Earlier this month we had the pleasure of hosting photographer Aissa Lopez. Aissa is originally from the neighbouring town of Youghal, but has recently been living in Sweden working on a masters. Her studies will take her to Iceland next and I am very jealous!

One of my favourite things about having Aissa in residence was getting to hear her family stories and childhood memories, as well as snippets of Youghal history. The settings in her stories are vivid and tactile-wallpaper, old hardwood floors, the shop where she helped her grandmother. It makes perfect sense that her work would be rooted in the domestic sphere, and informed by the details of its architecture.

If you use Instagram, you should really follow Aissa’s page. Scroll down a bit for shots from her residency. I’m in love with this one of our oddly shaped window as you head up to the studio:

From Aissa:

In my current work, I have been using the house or home to explore nostalgia, memory, the uncanny and folklore. As a result I was delighted to be awarded the artist residency at Greywood Arts . It was built in 1767 and Jessica and Hughie have done much research on its history. Knowing this I expected to be inspired by the general character of such an historic building, what I was not expecting was to be utterly charmed by it.

As an artist who borders on obsessed with the domestic space and old buildings, I was struck by what individual character Greywood Arts has, due to it being preserved and added to by the current occupants. Nothing is standard, windows, doors and floors all vary. A dream for me, as I am an interested in these often-overlooked details in the background of our everyday lives.

Photograph of model based on space at Greywood Arts

I took hundreds of digital photographs, and some analogue, having become captivated by the light let in by the many different sized windows. An essential part of my process is photographing and drawing what I am interested in, from which I build in miniature, with paper, my interpretation of these details, spaces and/or rooms. This usually takes quite some time, but in the supportive, undisturbed atmosphere of Greywood Arts I have already constructed enough to begin photographing the recreations. I plan to make more work based on the amazing Greywood Arts’ building. I feel very lucky to have had the time here, the atmosphere Jessica and Hughie have created meant I was able to work and reflect on my practice. I leave very inspired.

We were so grateful to have Aissa share her unique process with everyone who came to the Clare Byrne & Ink the Octopus show. It is really important to us that our local community understands what goes on here. We are all about process, with no pressure on artists to create a finished product. But with the special connection to the house, we’re hoping Aissa will share the fruits of her labour with us in the future!

We had such a great night with Clare Byrne & Ink the Octopus last week!

It was really special to have Clare back with us after her residency in February. As a development space, we’ll often see work in progress, but it was wonderful to present the material fully developed just a few months later. Clare’s performance was not without a bit of movement thrown in, too!

Dan & Remy from Ink the Octopus were such a pleasure to host – though we expected nothing less from friends of Clare. They’re incredibly talented musicians, and they even got the crowd involved in a sing-song!

We had great attendance (35+ people) and good food. Hughie was stationed at the BBQ, which had to be moved inside due to weather. Despite a bit of smoke, it ended up making for a cosy evening.  We were delighted to welcome so many new faces.

Aissa Lopez had her work on display in the studio upstairs. We were so grateful to have her give some insight into her process during her residency! Stay tuned for a blog about Aissa later this week.

Thanks so much to everyone for coming! Let us know if you enjoyed what you saw – and what you’d like to see more of in the future.

February’s artist-in-residence, Burlington, VT based Clare Byrne, just can’t stay away from Ireland! This August, she returns with friends Dan Strauss and Remy DeLaroque of the Brooklyn, NY based duo Ink the Octopus for an evening of folk rock.  Photographer-in-residence, Youghal native Aissa Lopez, will be on hand to talk about her work-in-progress.

Join us on Wednesday August 2^nd at 6:30pm. Admission is a suggested 5 euro donation which will go to the musicians. Food & drink will also be available for a small donation.

Aissa Lopez is currently based in Gothenburg, Sweden. She has a Masters in Fine Art from the National College of Art & Design, Dublin and recieved her BA from The Crawford College of Art & Design, Cork. Her current work uses sculpture and photography to explore issues around the domestic space. She will be working in response to the architecture of the Greywood Arts building while here. Aissa is interested in how buildings can become loaded with meaning which ties into the concern in her work of belief; be it religious or ghostly in nature or in connection to folklore, memory and the stories we tell ourselves.

These photographs are of paper model reconstructions, based on places the artist has lived.

 

What happens when a Vermont country-based singer-songwriter and an urban alternative acoustic duo from Brooklyn, NY come together for a common purpose? A week of musical exploration and touring in Ireland

Byrne and Ink the Octopus bring city and country together: sharply crafted songwriting in heart-and-soulfully rollicking folk-indie arrangements on guitar, keyboards, harmonica, percussion and harmonizing vocals. The three musicians draw on influences diverse and rich: Wilco, Simon and Garfunkel, Joan Armatrading, and Joni Mitchell.

