Anonn is Anall exhibition returns

THE final part of the popular Anonn is Anall exhibition is being launched in conjunction with Ennis Trad Festival on Thursday night at 10pm. The unique exhibition, now ending its second year, examines traditional Irish music in conjunction with contemporary art.

Carmel Doherty, organiser of the exhibition, explained the thoughts behind the concept. “Believing that the cultural identity of a people is reflected through their traditional music, Anonn is Anall was instigated in 2008 in a bid to investigate this theory. Eight traditional Irish musicians from different age groups were approached to create an Irish tune of their choice. This tune was then handed over to eight contemporary artists to create art using the music as inspiration. The results were then exhibited in an audio-visual extravaganza, which was hosted by Glór Gallery,” she said. She added that the exhibition proved to be a runaway success, with both the musicians and artists discovering that using a stimuli linked to their creative process forced them to rethink, reapply and reevaluate their way of working.
Anonn is Anall is now at its second stage where the musicians looked at the art that was created in the exhibition for Glór and create music using the art as inspiration.
“This new traditional Irish music was than handed over to a new selection of artists and these artists than created new art using the music as inspiration. Personally, I found this to be very inspirational as it forced me to think differently about my subject matter and application of paint and technique. I do not think that I would ever have painted what I painted if I had not used the music as a catalyst in the creation process. It forced me to push out my boundaries to try to create art that reflected the music,” she commented.
For the Rowan Tree Anonn is Anall exhibition, Carmel has three pieces on display. “These three pieces are the end result of 10 previous pieces, which were painted during the year. Personally I believe that it is the best work that I have ever created and on an artistic commercial level, it has paid off as two major commercial galleries in Dublin and Cork accepted this new work, so they must be seeing something new in the work as well,” she remarked.
Carmel continued, “What makes this exhibition in the Rowan Tree really exciting is that there are three new artists, Jean Regan, Bernard Dowd and Brian McMahon, as well as new musicians to the exhibition, Paul Dooley and Eoin O’Neill. We have also introduced a new art form in animation, for which Bernard Dowd has created a two-minute animated film to the music of Carmel O’Dea and it is really good.”
There will be a further continuation to this exhibition, as Anonn is Anall part three will have its first venue in Glór in conjunction with the Fleadh Nua in May 2011.
“What we are going to do differently here is that the musicians and artists will pick who they want to work with, so for instance Bernard Dowd really likes the way that Blackie O’Connell plays the uilleann pipes and supposedly Blackie has informed Bernard that he will compose a tune for him. I am sure it will be a great tune whatever he creates,” Carmel added.
All of the tunes for the exhibition in the Rowan Tree were recorded by Karol Lynch, without whom Carmel said it would not be possible to have the exhibition.
Originally, 10 artists and 10 musicians participated in the exhibition but only six artists and six musicians are taking part in the Rowan Tree exhibition, as a lot of the art has already sold during the year in the previous exhibitions and in private galleries in Dublin and Cork.
The participating artists with partner musicians for the Rowan Tree are Brian McMahon, Paul Dooley, Jean Regan, Josephine Marsh, Bernard Dowd, Carmel O’Dea, Carmel Doherty, PJ King, Eamon Murphy, Eoin O’Neill, Maria Hamilton and Siobhán Peoples.
Carmel also recently launched a new website, which allows Clare artists to showcase and sell their work without taking on the crippling costs of galleries and exhibitions.
She believes artists of all genres, including musicians, need to work together and support each other. Her website, www.clare-arts.com, includes a database, arts shop and information webpage for Clare artists. The idea of the website is to project Clare as a cultural centre.
“There is a lot of public art in Clare already and there is huge interest in it but through this website, people can see what Clare artists are doing and acquire some of their work for themselves. The idea for the website stemmed from the Public Art Brochure that Carmel brought out over a year ago, which encouraged accessibility and enjoyment of public art throughout county to everyone,” she said.
In time, she said the page will include an arts news page, where there will be regularly updated news on exhibitions, awards, competitions, festivals, arts and crafts fair, anything that will help to promote local artists.
“It will expand to include musicians, dancers and any other practitioner of any form of art. I’m really hoping that this project will take off and get a lot of support because Clare artists, in my opinion, need this tool to help them continue to do the fabulous work that they are doing. I view this as a great opportunity for artists to showcase their work, without crippling them financially,” Carmel said.
She also wants to get artists to support each other and to work on projects that are of a combined help to others, which also forms the backdrop to the Anonn is Anall exhibition.