Point Reyes Light - October 26, 2000
Gallery Route One artists in Ireland
By Vickisa Feinberg
Bolinas
We traveled separately and together to Ireland for art show exchanges called Open Water. On Oct. 5 the show opened at The Market Place Gallery in Armagh and on Oct. 10 the second exhibition in Northern Ireland opened at the Waterfront Gallery in Belfast.
These shows represented the second half of an artists exchange program with 10 artists from Belfast. The shows followed in the wake of this spring’s Open Water exhibitions by Irish artists at Gallery Route One in Point Reyes Station, Claudia Chapline Gallery in Stinson Beach, and the San Francisco Rental Gallery.
An important part of this project has been understanding the depth of the difficulties in Northern Ireland. It is a challenge to our American idealism. We offered these shows in the spirit of hope for a peaceful resolution, and were honored to bring our art to Ireland.
Irish green
Many of us rented cars and traveled around the countryside in the Republic of Ireland. It is green, very green. In fact I dreamed about the color trying to describe it and found it impossible to name. The grass is close-cropped by sheep. Some of them were all over the road as we were trying to drive on the left barely missing stone walls along the road through the narrow Conner pass to Dingle on the west coast This is the worst road I have ever been on, but the Dingle Peninsula is gorgeous; a white lichen that grows can only grow in pristine non-polluted spots, which Dingle is.
Printmaker Inya Laskowski spent three weeks exploring Ireland’s ancient sites: dolmens, stone circles, stone fortresses and passage tombs, all steeped in mystery, as well as many castles. She hopes to return to do an artists residency in the future. She fell in love with the land, especially the wild and stony southwest coast and the friendly, gracious people she encountered everywhere.
Ireland is full of music. One of the best art shows I saw was in a Belfast pub. JB (Brian) Vallely a painter/piper was having a show as part of a giant music festival. Of course the paintings have to be glassed to protect against all the smoke and I was told people chip off souvenirs.
The people are so kind and generous with their time and information. On our first day in Belfast, Michael and I rolled into the city in our upgraded fancy Volvo and got totally lost trying to find our artist friend’s house. A bus pulled up beside us honking. The off duty busdriver had followed us down narrow streets in the big bus because we looked lost and he asked us where we were trying to go. Then he said, "Look, it’s rush hour, you go to Shenanigans and get some dinner, then you go ..." and then told us how to get to our destination. Amazing, we thought.
Dublin folk
Dublin is a vibrant city and the people are amused and amusing. Elly Simmons and I had a small satellite show at the Cobalt Gallery across from the Yates Museum. It was a fabulous space and the owners bent over backwards to make the show work. Folk singer Rosalie Sorrels sang and traded songs with a well-known Dublin folk singer, and nobody’s throat was allowed to stay dry.
Then on to Armagh, just a name till we arrived, and saw The Market Place. It was a gorgeous, big, modern, glass and stone art center with a theater built on the Shakespearean model. This site was a market place that had been badly bombed causing people to flee the city and board up their places. So the city built this huge center to keep people there and it worked: a great art solution.
We all gathered in Nick and Betty’s room to catch Mary Eubank, John Anderson and Nancy Bertelsen and lots of shots of our art shown in a TV interview the night before the show opened. The mayor of Armagh, Jimmy Clayton, and the press came to the opening, and it was very exciting to see all of the artists that we had hosted in California again.
Traditional music
Brian Vallely and his fiddle-playing wife Eitne work and live in two houses he was able to buy. I had I asked him where the traditional music was. He said, "Will you stay here?" and went and got his pipes and his wife and Tiernan O’Duinnchin – the hottest eulian pipe player around – to come to the Market Place and play after our opening. Such generous people and a great town, but the innkeeper at the de Averelle told us he still boards up his beautiful inn and leaves for a month during marching season [a tense time every year when the Protestant Orangemen march in the streets].
Back to Belfast for some great music at the festival venues, a stop at the Europa Hotel (the most bombed hotel in the world) and our show at the Waterfront Hall. The Ulster peace talks had just ended, so there were politicians everywhere while the show was going up. At the opening all of the Queen Street artists showed up as well as the biggest art critic in Belfast, Ian Hill.
Throughout the trip we American artists developed a wonderful understanding and strengthened our rapport with the Irish artists. We share many of the same concerns, problems and joys in being artists. Now we are fast friends who look forward to the continued exchange of ideas and work across open waters.