A man I know once met a man from Baile an Chaisleán in Tigh Ned’s, who told him that whenever he looked out of his kitchen window of an evening after being in the pub he would see a herd of elephants charging at him down the raveen. The man I know saw it with his own eyes.
Image: JesseJames. Words: JesseJames.
A woman I know told me a man from Galway she knows told her that the cargo of the Plassey, which was shipwrecked on Inis Oírr in the 1960’s, included ceramic toilet bowls. Many of these were spirited away when the Plassey was grounded on Trá Caorach. A woman I know told me a man from Galway she knows told her that some of the ceramic toilet bowls were used in the dwellings on the island, while others were sold in Galway. We imagine Duchampian porcelain installation pieces might still be found unclaimed in the caves and crevices of the limestone.
“An art that’s not based on looking inevitably becomes repetitious, whereas one that is based on looking finds the world infinitely interesting, and always finds new ways of looking at ourselves.”
Images: JesseJames. Words: David Hockney
The rhythm is jumpin, jump session.
Image: JesseJames. Words: Slim Slam.
JesseJames in conversation with Art Historian Aodhán Rilke. Transcript of the Q&A to follow.
The sense of solitude was immense. I could not see or realise my own body, and I seemed to exist merely in my perception of the waves and of the crying birds, and of the smell of seaweed – JM Sygne, The Aran Islands (1906)
I live in an average Irish townland. It just happens to be in the middle of Galway Bay.
Image: Man of Aran 2017. Words: Man of Aran 2017.
Two of them were left out all winter, but the other two seem to be sound.
Words: Overheard on An Trá. Image: Cormac Coyne
Thank you to everyone who took part in the 2021 #DRAWstonewalls international sketch event celebrating dry stone walls. Here are the winners for the #DRAWstonewalls 2021 competition.
These six pieces were created:sketched:stitched:painted by Sinead Lawson @airyfairyletters and were inspired by the Dry Stone Walls of the Dingle Peninsula in the County Kerry. Sinead is the overall winner of the DRAWstonewalls competition and wins an event-only ticket to Féile na gCloch 2022 that will take place on Inis Oírr in the autumn of that year.
The award for best pencil sketch goes to Guadalupe for this fine piece of detail
Vourneen Taylor wins the category for best study of a specific wall with this water colour
John Digney receives a commendation for his triptych bringing awareness to the beauty and significance of dry stone walls.
Peter Black’s evocation of the shipwreck on Inis Oírr wins the prize for capturing the life and culture of the smallest of the Aran Islands in Galway Bay.
The artist JesseJames used to cycle out into the villages of Inis Oírr to practise art.
The Zibaldone Project 