Irish Folk Furniture at Sundance

Still from Irish Folk Furniture, photography by Marie-Amelie Tondu

I'd first heard of Irish Folk Furniture last year, next I'd heard (last week) it was part of the official selection for Sundance in the Shorts section. On Wednesday I hear it won in its category, for Best Animation!

Best of all you can watch it in its entirety, completely legally, on Youtube:



I love this quirky tale of Irish furniture restoration. The filmmaker Tony Donoghue recognised that these pieces of simple traditional furniture each have their own story to tell. I appreciate the rural aspect to this, at various stages Donoghue, places these objects as centerpieces in the landscape, being of the landscape themselves, so simple are they in their construction. Flour bins, dressers and chairs are endowed with their individual "story", a respectability more often associated with static objects found in museums. As material culture, these objects communicate the social rituals and social histories of the society they originate from, here we are witnessing it first hand. These pieces have survived generations of use and continue to do so, their history is still being written, even with each restoration. The film serves as an enjoyable piece of oral history, celebrating tradition, craft and endeavour. More of this please!

Throughout the making of this film, sixteen pieces of Irish furniture were restored and returned to their families. The film was made with a €150 camera purchased from eBay, shot this within two miles of his home in Co. Tipperary. What really appeals to me is the environmentally friendly way in which this film was made, which the director is particularly conscious of, in his own filmmaking. His belief in the importance of community is genuinely expressed in this short.

You can read an interview with the director Tony Donoghue at Film Ireland.

Cult magazine AnOther spoke to the director as part of their cultural talks column.

Suffragette City

One of the perks of my internship is being able to sneak into the store every now and then at take a peek at the wonderful works on the racks.

I am particularly excited as Communicating with Prisoners (1924), by Jack B. Yeats, has made it to the short-list of ten paintings nominated for the title of 'Ireland's Favourite Painting'. This work is from the Niland Collection, held in The Model gallery. It is the only regional painting that has made it to the shortlist.

Jack, brother of the poet William, is one of Ireland’s best loved painters of the twentieth-century and this painting is one of a number of iconic scenes he painted during the civil war. 

© Estate of Jack B Yeats. All rights reserved / DACS 2012. Photo © The Model, Sligo
Writing of the context of Jack Yeats' painting, Communicating with Prisoners, Thomas MacGreevy declares ". . . they [Irish women] did everything except get executed. Many of them gave all they had, they suffered, they fought, they went to gaol, they hunger-struck." (Source)
Painted in 1924, Communicating with Prisoners depicts a group of seven women and one boy, whom are engaged in listening to shouts from the window of a of a Kilmainham jail bastion, from a ring of indistinct prisoners looking out at the group below. (More info on work here)
 The Irish suffrage movement was largely an urban, middle class one. Militant Irish suffragists were imprisoned in England and Ireland and some went on hunger strike (as referenced above). Former notable female prisoners include Grace Gifford and Countess Markievicz.
In 1914, Cumann na mBan was founded as an independent Irish female republican paramilitary organisation. MacGreevy elaborates: "There was a certain progressive, leftist strain in the Irish nationalist movement, which also had ties to Irish feminism and the suffragist movement. It is true that the participation of Irish women in political affairs remained for many years sporadic. Nevertheless, they continued to perform, even if only in limited numbers, similar roles to men."
Though not as acclaimed as their brothers but no less creatively gifted, Jack's sisters, Elizabeth and Lily, founded the Dun Emer Guild with their friend Evelyn Gleeson in 1902, in Dundrum, Co. Dublin. The name Dun Emer (Fort of Emer) was named for the Lady Emer, wife of the hero Cúchulainn, renowned in Irish folklore for her beauty and artistic skills. Jack's interest in Irish suffragettes who formed the theme of this painting, may have been inspired by his sisters and their contemporaries.
You can cast your vote for Ireland's Favourite Painting here! 
Read more...Masterpiece: Communicating with Prisoners  CELT: Movements for Social and Political Reform, 1870-1914: Irish SuffragettesJSTOR: A Political Prisoner in Kilmainham Jail: The Diary of Cecilia Saunders GallagherCuala Press pressmark
And for the title that's in it, a favourite -

And you say what have I got to lose?

On Sunday night I was faced with a 'what to wear' dilemma. Not uncommon, but this time it was for Curryoke. Curry and karaoke is a Glaswegian institution. I was still hungover from a party the night before so I wasn't in the mood for anything ultra glam. So I reached for this 60s mini dress I recently acquired from eBay. It is super short (in the mood of the time I suppose), so thick, opaque tights are essential. I needed operational hair, so I tied it back with this metal spiked hairband from Topshop which is my recent, favoured hair accessory.





What did I sing?


