Free of charge, booking advisable, contact Bairbre-Ann Harkin:
E: bairbre.ann@butlergallery.com
T: 056 7761106
www.butlergallery.com

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Ached Grew Print Jot, as a kind of alternative space of creativity, interpretation, ritual and critique will be a drawing class in the form of an ephemeral, event-based character expressed and observed through music and other performances, film screenings, a lecture and hosting the launch of a publishing project, Household Words, an on-line / off-line publication that focuses on expanding the format of criticism head on with personality, authenticity and style. Ached Grew Print Jot and Household Words will be characterised by discreet shifts and observations in the spaces between people, objects and happenings. This is an on-line publication that focuses on expanding the format of criticism and heralds a space for personality and authenticity, together with literary style. This publishing project will be made available in hardcopy format.

Moving away from the physical act of drawing, ached grew print jot focuses on paying close attention to a particular object or subject and those processes attuned to the act of observation – mediation, musing and study. An ensemble that hopes to encourage a heightened sensibility of looking and an examination of the mind in the structuring of that experience. All so often our thoughts go beyond anything we engage with here and now; they’re off in the future or combined with remnants from the past, ached grew print jot draws attention to that sway, one that hovers between what is physically present and our interpretation of that presence.

With observations by Karl Burke, Sean Carpio, Daniel Fitzpatrick, Russell Hart (ETP), Barbara Knezevic, Vincent Lestienne, Ruth E. Lyons, Niamh O’Malley, Sarah Pierce & Vaari Claffey, Frank Wasser and Lee Welch.

www.onethousandandonenights.info

Opening: Friday 10th February at 6pm. Exhibition runs till Saturday 10th March
Location: The  Gallery, Siamsa Tíre, National Folk Theatre & Arts Centre, Town Park, Tralee, Co Kerry

The exhibition DRAWING STUDIES: A CELEBRATION is an exhibition of work, reflecting the artists’ studies in the National Gallery of Ireland. The resulting drawings are symptomatic of the joy and creativity that occurs when people of all ages engage with the collections of a museum. If you would like to learn more about the exhibition or are interested in organising some National Gallery drawing classes please contact Brian Casey, National Gallery of Ireland at bcasey@ngi.ie

Further information is available on www.siamsatire.com and bookings can be made on 066 7123055.

An exhibition exploring the diverse way in which drawing is used as a navigational tool in making, raising, thinking, dressing, testing, failing, designing, playing, running and living. Invited artists range from visual artists, animators, designers and architects. All will highlight the different guises to drawing. Some will use sketches, some doodles, others process work, ­all will show how drawing got them to the finishing line. Fergus Byrne will be artist in residence for the first three weeks of the run and will perform ‘May I Draw your Eyes’ on the evening of the exhibition opening.

Artists: Tinka Bechert, Úna Burke, Gordon Ryan, Fergus Byrne, Magnhild Opdøl, Sharon Kelly, Eamon O Kane, Brown Bag Films, Glenn Leyburn, Fergus Delargy and Olivia Irvine

Curated by Alice Lyons & Claire Mc Aree

www.thedock.ie

Colette Cronin’s work explores the symbolic nature of the ‘home’, endeavouring to depict what can never be; a house untouched by human drama. The study of this fragmented symbolism, is undertaken with an apocalyptic toned deconstruction of domestic iconography, so that the images have an eerie, confrontational quality.The anonymous structures she conceives conceal in their simplicity the struggles that each household undergoes; there is no evidence of human contact or familial presence, save for fallen walls that bespeak a nondescript, unseen level of turmoil.

www.talbotgallery.com
eventsonthecorner.blogspot.com

‘Nosce Te Ipsum/Know Thyself’ is an exhibition of works by Agnieszka Bloch that takes place in The Bernard Shaw. Through black &white ink drawings the artist investigates suppressed forces of human nature. By exploring psychological states this show invites us to examine and get to know ourselves in order to empower ourselves, accept our findings, build a coherent personality and to understand others.

www.thebernardshaw.com

Maeve Mulrennan reports on the Public House residency in Allen, Co. Kildare.

