Sinead Conlon

Sinead Conlon Lets Move a Building

Children and adults will become a team acting to form the walls of a new social space. This new space has flexible dimensions, it’s location is variable and very importantly – transportable! Participants will insert arms into the sleeves of the structure and navigate their way around Killruddery Gardens. Participants will have the ability to alter the architecture, democratically deciding how this new addition to Killruddery House will function and act as a temporary new space – a sun shade, picnic area or a hiding place perhaps!

Sinead Conlon is a multidisciplinary artist whose work centers on exploring the collaborative possibilities of temporarily reappropriating public spaces. She has exhibited extensively throughout Ireland. She is currently studying towards an MA Art in Public at the University of Ulster and is Roscommon County Library artist-in-residence as part of Art@Work 2009. She looks for a potential democratic approach in her work, offering participation in the process of her interventions.

www.sineadconlon.wordpress.com

Ruth Lyons

Ruth Lyons The Ecstasy of Power

‘The Ecstasy of Power’ is inspired by the electrical pylons, which punctuate the landscape surrounding Killruddery House. In this work the sculptural pylon does not facilitate the transport of energy in the form of electricity but rather acts to transform the sun’s light into heat and rainbows. On entering the structure one is provided with a hyper real perspective of the surrounding environment. The emanating spectrum of colour is indicative of how the broad network of electrical energy colours our experience of the world.

Ruth Lyons graduated in 2007 with a BA Hons in Fine Art Sculpture, her practice includes installation, video and painting, which she uses in bold and playful ways to highlight the awesome power of life. Through a combination of vibrant and delicate work she explores issues of freedom and restraint as they are dictated by our perception. Recent projects include her solo show God Ball, for the Kilkenny Arts Festival, Spatial Relations, a contextual project for _UNIT Portlaoise and Fly Fishing, a video piece for A Silent Year, at The Lab. Ruth Lyons is co-founder and director of the Good Hatchery in Co. Offaly where she holds a permanent studio between travel and exhibition.

www.ruth.ie

Roisin Coyle

Roisin Coyle Box Tales

In her installation for The Enchanted Garden, Roisin has focused on the ideas of mexican retablos, theatre maquetes and shrines and grottoes, and how they are ways of telling stories. As part of her residency in the Kilruddery Estate she chose to collect personal memories and stories from the Brababzon family who have grown up here, as opposed to focusing on the historical aspect of the estate. These stories have been transformed into atmospheric little worlds holding captured memories for the viewer to stumble upon in the gardens. Over the weekend, Roisin will also demonstrate simple origami techniques with coloured paper which will float on the left hand ‘mirroir d’eaux’ as a beautiful colour installation, which will in turn mirror the water lillies on the right hand pond.

Roisin Coyle is a visual artist working in the mediums of print, drawing and multi-disciplinary installation. She has exhibited both nationally, including Norman Villa Gallery, Galway, TULCA 06, Ard Bia Gallery, Galway, Project 06, and internationally in Grace Exhibition Space, New York. In 2008 she undertook a two month residency in Ard Bia Berlin. She has received awards from Culture Ireland, Arts Council Ireland and Galway City Council. She lives and works in Galway.

www.roisincoyle.com

Nina Tanis

Nina Tanis Metallica, Timbre, Xylotree

I began by looking around the Killruddery estate for site-specific inspiration for an additional sound/musical piece. I wanted to coax a situation where several children can play at the same time perhaps creating a bigger experience than one gotten on one’s own. I found a variety of discarded pipes and a wagon wheel. I like that children and adults can see the beautiful and interesting made out of the shabby and ordinariness of the simple everyday pipes. The variety and significance of trees in the Killruddery gardens is apparent. The desire to utilize the magnificence of the trees in the garden led me to the very old Yew tree; it kindly offers its branches and I hope it will be made happier by the children’s tones and sounds. The wagon wheel which generated the idea for a third piece is the central component in this enlarged instrument that allows the entire piece to function by use of simple pressure; without it the piece would fall apart.

Nina Tanis born in the U.S. now lives and works in Dublin. She has shown both nationally and internationally working in a variety of materials and processes. Her preference is in creating site-specific installations and public interventions, which may require an exchange or shared experience between people. Constructed situations are aimed at creating greater social contact allowing for a sense of connection to others and perhaps generating some warmth and humour at the same time. Some projects of note have been included in: OUT OF SITE, EV+A, Fringe Festival, Sculpture in Context, Platform 2.

