The secret gallery’s blog

Photograph by Marianne Slevin, Liscannor Pier, Co Clare 2012

Lately I have been writing up so many proposals and having to condense my art into a few words that it has done something funny to my brain. I was also influenced by a TED talk by Sebastian Wernicke who condensed 1,000 TED talks into 6 words. This was a funny exercise so I thought I would try to do it with art. There are so many different sorts of art but what holds them all together what is the common denominator?

New ways of seeing the world brought to its final conclusion could be seen as altering terminal relations.

Altering: because an artist endeavors to create different and personal ways of seeing the world we live in.

Terminal: because an artist challenges limitations, boundaries and  changes endings, and the final outcome of things. In this context artists challenge preconceived notions about reality, breaking up static and fixed ideas through their inventions and creations.

Relations: because artists explore the relationships between things, whether through materials and or concepts. Nothing exists purely on its own, but is a stream of interconnected relationships.

ATR doesn’t spell ART but artist’s always see things differently so why would it!

I would be delighted to hear your thoughts on this matter, so please write a comment with your words on what art is, in a few words. Try 3 words!

Christal in the window of The Secret Gallery             Photograph by Marianne Slevin

I feel like  I need to eat about 10 Mars bars before I could do anything that involved standing up or moving. The winter has left my blood feeling thin and generally feeling a bit washed out. This mornings activities involved looking for a hair brush, 6 hours later, no hair brush, but a room that has a little more order and a lot less mouse droppings! I have not promised Saint Anthony money as usual when I loose things, due to the fact that this seems like a bit of a money making racket set up by the church. This afternoon I might give some money to a charity and ask Saint Anthony to find the precious hair brush. School for the little ones starts tomorrow and “Mother” is being put through her paces!

Tulip starting to sprout in Recycled Juice Carton  Marianne Slevin 2010

The “glimmer” that I have called this blog post is a feeling deep inside of hope or Spring, as if there is a stirring. After the cold spell now bulbs are starting to shoot the smoothest spikes of green. I am starting to write a list of exhibitions that I am going to apply for. Last night, I tidied the studio and made space for new things to happen there. Sometimes it is easy to forget that the simple tasks of tidying and preparing the studio and searching for opportunities and sending off applications are almost as important as doing the art itself.

How do we make sure when we feel that stirring of new growth gather within us, so that when we have tidied and found the hairbrushes and the paint brushes take it a step further and actually create some art and not let it get lost along the way? There are those moment where we can choose to do something creative or we can decide to let it slip away and do something like watch a movie, browse on the internet or wash the dishes, the list is endless. the car is calling,”clean me” my stomach screams “feed me”! But my sketch book needs me! Or should I say I need my sketch book.

Just found the hair brush, now I must think of a charity.  I cant find the cable to plug in my camera now. Great! James just found that. Now what shall is do with those glimmers? Perhaps the sketch book is a good place to nurture them before putting them in large open spaces. So the inner art critic does not get a chance to be too scathing before they have matured to a stage where they are a little more developed and also it is allot less daunting to approach a sketch book then something more large scale and begging to be “finished”. You also don’t have to worry about forgetting your ideas or having them just in your head. I would be interested in hearing how other people keep those glimmers glowing and growing. Please share your stories and tips for the survival of the glimmer.

How do I fit the creative hour or two into my day? many people say. Well it can start anytime anywhere, you don’t need to have a studio or lonely garret to make art. I am not staying that it does not help, but it is not essential. I am not saying that this doodle in pancake batter is great or even good art, but it is practice in allowing the creative process into daily life, it is a start. Yesterday while I was weeding the garden I practiced  being more playful with my weeding method, I would have looked quite peculiar to any an lookers, I am sure. Making art can have many elements involved, basically the whole of the person or people who are making it. Being mindful and being playful are two of the element that come to mind but everyone’s list will be different.

You don’t have to call yourself an artist to let some creative play into your day.

So I just read that “a horses heart weighs 9 pounds”on one of my web wanders. There is just so much to take in, jumping from Blog to Twitter to Flickr to Facebook and Google searches and now there is Google Wave too. I think my head might actually blow off.

I took this photograph of Maya just after I witnessed her laying flat out snoring. That is why she have wood shavings on her ear and she is looking very sleepy. This little sweetheart is the main reason that I have not be posting so often. l intend to start writing this blog more often now she has got settled in to her new home.

I think that having a heart that size is pretty amazing, but it makes sense that these great animals would have big hearts. Trotting down the road this evening was like sitting on a bouncy ball with split second responses, just kept together. It is fascinating to get a feeling of some of that raw and instinctive prey animal’s spiritedness. Communicating with a different species, Pat Pirelli says that one of the keys is that the horse becomes a little bit more human and you become a little bit more like a horse. Just hope I only get a little bit like a horse!

I took these photographs while we were at the beach in Fanore on one of the lovely sunny days we had a couple of weeks ago. I was fascinated by this idea of a person going up into the sky attached to little more than a whizzing wheel of metal some strong thread and large sleeping bag! I am not sure what exactly it is but there is something very magical about it!