In August 2011 The Leap Inn, Allen, Co. Kildare was inhabited by four artists: Fergus Byrne, Victoria McCormack, Áine Phillips and Dominic Thorpe. I had been granted funding from Kildare County Council to curate a residency in my father’s bar and grocery, The Leap Inn. The artists would be based in the residential section, which has been uninhabited for nearly four years.

At first the aim was simple: give artists time, space and a small fee so they can work. This then developed into inviting the artists to respond to a site: The Leap Inn, the surrounding countryside and the people who frequented the bar and grocery. It was initially kept very open.I had hoped that one of the artists might make some public intervention, but I had to be realistic, we didn’t get all the money we asked for. In the end, all four artists wanted to make work to show.

It was important that this experience was documented, so I invited Jonathan Sammon to do so. We now have a rich bank of images and a video on Vimeo[1]. Jonathan also acted as an advisory to the artists, helping them process this site in a short amount of time.

Áine Phillips knew exactly what she was going to do: she has been researching Ireland’s first cookbook which was written by a woman from Kildare. She wanted to make a book of recipes given to her by people in Allen. She also wanted to do an installation in one of the bedrooms. Dominic Thorpe wanted to try out different things in a space that would culminate in a 24 hour performance. He came armed with hundreds of clocks. Fergus Byrne had been interested in the large bags of oats sold in the shop wanting to explore the oats as both material and object. Victoria deliberately did not want to know too much about the place before she came: as we know each other she was almost too aware of my perception of the place and wanted to experience it for herself. She was drawn to the forested Hill of Allen and was exploring it within hours of her arrival.

The artists’ stay did not go unnoticed. The process began with my frequent trips home to prepare the space in advance of the residency. The house had experienced some water damage from a burst pipe two Winters before. I also had to make sure that all of my family’s personal belongings were either removed or tidied away. I was aware that my family were placing a massive amount of trust in me. Although attached to a bar, the residential part of the building has always been quite private, with even the great-grandchildren of the family only knowing the downstairs part. This was where my subjectivity came in as well; I have never not known this place, where things are kept, how things are done. It was difficult to envisage how the meeting of my family life and professional life would turn out. It was strange to look at the site from a professional perspective: I have never considered the Leap Inn in terms of aims, objectives, projected outcomes and potential impact before. I have not remained as connected to this place as other family members have. I find it hard to keep track of things that have happened since I left home twelve years ago: my home remains in the past. This residency has changed that: I was forced to see it in the present. I have since come to the conclusion that not every experience needs to be objective in order to be successful.

The group had decided they would do performances on Saturday evening, and have the installations ready for public viewing. Suddenly I needed an audience. Finally the fact that everyone in the village knows me was a good thing.

Áine arrived first, on Tuesday 23 August. I had arranged for her to attend the weekly knitting and crochet group with my mother and sisters, one of whom was home from America with her nine year old daughter, Amy. As I can neither knit nor crochet, and the group stipulates no children, Amy and I were left behind. In the two hours that followed, I was anxious that the women would not like having their group infiltrated by an artist. I needn’t have worried, as Áine came back excited and animated. She had gotten several recipes for her book already, and also inadvertently acted as ambassador for the residency; telling the group what was happening. Áine went on to collect recipes throughout the week, and made a book in my mother’s kitchen on Friday night. Áine’s performance would take the form of a cookery demonstration in the bar. She was unsure what the tone of this would be, but knew that by Friday it would be clear. Each day she learned more about her audience and the context. By Saturday night she knew she was not going to make a recipe from the book, but give the audience one of her own, that was taught to her by her mother. Áine’s performance took place in the upper area of the bar, while in the bottom part the clientele watched the Premiership results on TV. People that she met throughout the week attended as well as people who came to see the other performances and installations. Áine’s installation was a success with our audience. She had amassed a quantity of bra straps from making another piece a few years ago and made them into bats to be hung from the ceiling. Áine saw the girls’ bedroom with its love heart wallpaper and Narniaesque wardrobe as the perfect site.

