New website

So after a lot of procrastination, I've finally got my website together. You can view it here; it's still a work in progress but I'm getting there with it. Any feedback welcomed! 

http://kathleenolearyartworks.wordpress.com/ 

Five Glens Arts Festival Programme with accessible text.

Five Glens Arts Festival

20th-23rd August 2015

www.fiveglensartsfestival.com

facebook.com/fiveglensartsfestival

 

Thursday 20th August

8.30pm The Glens Centre

The Leitrim Equation 4 Concert

Traditional music band joined by Dónal Lunny. Support by Brí.

Friday 21st August

BOXTY-OFF World Championships

10am-2pm Farmers Market

Compete, watch, taste and judge local
potato boxty. Accompanied by live music. 
 

Staid na Talún - A State of Land

5-7pm The Leitrim Sculpture Centre Gallery

Exhibition Opening. An Artist in Residency Exhibition by Anna Macleod in association with dearclimate.net. Runs to 3rd Sept. An LSC event in association with FGAF.

Loveliest Tree Exhibition

7-9pm The Leitrim Sculpture Centre Yard & Stone Bay

Celebrating real and imagined trees of all shapes and sizes. Not just for artists and
tree-huggers! A FGAF event organized with the kind support of the LSC. Runs Fri-Sun.

Transformation Tree

7-9pm The Leitrim Sculpture Centre Yard

Recycled interactive sculpture by the Manorhamilton Women’s Centre. Come hang your wish on the tree!

Sizzle in the Drizzle

7-9pm The Leitrim Sculpture Centre Yard

Who needs sun for a BBQ? Grab a bite!

Mercurial

8-11pm The Glens Centre
Irish and International feature and short film screenings curated by Kathy O’Leary.

Audio Described by Isolde Carmody.

Biddy’s Little Treasures

Fri-Sun Biddy’s Bar

A discreet Exhibition and Treasure Hunt by Mary Theresa Keown, Ken Flynn and Niall Walsh. Runs 21st- 23rd Aug.

Saturday 22nd

Vintage Afternoon High Tea

11:30am-2pm CastleCafe

Serving sandwiches, scones and sweet treats accompanied by a selection of teas, coffee and prosecco! Choose full adult and childrens menus, or just pop in for a tea or coffee and enjoy the atmosphere! Book on 087 0695265 €10 full menu

Flea Circus

12 noon Castle Cafe

The show involves feats of astonishing bravery and breathtaking beauty - acrobatics, trapeze, high wire - all performed by highly trained, tiny fleas!

The Castle Cottage Repertoire

12:30-2:30pm Castle Cottage

Selectedpoets reading featuring Monica Corish, Breda Wall Ryan, Afric Mc Glinchey, Anne Connolly, Kate O’Shea and Mike Absalom alongside Irish folk music by Celtic Legends at the 17th century castle cottage. Free entry/ by donation

Hoola-Hooping workshop and demo

1-2pm Outside Castle

Learn some tricks and moves with the Glamourhamilton Hoop Group!

Loveliest Tree Exhibition &Transformation Tree

1-3pm Leitrim Sculpture Centre Yard & Stone Bay

Drop in and hang a wish on the tree!

Children’s T-shirt Print Workshops

10:30-11:15am, 12-12:45pm or 2-2:45pm

LSC Sheehans

Materials provided, bring an apron! Ages 6-12. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Booking with Fiona McCarthy on 0894320987 or fiomccarthy@yahoo.ie €3

Comic Book Drawing Workshop

10am-1pm Library

An invitation to explore and enjoy the art of comic book journaling. Materials provided. All levels welcome. Ages 11+ €10 For booking and more info contact

Sorcha on 087 3868033

The Dermot Healy International Poetry Award

3-5pm Glens Centre

Judged by Peter Fallon of Gallery Press. Prizegiving and readings. All welcome. Free entry

Hog Roast and Foragers Basket with live music and entertainment

5.30-8pm Market Square

Choose from a plate of Hog Roast, or tasty treats from the Foragers Basket food stall, serving wholesome vegan and vegetarian homegrown and organic food.

Children’s Puppet Show

6pm Market Square

Meet Jacko, his friend Padi, a wise old wizard and a host of small creatures from mice to snails in this great show!

Poetiquette

8-11pm Glens Centre

A night of original poetry and music. Featuring Anthony Anaxagorou, Abby Oliveira, John Cummins and music from The Archaic Revival and Free Speaking Monkey. €10

Peter Kane and Jimmy Joe Dolan

10pm Biddy’s Bar

Live Music

Live Music with The Mullies Crowd

10pm Heraghty’s

From reels that go pop to smooth rock

Tree Walk

4-5.30pm meet at Market Square

Join arboriculturalist Shailagh Healy to explore knowledge of ‘wild’ foods, the mythical and practical mysteries of trees and the plant communities that grow below their canopy.

