The ISACS Network was delighted to present the 2024 edition of the ISACS and Áras Éanna Ionad Ealaíne Artist Residency.

This was our fifth residency since 2019, and we were enthusiastic to continue offering this excellent opportunity for artists to live and create for one month on the island of Inis Oírr, Co. Galway.

The selected artists were Gill Byrne and Sadbh Grehan. Below, you can read the chronicles of their four weeks on the island.

Here is what they said looking back at the overall experience:

To have the full month of a residency on the island was absolutely invaluable – it was amazing to have a decent amount of time to sink our teeth into the work, and make local connections within the community. The support from Lucy before the residency began was great – it established an atmosphere of productive but no pressure creativity. It was wonderful to stay in the artists house and as a duo, have our own separate spaces – I think this was crucial to help our creative relationship.

We were so lucky to have arrived in time to take part in Cúirt Ceol na mBán – a really enriching weekend of women playing traditional music, I think it absolutely set us on the right path going forwards with the rest of the residency. Emma O Grady, who runs the festival, is a wonderful artist and now friend who lives on the island; meeting her and having her support and friendship was really wonderful.

We had the opportunity to work with both Aoife Carry and Emilija Jefremova. Both were fantastic experiences and again with the artists house we were able to host Aoife and make the most of our time with her. They were both incredibly supportive and really on board and encouraging with our projects. Having a mentor as part of the residency was amazing – I think without Aoife we would have been a bit lost, and her input and guidance allowed us to really hone in on and clarify what we wanted to do.

Dara and Aisling in Áras Éanna were great and we felt really looked after by them, plus having the freedom of the space and our own studio meant we felt we could work at our own pace and schedule. There could have been a little bit more communication as to the access to the gallery space, as we were initially under the impression that we would be able to use the gallery space to host an exhibition, but it turned out not to be the case. We adapted and adjusted accordingly, and were able to pull off a beautiful exhibition in our own studio space, which was cleaned and painted for the day by the lovely Pat Quinn.

We had a wonderful turn out and great feedback from our showing, and it was great to be able to put everything together and invite people to come see what we had been working on. There was a great mix of local islanders, and people who had travelled from the mainland for the day. Overall a big success and such a wonderful opportunity I cant thank ISACS enough!!

-Sadbh Grehan

 

We had an absolutely incredible time on the Inis Oírr residency. Landing into Cúirt Ceol na mBán was a gorgeous welcome to the island, and I think really inspired us both with the sense of community on the island, and a taste of the deep culture the place is seeped in. Áras Éanna were nothing short of amazing hosts – they made sure we had everything we needed, supported us through the process and showing, and invited us to all the events happening during our stay.

The overall experience was a mix of being challenging, enjoyable, and expansive as creatives. I don’t think we ever imagined ourselves undertaking the task of measuring walls, or would have considered it relevant to our practise, but it was actually a really artistically transformative project, which will ripple into our future work.

-Gill Byrne