Harmony Design Studio

This was the second year that the art exhibition entitled Art Attacks Balgaddy was held at Archbishop Ryan National School in Lucan Co. Dublin.

A great weekend was had by all, from the time that we hung our paintings and organised the craft stands on Thursday evening right through to Sunday afternoon when the buyers collected their purchases.

The staff and organisers are to be commended yet again on a wonderful event which was very well run.

A fellow blogger who writes the blog on Breast Cancer, http://beyondbreastcancer.wordpress.com/ had a post earlier this week about the Pink Auction.

Well the Christmas Craft Fair season is well and truly here.  I had an exhibition stand at the RTE Sports & Social Club on the grounds at RTE yesterday 3rd December.  There was a large turnout for the first year of this craft fair, so many in fact that the event was extended to cover two days.

This is also the weekend when the National Crafts Fair takes place in the RDS, Dublin, a great fair to visit with lots of ideas for Christmas presents, trinkets or even delicous ranges of food to suit all tastes.  So if there is a Craft Fair nearby to you in the run up to Christmas, do visit, do stop and chat with the Craftspeople, they would only be delighted to give you an insight into the time and labour that goes into producing just one item that they’re selling.

I won’t be attending any further craft fairs this year but I do have a Special Offer which is limited to Friends and Family and my business network, Kildare Business Network,  at the moment but I may possibly open it up to everyone next week.

I’ve just launched the new collection that I’ve been working on for the last while, the Funky Collection is a limited edition in a range of fun and funky colours.

The range have just been added to the shop and are available at present.  I will have them on view at the craft fair which I’m attending on this Saturday 15th August at the Enterprise Centre in Clondalkin, which will be attended by a large selection of craftspeople along with a Farmers Market.

I also have in stock plain ribbed black boxes which are available to purchase as an extra when processing your order, they are only available in two sizes for the square clocks and not for any of the other sizes.

Well its that time of the year again, holiday time and I’m off to France.  There are a number of antique shops nearby to where I’ll be staying and I plan of spending a day or two checking out what’s on offer.  I love France and the French style of furniture, even the brickwork is lovely!

It will be a well desvered rest as I’ve been hard at work marketing both of our businessess, Harmony Design Studio and Pedreschi Electrical & Alarms Limited.  While at the electrical business we have just completed our audit and have received our Certificate of Registration from EQA (Ireland) Ltd on Intruder Alarm Systems, having been assessed and meeting the standards I.S. EN 50131-1:1997    and I.S. CLC/TS 50131-7:2003.

I have a Craft fair organised for 15th August at Action Enterprise in Clondalkin, I’ll post the times nearer to the date.  I’ll also have some art for auction at the Rutland Center for the Garden Party on 23rd August, again I’ll post the times nearer to the date just to remind you all to turn up and give your support.

If you’re around Dublin this weekend,  the end of year exhibition for the CEAD Students is taking place at the National College of Art & Design, Thomas Street, Dublin 8.

Opening times Fri 26 and Sat 27 June 10.00am til 5.00pm and Sun 28 2.00pm til 4.00pm 

CEAD is Continuing Education in Art & Design, for further information about this subject check out the website http://www.ncad.ie

I have three pieces on exhibit. They are all watercolours and are painted from photos which I took last year in New Zealand.

Bloom in the park will take place during the June Bank Holiday weekend, that is next weekend.  Tickets can be purchased online at http://bloominthepark.com/ 

Kids are free, which should go some way towards making the cost a little easier for families.  Now we just need the weather to make it a wonderful weekend.

Last year I painted an oil painting of Lambay Island which includes the beach at Donabate where we spent many a holiday as children.  Those were the days……. we explored the beach and the sand-dunes, the rock pools and even spent days collecting lost golf balls - only to clean then up and resell them back to the golfers.

Anyway this is the picture which I was asked to paint for my brother, it was a series of three, one of which was Skerries at Dusk and the other was the Ha’penny Bridge - both of which I posted about last year.

