Kfest 2014!

Camden Palace

Suadela

Niamh Leonard

Lorraine McDonnell

Nan McSweeney

Daniel Ryan

I was at KFest last weekend, a music and arts festival in Killorglin. It was my first time going there and I was so impressed with it! I was there because my friends in the fab Suadela bellydance troup were performing and I was blown away by the amount of amazing art and music everywhere. The organisers did an unbelievable job of commandeering abandoned spaces around Killorglin and filling them with art. The town itself seemed to respond really well and all ages were out & about enjoying the great atmosphere, art and music. Camden Palace seemed to be at the heart of things, hosting one of the most vibrant and welcoming spots there. I was just there on the Sunday and managed to catch some great music as well in the form of the Non Toxic Orchestra, danced my socks off!

I've a few pics here, my crappy camera phone really doesn't do the work justice, but i've just bought a new Canon powershot so hopefully there'll be some good pics coming soon! Niamh Leonard and Lorraine McDonnell have an upcoming show in Camden Palace, opening 27th June at 7pm, and the Non Toxic Orchestra are playing at it, i'll be away but it'll be a great evening!

Arts, Participation and Development Exhibition!

We exhibited our projects for the Special Award in Arts, Participation and Development the first weekend in May. The course was developed and run by Mayfield Community Arts, a progressive and innovative community arts centre based in Cork. It was such a pleasure taking part in the course, it was very energising to learn new ways to use art as a medium for social change and to meet so many people with the focus and positivity to pursue that end!

Our own project dealt with Social Inclusion. We delivered workshops to digital media students in the Digital Hub. We developed the workshop specifically for the students, exploring social inclusion issues alongside story telling and character development techniques.

The workshop is documented on our Flickr account, a resource pack to allow anyone deliver the workshop is available at issuu.com. Check out the course website for info on the other projects.

Below is a print from Tom Doig which was also exhibited as part of a series of work produced within the course. I love it!

More JR

I blogged about JR a few months ago and since then he seems to be cropping up everywhere with incredibly inspirational and motivating projects and films. I watched the above video today and it really blew me away. My favourite quote from it:

"Art can change the way we see the world, art can create energy"

*salute* JR's artworks and ethos are consistently insightful and effective, he executes his political message forcefully and elegantly, producing emotive and humane installations that are both deeply personal and political. His work makes an undeniable truth of the assertion that art can change the world.

It's International Women's day and I have to admit I got a bit depressed reading sad statistics on sites like www.weareequals.org, important to read them and be aware of them, but depressing none the less! JR's amazing work cheered me up, Women are Heroes:

Culture night Cork, Camden Palace, The Dog Project

It was Culture night in Cork last Friday, i'd heard a bit about it from twitter and facebook but hadn't really planned on going along, until Camden Palace sent out an invite on facebook, their event looked great (as usual!). Myself and a friend (Shell) decided to go along. The timetable went something like this:

Time table for events:

DOWNSTAIRS
6pm Introduction to Hacker Space Cork
8pm Capoeira performance
4-10pm Open studios
4-10pm Circus Sqare open for all with introductions to workshops
4-10pm Electric Underground Showcasce
For details check http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=149645435074539&ref=ts
4-10pm Make your own button badges!

UPSTAIRS
4-10pm Dogs Dogs Dogs.An exhibition of the Dog project
6-7pm Free contemporary dance class with Inma Moya Pavon
7-7.20pm Poetry performance by Nuala Leonard
7.20-8pm Shape Note Singers talk and performance
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000933733395&ref=profile#!/pages/Shape-note/108698082487372?ref=ts
8-10pm A Public sharing of the Re:Birth Project
Check out www.therebirthproject.com

ALL DAY CAFE OPEN WITH YUM EASTERN EUROPEAN FOOD

I managed to catch some of the Electric Underground showcase (unreal! Photo above), re:birth and the Dog Project (photos above plus youtube video). I love the Dog Project, it's a simple idea, well executed, which never fails to bring smiles to faces! There's more info on the Dog Project on Facebook. I missed the Shape Note singers, who I heard were amazing, all in all another lovely evening in Camden Palace.

Myself and Shell also managed to hit up the Backwater Gallery, the English Market, the Crawford Gallery, Basement Space and the ESB substation that night. I was really inspired by the number of interesting and accessible events on around the city, I don't know if it's a result of a possible sliver lining to the recession but there seems to be a more and more diverse range of arts and music based events happening around town, all for free, perhaps these days people have more of their time to give. Whatever it is, it's definitely making our city a richer place to live!

Summer Solstice Mural

Met up with Lauren & Tomas last night to put together rough ideas for the summer solstice mural, here's what we came up with, I won't be there to paint it (booo!) and i'd imagine the finished piece will be a lot more developed than this! Much will be added organically on the day, can't believe i'm missing it! It's going to be painted this Saturday in Midleton