Keep Sketch Residency | mickminoguemadethis

Decorated Gallery windows In the Castle Yard, Kilkenny.

My first decal.

Residency Entrance Info.

Residency Info. Damn fine read.

The Bear King upon his throne. It was him who drew the two bears either side.

The Bear King and his open wall sketch book/

The Bear King was made from felt and fur and filled with rice and beans.

The Bear King was pseudo self portrait. He was portraying how I was feeling more than how I looked, kind of.

The Anchor tattoo was my first attempt using the embroidery function on my machine, It was really my first time using a machine at all Instead of hand stitch.

Both bears guarding the King were hand drawn with charcoal. Thank you to the Crafts Council Of Ireland for being so cool about this, getting charcoal off a wall is as infuriating as fighting a bear I imagine.

The Bear KIng Is always hiding some old nostalgic treats.

During my residency I came to the realisation that i have a thing for utility belts, they are just the coolest. Check out how bad ass the Bear Kings one Is.

Addicted to buttons.

Desperate Dan Bar, nothing more deadly and sweet than your past.

My Dads old shoes which I am still bummed out don't fit me. They will fit pretend me though.

The appalling scene of any craft addict.

Wall sketches and wall to wall gallery transport used during my stay there.

Had a great morning when the gang from K-KAT called In to check up on me. We made some sweet drawings which of course had to go up on my wall, It was my sketch book after all.

The Old Beast now deceased. This was the tool of the trade used during my stay In the gallery.

My to do list written during breakfast the morning my residency began.

Random daily recordings and doodles made throughout the days spent In the gallery. These would have been the exact same doodles if I was working with a sketchbook. There was something very freeing and unrestricted about taking them to the wall.

A lot of the time if the materials are at hand I will sketch with whatever's there. No idea why this little forest popped up, It just did.

This Is where all the lost time went over the week. I found a show box of old watches with my dad when we were excavating a wall of an old Jewelers. A curious box locked into a wall filled with old broken watches, each tagged and numbered.

For each time I felt like I had done very little or wasted my time on something during my residency I recorded It with a watch.

For each time I felt like I had done very little or wasted my time on something during my residency I recorded It with a watch. From this It might seem I did very little over the week. Minutes they don't make them like they used to.

Pervert dog. Inspired by a little dog who popped his head In one day. Not the most friendliest of dogs and he had that look about him.

Tuesday. I had high hopes for that day.

More wall sketches. Once I had gotten an idea of what It was I wanted to make I began jotting the process onto the walls as I would a sketch book. Any references or inspirations would also be stuck to the all so that the viewer could see where my thought process would go. All over the place.

During my time In the gallery I also recorded the artwork I made that week or around the time of the residency. These were put on display. The plush doll was made a long time before the residency but Its important as I recalled It when creating the Bear King so It's included as a physical memory.

Opehelia. A diorama created around the time of the CCOI Residency.

'Keep Sketch' CCOI Residency

In May of 2011 was invited by the Crafts Council of Ireland to come and do a week long residency with them In their gallery In Kilkenny. The residency coincided with the first Irish exhibition of renowned Jeweler and artist Bruce Metcalf. I was asked by the CCOI to explore the relationship between drawing and making and how they perform together when an artist Is conducting.

Having stepped away from my textile craft work I wanted to embrace this residency as a public re-initiation process. I spent 5 days In the gallery using the space as my pop up studio. Without having any premeditated thought of what a weeks progress would produce I began on the first day using the walls as my sketch book. I recored every thought and event that happened during my time spent there publicly showing my my relationship between drawing and making.

Playing on personal interests I had at the time and feeling a little intimidated by my role as the artist on show I created a quasi self portrait of how I felt.

I found huge comfort In both the act of making this character of myself feeling as If we were laughing at each other back and forth never allowing the serious to evolve. I have always associated the Craft Gallery as a very prestigious space and felt I was underdressed for the space. Focusing on this discomfort I allowed my craft to do the talking which was something I felt very out of touch with.

The residency came to an end with a public exhibition of the creative stew I had cooked up during my time spent in the gallery.

Each image has info about the work that was created during my time In the gallery just click to view.

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