The interiors show 2009 is taking place in the RDS again this May, its one for the dairy.

The dates to take note of are Friday 15th May 11am - 9pm, Saturday 16th May 11am - 7pm and Sunday 17th May 11am - 6pm.  This show is open to both trade and the public.

Among the exhibitors is Design Classics Direct.

Luna Chair

This is an Angel paint by an artist that I know and have exhibited with in the past.  The artist in question is Valerie Stephenson from Celbridge in County Kildare.  The painting above is titled “Protection”, it is acrylic on an oval canvas.

Valerie was recently featured in the Kildare Xtra newspaper.  The full range of  Angel paintings can be seen at www.valeriestephenson.com

I am currently working on a new collection of clocks, the collection comprises of a number of one of a kind pieces in a range of funky colours…  I’ll put up some pictures when they are finished.

The inspiriation for this collection is Bloom in the Park.  I hope to have them finished by mid-week.

Bloom 2009 is well under way on the organisation front, the event takes place over the June Bank Holiday weekend.   As a registered craftsperson with the Crafts Council of Ireland there was a call to submit samples of work along with the presentation documentation, to take up a stand for the five day event. 

I gave this a lot of thought but decided against entering on the basis that the amount of time involved both in making the presentation and the setting up plus the show itself, the main factor being that my son is doing the Junior Certificate which starts on June 3rd.  So all in all we could as a family do without the stress.

I know that I’ll regret that I’m not taking part during the event - but it’s best for us to give it a miss for this year.  Further information can be found on www.bloominthepark.com or www.ccoi.ie

Interior Collection Square

This is a sample of what is on offer at the shop, commissions are also taken if you have a design or colour scheme in mind to fit into your interior space.

I was in Dublin on Saturday last - details of which I posted earlier in the week on www.brushworx.blogspot.com and while we attended the National Gallery and then had a look around the extensive bookshop.

While in the bookshop I noticed that they had for sale a range of notebooks by Orla Kiely, I just love her designs and had to follow up with this post.

Orla Kiely

Check out all her current designs at www.orlakiely.com

I painted two pieces recently, which I designed when two of my little nieces who are aged four and six were visiting and were taken by the clocks - but my range of clocks are not suitable for this age group, unless they are put out of little hands reach.  I let the girls pick which one they liked best and it was just as well they didn’t pick the same one.

Springtime is here, this is really a play on words, because its the title of this piece of art.  It’s one of my creations which I gave to someone for Christmas and they really appreciated it.

Another piece which I gave as a present was titled Time & Tide, for obvious reasons.  All my pieces which contain a working clock have a title which contains the word time, this is something that I have done consistently since I started selling and exhibiting my timepieces.

Last Sunday we spent the day at the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks.  Upon arriving we noted that the opening hours were 2pm to 5pm and as it was 12.30 we walked around the outside of this large imposing building and Clarke Square, then we had delicous scones and tea in the Cafe while we waited for the doors to open. 

There was something there for all the family, it was our first time to visit and we would have no hesitation in visiting again.  The exhibition named Soldiers and Chiefs covers a wide range of topics from,  Warfare in Ireland, The Wild Geese, The 1916 Rising, The Second World War and the UN peacekeeping duties, Training for Peace. The UN section celebrates 50 years of Irish peacekeeping from 1958 to 2008.

Another exhibit named Blaze Away features Duelling, gun making and sword making in the 19th century in Ireland and the families who ran businessess as gun makers and sword makers.

Also displayed is a large selection of Silver, glass and ceramics from a wide range of sources including Waterford, Wedgewood and Belleek featuring everything from modern and contemporary to older pieces.

An exhibit featuring haute couture garments by the Irish fashion designer Nellí Mulcahy shows examples of both day and evening wear.

