Vera Mc Evoy was the recipient of the NCAD Arthouse Graduate Award and Bursary 2011. As part of this award she facilitated a 12 month community art program in Stradbally, Co. Laois.
McEvoy’s aim was to explore the meaning of creativity and contemporary art and its relevance within the Stradbally community. Her vision for the year was to use universal, everyday products, and incorporate practices of reprocessing and remaking into the realm of human interactions, set within their social context.
A small group of participants was established and entitled Cultúrbug, a name later developed by the group, is comprised of participants who did not consider themselves creative in terms of the visual arts.
Many materials and techniques were explored; merging various objects with clay and plaster, knitting with wire, plastic and shredded papers. Temporary installations were placed in local landscapes and documented. The year culminated with a final exhibition in the Arthouse called absəns prezəns.
Cultúrbug, in collaboration with Vera McEvoy, went on to exhibit in Sculpture in Context in the Botanical Gardens Dublin in September 2012.