(Copy) 2022 NewsletterSummer

We hope you will enjoy our 'Wee Weekly ABC' guide to the wonderful selection of Art, Books and Crafts from Northern Ireland we are lucky to have on display in the Northern Ireland Executive Office in Brussels.

Amazing Art:

Times IV by Karen Daye-Hutchinson

Times IV
Karen Daye-Hutchinson works and lives in Belfast, having studied Fine Art at the Art College, Belfast, and Manchester School of Art. Specialising in hybrid printmaking, book art, and sculpture, her work reflects an interest in habitat, architecture and literature. She has received many awards and commissions from a variety of institutions and her work is represented in numerous public and private collections. Karen uses line and colour as a language to explore the parameters of printmaking, with symbolism as an allegory; deconstructing situations, fairy tales, nursery rhymes or poetry that are part of childhood and adult culture. Karen told us: "I’m delighted you found this piece of work for your collection! ‘Times IV’ is an original monotype print. I made this work as part of a series during lockdown and documented the process, which I uploaded to YouTube.
This ‘how to’ video illustrating the ‘pochoir’ process has really surprised me with the many thousands of views and feedback. This is perhaps my favourite image from the series and processes. I’m very much a storyteller and love symbols and allegory. I use many printing processes and mixed media in my work and love this Pochoir process for it’s mostly unpredictable colour blocks created by overlapping the hand cut stencils." More information about Karen's extraordinary practice and pieces can be found here.

Brilliant Book:

The Stack of Owls is Getting Higher by Dawn Watson

The poems in The Stack of Owls is Getting Higher by Dawn Watson are set in Georgia, Tennessee, the Carolinas and the poet’s native Belfast, featuring speakers who drive from place to place and capturing the in-between states in which so much of experience is actually lived. Precise and strange images coalesce into physical and interior landscapes. Alternately surreal and direct, and always joyously inventive, Dawn offers a clear and unsettling vision of what is and isn’t there.
Dawn is a writer from Belfast. She is currently a PhD candidate at Queen’s University Belfast, writing a prose poem novel and researching prose poetics.
Dawn Watson Book
Dawn worked as a sub editor in newspapers such as The Sunday Times in London, The News of the World in Dublin and The Mirror in Belfast. The Office in Brussels was delighted to feature Dawn as part of the Transpoesie 2022 festival. You can purchase Dawn's joyously inventive book of poetry here.

Charming Craft:

Necklace by Maggie Napier

Necklace
Maggie Napier is a flamework glass artist who makes jewellery, including earrings, necklaces and rings. Based in Co. Down, Northern Ireland, she has over 15 years of practice and research, experimenting and creating art glass beads and unique jewellery using the highest quality Italian and American glass. Her jewellery combines an abstract, organic aesthetic with an appreciation of the historical role of glass beads as talisman and currency. Her work is in the collection of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and has most recently been exhibited as part of the International Festival of Glass, Biot, France. Maggie told us: "This necklace is from my Holbein Globe Collection, a range that is inspired by the rich colours, textures and extraordinary atmosphere of ‘The Ambassadors’ painting (1533) by Holbein the Younger.
The process I use is called flameworking or lampworking, in which Murano glass rods are melted and shaped in a torch flame. I then burnish the glass with 24k gold leaf before assembling the final piece. I’m delighted that my work is displayed in the Brussels Office of the Northern Ireland Executive, helping promote the creative thinking and skills of the crafts sector in Northern Ireland, advancing our European connections and perspectives." Find out more about Maggie's delightfully unique pieces here.