What Sort Of Artist Are You?

What Sort Of Artist Are You?

Subtitle: Art stories of Honey Bees, Conflict in Israel and Palestine, the Poetry of Seamus Heaney, Refugees in Western Sahara, Soundscape Portraits, Migrants in Italy, The Good Friday Agreement, Broighter Gold Hoard and more.

This book discusses a selection of my art exhibitions and projects between 2014 and 2024. There is one art story that crucially weaves its way through the last 25 years, the making phases and exhibition phases of my well-known Good Friday Agreement (GFA) project, called The Hands of History.

The first Hands of History sculpture was exhibited in 2001. Then the sculpture was composed of nine bronze hand casts of Northern Ireland’s political party leaders and Mo Mowlam, (British Secretary of State). By 2024, the sculpture has more than tripled in size and now has thirty-plus hands.

This growing project presents the bronze hand-casts of many significant local and international people who took leading roles in the Irish–British peace process. To make the sculpture I met with and cast the hands of notable figures like Lord Chris Patton, the last Governor of Hong Kong; British Prime Minister, Tony Blair; An Taoiseach, Ireland, Bertie Ahearn; the US Peace Envoy, Senator George Mitchell, Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams and many more.

I recount my hand-casting encounters with the VIP peacebuilders. I also discuss the creation of several new and original audiovisual installations such as The Crumlin Keys and The Long Kesh Escape Hook.

I describe my engagements with a variety of local and international art projects. I recount the dramatic and challenging issues of working in intensive international scenarios like Israel/Palestine, working with illegal migrants in the south of Italy, and working in the desert refugee camps of the Western Sahara.

I discuss the innovative creation of gallery exhibitions that explore topics such as the Broighter Gold Hoard, Seamus Heaney’s poetry, and Apis Mellifera, the life of honey bees.

I have created pioneering soundscapes about honey bees, with keys and an audio portrait of Palestine. My encounters with artists from the Holy Lands also became the subject of my previous book, titled, ‘Ireland Versus Israel’, published by Bill Drummond.

I discuss my most recent exhibition, a ground-breaking multimedia exhibition titled, ‘Apis Mellifera: The Honey Bee’. I created the unique ‘living beehive bronzes’. These are a technical and creative world first in the bronze art world. I describe the challenging process of making these bronzes and multi-media art about the life of honey bees.

For example, to create original audio soundscapes about the bees, I placed microphones in my beehives and recorded them. I followed the bees and captured the sounds of foragers and scouts. I stood in the middle of clouds of crazy bee swarms of 20,000 bees. As they landed on me, I audio-recorded. I wanted to give the bees a chance to speak for themselves, with their voice. I also used paint and canvas to capture unseen aspects of bee life.

I tell the story of the behind-the-scenes struggles, to manifest ideas. When an artist creates an idea out of thin air and then struggles to make a visual or audio image, the audience normally gets to see or hear the finished piece. Often the finished piece seems obvious – when it’s finished. Rarely do viewers get to see the blank canvas moment. I discuss the details of the immense challenge when confronted with the struggle to invent and create. Seldom, does an audience get to glimpse inside the artist’s head, to hear his motivation, inspiration and the physical issues involved in the creation of something new.

What sort of artist am I? I aim to involve the reader in a greater understanding of the art-making process. I tell more information than regular art stories that relate, where an exhibition was held and a description of what it looked like. I relate the struggles to concieve a new exhibition theme, and then the act of bringing non-existent ideas to life and into a tangible and visual or audio reality.

I write in my own words and style. I share my own thoughts about life and art. I care little for the traditional conventions or constraints of the establishment. I apologise in advance for some of my diversions into controversial topics of social and political events but when writing about topics such as Israel and Palestine, it is hard to avoid political comment. I have tried not to insert too many political comments and opinions. I try to focus on the art. I will also say. My observations are purely those of a human being who searches for the good in people and tries to do the right thing in life.

I will include as many photographs of my art as possible in the hope that the images can speak more poetically than me. I will provide online links to audio pieces and video work. I hope to spread some positive messages and to spark-up your own thought processes.

What impact will this book have? Who knows, but I have written it and I will publish it. ‘Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.’