Illuminate

Artist Name(s) Ruby Wallis & Gerard Glynn
Artwork title Illuminate
Context/Background In December 2011 Galway County Council's Arts Office created a panel of artists from which a number of exciting and innovative Public Art Projects were commissioned. This panel allowed Galway County Council to plan a broad, cohesive and meaningful programme that responded to a number of themes, communities and contexts. Based on the success of this panel, Galway County Council invited artists to be included on a new short term panel from which candidates could be shortlisted to develop proposals for individual commissions and projects in 2013-14. Galway County Council stipulated that commissioned Public Art projects and programmes must ‘add to the local cultural landscape and be in line with international contemporary art practice’. Furthermore, the Public Art Programme must endeavour to ‘connect with citizens of all age, nationality and ability’, across four programme strands;
  1. Site-integrated sculptures,
  2. Residency programmes,
  3. Once-off innovative projects,
  4. Contextual Art (includes artists working in healthcare and education settings, as well as those involved in initiatives to facilitate creativity in older years in County Galway).
Illuminate was funded through the Per Cent for Art Scheme as part of a programme that pooled Per Cent for Art budgets to commission works which connect with county-wide communities of interest. This followed on from Galway County Council's work on the ANDP (Arts and Disability Networking Pilot) project, in which a strong partnership with Brothers of Charity arts programme was forged.
Description

Illuminate  was an exhibition which was presented at Nun’s Island Theatre, Galway from 20–28 September 2013. The exhibition was the result of the artists’ year-long public art project and residency with The Brothers of Charity ‘That’s life’ arts programme.                                                                                   

Weekly sessions were devised in consultation with ‘That’s Life’ staff. The participants of ‘That’s life’ ranged from people with mild intellectual disabilities to people with severe intellectual disabilities and autism. Participants engaged in the process of drawing with light through whole body movement and improvised dance patterns. Each participant was invited to take part and respond to the process in their own individual way, with responses ranging from small hand movements to large physical gestures. Sessions throughout the year were documented using film and sound recordings, which provided the material for the subsequent exhibition.

The exhibition took the form of a dual channel video, projected onto two five meter wide screens, which were set at an angle to each other. One screen was dedicated to the artwork produced, while the other screen conveyed the subject’s engagement with the screen.

Mediation

Ruby Wallis ‘Digital Inclusion’, Visual Artists News Sheet Jan/Feb 2014

http://www.illuminatearts.org/uploads/9/8/7/6/987618/illuminate_-_digital_inclusion.pdf

Biographies

Ruby Wallis is an exhibiting artist who works with film and photography. She is currently completing her doctoral studies at The National College of Art and Design.

http://www.rubywallis.com/biography.html

Gerald Glynn is an engineer, programmer and web designer who freelances and studies at The National University of Ireland Galway.

Commission Type Local Authority
Commissioner Name Bernadine Carroll, Public Art Officer, Galway Co. Council
Commissioning process Curated Panel Selection. The appointed selection committee included independent curators, appropriate experts and local and community representatives.
Project commission dates April 30, 2012 - September 27, 2013
Public Presentation dates September 19, 2013 - September 27, 2013
Partners The Brothers of Charity
Artform Visual Arts
Art Practice Arts and disability
Funded By Galway County Council
Percent for art Yes
Budget Range 10000 - 30000 euro
Project commission start date 30/04/2012
Project commission end date 27/09/2013
Location Nun's Island Theatre
County Galway
Town Galway
Street Address 23 Nun's Island, The Claddagh
Website www.illuminatearts.org/
Content contributor(s) Web Editor
Public engagement

One of the key ambitions of the exhibition was for the work to reach a wider audience, and that the marginalization of people with disability in terms of levels of engagement be dissolved. Claude Madec of ‘That’s Life’ stated that “People with intellectual disabilities engage with their individual creative sense and a new experience like this can be transformative”.

A public panel discussion took place on 26th September, 2013, at Nun’s Island, Galway to reflect on the practice, process and issues related to the project.

Panellists : Gerald Glynn, Ruby Wallis, Claude Madec, Bernardine Carroll and Chris Wallis, chaired by Vicky Smith

Associated professionals / Specialists involved

Galway City Arts Office

The Galway Arts Centre

Jon Reynolds and Claude Madec of ‘That’s Life’ - The Brothers of Charity arts program

Arts and Disability Ireland

Opportunities

plus

no news in this list.

more opportunities

Focus On

plus

Pathway

Nazareth Housing Association provides independent living houses for individuals and couples who are 65 and over and on the Sligo County Council housing list.  Nazareth Village is comprised of 48 houses in a garden setting.  The Village was financed as a public-private partnership between Nazareth Housing Association and Sligo County Council with funding from the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government.  

more about this article