Masters by Research

The TLP Edition: Footnotes /  by ellie berry

Growing up, I always felt that the only place to find adventure would be outside this island. I wanted to explore, to see new places, to have new experiences. And that’s exactly what I did. However, a recurring conversation began to follow me - the further I went, and the more people I met, the more I was told what a beautiful, unique, and idyllic place Ireland was. To them, Ireland represented the exact type of adventure that I was travelling to find.

This project was born from a desire to explore and know my home. To find the Ireland that I hadn’t experienced. In order to achieve this, I walked each and every one of the National Waymarked Trails of Ireland. These trails, 42 in total, rambled through 25 counties, and encompassed a combined distance of over 4,000km. The photographs and reflections selected for this publication are a sample of the work created from this ongoing project.

 

My TLP Edition, Footnotes, is here.

It’s based off of one of the four small books I created as part of my Practice-led Masters by Research in IADT, that I graduated from last October. The ‘book-set' I created last year was called Footnotes, of which I made a limited run of them as a culmination to the project and the Masters. Each of the four books had its own title within the set, andThe title of this part was Footnotes; Traces.

Having created these multiple publications I was unsure how to share them with the world - it’s hard enough to publish one book, never mind a set of four in a hand made case. Quite a while ago, Ángel from PhotoIreland and I had agreed to make a TLP Edition of one of my projects; as soon as I had one I wanted to see in this format. As someone who loves to create books and tactile things, this should have been an almost instant thing, however it’s been a project long in-waiting.

Finding a way of sharing one element of my research, reflections, and images with the world so soon after graduating is really great, and I’m so happy to see this part of my work alive. You can order a copy from The Library Project (€6), in Temple Bar Dublin. It’s a print run of 200.

Happy 2022.

Trailscapes /  by ellie berry

Wicklow Way, Trailscapes, 2019

Wicklow Way, Trailscapes, 2019

Back in December I made what I’ve temporarily called trailscapes. Another creation in its infancy, I was reminded of them yesterday as I was tidying up my notes, and decided they might be something nice to share. Below is what I was thinking at the time.

 

When I walk, each trail feels like a world of it’s own. 

The line it creates trails across the maps in my hand, across the ground in front of me, across my memory of where I have come from, and projected into my expectations of what is ahead. 

Looking at my feet I see the line extend away from me as clear as day, a path worn into the soil. Lifting my gaze it dissolves into the lay of the land, becoming airborne as I invisibly connect the dots between the yellow way makers that I can see criss-crossing the landscape ahead of me.  The trail, the line, is the centre of my world - everything is thought of in relation to its proximity to the line. How much of a deviation is it to that spot? What will I naturally pass just by following this line? 

And all of these lines I walk are fragments of the whole piece: not physically connected to each other, worlds of their own, and yet part of my walk and my project. I connect these lines through my travels, each world affecting how I experience the next and understand the previous. 

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It was along such lines of thought that these “trailscapes” came to be. Each image features the shape of a trail that I walked, often hundreds of kilometers condensed into a small twisted squiggle. The second part of the piece is an image I made along that trail that, for me, feels like an image that represents the trail. The line of the trail crosses and image, defines the space and changes the image from a place to look into, to an abstracted space.  The circle creates a world, and the trail takes you through its world and out the other side. 

 
 
South Leinster Way, Trailscapes, 2019

South Leinster Way, Trailscapes, 2019

Fractured Space /  by ellie berry

Still from the live fracturing on the opening night of In the Making: 10 Years of Ormond Art Studios

Still from the live fracturing on the opening night of In the Making: 10 Years of Ormond Art Studios

28th Nov - 1st Dec
Projection Installation
Exhibiting at the Dublin Civic Trust Building, 18 Ormond Quay, as part of the Ormond Art Studios’s exhibition In the Making: Celebrating 10 Years at Ormond Art Studios.

Fractured Space is a site specific, projection piece. The space we are exhibiting in is a beautifully restored house, brought back from ruin and into the past, frozen as it once was. Because of this, it’s not possible to interact with the space as I normally would - a gallery space is made to be a canvas that an artist can manipulate to show their ideas and creations to their desired effect. 18 Ormond Quay is a space all of its own. 

Exhibiting in a space that I couldn’t interact with in the typical way lead me to want to create a piece that would change the space without touching it. Previously, I created Fractured Landscapes, a series where I manipulated images to create new places, reflecting on the strange pressures I had placed on the landscape to provide me with a sense of place and connection. Evolving this fracturing to create a new space within the exhibition space felt like a way I could combine this place that I couldn’t change with my work. 

For the opening night this will be a live piece, changing as people interact with it, allowing them to mould the artwork and the space. For the remainder of the exhibition it will be a fractured video I filmed during our time installing our work for the exhibition.

As it says at the top, this exhibition is open until December 1st, from 12:00 - 17:00 each day. For more information about it, check out the Ormond Art Studios website.

Joining Ormond Art Studios /  by ellie berry

Ellie Berry OAS.jpg

This weekend I’m conducting some slightly awkward bus shuffles through Dublin city, carrying bulky bags of books and cutting boards. There can only be one reason - I’ve joined an artist studio!

Ormond Art Studios lives in a building with a grey-blue door on the quays in Dublin city centre, and it is where I’m going to be sharing a space with a wonderful group of artists for the foreseeable future. We each have our desks to fill with things, and white walls to flick ideas at. Have I ever been this excited to stare at a white wall? Possibly not.

I’ve spent the last three years on the move - part-time in the city, part-time walking around this small Irish island. Now I’m back in Dublin, about to launch into the second year of my masters. I have found for my creativity (and my sanity) I need to be able to bounce ideas off of other people, and be inspired by what they’re making. I also want to learn how artist-led spaces work and grow - and as artists’ presences become online, as more creatives promote and share their processes digitally, I believe that the importance of having a physical space and place to share and discuss work is vital.

Here’s my little about page on the Ormond Art Studio website, and here’s a link to the Ormond Art Studio Instagram. Below is a couple of shots of my empty space. I can’t wait to make things here.