ARTISTS TALKING

# 2 [17 June 2007]

An email arrives with more detailed information about the project. It has been written by the organiser, Rosie, whose studio sits in the centre of Roundstone, the mainland town closest to the island. Since 2001, artists have been spending several days each year on Inishlacken, talking, exchanging views, making work, walking the island, listening to local archaeologists talking about the island, giving readings of poetry and prose plus holding exhibitions in Roundstone and Belfast. In previous years, artists have spent days on Inishlacken, returning to the mainland at nightfall. 2007 will be different; we will be staying during the entire project on the island in the last remaining house that is habitable (also including the shed as an extension to the sleeping arrangements!).

Ireland has a grand literary heritage, artists and writers have visited Inishlacken for generations. In the 1950’s James Dillon, Gerard Campbell and James McIntyre spent a summer there writing and illustrating the now rare book Three Men on an Island and it is in respect of this that the project was conceived.

I will need a tent and waterproof clothing (after all, this is Ireland), good walking boots and a resolve to leave behind my home comforts. It is suggested that I read several books prior to the project. Three Men on an Island is at the top of the list so I consult the local library and Amazon and neither can offer a copy. In the end it is through a rare book search that I find only one copy in the UK and one in the US – at the lavish price of £52 or 200 dollars! Nevertheless I reach deep into my pocket and order the UK copy.

I am beginning to get to know this island from afar and starting to mull over the potential for this trip. Right now I have a lot of work on, mostly administrative, and I need to ensure my head is in the right place before I leave England. Over time, you get to know your shortcomings, one of mine is not to allow myself enough quiet moments to think and consider. I have decided to do a long, contemplative walk the day before I leave and then travel to Ireland in advance of the starting date and spend a couple of days in Roundstone THINKING!

# 1 [9 June 2007]

An impulsive visit to the west coast of Ireland led to staying overnight in the coastal town of Roundstone, west of Galway. Standing on the edge of small mooring dock overlooking the Atlantic Ocean it was possible to see a group of three islands some 1200 metres away, two accessed by a roadway but the last of which was totally separated from the mainland. Fascinated and inspired by the Irish landscape and its people I find my mind wandering off to notions of chartering a boat to visit the island, spending time there allowing the terrain to permeate into my thoughts and inspire and influence my work. The following day, before leaving to return to England, I noticed an open door underneath a sign proclaiming ‘Artists Studio’. Of course I went inside – its what you do if you are an artist on holiday – and was confronted by several paintings of rich colour and texture. A brief conversation ensued; the artist and I talked of making work, the difference in our gallery and funding systems, the lot of artists in general. Upon leaving I wrote a short message in the visitors book including my email addresses.

Wind forward a few days and I am back in the UK and my curiosity in the island is still aroused. I discover through the net that the island is called Inishlacken and that it has no electricity, roads and only one habitable dwelling with running water and a generator. One search informs me that this property is in fact for sale (price on application), the estate agents site includes some breathtaking photographs of the terrain. The next time I log on to my email there is a message from a name I recognise - it is the artist from Roundstone. Her email contains an invitation to participate in something called The Inishlacken Project. Several artists will spend time on the island to gather inspiration and ideas over a week in June, would I like to be one of them? My excitment is immediate and hastily checking my diary, I realise that, as luck would have it, I have nothing written into the week of the project. Inishlacken here I come!