Art Minor in Ireland: Orientation “On the hillside of sweet County Clare”
We arrived at the Shannon airport early on a Sunday morning, and when my eleven classmates and I walked out, we realized…it was COLD! During our first day in Ireland, there were a few minutes of hail every now and then, separated by moments of rain and then sunshine, creating completely random patterns of weather. We thought we would have to buy more layers to wear from the one crafts/souvenir shop in town, but thank goodness the weather improved after the first few days. To be honest, I was pretty concerned about the lack of sunshine during our first week in Ireland; I like the blue skies and rays of sunlight that come with New England summers. I was also worried that being in such a rural area would make me uneasy, seeing as I saw more cows than people on our first day here.
But nonetheless, the first week of being in Ireland showed us just the beginning of the beautiful landscapes that make up Ireland. Here in County Clare, the views are covered in layers of white and silver clouds, stacks of indigo and gray rocks, and hundreds of shades of green grass speckled with yellow, purple, and pink flowers. I couldn’t help but think, even on the very first day, that Ireland is one of the most naturally beautiful and interesting places that I have ever seen.
During the first week of our program, we were able to explore the Burren area (the rocky part of western Ireland in which we’re staying), the Burren College of Art (where our studios and classes are), and also the town (which we conveniently live 5 minutes away from). It was really exciting to see our studios at the college because I’ve never had such a large space for my artwork before; it definitely got me anxious to start my individual project and do some large-scale painting, which I usually can’t do because of space restrictions.
After being shown around the area a bit, we jumped right into working on group art projects, which were major components of our “orientation” week. One of our first projects was at the beach. We were dropped off at the beach and told to spend the day creating a work of art, using only what we could find on the beach and the surrounding field/sand dune area. This was really cool because I’ve never done a project that incorporates the environment. Most of all, I’ve never done a project outdoors in the rain with the wind blowing handfuls of sand into my face. It definitely wasn’t the best weather conditions for an outdoor beach project, but it’s definitely an experience I’ll never forget (partially because I’ll always have a bit of sand in my eyes).
I also really enjoyed the next project that we did, where we went up into the burren, the rocky hills, to draw, placing our papers on top of the stones and using their different textures and patterns to influence our pieces. That was one of the first times that I was able to walk up to the top of a hill, sit down, and enjoy the beauty, peace, and harmony that make western Ireland such a unique and magical place. Everywhere I looked around me, there were fields of cows and sheep walking across the grass and stone walls made up of different patterns that had been created many centuries ago. I think that, at that point, I realized how lucky I am to be able to spend two months in a country so full of untouched nature and history.
