Old Columban Art Exhibition

Form VI, Still Life Drawing

Today's images show Mr. Watts instructing and advising the Form VI Art pupils on the elements and principles involved in Still Life Composition. The Still Life question in the Leaving Certificate Exam accounts for 25% of the overall mark. The remaining marks are split between the Craft paper, Life Drawing and the History of Art.

Jonathan Shiell

Kim Jennings

Ciara O Byrne

Form 1, Printed Landscapes.

Form I have continued to develop their printing skills and last week they produced printed landscapes using various materials including string, card, ink, rollers and sponges.

Daisy McKeever

John Bennet

Gregory Munday

Helena Gromotka

Jack Stokes

Senior pupils visit the Dublin Contemporary 2011



Richard Mosse

On Friday evening Form V and Form VI art pupils visited the Dublin Contemporary 2011.

 On the official website the theme of the exhibition is explained;  'The title and theme of Dublin Contemporary 2011 is Terrible Beauty—Art, Crisis, Change & The Office of Non-Compliance. Taken from William Butler Yeats’ famous poem “Easter, 1916”, the exhibition’s title borrows from the Irish writer’s seminal response to turn-of-the-century political events to site art’s underused potential for commenting symbolically on the world’s societal, cultural and economic triumphs and ills. The second part of the exhibition’s title underscores Dublin Contemporary 2011’s emphasis on art that captures the spirit of the present time, while introducing the exhibition’s chief organizational engine: The Office of Non-Compliance. The Office of Non-Compliance will function as a collaborative agency within Dublin Contemporary 2011, establishing creative solutions for real or symbolic problems that stretch the bounds of conventional art experience'.

When we arrived at the exhibition we were treated to a tour of a few selected pieces by artisits such as Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhor and Old Columban, Richard Mosse.

The exhibition runs until October 31 and is well worth a visit.

 

Thomas Hirschhor

Richard Mosse

 

Form I, Print.

Form I have been working on various printing techniques over the past two weeks. This was further enhanced by their visit to Airfield House on Culture Night last week where they got to make their own mono prints under the watchful eyes of professional print artists.

Techniques explored in the classroom include impressions or rubbings, printing with found objects, potato printing and mono printing. Posted below are some examples of their work so far.

Impression making or rubbing.

Printing with found objects.

Monoprinting

The print is revealed.

Monoprint by Art Punch.

Monoprint by John Bennet.

Culture Night

Last night the junior girls from Beresford House visited Airfield House, Farm and Gardens as part of  'Culture Night'.  The programme of events at Airfield included viewing the farm and gardens, a printing demonstration as well as an opportunity to learn some stitching techniques and live music from the Hot Club of Dublin.

Our pupils arrived at Airfield just in time to take part in the tour of the Farm. Animals on the farm included chickens, geese, sheep, cows, pigs, horses, and goats.

After the tour there was time to visit the printing studios where pupils undertook to complete a mono print. This was all the more meaningful as a number of Form I pupils are currently involved in a print project in our own art room.




Pupils choose an image to print.

The image is etched
onto a plastic plate.

Ink is applied to the plate.





The plates are lined up ready to print



Pupils assist by preparing paper for printing

The prints are put through the press.

The finished prints are examined.

Finally the pupils enjoyed a relaxing moment in Airfield house listening to some music performed by the Hot Club of Dublin.

Culture Night

Among a few items worth pointing out is this year's Culture night which takes place tomorrow on Fri 23rd September. There are lots of events organised and well worth visiting. Visit the ART section of the website for full details on arty events.

If you were lucky enough to have obtained a 'Culture Night' free ticket for the Dublin Contemporary 2011,  Ireland's International Art Exhibition, then this too is well worth a visit. Visit the official website for info on tickets and what is on show. The exhibit runs until October 31st so there are plenty of opportunities to visit.

Anna Bjerger, 'The Furnicular', Oil on board, 70 x 60 cm , 2008,

And finally, in yesterday's Irish Times an article about the restoration of one of the National Galleries most treasured pieces appeared.

Tim O Brien writes, 'The National Gallery of Ireland has put its ongoing conservation of the iconic painting The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife online.

While the painting, described as one of the most important historic works in the gallery’s collection, is being conserved, visitors to the gallery’s website will be able to see into previously restricted areas, accessing updates of the work in progress through pictures and videos. There is also a document archive and descriptions of the significance of the painting.

The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife is the work of Cork-born artist Daniel Maclise (1806-1870) and is, in the words of the gallery’s director, Raymond Keaveney, “the size of a small lawn”. The online resource includes a timeline recording the various stages of the project since autumn 2010, when conservation was initiated'.

The rest of the article can be read HERE

Exhibition Review

Posted today is Phoebe Morrell's (Form II) account of her visit to The Pearse Museum earlier in the week to see the Irish Guild of Embroiderers Exhibition  titled 'Off the Wall'.

Today I went to The Pearse Museum with all of the Form II art pupils. In our art lessons at the moment we are focusing on the topic of embroidery, which is an image made up of different materials that have been sewn onto a background of your choice. At the Museum there were loads of different pictures, with many types of materials. Some pictures were very peaceful when I looked at them, because of the gentle colours the artist had used or the scene they had chosen to depict. One of my favourite ones was The Ocean Way by Mary Gray. It was a mixed-media water-scene made up of fabric, stitching and layers of paint. It also included hand embroidery stitches in cotton and metallic thread. I liked it because it was very simple but very pretty at the same time, with a lovely golden orange goldfish in the centre, surrounded by different shades of blues and some greens. It was a lovely experience for my first Art Trip.

By Phoebe Morrell, (Form II).