Michael Greenlaw and Charlotte Donovan

‘The Parade Press’- a community public art project for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade
4 February to 17 March 2018
Studio open to the public on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays (from 10 February)

West Cork Arts Centre has commissioned community collaborative artists Michael Greenlaw and Charlotte Donovan to create a spectacle for this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Skibbereen. Charlotte is a printmaker, Michael is a maker, and both have spent their artistic careers creating art projects which involve and engage with varied communities.

The Parade Press will be a giant, fantastical printing machine which will roll through the streets of Skibbereen on St. Patrick’s Day: cogs turning, machinery clanking, bells ringing; churning out prints as it goes.

Inspired by the Columbia Press (made in Edinburgh in 1865), which is adorned by a giant American eagle, The Parade Press will reference the publishing and creative histories of the town and will feature a Skibbereen Phoenix.

During the residency, visitors to Studio 3  will have the opportunity to learn printmaking techniques and to use a traditional printing press, specially installed, to create individual prints.  They will be invited to reflect on the theme for this year’s parade: ‘celebrating our many cultures in Skibbereen and district’.  Visitors may also get involved in building the components of The Parade Press, and all are welcome to take part in the public spectacle and performance on St. Patrick’s Day. To join in just come along on an open day, participation is free and open to all ages.

Charlotte and Michael are both originally from Scotland, now resident in Leap, and are the team behind The Chainsaw Tree Man (2015), The Scarey Crow (2016) and The Kelpie of Leap (2017) as part of the Leap Scarecrow Festival. Michael also led a project (2017) working with young volunteers from Skibbereen to paint a mural in the lane way adjacent to West Cork Arts Centre, inspired by the Caol stream and the story of Skibbereen.

Michael studied Drawing and Painting at Edinburgh College of Art and spent 40 years working as a community artist in Craigmillar, Edinburgh.  He was the lead artist of Artists for Justice and Peace, painting over 200 political murals in central Edinburgh over a 34 year period.  He moved to West Cork in 2016 and has created giant public sculptures and murals in Cork city and county, with a variety of community groups, as well as continuing to draw and paint in the West Cork landscape.

Charlotte Donovan studied Fine Art Printmaking at Glasgow School of Art.  She has worked as a collaborative artist, primarily in healthcare settings, for almost 30 years.  She came to Ireland in 2005 and was Triskel Art Centre’s full time artist-in-residence in St Finbarr’s Hospital for 3 years.  She now co-ordinates a Community Arts for Health Programme and a Community Garden in Knocknaheeny, Cork, for Niche Community Health Project. She also  undertakes a variety of freelance projects and public and private commissions.

Uillinn Residencies are supported by the Arts Council and Cork County Council.