Back to Iceland in 2013

I applied this week for a place on a residency in Iceland, with the proposed time of July 2013 and I'm delighted to say that my application was successful. This time I'm going to Olafsfjordur, it's about 3 hours North-East of Skagastrond, to work on the Listhus Artist Residency. I applied for a 1 month duration and I'm already looking forward to going back to Iceland, if I'm honest I can't wait, I haven't stopped thinking about the place since I got home to Ireland.

I've proposed to work on the residency as a research period and try to get some momentum behind a few of the planned projects. I find it difficult to pull away from the studio work from time to time and the planning can take a slight hit because of this. Alongside the planning and research side of the residency I'm hoping to work on a video and hopefully have it complete in time for a screening in Iceland before I leave.

Entered Competition

Last night I uploaded some images of my work to enter in a competition that is part of See.Me . There's the opportunity to be part of an exhibition in SCOPE, New York, a chance to be part of a book publication and to take part in an event in Times Square.

Here's a link to the site:  http://patbyrne.see.me/

I'm not sure if you need to have an account to vote but if you don't need one and if you like my work just hit the button (I think it's the small love heart button that appears when you click on an image) and it will help and will be greatly appreciated. I'm relying on word of mouth to get the votes so I thought my Blog would be a good place to start. 

Work in Group Show, London

I have 2 paintings on display in a group show in the Art Against Knives Art Gallery in London this week. The show opened on Thursday the 27th of September and is up until the 4th of October.

 'Old Dragon'

 'Skull Drop'

Both works are about 12 inches by 8 inches and are both Oil on Gesso Board. The gesso that I used as the ground on these pieces is the traditional gesso recipe of rabbit skin glue and chalk.

Shortlisted for London Residency

Back in June, during the first month of the residency with Nes in Iceland, I applied for a residency with The Muse at 269 Art Gallery in West London. When I landed back in Ireland on the 30th of August I received an email telling me that I was through the first round and moving on to the next stage of application. For this stage I needed to send images of my work and after a week I was in the final stage and shortlisted for the residency.

On Tuesday the 25th of September I went to London for my interview. I got on pretty well but I didn't get selected for a position on the residency program. While I didn't get picked the gallery has offered to put my work forward as submission for a potential show in 2013 and during the interview I received very positive feedback towards my paintings.

Between getting shortlisted for the residency itself and the feedback I got during the interview the overall experience was a great boost of confidence and also I think the way it worked out may have been for the best at this point. The residency was due to start in January 2013 for 8 months and I feel it may have been a bit too quick having just returned from Iceland and I'm hoping to get working on some projects here in Ireland.

August in Iceland

My final month has gone really well at NES. I have to admit I'm a little bit heartbroken having to leave both NES and Skagastrond but the overall experience has been great, in the 3 months I was here I met and worked with some great people who even though I only got to know them for a month at a time I still consider them really good friends.

The month wasn't as busy maybe as July I think mostly because after 2 months I felt like August was a bit of a wind down period but I was painting away and passed the target I had set myself so I'm really happy with how the work went. My work has definitely progressed onto another path and I also have plenty of ideas for new work returning to Ireland. This month also saw 2 studio pot-lucks and 2 Open House days. It was a really nice way to end my stay in Skagastrond with a second festival - Kantrydagar. There seemed to be more activity for this festival than the Fisherman's Festival in June, There was a huge tent set up in the centre of town where music played most of the day and night, the was a ball on the Friday and Saturday nights at Kantrybaer, along with sports competitions. I made my second journey Saudarkrokur too earlier in the month. 

I'm looking forward to going home to Ireland but I would love to have stayed a bit longer in Iceland. Financially though I just can't, I pretty much had what covered 3 months on the mark and the way I'm fixed even staying for 1 more month is out of the question, but I am planning to return next summer to a different residency and over a shorter period of time. If get back to Iceland next summer I'll definitely visit NES and Skagastrond at some point. Right now it's 4 days in Reykjavik 1 night in the airport and the home via Heathrow

Like I said above I'm looking forward to getting back to Ireland and I intend to take some time away from the studio for a few weeks just to work on ideas and stand back and get a clear idea in my head of the Icelandic experience.

I want to say a massive thanks to Melody Woodnutt who is Director of NES and Andrea Weber who worked as Intern at NES and everyone on the board of NES for everything they did for us and for running a class residency.

See you Skagastrond, see you NES!

Website is Missing Some Stuff

My membership with the host of my website ran out on July 20th, so at the minute there's a limit on the number of projects I can have on it. you can still view it and the work I have up on it but there's a few bits and pieces missing too such as my CV, Publications and Other Experience. When I get home to Ireland I'll hopefully get it sorted out.

For now though you can view what's on my site at  http://pbyrne.ie/

July in Iceland

July was a bit quiet. Spent a lot of time in the studio, I did get to see another town though, Saudarkrokar, it's about an hour East of Skagastrond, at the base of and on the other side of the peninsula. I have 5 paintings on the go along with a couple of small collage style pieces. We had the pot luck about 2 weeks ago now I think and today we had another open house. This months Open House took us to a few location around town because the work was installation/performance based in spaces outside the studio. There was a great turnout for it and thankfully I got very positive feedback on what work I've done so far. I'm hoping to get another 1 or 2 paintings fairly under way between now and the time my stay ends.

On Tuesday the July artists gradually started leaving Skagastrond. Next week the August artists start arriving and I start my final month of the residency.