Posts Tagged ‘The secret gallery’
Peace and The Little Prince
The night before last, I was told to “go and make some art” by James, my husband. It is great to have such encouragement to do the things I really want to do but often don’t do on my own. I have been thinking about the land art project we are doing along the walking routes in the Burren and North Clare, so I went over to the turf basket and started playing around with bits of turf! (one of the walks is on a bog road) First I created this peace sign inspired by James. I have been reading the children “The Little Prince”. I really love the book, it influenced the little stars which I cut out of banana skins.
Banana skin stars on turf in the Secret Gallery between Doolin and The Cliffs of Moher.
Some of the reasons that I put little yellow stars on turf may be because:
I have been reading “The Little Prince”.
The following day we had a conversation with our friend, she was talking about it being the time of stars, as they have more effect on us, maybe because we see the stars more as it gets dark earlier. It is also the time of year that there are more shooting stars.
Stars are very big compared to pieces of turf yet they are similar; the turf is a tiny nugget of the earth which is a planet too.
I remember night time bog walks as a child looking up at the stars.
Apparently there may be some moon dust on the earth after they crash into the moon. I hope it does not upset things too much on the moon or for us as a consequence of us interfering with the mighty Moon.
Maybe because it was playful, and I liked the contrast of the smooth banana skins and the rough turf. Who knows!
Peace to all
Thoughts on tissue paper
Thoughts on tissue paper 1,2,3,4,5, Marianne Slevin (formerly know as Potterton!) September 2009
Thoughts written in children’s colouring markers on recycled tissue paper hanging in my studio in the Secret Gallery somewhere between Doolin and the Cliffs of Moher, on 5th September 2009. Maybe in a years time I can fill a whole gallery with these floating thoughts. This is a new phase in my art practice after 18 months or so of painting, though it relates to much of the previous art I did using text and materials that are not traditionally used for making art. I wanted to start to write a journal again in the old fashioned way, this is a culmination of blogging, tweeting and the good old diary, turned into a visual experience; you can read as much or as little as you like. I am drawn to working with fragile materials once more, I like the way when up get close to them and breathe that they move; our presence effects them, as well as the gentlest breeze.
I would like to do some as often as it seems appropriate for a whole year, but then that sounds a little contrived so I will just see where it leads me. 365 thoughts in the first year of my marriage my sound very neat but in my real and chaotic life it my be something like as many thoughts as I have pieces of tissue paper,( that was used to protect and wrap our wedding presents) till the time when the thoughts I have no longer wish to be written upon that same tissue paper! The very first piece I wrote was about this need to constantly compartmentalise things in the west, everything has the be accounted for, and all the messy bits need to be cleaned up! It is often those messy straggling bits and pieces that are the most interesting and awaken something within us!
Hand Painted Recycled Juice Cartons
The Secret Gallery is getting ready, 13 hand painted cartons so far. The painting son the cartons are of such things as flowers and petals, bulbs and roots, butterflies and incorporate words like Love, unity and peace stand above the fire place. Turning rubbish into art is one off my favourite pastimes. I like the challenge of making my own like more creative, so using everyday materials, or ingredients appeals to me.
Tonight I lit a drift wood fire
I wonder where all of those different pieces of wood came from
and what trees they were part of,
how long they floated the sea,
And how they got to arrive in our fireplace in Doolin
The wind today, greets the grass with sea foam or is it snow? Oil on a reused carton
Marianne Potterton 2009 The Secret Gallery
Meditating and a Happy New Year!
Sometimes I think I would like to be the sort of artist that did organised coordinated artworks; large series of matching paintings, but the truth is I am not like that! I sit down to each new blank canvas or sheet of paper like it was the first I had ever met. I allow whatever it is at that moment to reveal itself whether it be a meditating man or a bird of prey or whatever comes to the surface. I meditate most days and after I do the attempting to really meditate bit which only lasts 10 minutes I allow my mind to ponder on some of the more creative ideas and images that are floating through.
Allan Watts who gave lectures on Eastern Philosophy talked about how we are not the same person throughout the day: it is not the same person that walked up the stairs earlier this morning that now writes these lines.” Spring does not turn into Summer, but Summer comes after Spring”. I feel this very much when I make art; there are many moments compressed together to form a chain, without each link the chain could not exist. I might like to do a series of meditating men or women but when I sit down at the next blank canvas who knows who I will be!
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year from The Secret Gallery!
Wind intervention at The Secret Gallery and Public Art Work by Maeve Collins
These wind drip drawings were made 8 years ago on this very same clothes-line. Then the sheets of cotton lay on the ground and little paper vessels that I made by stitching old bank statement held the indigo pigment and oil that dripped as the wind blew them dangling from the clothes line. It was a nice circle to hang them from the same clothesline but this time let them be blown by the wind and dance! I loved the sound they made and the meditative feeling you get from watching the repetitive but ever changing motion as the wind blows the wind dripped drawings; a little dance making the invisible visible.
The cotton moving backwards and forwards and the sound it made reminded me of a Public Art Piece that an Artist and Friend of mine Maeve Collins did in the Square in Ennistymon last summer. Maeve hung some real and elegant bed sheets with mirrors attached reflecting what was happening in the space around them, as they moved backwards and forwards on the sheets, while at the same time played recordings of elderly people talking about life on the island, which Maeve recorded while living on Inisheer. It was a lovely piece the Artist sat with her work to talk with anyone who wished to converse beside the meditative wave of the sheets that had been brought into the town. This is just a snippet as there is a lot more to Maeve’s work that I did not mention. As part of this Public Art Work her recordings also sailed over the waves to the Aran Islands and there was a third part to this work, a line holding clocks, umbrellas a dress and musical instruments entered the sea at Liscannor, and the gateway to HiBrasil, an island some people say they have seen. I hope to put up some of the Artist’s images of this poetic art work soon, as I am having a little technical trouble today. So have a look in a few days they are well worth it!
A little thought I had today
If it is not right for you it is not right for the world!
The secret gallery's blog 