Blog 31 January 2012 It’s shaping up to be a good year for the makers with a number of new exhibitions planned and some of us coming up with innovative new ideas which will bear fruit in the next while, and we don’t just mean Fionas baby due shortly!

There’s an Exhibition  coming up at Spacecraft in Belfast, another event planned for Ramelton for the Errigal Arts Festival and a Summer exhibition in Ardara. 

Looking back at the end of last year Hannah was invited on to RTE’s The Business show with George Lee in November to discuss her own work and that of Donegal designer makers.

Eleven makers showed up at the National Craft Fair in Dublin at the start of December and it turned out to be a good show for all, helped no doubt by a strong buy Irish campaign by the Craft Council.

The icing on the Christmas cake was the event in the beautiful Rathmullan house where we were able to relax in front of log fires  while selling our wares and tuck into gorgeous canapes as their renowned restaurant laid on a gourmet food event to co-incide with our show. You can tell from the relaxed faces that the selling was nearly over and Christmas was just around the corner.

This year has kicked off with Emer attending the Showcase trade fair in Dublin, she came back with lots of orders for her lovely pottery.   

Karen is having a solo exhibition called “Pretty as a Picture” which opens to coincide with the re opening of the Workhouse Dunfanaghy, end March. (date can be checked back to events on the DDM website)

She will be exhibiting a new range of Lampshades in the “Rubanesque Spotlight” in the windows of the Powerscourt Shopping centre, Dublin. 28^th May- 30^th June

 Brian is working on a Mural with children at Newtowncunningham for the All Saints School. It depicts the Biblical story of Gideon and the Midianites, which has many parallels with the Darfur crisis that the children have been exploring and it will be opened in March. He also is starting a new pottery class in the NWRC in Derry in the next few weeks: contact Sharon at the Playhouse 0044 28 71 268027 or the NWRC 0044 28 7127 6000 for details.

Sharon has attached pic’s of what she’s been playing around with the past couple of weeks.

 Relief stitching on felt inspiration for a large scale wall hanging….perhaps? 
the tension of the stitching has resulted in the rectangles becoming distorted in shape, almost as if there is wire in the outer edges. when i stitch together a cluster of them it leaves a series of mountains

 and valleys so the piece would not sit flat against the wall. How to hang such a piece??”

So there we are another year and new departures and opportunities, hopefully they’ll be more detail and dates in the next blog,… keep warm meanwhile.

We have all had such a busy summer and another really successful show in Ardara.

The response to our work was fantastic and sales were up on last year, it is very rewarding to have such support from craft buyers especially when the purse strings have to be more tightly pulled.We thank you for your support for Irish craft.

We had our annual selection for new members in September and are very pleased to have a new member, Isobel Sangha from the Donegal natural soap company, www.donegalnaturalsoap.ie. So we will have delicious natural soap products available along with the work of our other 24 makers.

Isobel making soap

We are getting lots of invitations to exhibit around and about so if you are able follow us on facebook for more updates on where we will be next.

We are also planning on launching a corporate gift voucher at the request of several local companies and institutions, watch this space. Our website is undergoing an update to incorporate new work and members. The work is with the photographer as I write this.

Some of the members are attending the National Craft fair in Dublin 30th November- 4th December, if you would like to come and visit us you can contact us for free tickets.

E-mail info @donegaldesignermakers.com

Working in the craft industry is never glamorous, however successful you may be and this time of year leads to many recurring complaints as 12-16hours days in the studio lead to various crafters ailments, such as painters elbow, potters shoulder, jewelers finger

( although these could also be real ales)

take a look at some of our makers, making!

Marina sculpting

Fiona starting a batik

Sharon making a felt vessel

Brian

Shane making bird houses

Hannah is a jeweller and also the Chair of the Donegal Designer Makers, she took time out from making to curate the current exhibition and without her guidance Snapshots would not have happened.

