Off to Ireland this week for an artist residency at Cill Rialaig on Kerry’s spectacular Iveragh Peninsula. This remote and rugged village of eight little stone cottages, was built out of the ruins of a 1790’s prefamine village atop a cliff face overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and Skellig Michael (a UNESCO World Heritage site). Seven of the cottages are living work spaces without TV, telephone and internet for the visiting artists. The eighth, Tigh an Comhra’ ( Gaelic for “house of conversation”) or Meeting House offers residents a place to gather and partake from a rich library. It was formerly the home of a famous inhabitant, seannachai (storyteller), Sean O’Connaill in the early part of the 20th c. I have been assigned cottage #3.
The closest village, Ballinskelligs, is three miles away. This is in a Gaeltacht, a rare Irish-speaking area, and is one of the least populated areas in Europe. With a population of less that 600, it offers few services: one general grocery store, a post office, two pubs and a few seasonal eateries, which most likely will not be open during my stay.
While there I will be working with Catherine Richardson on a collaborative project on extraction in addition to continuing my own investigations on processes of shaping. Not sure how often I will be blogging on this trip as all will be dependent on how connected I will be. Do look occasionally, however, on my instagram site holvebrooke.
