This is the first exhibition to take place in the Arthouse Studio & Library in Stradbally. Cultúrbug is the group name of the participants I am working in collaboration with. This group has been recruited to participate in art making workshops through advertisements in the local papers, personal door-to-door invitation, posters and advertisements in the Parish Newsletter.
I have studied Fine Art in the National College of Art and Design, receiving an Honours Degree in 2010. In March 2011 I was awarded the Laois County Council/NCAD Graduate Award and Bursary to undertake a specific art project within the community. This award includes a large art studio for my full time use, in the Arthouse and Library. It also provides support and encouragement in many ways towards the realisation of my project.
Since the studios opened in April 2011, I have engaged in weekly debates, discussion and art making with the group.
My own art practice is multidisciplinary (video, print and installation) and explores a wide range of sustainable, environmental and social issues. Using universal, everyday materials and scenarios to encourage an alternative reality, incorporating practices of recycling and remaking into the realm of human interactions and social context. My work responds to the growing consumer problems and lifestyle trends in contemporary society: in particular to our many discarded consumer products and their reproductive values.
In a recent Nationwide RTE 1 programme on the Arthouse & Library, Cultúrbug were featured working in the Studio. I spoke about the work undertaken by the participants and its value to the community. The participants are taking part in many of the arts activities arranged by the Arts Office, and as a group we have attended many exhibitions, events and activities in the county. There is a new and renewed interest, within the community at large, in arts and culture as a direct result of the activities of the Arthouse Studios and Library.