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| Sheila Flanagan |
We had a great night on Friday at Tosnú Art & Craft Gallery's studio for our second Art & Words talk with artist Sheila Flanagan. Sheila gave a slideshow and talk about her own art work, as well as about
ArtFarm and its residencies, and the community work she does to bring art to Ballygar and its surrounding areas.
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| Nuala introducing Sheila |
Sheila talked about her use of the feminine in art and her love of found objects. She also spoke about her reservations about artists being overly productive. When she first moved to what is now ArtFarm, she realised that she had to figure out a way to be in synch with her new community and she sought to solve that by bringing artists, and art, to the community at large. She set up artists' residencies in which the artists engaged with the local community, and also set up events for both the Bealtaine Festival and Culture Night.
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| Sheila in full flow |
Sheila also spoke about the miniscule arts budget allocated to County Galway (€400k for the whole of the county area, including Connemara) and she emphasised the need for groups to unite and lobby for better funding.
In the future, ArtFarm may run a writer's residency and we will bring news of that to you anon. In the meantime, go
here for further info on residencies for visual artists.
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| ArtFarm - slideshow image |
Sheila is an artist of great energy, talent, charm and commitment, and the studio at Tosnú was packed with eager listeners on Friday night. Thanks to everyone who came along to enjoy Sheila's talk and the copious amount of tea, coffee and cakes.
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The following images are my photos of slideshow images of Sheila's artwork so excuse the poor quality. They don't do the pieces justice, but you get the idea:
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| Slideshow image of eggshell faces |
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| Slideshow image of the reverse of Time Please |
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| Slideshow image of woman made from recycled plywood with mirror in stomach cavity |
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| Slideshow image of woman in a web |
