Anything can be Everything
After a long long absence, I have returned to my blog. Things have been moving along in there usual erratic way, slowly slowly then very very fast! On 26th May their was a launch of my recent work at The Kitchen at Galway City Museum. I gave a talk about my practice to a very open-minded and gracious group of people who came to the first of the Galway Meets Art exhibitions and talks. There will be one every month curated by Julia Dunin, I look forward to more regular trips to Galway for these. The work is still up for another two weeks, if anyone is in the Galway area. The Kitchen is a lovely place to get something to eat too.
I showed 10 small framed generative paintings and drawings and one large piece. These included flood records, leaks, puddles and wind records, all of which were created this January and February as the wind and rain often entered our cottage. Using the simple materials of ink, water and paper, I am interested in making visible that which is invisible or fleeting and making connections between things that are all around us but often overlooked. Nature makes the initial marks and I make these mark visible or more defined, isolated as focal points. I like when the work is quirky and playful. I need to keep surprising myself with what I make.
The images below are wind records that I made 14 years ago underneath this very clothes line using folded and stitched bank statements to create vessels that dripped indigo pigment and oil onto the cotton sheets below. I just came across these images today and thought that I would post them as they relate to my resent work in Galway and the work I am making now in The Secret Gallery. Please forgive me if I have posted them before. I hope to have all my new images of work somewhere where I can access them soon, not just on my camera and phone!
Donation/Your price Art Dale
In The Guru Teahouse, Ennistymon, Co Clare, from Thursday 12th 13th & 14th 9.30 -6 and Sunday 16th December 11-4, this painting and others will be for sale for whatever price you are happy to pay for them. For four days only, I am taking the prices off my paintings so that people who usually can’t afford to buy original art work can buy a piece of my art.
I am extending the creative process beyond the art object, so this exhibition is a continuation of my practice as an artist. I hope to make art more accessible everybody. I think that if people get to see piece of art in their homes everyday they, it is very different to spending a few minutes with it in a gallery. Many people never get this opportunity.
In a world where things are designed to brake or go out of fashion after a year or two, art is something that lasts for generations and is worth just as much after you buy it. You feel great when you buy it. I hope you find some painting you love!
Hexafluorosilicic acid, a mouthful
For the past eight months I have been researching fluoride, officially known as hexafluorosilicic acid, which is quite a mouthful to say. In fact, when you say it to Google it doesn’t understand at all and comes up with many hilarious suggestions, some too rude to repeat! My husband was diagnosed with diabetes type 2 and I was doing some research about it when I came across an article about fluoride. I read something that changed my life forever, since then we only use well water for all our drinking and cooking. We had been drinking tap water from the mains for 5 years since we came back to Ireland from Spain. My husband had been a long distant walker, exceptionally fit, slim and healthy when we lived in Spain. Since moving to Ireland we both put on a lot of weight. In April this year my husband suffered a massive heart attack, he was soaking in the bath when it started. I am extremely happy to say that he is now sitting across from me looking incredibly well and slim and healthy.
From the research that I have done I feel confident in saying that exposure over a five year period, through ingestion and dermatological absorption and inhalation of fluoride, lead to my husbands heart attack aged 39, as well as him getting diabetes type 2. The Irish scientist Declan Wraugh produced this peer reviewed Public Health Investigation of Epidemiological data on Disease and Mortality in Ireland related to Water Fluoridation and Fluoride Exposure (download report pdf). Declan Wraugh has spent the past 2 years working on this totally out of his own pocket, while our government never funded one study about the health impacts of fluoride on the Irish public, when the onus was on them to do so. The Girl Against Fluoride has been doing an incredible job with her campaign bringing pubic awareness to this crucial issue. She has an upcoming court case against the Irish government about their policy of mandatory fluoridation of the public water supply. Since February 2013, Adrienne Murphy’s investigative journalism in Hot Press has been uncovering many urgent issues regarding the fluoride. It is interesting to note that none of these people were invited to the recent fluoride debate on Prime Time.
Since February 2013, I have been making artwork about fluoride, from both personal and scientific perspectives. I started the work subconsciously, then became very conscious about what I was doing through research. I will be showing some of this work in an upcoming exhibition with GUAC called Feasting on the Wind, in The Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon, Co. Clare. Opening on Friday 25th October at 8pm. The exhibition continues until 21st November. The work that will be on display is a collection of “Letters” made with ink and a quill on Japanese paper, combining drawing and writing. A dress that belonged to our daughter and hair from our son embroidered to spell out the words Sarin Nerve Gas Fluoride, this refers to the recent discovery about Syria and the hair samples that tested positive for sarin nerve gas, being indistinguishable from fluoride. If most people in Ireland had their hair tested for sarin nerve gas it would test positive. I feel very protective as a parent and this piece is about this.
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