Prince - Little Red Corvette


All Saints - Never Ever



If I was staying on in Glasgow I would probably make Karaoke nights a regular occurrence to be honest. Let's see if I can convince my Irish pals to join me for a bit of a belter.

Outfit: Dream Girl

After making the Mysterious Skin/Wendy post I had a little fun the other afternoon and played around, conceiving an outfit that Wendy, or an early 90s Dream Pop girl would probably be most pleased to wear! The 90s revival is here, so embrace it. More glitter please!

I could have used Polyvore but you can't copy images from Etsy, so its the old fashioned way again.


Ring with enamel lips, ASOS


Black fly ring, River Island


Opal necklace, Etsy


Spike earrings, Bad Passion jewelry


Black Mesh Crop Top, Etsy


Star belly button bar, River Island


Tie dye mini skirt, Etsy


Fishnet tights, tightsplease.co.uk


Silver Doc Martens


Urban Decay's Book of Shadows


Urban Decay eye liner pencils


Hair glitter (I was a big fan of this, in the early noughties).

Urge for going

I'm still around. I've not been feeling very inspired lately, mostly just been working my minimum wage job, enjoying Saturday nights with my pals as well as saying goodbye to friends who are emigrating, rushing to fill in graduation forms and struggling to make Big Life Decisions. I'm going to London for a few days in a couple of weeks so will hopefully have some posts to share with you both before and after!

Here's a flavour of what I've been listening to as Autumn approaches Winter.

Back in the old town

I haven't had a moment to update and deadlines are swiftly approaching. I am back in Dublin for a few days and have archives and the like to visit, old friends to see, assignments to do.

Thanks to my mate Austin for reminding me of this classic. Dublin still looks like this, although people have substantially less hair and we don't mope around in boats on the Liffey. The Celtic Tiger has gone.



I will announce the winners of my give-away next week. I miss reading your blogs!

Something for the weekend II

Assignments in, and I'm free to enjoy the weekend. I'm off to Edinburgh to enjoy some disco with a good friend. I hope I have a dancing partner as dashing as Mr. Ferry. I will be making the effort and wearing false eyelashes so why ever not.



It's been a grim few weeks, but I'm in a lighter mood for the meantime and even though I still have lots of pending work, I'm determined to enjoy being young! You should too. Off with you!

Don't be blue

Dear Reader, I haven't had time to update, I have a couple of posts planned but it transpires that I have double the coursework I thought due this week. Soon darlings.

Until then, see Blue Valentine, the ending credits are the most glorious I've seen in a long time. Read all about them at The Art of the Title Sequence and it may just sway you.



Alligator - Grizzly Bear & You and Me, sung by Ryan Gosling

It's been a low day for me today, so I'm going to attempt and distract myself with impending uni work and by making definite choices of what films to see at the Glasgow Film Festival (which I will also be volunteering at!)

Later darlings.

NYE 2010

Enjoy your New Years Eve wherever you are and whatever you're doing!

I leave you with this tune from The Nolans, classic NYE track. So pull up your american apparel spandex pants and shake it!



I'm glad to have interacted with some great bloggers this year (you know who you are!) as a result of this blog, lets hope 2011 brings a lot more of that and some happiness my way (and yours dear reader!)

It was Christmas Eve babe -

Nollaig shona dhuit, Buone Feste Natalizie, Joyeux Noel, Feliz Navidad, Froehliche Weihnachten, Kala Christouyenna, Feliz Navidad, Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo, Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok, Zalig Kerstfeast, Ruumsaid juulup|hi, Cristmas mobarak, Hyvaa joulua, Shub Naya Baras, God Jul or Gledelig Jul, Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia or Boze Narodzenie, Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun... Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!



Tasteful or what?! No seriously, seasons greetings to you all! My Christmas tradition involves traipsing to mass this evening, no matter how i hope I'll wangle a way out of it, I end up going along all the same, then a feast tomorrow (I'm making baked butternut squash this year). Our pipes have frozen again this year, so I guess thats becoming a tradition too.

And I'm going to be a big cliché and point out this classic:



Be merry and be warm! I bought some Cork dry gin yesterday in preparation, it took me almost forty hours to get home so I'm going to make the most of it!

PS. Somehow I ended up nominated for Ireland's Top Fashion Blogger. Of course I'm not expecting anything but a few votes would flatter my ego. I'm number 50 on the list. Thank you!

& Sarah at The Licentiate has a great Christmas giveaway! Ends midnight tonight.

At Home with the Georgians

My friend Hannah alerted me to this, we're both a pair of decorative art/domestic interior boffins, so naturally we got excited over this.


Look at that sassy historian!