This year we have new makers which adds to the great collection of work on offer.

Liam Logue joined us last Autumn with his beautiful and functional ceramics.

Emer Kelly is one of our new jewellers.

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Joanne Quigley (on the right) from Mucky Daisy works with textiles, producing a variety of product, from cushions to bunting.

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Martin Gallagher is one of our new furniture makers and has some exceptional pieces in the exhibition and the shop.

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Anna Kee is a ceramicist, Anna has been making and teaching for many years but only recently joined our group.

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Naomi brings from Japan her exquisite paper craft skill producing intricate, delicate pieces. Not to be missed.

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Sharon McGinley (left) makes everything to do with felt… from bowls to trolls and fairies.

Karen O”Kane (right) of Kokodesigns makes all sorts of things out of painted silk.

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We have a few members who seemed to get out of having a photo taken but we will get them next time, including jewellers Joanne Gamble and Rosie Moloney and screen printer Laura Buchanan.

The ususal suspects can also be seen in the shop and exhibition.

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Brian McGee – ceramicist

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Donal Sweeney (right) of Rathlin Knitwear

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Emer O’Sullivan – Ceramicist

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Noel Cronin- Furniture designer/maker with his fantastic light installation

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Marina Hamilton- painter and sculptor, with her girls standing behind Noel’s lovely lights.

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.Michael Parkinson- furniture maker and designer using everything..

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PJ Patton- of PJ designs – furniture maker

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We also have the work of Fiona Higgins – painter including two stunning new paintings for Snapshots. Also the lovely bird houses of Shane Houston of Chic Hens fame are back even brighter and more comfy looking.

So come along and take a look for yourselves.

Open every day 10am-6pm and Sundays 1pm until 6pm.

Karen

This is an exhibition of 17 of our makers who have made two conceptual pieces each based on a brief provided by our chair and curator Hannah McGuinness.

This is just a brief look at some of the work, I would recommend you take a look yourself and also visit us in Ardara where we will have a great retail section as well.

Makers exhibiting include Marina Hamilton, Fiona Higgins, Karen O’Kane of Kokodesigns, Michael Parkinson, Noel Cronin, Hannah McGuiness, Sharon McGinley, Rosie Moloney, Liam Logue, Emer Kelly, Emer O’Sullivan, Anna Kee, PJ Patton, Joanne Gamble, Laura Buchanan, Brian McGee and Martin Gallagher

In our retail section we will also have pieces available from all our makers

Michael Parkinson

Sharon McGinley

You can see his lovely nesting boxes and many other delights at www.chic-hens.ie

We can see it from our kitchen window so please forgive the quality of the photo but I took it from the window so as not to disturb the moving in process. Every day we get great enjoyment of watching the comings and goings. I assume it is the male, but I know nothing about birds, even after standing in many exhibitions next to Shane imparting all his knowledge to folk.

Thanks Shane for our lovely nesting box and all the enjoyment it brings to me and the kids.

Karen

We are really happy to have 3 new makers join us, whose work you will be able to see soon on our website.

Naomi Fluery -paper craft    www.japanesepapercraft.com

Rosie Maloney- Jeweller

Sharon McGinley- textile artist

We have finalised our  summer plans which include a visiting exhibition to the Leitrim Design House from the 4th- 30th June which will then open back home in Ardara, Co Donegal 8th July – 20th August. In Ardara we will also have a retail shop selling fantastic craft pieces in all price ranges.

The exhibition will be “snapshots ” and makers will be using this space to let you know how we are getting on with our pieces which are especially created for this exhibition.

If you would like to be on our mailing list for invites to launch parties please get in touch.

Karen

Michael Tunney (CEO of Donegal Enterprise Board) and Hannah Maguiness (Chair of DDM) on the opening night of the Wintertime Exhibition in Ramelton in December 2010.

The makers would like to thanks the Donegal Enterprise Board for supporting them with this great exhibition.