While Áine and I collected Victoria from the train station on Wednesday  morning, Fergus and Dominic (or ‘The Men’, as my Grandmother decided they were to be called) arrived. It was a strange feeling coming into my parents kitchen and seeing them drinking tea with my sister. We went for a walk up the Hill of Allen. Victoria got straight to work and we returned home with branches and pine cones. Victoria spent the next two days working in the ‘good’ sitting room, making a measured and aesthetically subtle intervention starting in the fireplace and spreading out. There was an oval shape on the wall where someone had painted around a mirror rather than removing it. Victoria began by embellishing this with pinecones, creating a definition around this forgotten space.

‘The Men’ had decided to sleep in the old house as well as work in it. What followed was four days of intense, immersive experimentation and a processing. Fergus continued to work with the oats, and managed to find a livery yard that would allow him to feed oats to two of their horses as part of performative process. Fergus’ actions did not strike anyone as odd, no one questioned him when he arrived with a feeding trough made from an antique drawer. On Saturday evening Fergus worked through a performance downstairs with the drawer, the oats and images of his work with the horses the day before. Upstairs, the audience entered a bedroom with porridge that Fergus had made and an old hymn book that had escaped the clean up and had remained behind. The room used to be the one that my Grandparents’ lodger slept in. Fergus explored this idea of an outsider living within a family construct.

Dominic began his 24 hour performance on Friday evening in the bar by drawing simultaneously on two sheets of paper with both hands. This was accepted as something everyday and normal. Games of darts were played and conversations had while being present with Dominic. He then moved upstairs into my Grandparents’ bedroom. Dominic spent the rest of the night and following day working with the furniture in the room as well as the clocks that he brought. On Saturday I had to work in the bar during lunch, and had the strange experience of watching a rugby match on TV with the locals while knowing there was a performance going on above our heads. Dominic’s performance was an exercise in being absolutely present in a space. Again my cleaning skills let me down as Dominic had found an old photograph of my Grandfather and my uncle as a child. It was a performance that was engaging for the audience but personally very powerful for my family and I. My uncle, who knows Dominic in his other guise as a musician, found it compelling to see this durational work in the room where he was born. I was worried that Dominic would faint, get dehydrated or even worse, decide that the performance was not working. Of course I needn’t have worried, within ten minutes of finishing, he was in the pub enjoying a pint and catching up with friends.

At time of writing it has been one month since the residency and I am still unsure as to how I feel about it. The artists have all remarked that it was a brave thing for me to do; joining my two worlds together without knowing exactly what would happen. It is hard to be objective but it has made me understand that art happens all the time, everywhere, even when you are pulling pints and shouting at the rugby match.

Maeve Mulrennan

All accompanying images by Jonathan Sammon. This project was supported by Kildare County Council.

Alex Davis , administrator for the Irish Visual Artists’ Rights Organisation (IVARO), which manages the Resale Right on behalf of its members, looks at the implications for artists.

In less than two months time the Artists Resale Right is due to be fully implemented in Ireland for the benefit of artists’ heirs and beneficiaries. Yet there is still concern that the Government may fail to bring the Right in on time or will introduce it in a manner that minimises the benefits to artists and their families.  Alex Davis, Administrator for the Irish Visual Artists Rights Organisation (IVARO), which manages the Resale Right on behalf of its members, looks at the implications.

Background

The Resale Right allows visual artists an ongoing stake in the value of their work by paying artists a modest royalty when their works are resold through auction houses, galleries, and art dealers.