The BBC is airing three-part series based on Amanda Vickery's book Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England, a fascinating, juicy nugget of a book I urge you to read. It's a through the keyhole exploration of Georgian society, 'behind closed doors'. Your home was a stage, where your taste and respectability was on display to your visitors. Day to day life was an acting out of 'polite society', taking tea with your visitors was a formal practice, an opportunity to show off your new hat straight from Paris, as well as your impeccable taste in domestic furnishings. Her book is compelling and a vivacious read as she discusses relations between man and wife, wife and her guests, the women's role in the home, the life of maids, lodgers, etc. Herein began the rise of consumer culture. "Sex, scandal and soft furnishings" as the BBC calls it.

I'll give you a brief and by no means comprehensive background on this period (you'll have to watch the series or read the book, for the 'tell all' reveal on the workings of Georgian society!)
The popular English portrait artist, Arthur Devis (1712–1787), painted a number of wealthy patrons in their tasteful and up-to-date Georgian interiors, notice how the domestic objects are as central to the portrait as the two figures. These paintings were to demonstrate the fashionability and taste of the patrons.


Mr. and Mrs. Richard Bull, c. 1750, Arthur Devis
The prominent persian carpet tells us that this couple is wealthy enough to afford luxurious imported carpets and also note the tea table, probably made from imported mahogany, also a luxury item and the (probably) porcelain set out on the mantelpiece, in full view for the viewer and the visitor. The practice of taking tea (with visitors) was central to the notion of sociability and polite society at this time and also a reminder of the persons wealth (tea at this time was very much a luxury item).


Mr and Mrs Atherton, c. 1740s, Arthur Devis


The TV series is called At Home with the Georgians and Vickery herself, I'm pleased to say, will be presenting the series. It follows on after the success of her BBC4 radio series 'A History of Private Life', that aired last autumn, but alas I did not have the opportunity to listen to it, if anyone could point me in the direction of where to find it I would be most obliged.

The TV series begins tomorrow night on BBC2 at 9pm GMT, I myself will be frantically finishing essays, so will catch up on iplayer next week.


The Dinner-Locust or the Advantages of a Keen Scent 1826, printed etching and aquatint. Lewis Walpole Library, Farmington.



Some other related articles that might be of interest -
Making a Reading Table on Pegs and 'Tails
The book 'Behind Closed Doors' on Austen only

And with that I have to promise myself not to procrastinate for the rest of the day so I can get this essay finished and out of my way! Enjoy!

Ice Ice Baby

One of the greatest moments of Irish tv last year! Be careful out there you guys! Have you got sensible boots? I don't! I've been fixated on buying lots of socks recently though.

All Hallows Eve

I LOVE Halloween, I have fond memories of donning a black bin bag, a mask and an impressive pointy witches hat that I was sorry I couldn't wear year round. My mum wasn't very imaginative in the costume department, but she did have a bag reserved especially for the witching time of year, with spooky decorations to pin on the door which we would have gone shopping for the year previously or the in the days running up to Halloween!

I'd trot around our small estate with a gaggle of other neighbourhood kids and have a fine time getting treats but failing to play any tricks (adults who thought they were smart by requesting a trick were usually met with blank, doleful expressions). I remember trying to guess who was who behind the mask, which was made particularly difficult by the fact that it was dark and their voice was usually muffled by those awkward plastic masks that had a tiny slit for oxegen (possibly banned nowadays, haven't been shopping for one in a while...) The mask rarely survived the night, due to all the childish horseplay and the cheap plastic eventually cracked and was cast aside by its owner before the night was over.

Anyway, I embrace Halloween - it's my opportunity to play dress up and get away with it without fear of being rebuked. Although, when it comes to it, I usually pluck some clothes from my wardrobe the night before, or on the day in question. I don't put as much effort as I'd like in, I am continually impressed by the imagination and dedication of some spooks! Oh well, next year...!

Here was my Halloween. As the years have gone by, its less about cheap candy and more about drinks and dancing.

Oh, I was meant to be Peggy Bundy. (Leggings as pants, too much gold jewelry, big belt, tassels, leopard print scarf and big hair)


(photo by Sophie)


Max from 'Where the Wild Things Are'




Tibbs and Gatsby, the pernament residents at Fawlty Towers


Munching crisps in the Peggy Bundy spirit.
L-R: Max, Kate Bush (see video below), Me, Mrs Gatsby & Mrs Tibbs




This girl's outfit was impressive, I'm guessing a courtier from the era of Louis XIV.

Scotch Gothic

Today I went on a class field trip to the hinterlands of Edinburgh. We went to Rosslyn Chapel, Melrose Abbey and onto Abbotsford. In the context of my course, Abbotsford is a prime example of the nineteenth century Gothic Revival style. Sir Walter Scott, the patron behind Abbotsford took elements from both Rosslyn and Abbotsford to create his distinctly 'Scotch Gothic' domain.

