The Black Pool Collection. It consists of six pieces of studio jewelry, ranging from rings to face adornment. I took my first DART trip (Dublin intercity train/subway) to Clongriffin, northern suburb of Dublin, to have my collection professionally shot by father and son photographers Ronnie and David Norton. I hope to have the images within the next week or two and will be posting them to the site for all to see. In the meantime, the collection has gone up for display at Project 51 and hopefully I will find some venues for exhibition when I return stateside. With things being as busy as they are, this will be the last post Live From Dublin. I’ll continue to post updates to the collection and exhibitions but it will be from the Deep South.

My last days on the island are drawing to a close and a lump is already growing in my throat at the thought of leaving behind all the wonderful people who have made up my life here. You would think the daughter of a pilot and flight attendant, a self-professed world wanderer would be used to goodbyes by now, but they never get easier. So no goodbyes. I will simply say- Till I see you again. May our paths cross on down the way.

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