The Friday View 29/07
As July draws to an end it's time to celebrate the crafters of Cork and remember a Cork-born woman once described as "the most dangerous woman in America".
In praise of crafters
From stone and from ash, from clay, paper and glass, from oak and from wool and from willow. Each year in August, for Cork Craft Month we get a chance to see the range, skill and craft of the artists and makers who toil away in studios and workshops all year long committed to their craft, their careers and making things of beauty. The month-long event is packed with workshops, exhibitions and talks but above all it’s a wonderful opportunity to see the talent and creativity that’s spread across the city and county. And, should you have the means, it’s also a great way to support crafters in our community. In the places we shop most often, it can be difficult to come across items that are made in Cork; in all likelihood how often during your weekly shop? are you going to see a vase by Siobhain Steele, a miniature house by Brendan Ryan, a paper bracelet by Rike Lenzing or a wood turned bowl made from a fallen ash tree by John O’Shea? It’s great that their wares are stocked in places such as The Glucksman and Nano Nagle Place in the city and at The Old Mill in Castletownroche, and On The Pig’s Back in Douglas, as well as online, but it would equally be wonderful to see the big retailers dotted throughout the city and county make room for local crafters, whether it’s with exhibition spaces or indeed in some form of commercial partnership. If Cork Craft Month shows us anything it’s that there is an abundance of beautiful art and craft being made by crafters across Cork and that work should be getting far greater exposition.
News in brief
The Spirit of Mother Jones Festival kicked off yesterday, July 28 and runs until tomorrow, Saturday, July 30 with a host of events taking place in and around Shandon (more details in Out+About below). Since 2012, the festival organisers have done much to restore the memory of Mary Harris/Mother Jones who was born in Cork city in 1837, and immigrated with her family to Canada during the Famine. Her life was marked by tragedy; her husband, George Jones, and her four children all died in a yellow fever epidemic which struck Memphis in 1867. Age 30, and a widow, she reinvented herself, becoming a crusading and fearless social justice advocate. Biographer Elliot J. Gorn, takes up the story of Jones in this piece in the magazine named after Mother Jones:
The new role freed Mary Jones. Most American women of that era led quiet, homebound lives devoted to their families. Women, especially elderly ones, were not supposed to have opinions; if they had them, they were not to voice them publicly–and certainly not in the fiery tones of a street orator.
Yet by casting herself as the mother of downtrodden people everywhere, Mary Jones went where she pleased, spoke out on the great issues of her day, and did so with sharp irreverence (she referred to John D. Rockefeller as “Oily John” and Governor William Glasscock of West Virginia as “Crystal Peter”). Paradoxically, by embracing the very role of family matriarch that restricted most women, Mother Jones shattered the limits that confined her.
For a quarter of a century, she roamed America, the Johnny Appleseed of activists. She literally had no permanent residence. “My address is like my shoes,” she told a congressional committee. “It travels with me wherever I go.” She was paid a stipend by the United Mine Workers and, for a few years, by the Socialist Party. But she always felt free to work in whatever cause most needed her–striking garment workers in Chicago, bottle washers in Milwaukee breweries, Pittsburgh steelworkers, El Paso streetcar operators, Calumet copper miners. She helped workers fight not just low pay, 12-hour days, and horrifying mortality rates, but also the servitude of company stores and company housing. She also spoke out in defence of IWW leaders on trial for murder in Boise (she was one of the original signers of the Industrial Workers of the World charter), labour activists imprisoned in California, and Mexican revolutionaries in Arizona.
Meet BusConnects
Officials from the National Transport Authority (NTA) and consulting engineers from Arup, AECOM, J. B. Barry and Partners and WSP finished up their series of public consultations concerning the 12 new sustainable transport corridors planned for Cork city. The public forums were held in Douglas, Tivoli and Ballincollig over the past two weeks. The budget for public transport project is €600m and it’s important to note that it’s still in the consultation stage, but it was clear from attending one of the consultations in Douglas this week that there’s a lot of confusion and frustration out there (which is why the consultations were a good thing). While I was speaking with Adrian O’Neill, an engineer from J. B. Barry, a lady wanted to know about eclectic cars and then about bike parking places on trains as well as anti-social behaviour. These were completely unconnected to BusConnects, but the public forum felt like a place for people to get things off their chest.
O’Neill had much the same line that Hugh Creegan, the deputy chief executive of the NTA who met online with Douglas Tidy Towns this week: the routes are not set in stone, and we are still in the consultation stage. (That online meeting addressed the proposal for a traffic bridge over the Mangala as part of a new bus corridor from the Kinsale Road).
Construction is still a ways off and there are many planning hurdles to be overcome, but perhaps the renewed interest in public transport will focus minds on why a much better public transport network is needed for Cork, how to get there, and how to do it so that we’re not sacrificing the natural environment too. Tripe+Drisheen asked about whether the NTA will have a dedicated office in Cork for BusConnects and were told that the NTA will get back to us. We’re waiting.