You're not allowed to take photographs inside Rosslyn Chapel. It's a tremendously popular spot, on this wet and grey day in late October, the compact chapel was packed with visitors. A lot of its appeal may be owed to Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and the legends of the Knights Templar/Mary Magdelene, and more bizarrely, Elvis, apparently some people (read: crazy conspiracy fiends) believe he's buried in the sealed crypt! One of the striking features of Rosslyn were the stained glass windows, but stained glass wasn't a feature here until the nineteenth century and some windows are even more contemporary, like this one (my favourite), of an airman -


Photo credit.
"In 1950 [Anthony Hugh Francis Harry St Clair- Erskine, 6th Earl of Rosslyn] added a first stained glass memorial window in the baptistery. The design of William Wilson, it is dedicated to his brother Pilot Officer The Hon. Peter St Clair-Erskine who died on active service in 1939, and to his stepfather, Wing Commander Sir John Milbanke, who died in 1947 from injuries also received during World War II."

Then on we went to Melrose Abbey, where blessedly the rain had ceased.



Melrose Abbey from the back, including graveyard where Sir Walter Scott is buried.


(Hannah's photo)


A view of Melrose village from the top of the Abbey, it was a precarious climb I can tell you and it brought this painting to mind -


The Meeting on the Turret Stairs (1864), Frederic William Burton

Although nothing quite so romantic occurred on this particular crowded, dense turret stairs!

Afterward my friend Hannah and I wandered around on the look-out for Scott's grave and took some more light-hearted photos -


A Gothic heroine awaiting her byronic hero?



Does anyone remember the Scottish Widows adverts?




I like how minimal some eighteenth century gravestones are and admirable for how much information they managed to neatly cram onto one stone, getting value for money!


(Photo credit: Hannah)
Candid photo of me fiddling with my point and shoot camera!

The final and most anticipated stop on our journey was Abbotsford, two or three miles from Melrose Abbey.

The novelist, poet and antiquarian Sir Walter Scott (Ivanhoe, Rob Roy) began his grand Gothic dream in 1811 when he bought a small farmhouse and its surrounding lands, for the site of what was to become his home, Abbotsford. As well as needing a home for himself and his family, Scott needed a place substantial enough to house and display his ever-expanding collection of antiquities and curiosities, everything from furniture made from the rafters of Rob Roy's home to a lock of Lord Nelson's hair! His furniture was either custom made for him in the Gothic style but after the death of his cabinet maker, a couple of his friends went about London seeking antiques to keep to the authentic feel of the house.

Heraldry was central to Scott's vision for his home and by choosing Gothic for his design, he was firmly establishing himself and his ancestry in a medieval Scottish past. As well as his collections of antiquities (both ancient and contemporary) it houses thousands of books, which Scott employed as reference texts in the writing of his novels and poems, the income from which paid for his fantastical home! Scott is an interesting character as he oftentimes went to extremes to acquire unique objects for his collection. It is said that after the battle of Waterloo Scott traveled to the site and went about by himself picking up whatever armory or military loot he could find, to display in his home.

Then, as now, Scott's home had a constant flow of tourists. It also had its critics, Ruskin and Virginia Woolf for example.


(Photo credit: Hannah)
Heraldic window, Armory room, painted by his friend Daniel Terry's wife.


(Photo credit: Hannah)
Needle point of Scott (in his armory?), in the library.


(Photo credit: Hannah)
The library, with Jamaican cedar bookcases, daubed 'oak' ceiling, and trompe l'oeil 'drapery' above bookcases.
See bust of Scott in his fifties at the end, apparently some tourists have commented on his resemblance to Russell Crowe!


(Photo credit: Hannah)
Only some of the regalia in the entrance hall.

Scott's personality is stamped in every corner of this house. One must consider what an incredible individual he must have been, considering that much of his collection of curiosities were gifts from friends and admirers.

Sadly though, the last Lady Scott died five years ago now, so the family parts of the house lie unoccupied at the moment. I was told that perhaps the National Trust are considering taking it over. Watch this space.

All in all, an exhausting but fulfilling day. It ended on a high note when we found some rather risqué postcards in the gift shop...! And I bought a packet of the Border dark chocolate and ginger biscuits I am now enamored with.

Something for the weekend I

Something for your Saturday.

Instead of getting my lazy ass to the library I've been procrastinating by cleaning and watching back to back episodes of My So-Called Life.

The Heart Asks Pleasure First

At the weekend I didn't do anything in terms of college work, I feel horridly guilty!

BUT I did go to some Steve Reich and Philip Glass Minimal concerts and most importantly I went to see Michael Nyman on Saturday evening and he played this -



And I wore:


Dress, mousevox vintage
Belt, Topshop.
Hairband, Urban.
Tights, Fiore

The Sound of Silence

It's been a while folks. But I'm making my way back, slowly.

This song is one of my favourites. I particularly like Art's introduction at the start. I empathize completely.

I've made some changes around here, it's less claustrophobic, thoughts?