Adults €10 Children Free

Open Mic Five Glens Special

5-9pm An Caife Bia Slainte

Join local and visiting talent for an evening of spontaneous entertainment. Headlined by Blackfish.

The Boho Chicks

8.30pm Market Bar

Live Music

Peter Kane and Jimmy Joe Dolan

10pm Heraghty’s

Live Music

www.fiveglensartsfestival.com

facebook.com/fiveglensartsfestival

'Mercurial', Curated By Kathleen O'Leary

David Holmes, Helen Sharp: 'I am Here'. NI/UK                           16.21 mins.
Afri Ireland, Dearbhla Glynn: 'Fermanagh's Future'. N.I.               08.59 mins.
Johnnie Lawson: 'Relaxing Sounds of Nature'. IRL.                     10.00 mins.

Ruth Le Gear: 'Alchemical Waters'. IRL.                                       12.12 mins.

Kathy O'Leary: 'Second Sight | Site'. IRL.                                     08.15 mins.
Mathieu Alepin: 'Farewell'. CAN.                                                   07.00 mins.

Michael Higgins: 'At One Fell Swoop'. IRL.                                   70.00 mins.

'Mercurial' through the use of analogue and digital formats, is a series of Irish and International feature and short films. The screening will take place at the Glens Centre on 

Friday the 21^st of August at 8-11pm during the Five Glens Arts Festival in Manorhamilton.

The intention is to create a kaleidoscopic interpretation of the resilient and vulnerable nature that exists between the relationship of creatural and environmental experiences.

This screening will be a lively, experimental, an expansive view of 'being' and 'thinking wilderness' and is implemented through moving image and sound, not intended to offer answers but to develop questions and dialogue.

The chosen title 'Mercurial' deriving from the word Mercury a fluid, active, unpredictable, and fickle matter in essence. At times 'Mercurial' co-exists with human and environmental elements, anthropological in method, through the use of satire, solidarity and solemnity, to examine the alternate states, in relation to the human condition.

The screenings feature local and international, changeable mind-scapes that is comprised in a (two and half hour approximately) audio and visual scape.

David Holmes, Helen Sharp; 'I am Here'. N.I. | UK | 16.21 mins.

Canderblinks Film and TV

On a journey through a heightened world, a lone man awakes after death and tunes into a new sound, a familiar poetry that seems to beckon him forward. Tuning into memories of his childhood and family, Michael begins to realize this strange world might lead him somewhere close to home.

Afri Ireland; Dearbhla Glynn, 'Fermanagh's Future'. N.I. | 08.59 mins.

Exploration of fracking proposals for County Fermanagh by award winning film maker Dearbhla Glynn. Supported by Afri - Action from Ireland.

Johnny Lawson; 'Relaxing Sounds of Nature'. IRL. | 10.00 mins.

Relaxing Sounds of Nature-Wind-Ocean Waves-Soothing Tranquil Meditation Instrumental Music

Relax with the peaceful and soothing sound of the ocean and wind, mixed with wonderful tranquil chill out music. Let these tranquil sounds calm your mind. Lawson filmed this amazing little wonder of nature, a miniature sand dune being formed, on a very windy day on the West coast of Ireland.

Ruth Le Gear; 'Alchemical Waters'. IRL. | 12.12 mins.

Artic Residency

Alchemical Waters is a video piece in which a remedy from the melt
waters of an iceberg was created in the Arctic. In 2012 Le Gear travelled to the Arctic and spent a number of weeks sailing the high Arctic seas on board a tall ship collecting iceberg samples and experimenting with their meltwaters. The work engages with with the subtle earth energies that ebb and flow through the landscape, creating a relationship with the spirit and place.

Kathy O'Leary; 'Second Sight | Site'. IRL. | 08.15 mins.

Locis; European Artists' Residency

A wormhole is a theoretical concept from the physicist Albert Einstein in 1935, this theory created a passage through space-time that could create shortcuts for long journeys across the universe. Wormholes are predicted by the theory of general relativity, they can bring with them the dangers of sudden collapse, high radiation and dangerous contact with exotic matter.

Through audio and visual type 'wormholes', a visual interpretation of these concepts and theories, as if traveling through space-time into different dimensions and environments was experimented with using satire, motion, music, film and photography.

The Locis residency was funded through the Leitrim Arts Office.

Mathieu Alepin; 'Farewell'. CAN. | 07.00 mins.

48 Hour Film Project

A musician’s tour launch party: 'Farewell'. No one shows up to a singer-songwriter’s going away party except for his manager, who doesn’t believe in his music and doesn’t think he has the gumption to make it in the music industry.