Listen to an interview with Clare about her time at Greywood Arts & the upcoming concert on ArteFact Radio: 

Byrne is a lifelong contemporary dancer and choreographer who picked up the guitar six years ago and began a second career in music & songwriting. Remy De Laroque started a career as a singer in the French band Dyva, signed to the French Record Co. Carrere. He moved to NYC and collaborated with Rebecca Martin and Rew in addition to promoting his own career. Dan Strauss is a connoisseur of instruments who calls the recording studio his true home. He began learning piano as a boy by playing Springsteen and Beatles songs, eventually taught himself guitar and began writing songs in his twenties. danstraussmusic.com

Though they have always supported each other musically in New York City and Vermont. DeLaroque and Strauss formed Ink The Octopus in 2016 to truly merge their musical journeys and are releasing their debut EP this summer. Byrne also released her first EP, Seed in May 2017, in a recording and release party that included Strauss and DeLaroque.

Won’t be in Killeagh on August 2nd? You can catch them Elsewhere on their Irish tour:

August 1 Workman’s Pub, Dublin
August 3 Crowley’s Bar, Kenmare
August 5 Roisin Dubh, Galway
August 9 NellieFred’s, Dingle

I’ve been trying to write this post for three weeks now, but can’t seem to find the words. If you’ve been following along with this blog, you already know we’ve been working on the house for two years. You have a fair idea of all the work that’s gone into creating the space now known as Greywood. You’ll know we began hosting artists-in-residence back in February, and perhaps you were even at our Opening Celebration July 1^st.

It’s taken some time to process everything that’s happened since moving to Ireland in 2015. We were pretty wrecked after the Opening. And we wanted to spend some quality time with our intern, Samantha, before she returned to Belgium. It’s not the same without her here – she is sorely missed!!! But now, sitting in the library with the cat on my lap, let me tell you how it went.   

Three weeks later, people are still commenting on how much they enjoyed the Opening Celebration. Anna Mitchell’s concert under the marquee was a highlight of the evening. Everyone loved her voice. Ilse de Ziah was playing cello in the library as guests came in, and the Exile Micro-bookshop was beautifully on display there as well. It packs up into two little vintage suitcases. People really took their time looking at the Greywood House history exhibition Samantha Agneessens put together in the Movement Studio. Naomi Litvack gave a wonderful talk about how she spent her time as artist-in-residence in the week leading up to the Opening. She opened up the floor for questions and engaged with attendees. Natasha Bourke’s performance art alter-ego, Coneface, appeared and disappeared throughout the night. Childrenwere especially taken with it, joining in at times. We were really pleased with the food, which we catered ourselves.

East Cork Journal and the Irish Examiner both sent photographers, plus we had the fantastic Amanda Bimonti on hand for the entire evening. All photos in this post are by Amanda and more can be seen on her Flickr page or on our facebook.

 There was undoubtedly a festive feeling as approximately 100 people filtered through Greywood. Visitors of all ages traveled from as far as Dublin, though most were from East Cork and Cork City. We were honoured to have our local TD, Minister David Stanton, give a brilliant speech before the champagne toast.

Minister Stanton said:

I think we’re all blown away by this – it’s absolutely fantastic. I want to thank Jessica and Hughie for the invitation here this evening – for your vision, and for your hard work of what you’ve been doing here, and for what you’re going to do, which is even more inspiring.

How great is it to be thanked not only for what you’ve achieved, but recognised for what you’re trying to do in the future???

It’s easy for us to walk around the house and see only the things that still need doing. It feels so good to have people come in that knew the house before the builders, or saw it as just a dusty stone shell, and to see their reactions. It’s incredible to look back at photos from when we first bought the house, and be really proud of how far we’ve come. Because we started out looking at even larger buildings, this one seemed manageable in comparison – but we have been reminded that what we took on was still an enormous challenge!

I’d like to share a message from our friend Lisa, who volunteered at the door that night:

It was a beautiful evening. What you created was and is so special. People recognise this. I heard such beautiful comments as they came in and out. I felt very proud to be a part of it all. 

We’re proud too, and grateful to the community of well-wishers supporting our vision.  We’re taking a moment to savour that feeling. But only a quick one – there’s so much more to do!

So what’s next?

• We’ll have a new logo to show you soon!
• Wednesday August 2^nd be here for a folk rock gig and BBQ with Clare Byrne (February’s artist-in-residence) and Brooklyn duo Ink the Octopus at 6:30pm.
• Save the date: Saturday August 26^th at 6pm for a Heritage Week concert
• Save the date: September 22^nd, Culture Night – join us for a family-friendly workshop making Surrealist drawings and poems.

Update 28/7: Listen to some sound bytes from the Opening on ArteFact radio – thanks Éanna! 

The Movement Studio ready to set up the exhibition

The Opening Celebration is just days away and we’d like to share a really special project with you. Samantha, our intern with a background in museum studies, has been working diligently on an exhibition for the Opening Celebration.

This exhibition, called Greywood House, aims to introduce the history of the house, explain what an artist’s residency is, and what our goals are. It will be set up in newly finished movement studio.

