Tag Archives: design

Kilkenny Catwalk 2021

Kilkenny Catwalk 2021, The Age Friendly Cat


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.

Butler Gallery Colouring Sheets

Sylvia Cooke-Collis, A Pattern of Fish, 1940

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

S is for Soon Poster

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. 

Typodarium 2020

Typodarium 2020

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 SchmidtIt 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.

 

Meet the Makers

Revolve

Revolve, .Obj Digital Handmade, National Design & Craft Gallery, Kilkenny, 2018

I am looking forward to talking about my work which is currently on show at the National Design & Craft Gallery in Kilkenny this Thursday 18 October at 18.30

Free Late Date Event: Meet The Makers
Join artist and designer Paul Bokslag with fellow exhibitor Marius Watz for our late date evening this Thursday. Paul will discuss his inspiration and processes involved in creating his Revolve paper installation. Marius will discuss his site-specific wall drawings and how he uses visual abstraction through generative software. This event is part of our .OBJ exhibition education and outreach programme at the National Design and Craft Gallery. The exhibition is curated by Nora O’Murchu.

Mashrabiya Fonts

square 1In March I received an email from Edo Smitshuijzen who proposed to include some of my typefaces in his publication on Mashrabiya Fonts. I was delighted to receive a copy of the beautifully produced book in the post today, generously highlighting eight of my fonts and even 3D vase renderings of a papercut.

Mashrabiyas are an iconic element of Arabic architecture. Providing shade, air circulation and privacy, all at the same time. This book showcases a number of font designs that can be used to produce Mashrabiya screens, including some possible applications. It aims to fill in a peculiar gap and thus enrich the Arabic visual culture with this new category of fonts.

The 216-page full colour paperback can be ordered through Khatt Books, publishers on design and visual culture of the Middle East and North Africa.

Bring Your Own Chair

Bring Your Own Chair

Bring Your Own Chair

As part of Bring Your Own Chair, I visited primary schools in twelve towns to deliver papercutting workshops to over 900 children. They created ‘Town Motifs’ based on the nature, buildings and heritage of their town and I worked with all images to design 14 individual A3 sized posters, one for each school. Damn Fine Print did a beautiful risograph printing job on the posters.

Bring Your Own Chair is a portrait of twelve rural towns and villages accross counties Killkenny, Waterford and Wexford, led by visual artist Michelle Browne and produced by Workhouse Union. Towns and villages include Kilmacthomas, An Rinn, Tallow and Passage East (Waterford); Ballyhack, Taghmon, Bunclody, Courtown (Wexford); and Coon, Goresbridge, Slieverue and Kells (Kilkenny).

Bring Your Own Chair is funded by the Arts Council Ireland Making Great Art Work – Open Call Award and with further support from Create Ireland/Collaborative Arts Partnership Programme, Design & Crafts Council of Ireland, Waterford Council, Kilkenny Arts Office, County Wexford and Kilkenny LEADER Partnership.

.Obj: Digital Handmade

.Obj Digital Handmade

.Obj Digital Handmade

I am looking forward to showing a new large sculptural paper piece at the .Obj: Digital Handmade Exhibition in the National Design & Craft Gallery in Kilkenny, curated by Nora O Murchú. The exhibition will be opened on Saturday 11 August at 2pm and is presented as part of Kilkenny Arts Festival. I will also run a number of children’s wokhops on Tue 14, Wed 15 and Thu 16 August. The exhibition continues until 23 January 2019.