2020

BOLAY RESIDENCY (2020)

Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, Ireland

Visual Artists Ireland News Sheet, 2021, Issue 4: July - August

“High Impact”

BRYAN GERARD DUFFY REPORTS ON HIS EXPERIENCE OF THE INAUGURAL BOLAY RESIDENCY IN THE LINENHALL ARTS CENTRE.

In 2020, the Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar reached the significant milestone of 30 years at the heart of the community in Mayo. Unfortunately, the year began on a sad note with the passing of the artist, Veronica Bolay, a friend of the centre and former board member, in January 2020. This was soon followed by closures due to COVID-19 lockdowns. However, the art centre’s response was brave and ambitious.

It was a great honour to be the recipient of the inaugural Bolay Residency award at the Linenhall, which was established to honour her life and work. The committee selected me from a pool of 10 shortlisted Mayo artists, with the purpose of developing two site-specific artworks in the building. The residency took place over the course of eight weeks between the end of the first lockdown (August 2020) and the beginning of the second Level 5 lockdown (October 2020).

At this time, access to the Arts Centre was allowed under the set guidelines; the gallery and coffee shop were open, but all theatre events and workshops were cancelled. It was an opportune time to activate the first visual art residency at the venue as to have an artist work and create in the Centre would bring life back to the building after the long period of lockdown. The goal was to initiate dialogue in the building around the visual arts and stimulate visitors and staff to consider the space in which they exist. What was once the community arts room for approximately 20 years became my studio space during this time. And I had the freedom to roam. Funding of €2000 was made available for the development of the work, and free lunch every day for the duration of the residency was one of the surprising (and welcome) perks of the residency.

As part of the residency award, I was offered mentorship from Mayo-based artist, Alice Maher. I enjoyed and appreciated every conservation I had with Alice, and I am beyond grateful for her guidance and support. Alice places particular importance on supporting upcoming artists in the county, and nationally. It was a belief held by Veronica Bolay too, as Alice states:

“The ‘quiet poetry’ of her work is often written about, but it is the singular focus and absolute dedication she had to her own personal visual language that I think of. She never once passed up an opportunity to help or encourage a younger artist, and this residency aims to fulfil that legacy in the best way possible, by providing time and space for an artist to focus solely on their work.”

Bolay was an acclaimed visual artist and a member of Aosdána and the Royal Hibernian Academy who sat on the Board of Directors of the Linenhall spanning a period of 13 years. Former Linenhall Director and Founder, Marie Farrell, who worked with Bolay for many years said:

“Veronica Bolay was a great artist, and she was also a very fine human being. In her many years of voluntary service as a member of the Board of the Linenhall Arts Centre, her gentle, firm presence always ensured the work of the artist was at the centre of every decision made. I think it’s fitting that the Linenhall honours her by ensuring that, once again, the work of the artist is at the core of this residency.”

No Introductions Needed

My experience was made all the more special as Castlebar is my hometown; in fact, my first encounter with the art world was at the Linenhall. I had a solo show, ‘The Fool by the Roadside’, in the main gallery in 2017; I co-facilitated workshops alongside artist Vukasin Nedeljkovic (Asylum Archive), and we had a group show with a number of asylum seekers from direct provision in 2008. I also regularly featured in the popular biannual Mayo Artists Show. I felt right at home from the start.

I began the residency in a mode of personal reflection on events that occurred during the first lockdown. At the beginning of the pandemic, I was exploring the ‘in-between spaces’ – buffer zones and safe spaces – of the Occupied Territories of Western Sahara, where political and military activity is prohibited. However, a few weeks into lockdown, my art practice took a dramatic change with events unrelated to my art.

My car collided with a train at an unmanned Irish Rail crossing. I did not hear or see the train until I was on the tracks; by then it was too late. How the accident occurred is less relevant at this moment in comparison to the fact that I survived something I really shouldn’t have. Some newspapers called me the “Miracle Man”, while social media commentators called me “blind”, asking “how can you not see a train coming?”. The car is now a write-off, and the shattered car windows have become a significant feature in the direction of my art practice.

Site-specific Artworks

I began to contemplate: (1) the process of the split-second ‘bracing for impact’ from the train; (2) the deconstruction / reconstruction of society; and (3) the airbag as a buffer zone. In the midst of this, the Black Lives Matters movement gained traction, as statues of colonisers and slave traders were being torn down. The whole of lockdown became a series of deconstructions, as we attempted to find elements of familiarity, routine and normality.

I started to reflect on my family legacy of Duffy’s Photography, which was established in 1912. Our family holds one of the oldest private collections of photographs in Connaught. We still have many of the ‘haunting’ glass plate negatives, and so I began using these plates in a different manner. Screens appeared throughout our communities to prevent the spread of the virus, and we were no longer in a position to embrace each other. So, I began hammering imagery of people hugging into panes of laminated safety glass, reenforced with toughened glass. The glass panels (80 x 100 cm) are now hung in the Linenhall Arts Centre.

While I waited for the glass panels to be sealed by Lawless Glass Ltd. in Castlebar, I began work on the second of the two site-specific works. I spray-painted swift and swallow birds onto the outside seating area, with a Hitchcock moment in mind. This space houses the swift nest conservation project and is quite active during the summer months.

In the remaining weeks of the residency, I developed an interview series, titled ‘Hall Talk: Celebrating 30 Years at the Linenhall’ in which I interviewed some of the many local voices that made up the Linenhall community over the past three decades, featuring visual artists like Alice Maher, Breda Mayock, Nuala Clarke, Vukasin Nedeljkovic, Breda Burns, Hina Khan, Tom Meskell, Áine O Hara, and Ian Wieczorek. ‘Hall Talk’ is available on the Linenhall’s Facebook, Instagram and YouTube pages.

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all the friendly Linenhall staff, the visual art gallery committee, the local radio station/media, and the community for supporting and accommodating me during my time on the Bolay residency. A special thank you to the local artists who visited me and shared their uplifting memories and stories, and to the new powerhouse Linenhall Director, Bernadette Greenan, for her immense support and welcome under such difficult circumstances. I can’t recommend this residency highly enough.

The Bolay Residency is now an annual residency with a new large studio space, specifically designed for visual artists. In the midst of all the struggles of the past year, the future of the Linenhall’s ever-evolving visual arts programme certainly looks promising.