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Darragh gets the balance right on Inis Oirr

Darragh gets the balance right on Inis Oirr

By Ciaran Tierney The opportunity to spend a month on a small island where Irish is very much a living language has been both a transformative and productive experience for circus artist Darragh McLoughlin. As he returns to Berlin, where he is normally based, Darragh says that he will harbour fond memories from Inis Oirr...

Aongus draws inspiration from a different world

Aongus draws inspiration from a different world

  by Ciaran Tierney For a man who has spent all of his life living and working in cities, spending three weeks on beautiful Inis Oirr has been both a challenge and a golden opportunity for cartoonist Aongus Collins. Aongus was chosen as the 2022 Galway Cartoon Festival Artist in Residence and loved his time...

A “selfish month” for Sian on Inis Oirr

A “selfish month” for Sian on Inis Oirr

By Ciaran Tierney Visual artist Sian Costello admits that she had “a bit of a breakdown” the first day she arrived at Áras Éanna courtesy of a one month residency in partnership with the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) this summer. Suddenly, after leaving her “normal” life in Limerick City behind, the young County Roscommon native...

Maureen is like a child in a candy store on Inis Oirr

Maureen is like a child in a candy store on Inis Oirr

By Ciaran Tierney Surrendering to the power of nature and making the most of an opportunity to connect with her own ancestors ensured that a recent one-month residency at Áras Éanna became a transformative experience for Irish-American artist Maureen Fleming. Maureen returned to Inis Oirr thanks to a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation in New...

Prodigal Son Mick returns to Inis Oirr

Prodigal Son Mick returns to Inis Oirr

By Ciaran Tierney Not many 70-year old Irish people wear purple suits. Then again, not many 70-year old Irish artists have staged major exhibitions as far afield as Africa, India, South Korea, and Australia during the course of their careers. For a man who has sampled the joys of indigenous cultures all across the world,...

Enjoying Inis Oirr at the quietest time of year

Enjoying Inis Oirr at the quietest time of year

  By Ciaran Tierney Exploring the striking landscape of Inis Oirr during the quiet and dark winter months provided huge inspiration to Connemara-based artist Clare Cashman during a recent six week residency at Áras Éanna. Clare came to the smallest of the Aran Islands thanks to a partnership with Ealaín na Gaeltachta and says she...

A joyous re-awakening on Inis Oirr

A joyous re-awakening on Inis Oirr

For Patrick O’Laoighre, writer and musician, a month on Inis Oirr has been a joyous re-awakening. His month long residency at Áras Éanna has seen Patrick tune into the spectacular sounds all around the island, including the language of the people. Stunned by the rocks, the fields, the waves crashing against the cliffs at Inis...

Acrobatics for music in the pub

Acrobatics for music in the pub

It was the kind of magic which seems to just happen on Inis Oirr. On a cold Tuesday night in October, a musician approached two acrobats in Tigh Ned, the island’s famous music pub. He had seen acrobatic performers Ali Stanger and Henrik Gard perform some sensational moves on the beach earlier in the day...

Happy days during a residency on Inis Oirr

Happy days during a residency on Inis Oirr

A month-long residency at Áras Éanna at the start of the summer provided the catalyst for director Sara Jane Scaife to come up with the incredible Irish-language version of ‘Happy Days’ by Samuel Beckett which proved to be such a huge hit at last month’s Galway International Arts Festival. And now Sarah Jane and Company...

Trying to keep Inis Oirr secret

Trying to keep Inis Oirr secret

A chance encounter with an Irish artist with Finnish roots at the opening of an art exhibition in Co Mayo in 2018 sowed the seeds for Jane Hughes and Tapani Hyppia to make the long trek from Helsinki, Finland, to enjoy a month long residency at Áras Éanna this summer. Selma Makela told Jane that...

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