The Resale Right was initially introduced in recognition of the fact that artworks often don’t achieve their full value until late in an artist’s career or even after their death.  France was the first country to adopt the Resale Right in 1920 in an attempt to address this issue by providing an entitlement in law for artists to share in the ongoing sales of their works and also to allow them to make appropriate provision for their families.

Under an EU Directive, all EU member states had to introduce the Right for living artists by 1 January 2006.  The Irish Government failed to bring it in on time leading the artist Robert Ballagh to take a case against the State for loss of earnings.  Ballagh was successful and the Right was introduced (through rushed regulations) on 13 June 2006, but only for living artists.

The final step for full implementation of the EU Directive is for the Right to also be applied to the resale of works by deceased artists.  The deadline for this is the 1 January 2012 from which point the Right will be enjoyed by the families and beneficiaries of deceased artists for 70 years after the death of the artist.

Cause for celebration

The inclusion of heirs in this scheme is of huge importance and should be a cause for celebration. For some families the Right might be their sole inheritance. Artists’ families are generally responsible for maintaining the artist’s legacy. This can be a very time-consuming and expensive undertaking. Some of the tasks include storage, conservation, cataloguing, maintaining records, authenticating works, responding to requests to reproduce the artist’s works, providing information for exhibitions and catalogues, and assessment of provenance. Artists’ estates have been losing out on important income, which would enable them to continue their valuable work.

Cause for concern

There is good reason to believe that Ireland will once again fail to implement the EU Directive on time. The Government has recently published its legislation programme for the remainder of 2011 to mid 2012 and there is no reference to the Resale Right.  This is despite numerous submissions from IVARO urging them to take action. The result of their inaction is that either the 1 January deadline will not be met, or perhaps worse still, it will be implemented through rushed regulations rather than proper legislation once again.

In 2006 the Right was introduced through Regulations rather than legislation. IVARO has nearly six years experience of trying to make the current regulations work and has encountered numerous difficulties that make certain royalties impossible to collect.  Full legislation is required in order to implement the right in a manner that will make it most meaningful to artists and their families.

Problems with the current regulations

Under the current regulations galleries and art dealers in general have avoided the resale right. IVARO has found it impossible to reach any accord as to payment of the royalty with the vast majority of the commercial art galleries which process re-sales. There is evidence that some of the art market dealers are holding on to the resale royalties collected from the purchasers long past the time that they should have paid the artists or their representatives^[1]. IVARO also suspects that some galleries may have put aside the artist’s resale royalty pending the point at which they or the seller is obliged by a court order to pay it to the artist, or the three year time limit for information expires. IVARO is fearful that many of these galleries may not survive the current economic conditions, and this money will be lost entirely to the artists to whom it is due.

Currently in Ireland, only works resold for €3,000 or more are eligible for Resale Royalties, which is the highest threshold in the EU.  Member States are allowed to impose a lower threshold and many have chosen €1000. This option was taken up by the UK, our nearest neighbour, and Europe’s largest art market. In Ireland nearly 98% of art sells at auction for less than €50,000 and 50% sells for less than €1,000^[2]. Having the maximum threshold of €3,000 is totally out of step with the Irish art market and has resulted in a relatively small number of artists benefitting from the right. A threshold of €1,000 or lower will benefit a much wider constituency of artists and be a further stimulus for artists to create new work.

A number of other efficiencies could be gained by the drafting of new legislation in this area. As it stands, artists have to be aware of any of their works that sell over the threshold. They then must seek information on the seller from the art market professional for that specific sale. The art market professional has 90 days in which to respond to this request. The artist, or in many cases IVARO, must then apply to the seller for payment of the royalty. It is a laborious, time-consuming and difficult task, especially for individual artists. This system could be streamlined with the introduction of compulsory collective management which would include reporting of qualifying sales.

The EU Commission’s Communication on Copyright Management^[3] comes to this conclusion: “Collective management appears also to be the de facto basis for the operation of artists’ resale right under Directive 2001/84/EC, even if it is not mandatory.” Despite this the Irish regulations make no provision to assist or encourage collective management in Ireland.