Photo of the week
Out + About
🖼As They Must Have Been: One of the most famous paintings depicting the Irish War of Independence turns 100 years old this year and it also takes centre stage at a new exhibition commemorating the War of Independence. As Crawford curator Michael Waldron explains, the group portrait was painted in Seán Keating’s Dublin studio during a truce in 1921, when the Cork No. 2 Brigade visited the artist’s studio. “They trooped in, dressed and armed very much as they must have been on many an ambush,” according to Keating. Men of the South will be displayed alongside its companion painting, An IRA Column (1921), which is on loan from Áras an Uachtaráin, and the exhibition is a great opportunity to see both of Keating’s paintings reunited, and to delve deeper into the most consequential periods of modern Irish history.
Time, date, place: 30 July – 25 September, Crawford Art Gallery, Emmett Place
🎹Organ time: Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral will be holding organ recitals every Friday lunchtime for the month of August. Admission is €5 which will goes back into funding music at the cathedral. First up is organist Jack Wilson from Ely Cathedral in the UK who is performing on August 5. More information here.
Time, date, place: 1:10pm, each Friday in August, Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork city
🗣West Cork History Festival returns this year from August 5-7 with an eclectic mix of in-person and online events documenting the rich, rich history of region. The festival started out in 2017, and was founded by Victoria and Simon Kingston. The focus of this year’s festival is split between Black ’47 - 175 years after the worst year of the Famine - and the Bandon Valley killings of 1922. Bob Geldof was in West Cork earlier this month to record a special film for the festival and historians, musicians and artists will be at the Kingston home in Rosebank just outside Skibbereen to give context, details and add to the discussions. On the opening day there will also be a specially guided field/sea trip in Castleheaven Bay in conjunction with Atlantic Sea Kayaking. Full program and ticket details here.
Time, date, place: August 5-7, online and at Rosebank, Castletownshend Road, Skibbereen
⚓️When the war came to Passage West: Volunteers at Passage West Maritime Museum have been putting in the long hours for a special centenary exhibition which puts the focus on how the war played out in the weeks of August 1922 during the Civil War. In the early hours of the August 8 1922, the cross-channel steamers S.S. Arvonia and S.S. Lady Wicklow, with more than 450 troops on board, sailed into Cork Harbour and berthed at Passage West dockyards. In the days that followed fierce fighting took place around Rochestown, Oldcourt Wood and Moneygourney. Historians, academics and former military personnel will lead a range of lectures, discussions and walking tours to give context to the battles and fighting. Guests are invited to bring family memorabilia, including photos and other historical items from the period for the artefact open day on Saturday, August 6. More information here.
Time, date, place: August 5-7, Passage West Maritime Museum, Passage West
🧵Cork Craft Month: The month-long showcase of Cork craft takes place in multiple venues across the city and county. In Douglas, they have a permanent retail space in the Woollen Mill located just next to On The Pig’s Back, while across the road make sure to check out the furniture exhibition in Douglas Shopping Centre. There’s also exhibitions and workshops in the Lavit Gallery, at MTU on Grand Parade, Test Site on Kyrl’s Quay, Benchspace in the Marina, at the Old Mill in Castletownroche, at Kilcoe Studios in Ballydehob, Greywood Arts in Killeagh, Arran Street East in Schull, Chapel Hill in Macroom and Blackpool Library. This year there also a greater emphasis being placed on the Irish language with a number of workshops and talks throughout the month being held in Irish. Download the program (PDF) here.
Time, date, place: August 1-31, across the city and county
🗣The Spirit of Mother Jones: The three-day festival celebrates the inspiring life of Mary Harris (Mother Jones) with talks, walks, music and exhibitions all taking place in and around Shandon, close to the birthplace of Harris. Today at 1pm musician Jimmy Crowley will be accompanied by Eve Telford for a performance at the Maldron Hotel in Shandon. Full program of events here.
Time, date, place: July 28 -July 30, various locations around Shandon
🎸Live at Plugd: Local artists Kineograph x Dan Walsh x Arthuritis along with Sam Clague have a night of improv music planned at Plugd this coming Sunday with all the proceeds going to cancer treatment for Karl Hyden. More information and tickets here.
Time, date, place: 7:30pm, Sunday, July 31 at Plugd, Cornmarket Street
This week on T +D
On Wednesday we published a new piece outlining Cork City Council’s plans to build 5,600 affordable and social homes in the city between now and 2026. You can read that here.
JJ is back tomorrow with our Arts+Culture newsletter which will focus on the one of the crafters involved in this year’s Cork Craft Month.
Out of office: And finally, team Tripe+Drisheen are taking a short break from T+D and the internet! We’ll be gloriously offline, but back to all things local from mid August. Thank you all for your support, and here’s hoping the sun is shining, the water is warm and the mackerel are plentiful where you are.
See you in August:) JJ +Ellie
Great stuff. Enjoy your well deserved rest
Liz k