Kate Warner

Kate Warner Tree Creatures

This piece invites participants to explore inside the beech hedge, under over and between the wonderful tangle of trees. Coloured ribbons lead to mysterious animals, delicate drawings glowing in their dark hiding places, and to comfy spots to relax among the leaves and branches.

Born in 1982, Kate Warner grew up in Enniskerry and went to school in Bray. She studied at NCAD, graduating in 2005 with a degree in Fine Art & Art History. She now lives in Dublin and works in Independent Artists’ Studios in Eustace St. She has had two solo exhibitions of painting ‘Adventuring’ (2009) and ‘Things Being Various’ (2007), both at the Cross gallery. Group shows have included ‘The Plinian Sponge, Maybe?’ shown in a variety of venues around Ireland, ‘Timbuktu’ at Pallas Contemporary Projects, ‘Winter Salon’ and ‘A Moment in Time’ at Temple Bar Gallery, and the Éigse festival in Carlow. In 2007 she won the Mermaid Greenstar Award at the Mermaid Arts Centre.

Jo-Anne Butler & Tara Kennedy

Culturstruction My First Killruddery – A Children’s Summer Pavillion

‘My First Killruddery’ is a designed and constructed model of Killruddery House at a scale of 1:10. This scale is similar to that of a “wendy house” and thus brings the large house down to the world of children’s play. On the interior the model includes places for children to play including a carefully scaled seat, a viewing platform and hiding place. Bright colour is used selectively to highlight aspects of the design. During ‘The Enchanted Garden’ the playhouse will be sited so that the children can look from inside the model towards the parts of the real house they are playing in. The model will encourage children to feel a connection with the formal architecture of the house set within the gardens. The playhouse was commissioned by Killruddery Arts for the ‘Enchanted Garden’ festival but will be installed on site each season for the summer months.

Culturstruction is a collaborative practice of Jo Anne Butler and Tara Kennedy, which positions itself at the intersection of art and architecture to explore ideas of cultural production within the built environment. Projects to date include Ersilia, as part of the Five Lamps Arts Festival (April 2009), A Silent Year (February 2009) and Culturstruction 2008 (October 2008), which was part of the Irish Architecture Foundation’s Open House event and funded through Dublin City Council’s Open Spaces programme
Jo Anne and Tara both graduated from NCAD in 2005. Most recently Jo Anne exhibited The Folly (2008) in Naas, Co.Kildare and will exhibit as part of the Kilkenny Arts Festival in August (2009). Tara worked with Studiorogers Architects for the RSUA’s Two Minds residency (2007) and Hope Inherent is an ongoing collaborative project with Jennie Moran. Tara was awarded the FAR Epson Award for Artistic Research in Careof, Milan (2006). In 2007 Tara and Jo Anne began studying Architecture at UCD. This route from art, towards architecture has formed the starting point for Culturstruction.

www.culturstruction.wordpress.com

Jennie Moran

Jennie Moran The Pursuit of Exhilaration

A limited edition set of illustrated disposable cups for use during the festival. The cups serve as a reminder that visitors to the garden have chosen to remove themselves from the environment in which they usually operate (e.g. home, neighbourhood, workplace). They are a celebration of our innate want for space; our constant pursuit of exhilaration. They also act as a tool, something which can help the visitor (children and adults) find what they are looking for by highlighting possible benefits

Jennie Moran is a Dublin based cultural producer who uses her practice to create opportunities for hospitality. She has gathered knowledge through a degree in sculpture at the National College of Art and Design; international residencies at Fondazione Ratti, Italy and Galleria Blanda, Buenos Aires. She was selected Artist in Residence at Airfield funded by Dun Laoghaire CoCo in 2008 resulting in a solo exhibition entitled A Space That Gives You The Possibility To Think Something Else. Her projects have been facilitated by Dublin City Council Art Bursary 2006, an Arts Council Project Award 2007 and Arts Council Artist in the Community Award 2009. She has worked with Kildare local authority, Leitrim Sculpture Centre, curators/cultural consultants Marjetica Potrc, Sally Timmons and Sarah Searson. She is also part of collaborative projects, Hope Inherent and Poetic Geographies.

