helenfarrellart

An invite to collaborate?  An artist pal sent out an invite to painters to do a painting or drawing each week for a year for a collaboration.  I felt excited to be part of a collective like this. About ten artists from all over Ireland were involved and we shared our work on Facebook each day. It was inspiring to see how our work progressed and we had a very fine on-line exhibition among ourselves at the year end.  52 Watercolour paintings of flowers Early on I decided to do small pieces, as I knew that doing anything big would have to grapple with major life events, as they tend to pop up now and again!  It was early inthe year, and we were observing the warming up of the earth after the winter and regeneration of plant life, I put my energies into painting flowers  Most of the plants I painted I found in our garden. Others were inspired by photos I had taken previously. It was amazing to find quite a few flowers growing in what looked like a g...

  Exciting to receive- ".Dear Landfillart Artist: Today , World Environment Day of the United Nations—an annual celebration to encourage positive environmental action—is the perfect time to inform you that the artwork you created and donated to the Landfillart Project will be included in the exhibition  Second Time Around: The Hubcap as Art. The exhibition will open  September 7, 2014 , at  The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley  (MSV), in Winchester, Virginia, USA, and be on exhibit through  March 1, 2015 .  Yours is one of 287 objects selected out of more than 1,000 artworks now in the Landfillart Collection.  The exhibition presents work from artists in every U.S. state and 35 other countries.  The dense, visually exciting installation has a strong environmental message and will incorporate WASTE NOT from the Green Revolution “eco-zibit,” which is based on an exhibition originally created by the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, and ...

One rainy, cold day in Spring 2013, a few of us were sitting in the back office of Ranelagh Arts Centre, wrecking our heads trying to think of new projects to put forward for Ranelagh Arts Festival later that year. Mountpleasant Mural Project was  an idea we felt might work. It would involve  collaborative  Community Paintings, which would eventually be on display as outdoor art in a local area. We proposed  that we would  create 4 -6   permanent outdoor 2D artpieces for the enjoyment of local community for display in Mounpleasant Park in Ranelagh, Dublin...and that we would involve the   the local RMDS Primary school, local community and park visitors in the creation of some of the pieces. At the end of it, we hoped to have  a few o utdoor permanent paintings in the park for all to enjoy, and  which would hopefully inspire community and other artists to the potential of projects like these in the city/country. We felt ...

Post- script: In 2013, Moynalty won the National Tidy Towns award. The following community arts project was mentioned on the adjudicators report, and we like to think that the community energy involved in this outdoor art exhibition contributed in some small way towards that award! http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/moynalty-co-meath-named-ireland-s-tidiest-town-1.1521107 Left to right-  Helen Farrell, John O Brien, Heather Buchanan, Catherine Mc Cormack, Deirdre Gilsenan. Weighed down by the gloom of a long winter in 2012, our thoughts went to dreaming of longer days when leaf buds would form on trees, birds would start to look for materials with which to build their nests and a certain light would appear in our daylight hours. A notion formed of creating outdoor artpieces alongside  nature, as she created the following season. A brave or foolish notion ? I wasn't sure , but it didn't go away. It became stronger, and we began to conside...

"Strangled Expression" Tree and rope It's Ireland, it's 2013 Times are hard for many people. The recession is biting big-time The man on the street has lots to say, but nowhere to be heard

"Answered Prayers" Installation -  Tree, paint and paper I was very happy to be asked to create an artpiece by Rosita Sweetman using some of the wishes from The Mary Wishing tree from Body and Soul Festival 2012. Here is my response - hanging on a branch of a very old oak tree and blowing in the wind. The oak hug Gone to bed The installation had to be" put to bed"at night, as the place came alive at night with revellers. So, we made a pulley system to heave it up into the branches. The festival webpage is www.bodyandsoul.ie  

" Woodland Bluebells" Acrylic on Canvas, 20ins x 16ins. I've just finished this painting as a commission. Nora's five grandchildren, Bluebells in a wood, and Eight trees to symbolise her close friends. I hope she likes it.

" Contemporary Arts Exhibition" This was a very successful and varied show of Contemporary Artwork from Artists throughout the country.  The old Village Market next door to the Arts Centre at No 26 provided an ideal venue.  Running for the two weeks of the festival, it attracted people from far and wide.  Co-facilitated and Co-curated by Helen Farrell and Darragh Howard.  "Liubov's lovely sculptures --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ranelagh Arts Festival 2012 I remember looking forward to Ranelagh Arts Festival 2012, and thinking at the time that that it would be a great experience to photograph, record and write about as many events as I could manage. ... Alas, it wasn't to be ..the festival ended up being a runaway success, but it literally ran away with itself for the duration of the 2 weeks , taking on a life of it's own. I ended up getting none of the above don...