Sam has been working very hard on both on the content and on the visuals to create a pleasant experience through the history of Greywood House.

Sam says: Our Opening is an opportunity for us to tell you more about Greywood Arts. As we are now a part of the Killeagh village, it is important that we be understood by its inhabitants and that our presence here makes sense for them.

working out the details

• Did you know that the house was built in 1767 and was the original Killeagh House?
• Or that after more than a century in the Davis family it became an RIC barrack?
• And that it was a sawmill from the 1920s to the 1950s? And a guest house in the 1960s?
•  Did you know that from now on, we are able to welcome writers, painters, musicians, dancers, performers and many more?

Leaves Gathered from Glenbower Wood

Frames found in the house and repurposed for the exhibition

Do you know something about the house – details, stories, anecdotes that we should know? If so, get in touch!

We already have a rich historic foundation, and are currently writing new chapters Become a part of our story at the Opening Celebration on July 1^st and start this new adventure with us!

We’re having a great time introducing you to all of the talented artists collaborating on the opening! Last, but not least, we have Lola Delton, who will exhibit her micro-bookshop Exile.

Lola is a French artist based in Cork. In 2015, she started to get involved with Cork Community Printshop. She created Exile Project, to host exhibitions in relation to the screen-printing studio. It carries on in the form of an itinerant micro-bookshop – a selection of books curated by Lola, chosen not only for their content but for their design. It all packs up into a little suitcase.

This name comes from the idea of self-imposed exile when one looks at artwork or reads a book and is sent travelling to unknown places – the enriching journey that we may be carried into.

She tells us its story :

In beginning 2016, I went to Brussels and met a self-taught artist and the collective he belonged to, “Hashet”. I helped them prepare a poster for the opening of a show by three French illustrators (Les freres Guedin and Craoman). It was a sparking encounter.

Those illustrators had worked with a publishing company in Marseille, called “Le Dernier Cri”, which I had heard about. I was so curious and excited by the work and I dived into it.

Through encounters, contacts, interests, (which just kept on growing and transported me in this creative whirlwind), I started to collect some books; books that were actually pieces of art in themselves.

This enthusiasm was really such that I thought some other people might also like to hear about it, find out, share it. And I was also so grateful that there were such wonderful people doing such amazing works, that I really wanted to support it in my own way.

And I thought of this micro-bookshop project.

Exile blossomed.

Will you find a book or zine to treasure at the Opening Celebration?

Natasha Bourke is a Cork-based artist and is currently making a feature film, Concrete Keys. She has an exhibition of pop cam photography TidaLight on at Gulpd cafe in the Triskel Arts Centre through the end of the month.

Behind the scenes at the shoot for Concrete Keys

Greywood Arts produced Tash’s darkly humorous ‘non-quest to nowhere’ Only the Conely for the Midleton Arts Festival in May, and is assisting with an appearance of her conefaced alter-ego for the Sirius Arts Centre Gala on Saturday 24 June.

A fine art graduate from the Crawford College of Art and Design, Natasha comes from a background in dance, circus, theatre, visual art and design. She has been involved in multiple solo and group performances, residencies, collectives, organisations and events in Ireland and overseas.

Natasha uses analogue and digital lens-based media, performance, sculpture, light, sound, drawing and installation as languages in her practice. The work often contemplates universal themes of self and society such as time, obsolescence, perception, isolation, pathos, dystopia and the sublime.

Keep your eyes peeled for Tash’s performance at the Opening Celebration!

The roadworks here are starting to wear on even the most patient of souls, so it’s fantastic to see a bit of colour, humour and craft brightening up the place.

Thank you mysterious yarn bombers ❤

Imagine this: it’s July 1st, around 6:00 in the evening. You arrive at Greywood Arts, are greeted at the door, and are directed into the library where beautiful cello music is playing. You get a glass of wine, and settle back to listen and relax for awhile before going upstairs to see the Greywood House History exhibition. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

We are over the moon to have Ilse de Ziah, a world class cello player, composer, arranger and improviser, join us for the Opening Celebration. She will be coming to Greywood Arts fresh on the heels of a two-week run of ProdiJIG at Cork Opera House – you don’t want to miss your chance to hear her in such an intimate setting! 

Born in Connecticut USA, Ilse grew up in Sydney, Australia. With sisters, parents and grandparents musicians, her childhood was rocked by music. Nowadays, she shifts adeptly between Folk, Baroque, Classical and Experimental music.

Ilse composes and arranges cello pieces for Irish Airs and she also performs with the contemporary Australian ensemble Ozmosis, the  experimental Quiet Music Ensemble, and with her classical Scarlet String Quartet. She is principal cellist of the City of Cork Symphony Orchestra, and has been involved in theatre, folk music, free improvisation, and dance. She composes music for dance and film, does many recording sessions, and arranges strings for singers and other musicians.

Our intern Sam selected this tune of Ilse’s for you to enjoy:  Solise in Darkness