www.jenniemoran.com
www.hopeinherent.com
www.poeticgeographies.com

Jane Zitzman

Jana Zitzmann Thaumatrope

A combined theatrical performance/ sculptural installation and happening. Jana created a 12 foot high two dimensional sculptural image of a three dimensional birdcage, painted in fluorescent orange. This was installed in Killruddery Gardens and was focus and reference point for a series of theatrical performances which took place over the duration of the Enchanted Garden Weekend: Two performers with bird masks and winged costumes and a musician (Bass-clarinet) engaged the audience in a surreal and magical exploration of the sculpture and gardens. Performance by Jana Zitzmann, Anna Rosenfelder. Music by Frantisek Sic

Jana, born 1975 in Potsdam, Germany, has been living intermittently in Germany and Ireland since 1997. She now lives in Thomastown, County Kilkenny. Jana studied Fine Art at Burg Giebichenstein, Halle, Germany. She has been teaching arts and has run workshops in a number of settings including the Kunstschule e.V. Potsdam & Camphill Communities as well as mentoring for the Open Studio at KCAT, Callan and co-founding the Jerpoint Barn Creative Summer School. Jana has exhibited widely in Ireland and Germany; most recently her work was selected for the Greenstar Mermaid Open Submission and Eigse/Carlow 2008.

George Higgs

George Higgs Jimmy Rig Slip Jig

Over The Enchanted Garden weekend, George will be displaying and performing on his Jimmy Rig Slip Jig: a hanging musical sculpture which incorporates natural horns, a marimba, a glockenspiel and a hand cranked voice box. This is part of a larger work in progress for the Project New Work Award, to be completed for installation in the Project Arts Centre in December 2009.

George Higgs (b. 1968) is a composer, writer and director for theatre and cinema. His work has been performed across Ireland, in Russia and the United States and has received numerous awards including the Director’s Prize from the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin and the Project New Work Award. He holds a Masters degree in music technology from Trinity College Dublin and is represented by the Contemporary Music Centre of Ireland. He is currently working on an Arts Council Commission for a musical algorithm based on natural selection called the Evolvaphone, two exhibits for the Dublin Wax Museum, musical sculptures for the Airfield Trust and an Arts Council Project called the Head of Hamlet.

Gabriella Kiss

Gabriella Kiss Matryoshka Dolls

Gabriella Kiss’s piece refers to Russian dolls and Metafilter (a familiar funfair game) and in ways to the idyllic setting of Killruddery Gardens; it consists of 5 life-sized Matryoshka dolls. The dolls are specially designed that the audience – the family members – can step into them, hopefully prompting a photograph worthy of a family album. The Matryoshka dolls present the opportunity for playful transformation.

Gabriella Kiss is a multidisciplinary artist from Hungary, currently living in Ireland. Her practice includes objects, videos, drawings, installations and from time to time performance. Her primary inspiration comes from PEOPLE – their interactions with each other and in a wider sense their community. Gabriella graduated from NCAD in 2005 with a degree in Fine Art. She previously participated on the KCAT Course, Callan, Co. Kilkenny. In 2009, she will exhibit with a solo show during Kilkenny Arts Festival, in the Berkeley Gallery, Thomastown. Previous exhibitions include The Enchanted Garden, Killruddery (2008), Dublin Fringe Festival, Personality Cafe (2007, 2006), Junction Festival, Clonmel (2007), We Are Here2.0, Dublin (2007) and Tulca, Ard Bia Gallery, Galway (2005).

Fiona Hallinan

Fiona Hallinan Fleming’s Glut

‘Fleming’s Glut’ is a walking storytelling for 10 to 15 children at a time. The story tells of a man named Fleming who loves his neat and tidy garden and hates ‘mess, chaos, surprises and excess’. One day a walk around his garden brings back some memories that change the way he sees the world. The piece will consist of a short walk guided by the artist taking in part of the gardens in Killruddery and ending in a drawing opportunity where children are invited to illustrate their own copy of the story to take with them. Parents are encouraged to join children on the tour.

Fiona Hallinan is an artist and writer based in Dublin. She was formerly curator of The Joy Gallery, Dublin city centre. Born 1984, she graduated with an Msc in Multimedia Systems from TCD in 2007 and a BA in Art History and Classical Civilization prior to that. She works in a range of media, including drawing, photography, sound, installation, collaborative projects and the organization of relational art events. She writes, produces and illustrates site-specific audio pieces in tour format, which are completely re-developed for various locations including Edinburgh, Limerick, Cork, Project Arts Centre, Conflux festival, Manhattan. She has exhibited work at Monstertruck Gallery, the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius, The Joy Gallery and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. This July she will be undertaking a residency with Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray.

www.notalittlepony.com

“Fleming’s Glut” is an Off-Site Mermaid Arts Centre project.