Art Room Interior

SCC Art recently came across this drawing left sitting on a table in the Art room. Sadly it must have been discarded at some point as there are two footprints on the drawing !  It depicts the area under the stairs; just a small section of the busy Art Room. In the middle of the drawing is a table and sitting on it is a printing press. On the right is one of three chests of drawers in the Art Room which house the pupils' work. Various other pieces of art hang on the stair railing and sit on top of the drawers. The drawers are also labelled with the names of current pupils .

This well observed drawing shows good understanding of space and perspective which is especially important when drawing interiors. The drawing is by Henry Roe in Form IV and is now hanging on the railing which he has drawn in the picture above.

Friday's Photo

Today's photo was shot by Daphne Wright in Form V on a Nikon D60 in March 2010. The converging lines in the photo lead the viewer along the road and out of the shot. Where this road goes and what happens outside the frame is left for the viewer to ponder upon. This work echoes the idea behind the English Department's 'Images and Poetry ' module (i.e. the concept that the photograph is only the beginning or one part of a bigger narrative that extends beyond the frame). Some of the work from this module of study within the English Department can be viewed in their recently published book 'Outside the Frame'.

Junior Certificate Projects

Today the Junior Certificate Art Projects will be assessed and marked by an examiner from the Department of Education. We wish all our Junior Certificate pupils the best of luck with the assessment of this subject and with all other subjects in which they are examined during this month of June.

Create your own Still-Life

Inspired by yesterday's post? Click HERE to create your own still-life on the Topmarks Educational Search Engine. Use the different tools to include various objects, backgrounds, tones and brushstrokes. The program gives you lots of fruit to choose from so one could easily try one's hand at producing something similar to all those apples Cezanne painted.

Form V Still-Life Compositions

Form V has been working on still-life compositions. The inclusion of man-made and organic objects, as well as objects of varied scale and different shapes are essential when creating the still-life. The still-life should challenge the pupils' ability to recreate shape, form, colour and visual texture in a balanced, unified and harmonious composition.

Imogen Wardell                                               Work in Progress

Amelia Shirley                                                  Work in Progress

Daniel Roden                                                   Work in Progress

Cricket at St. Columba's

There has been a long tradition of cricket at the college, and the Master in charge of Cricket, Mr. Canning, has kindly given information about the history of the sport at the College, which helps elucidate upon the circumstances surrounding the etching of the SCC Cricket Pavilion which you see posted here today.

The building of the Cricket Pavilion commenced on March 27th, 1866. Mr. McCurdy was the architect who designed it at a cost of £220 and it was one of the first buildings erected during the Rev. Robert Rice’s time as Warden of the College.

The first official XI can be seen listed on wooden boards inside the pavilion dating back to 1857. Thanks to the Pavilion Appeal the lists are completed to date.

The etching ‘Cricket at St. Columba’s’ is by former Art Master at the College Mr. Chris Vis. He completed a number of etchings, which were auctioned (the proceeds of which were donated GOAL), as part of the 1993 celebration that marked the 150th year in which cricket was played at the college.  Recently, Mr. Vis kindly presented  one of the remaining etchings to The Cricket Pavilion Appeal, which is most appreciative of this generous donation.

Flowers in Print

Following their paintings of flowers, the Form Primary translated some of their drawings and ideas into lino prints.

Katie Stewart                        George Perceval

Marta Carlotti

Form Primary's Flowers

Recently Form Primary took advantage of the beautiful surrounding in which they live.  Using the seasonal daffodils the pupils of Form Primary  ambitiously attempted large mixed media compositions. The results are spontaneous,  playful, colourful.

Colour

In our final look at Victoria Finlay's book 'Colour, Travels Through the Paintbox', we look at the chapter entitled RED. The author's quest for carmine leads her to pre-colonial America, specifically to Santiago in Chile. Here she discovers the reds of the Incas. The Incas had numerous reds; deep pinks from the wood of the brazil tree, orange-coloured dye from the dried annatto plant seeds but the most treasured red was the ruby red colour derived from the cochineal insect. This cochinal red was used as blusher and used in the decorating of pottery and of textiles. The author discusses the differences between the origin of carmine red and the cochineal red used by Turner in the 19th Century and also the red derived from the cochineals Indo-European cousin the Kermes insect which had been used a few centuries earlier. She also refers to the Polish Cochineal, a cousin to the Kermes, whose red dye was found on a Persian rug that had been knotted 2,500 years ago. The chapter also examines the reds that come from the plant root, madder and the mineral cinnabar. 

The other chapters in this book include the colours OCHRE,  BLACK and BROWN, WHITE, ORANGE, YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE, INDIGO, and VIOLET. 'Colour, Travels Through the Painbox', was recently presented by Mr. Brett to the SCC Library where it now resides.

Exhibition of work by OC Rebecca Curling

Old Columban Rebecca Curling has her first solo exhibiton of work 'Reflections', opening at the Urban Retreat Gallery, Hanover Quay on Thursday 27th May. Since leaving St. Columba's College Rebecca has studied at the NCAD and attended an artists private tuition program in Florence.  She has also completed a residency in the Burren College of Art and at Cill Rialaig in Co. Kerry.  She says 'My work is mainly about translating my memories and experiences of a place or person'. She also comments that her up-bringing in the Burren has been a strong theme in her work.

Other examples of her work can be viewed on her website HERE.
SCC Art wish her all the best in her first solo exhibition.