‘A Tale of Cork’ was an installation developed for St Patrick’s Day 2021, with 3 elements: an audio piece, made by our Audio Engineer Ruairí Dale, consisting of voice notes sent in by people reading their favourite poems weaved in with original music by Ruairí; a stained glass window depicting the Goddess Clíodhna from Irish mythology; and steel bird sculptures which tie in with the story of the Goddess, all installed on site in Bishop Lucey Park, Cork city centre.
”The Dog House Project” The developmental project saw the Blackpool Men’s Group working Art Link and engaging for the first time in a creative arts environment. Focusing on aspects of their unique cultural identity and culture the Men’s Group worked on a series of individual dog houses and a doll house. This first successful encounter will lead to the development of future collaborative projects and involvement of members of the group in multi community projects such as Halloween.
Cork Community Art Link have been involved in the Cork St Patrick’s Day Parade for a large part of the past three decades and we didn’t want to let the day pass without marking it. Therefore, we are grateful to Cork City Council for offering us the opportunity to present an alternative plan to celebrate our heritage, our past, and our communities whilst looking forward to a better future.
As a community art organization, our goal is to include and to involve as many individuals as possible in our project under the circumstances.
We have been working with a small team, holding remote meetings and working to create what we hope will be a real lift to the people of Cork and beyond.
The installation includes three main elements; a stained glass window, an audiopiece and three large songbird sculptures.
The three songbirds were designed by Artistic Director William and Assistant Director Beibhinn, and created by Lead Technician Sam, with support by Art Worker Eamonn.
The stained glass window, featuring the Goddess Clíodhna was designed and created by Artists Podge and Raffaele, and features drawings created by Mikayla and Jack from the CCAL Young Comic Creation group. The process included cutting paper, layering coloured gels and mounting the sides on to perspex, completed to appear like a stained glass window. This will be mounted in a wooden frame created by Sam, and when installed will have the sound-piece created by Audio Artist Ruairí, featuring poetry submitted by the people of Cork and beyond, who shared a voice-note recording of their favourite poetry. Ruairí has created this wonderful sound-piece incorporating the poetry received, layered with original music, and birdsong recorded right here in Ireland.
The online audio-piece is accompanied by a video documenting the creative process, with images, videos and time-lapse shared by our crew, from initial sketches to finished pieces, and compiled by General Manager Michelle.
Our creative team was supported by Manager Michelle, Administrator and Artist Nadia and PR Consultant Geri.