If compulsory collective management was introduced and a collecting society was appointed this would mean that resale royalties would be automatically collected on behalf of all rights holders, whether or not they are members of the collecting society. Art Market Professionals would be required to supply the collecting society with data after each sale. The collecting society could then collect the royalty from the seller and distribute the proceeds to the rights holder without delay. Royalties for foreign artists whose work is resold in Ireland would also automatically be collected ensuring that Ireland complies with it’s obligation to “ensure that amounts intended for authors who are nationals of other Member States are in fact collected and distributed.” – Article 28, EU Directive 2001/84/EC.

Solutions

The rationale and founding principle of the resale right is that artists and their heirs share in the increasing value and exploitation of their works. Together with other means of support, it represents an important factor in strengthening the artist’s security and economic autonomy, without any additional cost to the exchequer.   In order to maximise the efficient implementation of the resale right IVARO makes the following recommendations:

• The resale right should be fully implemented through primary legislation to benefit artists and their heirs.
• The minimum threshold of the resale to which the right applies should be set at €1,000.
• That legislation requires compulsory collective management as a means of collecting, administering and distributing the artists’ resale right.
• That the royalty rate should be set at 5% for resales below €50,000.

IVARO is calling on artists and their supporters to sign a petition supporting the full implementation of the Artists Resale Right.  To sign the petition please visit: www.ipetitions.com/petition/dds

Even better still, write to the Government, setting out your support for full Implementation. You could outline your work as an artist, any difficulties you’ve had making a living from your creative work and the difference the Resale Right could make to your family.  Contact details for the two relevant Ministers are below.

Minister Richard Bruton TD

Department Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Kildare Street

Dublin 2

Minister Jimmy Deenihan TD

Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht

23 Kildare Street

Dublin 2

[2] An Investor’s Guide to the Art Market by Dr. Clare McAndrew. Published by Liffey Press.

[3] “The management of Copyright and Related Rights in the Internal market” COM (2004) 261 final

Opening: 4 February

Opening Hours: 9am-5pm

John Jennings ( Galway, Ireland) has a piece called ‘Wheres My Pencil’ in the Sussex Mail Art project Exhibition in the Sussex Artists’ Co-op Gallery, Sussex NB, Canada.

It is a pencil drawing of a very angry young girl.

Images and links to documentation can be found on John’s website :
johnjenningseventsblog.blogspot.com

Cléa van der Grijn is a highly regarded contemporary Irish artist. She has employed various mediums, including site specific installations, film, large format photography, collaborative projects, drawing and painting. Cléa has mounted over 20 solo shows nationally and internationally | www.hamiltongallery.ie

VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art, Carlow is delighted to announce a forthcoming exhibition of work by Irish artist Eileen MacDonagh. Working locally to Carlow for the past 21 years MacDonagh has made a tremendous contribution to the arts nationally and internationally. LithoSphere presents new work by the artist and surveys a career that has been dedicated to the tender command of elements; stone, timber and the geometries found in nature.

This exhibition is for VISUAL the most ambitious installation of an artist’s work to date. Echoing MacDonagh’s Medusa Tree (2009) which sits in the forecourt of VISUAL and the George Bernard Shaw Theatre, the artist has created a forest of 8 metre high trees, taking on the scale the Main Gallery, the largest white gallery space in the country. Alongside this installation other works will illustrate the breadth of her career to date. This is a unique opportunity to experience sculpture in facilities that were designed to showcase the immense affect of large scale work.

www.visualcarlow.ie

Emma Donaldson, based in Armagh, studied painting at Wimbledon School of Art, Royal College of Art and Histories and Theories at the Architectural Association, London. Her mixed media practice incorporates object making, writing presented visually, drawing and The Light Project, a work combining sculpture with electronics. She has exhibited in Ireland, UK and Europe.

www.facebook-thedrawingproject.com