Seed to Flower is my contribution to Creatives for Ukraine, an open platform for creatives from around the world showing solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
UNICEF is working to scale up life-saving support for children and their families in Ukraine.
In the spring of 2021 I ran a number of papercutting workshops on Zoom, in preparation for painting ‘the Age Friendly Cat’. Wonderful Kilkenny-themed work was made by workshop participants Eimear Burke, Mary Colclough, Bryan Culley, Janice Culley, Joan Fogarty and Mari O’Shea. As a memento, I designed an A3 poster that includes most of the papercuts made by them, showing much more of their detail than the cat does. High quality digital prints by Modern Printers. The Kilkenny Catwalk trail of 21 sculptures continues until Easter 2022. ‘The Age Friendly Cat’ can still be found in McDonagh Junction’s square. Visit www.kilkennycatwalk.ie to find out more.
I collaborated on a new piece with Michał Tylicki of Artefakt Rugs and it is part of Made in Ireland at the National Design & Craft Gallery in Kilkenny. The exhibition was selected by Peter Carroll, Dr. Riann Coulter, Irene Kernan, Dr. Audrey Whitty, Neil Reed, Kathleen Moran and Mary Gallagher and curated by Hilary Morley and Stephen O’Connell and it continues until 30 January 2022. It was a pleasure to be involved in the install of the exhibition and it is an honour to show our work along some beautiful objects by makers from around the country.
Kilkenny Catwalk is a trail of 21 sculptures painted by local artists. The 5ft fibreglass resin model is based on Pangur Bán, a character from Cartoon Saloon’s first feature animation ‘The Secret of Kells’. The project is a partnership between Kilkenny Civic Trust and Kilkenny County Council. The trail will be launched on 10 October 2021 and remain in place until Easter 2022. The trail is designed to immerse people in Kilkenny’s rich heritage while at the same time supporting the Keep Well Campaign. At the conclusion of the project, all artwork will be auctioned to raise funds for the St Mary’s Almshouses refurbishment project.
I painted the Age Friendly Cat following a series of online workshops promoted by the Older Peoples Council. Through the medium of papercutting, participants explored positive and negative space, colour, pattern and all things Kilkenny. The rich collection of papercuts that developed over a couple of months, became an integral part of the cat design. Early on, one of the workshop participants proposed that the Age Friendly Cat should be a celebration of creativity in older age. Big thanks to the workshop participants: Eimear Burke, Mary Colclough, Bryan Culley, Janice Culley, Joan Fogarty and Mari O’Shea.
I feel very honoured to have had a large sculptural papercut in ‘Conjuring Form’, the Design and Crafts Council Ireland Portfolio Critical Selection 2021-2022 exhibition in Doneraile Court, Co. Cork. It was curated by Alice Stori Liechtenstein.
An Irish Alphabet
COMPETITION: Guess the origin of each letter of this Irish Alphabet and win a screen printed poster.
I have posted a lot of my own fonts here over the years, but this is something different. Inspired by @studiorashkov, who did a wonderful ABC of letters from the city of Rotterdam, I created this Irish Alphabet. The letters were not designed by me, I merely gathered them from the corners of the internet and as a collection they celebrate the wealth of Irish design. Each letter represents an Irish organisation, company or place in the country. Mostly it is the first letter of their name, but in a few cases it is another notable letter from their identity. Find the names of the Irish organisations, companies and places represented by each letter of this alphabet. The alphabet will be screen printed as an A3 poster and the first person to guess and email me all letters correctly (or the person with most correct answers by the end of Sunday 12 July) will receive a copy of the poster in the post. The winner will be announced on Monday 13 July.
Sylvia Cooke-Collis, A Pattern of Fish, 1940
I was delighted to be asked by the Butler Gallery in Kilkenny to design a series of colouring sheets for all ages, based on works from their permanent collection. A lot of these works will be on display, when they move to their new building after the lockdown. All colouring sheets can be downloaded for free from the Butler Gallery website.
S is for Soon Poster
S is for Soon is my submission to Creatives Against Covid 19, a campaign calling on the creative industry to design and donate inspiring posters of hope, optimism and resilience on the theme of Soon. Social isolation during the coronavirus pandemic is more dangerous for women and children living in the reality of abusive relationships. My poster and more than 1000 others can now be purchased through the Creatives Against Covid 19 website, with all funds donated equally between ISPCC Childline and Women’s Aid. Posters are A3 and are made to order, printed by Hen’s Teeth. They are printed on gallery quality, fine art archival paper using giclée printing.
Breach in Typodarium 2020
Typodarium is a 365 day tear-off calendar with a fresh font for every day by 244 Designers from 33 countries. It includes three of my fonts: Madagascar (Tuesday 7 April), Planetarium (Monday 20 July) and Breach (Saturday 24 October). Typodarium 2020 is compiled by Lars Harmsen and Raban Ruddigkeit and published by Verlag Hermann Schmidt. It shows a bi-scriptual font family every Sunday in addition to typedesign from all over the world. There are differences between Arabic and Hebrew, Japanese and Latin, but visually also many similarities. Communication overcomes boundaries and communication needs writing. Typodarium 2020 celebrates the colorful diversity of typefaces.
Paul Bokslag 