In this he's directorial debut, a short comedy, co-written and acted with Stevie Jay. Mathieu Alepin's who is from Montreal and based Toronto, Ontario, Canada is a singer-songwriter, screenwriter, author, director, producer, and actor.

Michael Higgins; 'At One Fell Swoop'. IRL. | 70.00 mins

Feature

At One Fell Swoop deals with a stonemason (Cillian Roche) and his metamorphic wander through rural Ireland. In passing he slips through the film’s frames into a re-imagining of his surroundings in which he finds himself trapped on an intense cataclastic path towards a dead end. Photographed on expired 16mm black and white film and entirely hand-processed, At One Fell Swoop resembles a phantom-like film lodged amid multiple 
stratums of time and space. Arts Council funded At One Fell Swoop was shot on location in and around the Five Glens.

Mercurial: Five Glens Arts Festival

http://www.theglenscentre.com/
 
http://www.fiveglensartsfestival.com/news.html
 
http://thinkingwilderness.org/ 

Emerging; Lá le Brigid, 2015.

Emerging; Lá le Brigid, 2015.

To start the year as I intend to go on and establish a regular blog.  I'm taking the advice of a lovely encouraging friend Sinéad O'Donnell to do some more writing.  I've been wanting to do this for a while but the 'fear' and 'vulnerability' of putting my thoughts into words has up to now got the better of me.  I've never been confident about such things.  My brain tends to work much more comfortably in a visual format of communication.  Translating is therefore always a necessity for me, from visual to text.  There was a time when I was unable to communicate verbally and I eventually found being able to transfer messages through a visual format was an effective methodology of expression.  I have therefore included some imagery to share on this day, Lá le Brigid; Imbolc. 

 

I do love this time of year as we slowly enter Spring from the cold Winter. It is still showing signs of Winter amongst the fields. Making sure the birds have some nourishment is important and we continue this practice throughout the winter and spring. 

 

Today is also #WorldWetlandsDay we need to preserve our #WetlandsForOurFuture and #BirdLife. After driving around the local Lakeland's and Highland's, seeing #Nature slowly emerging is beginning to warm me internally, as its still cold out in the wilderness and I can't be out in it for a long time.

  

I love the shadows and reflections created here from the double imaging the water produces with the landscape. While I was at the lake I was lucky enough to spend time in the presence of two swans, paired and posed in the distance ready for the warmth that spring will bring. 

The swans existence, was reminiscent of W.B. Yeats poem 'Leda and the Swan' where he wrote about the duality of human nature, in Irish Landscape and Waterways. He was magically able to allow his thoughts and imagination to fall onto the fibers derived from the very nature, that conceived the birthing of some of his poetry.  Yeats spent many of his summers in the West of Ireland.

Ireland has now thankfully got a treasured heritage of artists and poets that have responded to the scenes and context of the country. Some of this contemporary poetry, can be found here; Contemporary Irish Women poets where Christine Murray has compiled a list of female poets for further reading. Its definitely worth checking out.

Losing light quickly I headed for the hills to give my dog a few different scents to take in before settling in for the evening.

The Moon peering through the trees then graced us with its presence to top this day of Imbolc off, to prepare us for tomorrow's Full moon.  

 

Raynaud's Disease with a long-term spinal injury doesn't mix so well with the cold or indeed any extremities but I do what I can and work really hard to not let this stop me.

There's a few previous topics that I intend to write about for other blogs, so watch this space.

Enjoy February and everything that it may bring, wherever you are.

Love and Light.

Kathy

Visual Artist. M.A., Art in the Contemporary World, N.C.A.D. 2013.

'5th Wheel Element Project 2014'

http://www.culturefox.ie/en/Visual-Arts/and-2339-5th-wheel-element-projectand-2339-/31804/

It's the second last day for The 5th Wheel Element Project at the The Dock Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim. There has been great support through-out the process and it's been much appreciated.
I can't believe it's nearly a year since I posted here. What a busy time.
More catching up to do again soon once the winter sets in. For now I must dash again.
Have a great weekend y'all!
My best.
Kathy

'5th Wheel Element Project' Review by Marianne O'Kane Boal

Review on Kathy O’Leary's '5th Wheel Element Project' by Marianne O'Kane Boal

Kathy O’Leary’s practice is interrogatory and exploratory. It brings attention to process, community and shared perspectives. The work invites us to look at the familiar in a new way, from an alternative vantage point. We are encouraged to look closely at the overlooked, to appreciate that which we take for granted and to analyze our experience of time and space. It is part philosophical, part sociological, but all necessary, in terms of enquiry.