The main reason that we attended was the fact that we had heard the advertisiment on RTE radio for the Albert Bender exhibition of Asian Art and we were not dissapointed.  Albert Bender (1866-1941) who was born in Dublin donated over 250 items of his collection to the National Museum of Ireland between 1931 and 1936.  This was an amazing exhibition which featured along with the items of art that Albert Bender collected, letters and christmas cards to him from amongest others the artist Jack B. Yates.

For me the most interesting part of the whole day was the Eileen Gray exhibit which is on permanent display. The exhibition realised one of Gray’s last ambitions – to have her work brought back to Ireland. She is regarded as one of the most influential 20th Century designers and architects, the exhibition includes such important items as the adjustable chrome table and the non-conformist chair. The exhibition also has a personal level, including family photographs and her lacquering tools. It illustrates an account of her professional development from art student at Slade, London and Paris to mature, innovative architect. The exhibition honours the memory of Eileen Gray, modern self-taught architect and designer. While I was studying interior design I read her biography and also watched with interest the TV programme which told her story from growing up in a large stately house in Wexford to the her studio in Paris.  I also visited the area in the South of France where she lived in the home that she designed and had built.  She also designed the range of furniture specifically for this her home.

Further information on this and all the other exhibits can be found at www.museum.ie entry is free and as I have said there is something there for all the family.

I have been taking part in craft fairs during November and December, exhibiting my range of contemporary timepieces.  The recession that has been effecting the large retailers wasn’t really to be seen.  People were spending and artists/exhibitors were selling their work.  Some exhibitors did say that sales were down on last year but there seems to be buyers for good quality handmade goods, one off and one of a kind pieces which have been made with care and exhibited with pride.

Christmas Time Red

For me it was the first Christmas that I attended fairs, I would normally exhibit for one weekend only in the one venue, so it was great to get out there and meet the people, so to speak.  The feeling that someone has bought an item which you have made and is in turn giving this as a gift is a great feeling.

So to all who attended the fairs, friends and family who dropped by, people who stopped to chat or purchased an item….. I’d like to say Thank You and wish you all a very Happy Christmas.

I attended and part-took in a few craft fairs in the last two months or so,  the National Craft Fair at the RDS was great.  It was the first time that I had attended this fair a familiar face that I met there was PIXI, an artist from Galway -  Mary Cahalan-Lee.  I met Mary for the first time about five years ago when she was exhibiting at the Art Ireland Fair and every year since then I have regreted the fact that I didn’t buy one of her paintings.  I was delighted that Mary had a painting this time around that was in my budget…… Mary’s website is www.pixi-art.com

Another familar face exhibiting was Dúlra Photography, Daragh Muldowney had been exhibiting at the fair I took part in at St. Anns in November and had given me passes to the national craft fair, he exhibits the most amazing photographs.  Darragh’s website is www.dulraphotography.com

I also met Sally Leadbetter of Jerpoint Glass Studio, who I featured earlier with a photo of the Purple Baggy,  the pieces on display were just amazing, glass just has a quality all of its own. Jerpoint Studio can be contacted via their website www.jerpointglass.com

Another exhibitor who’s work really caught my eye was Patrick Casserly, a cabinetmaker who was displaying his contemporary range of furniture, from large pieces to table lamps, floor lamps and tables in a range of both native and exotic timbers.  The pieces feature walnut, wenge, beech, ash, cherry and some are inlaid with ebony.  The floor lamps also feature frosted glass.  These are really statement making items and the craftsmanship can be seen in each and every piece.  Patrick’s website is laid out very well but you really need to see the pieces to appriciate them!  The site which contains Patrick’s contact details along with details of his work is www.patcasserlydesign.com  Patrick also takes commissions.

The National Crafts & Design Fair is taking place in the RDS this weekend and running until the 7th December.  For further details of exhibitors and the “Food Emporium” check out www.nationalcraftsfair.ie

I’m planning on going along on Saturday and will report back on the best bits!