O’Leary employs a variety of art forms, practices and techniques to invite more comprehensive audience participation, as is befitting participatory practice. There is no room for passive viewing in ‘5^th Wheel Element Project.’ The title is important, the idea of the 5^th wheel points to the complicated extra dimension. Four wheels are necessary for balance and movement and what of the fifth? Yet the idea of five elements ties into psychology’s ‘Big Five personality traits,’ as highlighted by O’Leary; openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. It can also refer to the five senses – touch, smell, sight, taste and hearing – again crucial to the participatory experience of Kathy O’Leary’s work. 

The artist encourages us to understand her alternative point of view but there is nothing self-serving about this work. The inception of this project was a letter describing ‘Student X,’ through which the artist wished to highlight the experience of an unnamed person with a disability in an educational institution, where way finding and navigational routes had been formed without sufficient consideration of disabled access. Her experiment consisted of a Fire Drill Intervention at NCAD, where everyone engaging in the project had to navigate their way from upstairs within the building via wheelchair to the central concourse. O’Leary’s experiment was designed to tie in with Augusto Boal’s concept of ‘invisible theatre,’ where an event is planned but does not allow the spectators to know that the event is happening. It also highlights Boal’s central premise of the Theatre of the Oppressed, where the idea of the ‘spect-actor,’ means that audience members are invited ‘onstage,’ or to participate, as part of the drama. This allows participants to act out issues affecting their lives and inviting community members to translate these lessons into social action. This is exactly what O’Leary did at NCAD to great effect. 

‘Student X, Fire Drill Intervention' 2013

Photo by Lucy Estrada 

 

Her digital prints that include All Angles and Colours are designed to focus and challenge our perceptions. They point to the notion of multiple ways of looking and seeing, the lines of perception and enquiry. O’Leary explains these works are ‘based on invisible/visible lines of perception and perspectives that can relate to the psychological. The drawing I created was originally influenced by pylons that generate electricity unseen by the eye but we still know it is there, so ethereal as well.’

‘Clogging Cogs’ 

Her thought provoking piece ‘Clogging Cogs’ is an ingenious wall installation that uses a circular network of industrial cogs that are moved when an audience member pushes the wheel to set the cogs in motion. These cogs were sourced by the artist following a visit to her engineer to repair a broken axle on her wheelchair. The engineer did not have a use for these so gifted a substantial amount to O’Leary to allow her to create this interactive wall installation. 

 

Kathy O’Leary’s practice respects and proposes ‘the Golden Rule’ or ‘Ethic of Reciprocity.’ This familiar maxim which is found in the scriptures of almost every religion, states that ‘One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.’ This is a vital element of the artist’s socially engaged art. As Lynn Froggett has stated on this type of practice ‘through collaboration, participation, dialogue, provocation and immersive experiences...[socially engaged practice is designed to] widen audience participation.’ O’Leary embraces all these methods naturally and her work is testimony to this.

Marianne O’Kane Boal, October 2013

"5th Wheel Element Project" by Kathleen O'Leary

"5th Wheel Element Project" by Kathleen O'Leary

http://pallasprojects.org/index.php/project/kathy-oleary5th-wheel-element-project

Review by Susan Hobbs Edwards
Pallas Projects Studios
August, 2013

One approaches the entry way of the studio building to a door and walks up a ramp embedded with 5 wheels and a simply drawn circle in the cement. There is an immediate awareness of entering a new perspective of living. In fact, Ms. O’Leary had the ramp put in at her request to enable her easier access to her own exhibition. Not only does she actively engage others to be part of her perspective, she is always creating new methods and pathways for this to be expanded for herself.

Those embedded wheels are also found fixated on a wall, meshing and interacting much as she hopes she will enable participation and inclusion of a reality she lives and practices. Within the space of her exhibition are a multitude of holistic symbols centred in the mystical and physical realities of life. The circular objects of the wheel are synthetic ready-made, used in the construction of cement reinforcement structures. They are a physical and symbolic reminder of the strength and support the human body needs to function in our living spaces. Her documentation, digital photography prints and installations give images of human obstacles and humour to meet those challenges. The audio and visual work of Clogging Cogs give a metaphor of transformation and change.



The most symbolic part of her exhibition is the title itself… “The 5th Wheel Element.”  Elements are those basic parts of the Universe that encompass all living entities; wind, water, earth and fire. For thousands of years, the 5th element has been Spirit. It is the breath of Life and the manifestation of the other four elements. How fitting that an art work and practice which helps to question the perception of normality is informed from a most basic concept of Spirit.

Susan Hobbs Edwards.
Susan is an artist, curator and writer. She is currently studying her Master Degree, Art in The Contemporary World at NCAD, http://www.acw.ie/