whats it all about?

There is an essence of Ireland, you may have experienced it. It's an essence that goes beyond the hospitality and the perfectly poured pints of Guinness. Beyond the visual arrest of snaking stone walls in Connemara and the sheer drop of the Cliffs of Moher. For me, its an inexplicable peacefulness, a landscape that is both familiar and yet changes in millions of ways in a day. Its the light across the moor grass and the dappled shadows on the streams. The mad pockets of mist that settles in valleys, the kind of mist that would make anyone believe in a banshee. But, in truth, it is an essence that is near impossible to truly put words on. For both Pete and I, the work we do is an attempt to capture just a moment of that essence, our attempt at summarizing our  experience of Ireland that goes beyond words. I put it into gardens and Pete pulls it out of steel and bogwood.

Photos thanks to Jedrzej Niezgoda, See more at www.venividi.ie

Mag Mell: the installation

Mag Mell was a mythical island off the west coast of Ireland to which access to the island could be achieved only through death or glory. Unlike many mythical underworlds, Mag Mell was a paradise, where food and drink abound, sickness and death are non existent and happiness lasts forever. 

The theme of this year's festival is 'Gardens of Delight and Gardens of Delirium'. Our own installation will take visitors from a fairytale woodland, across a moor-like area with tussock grass scattered through, to a moss covered pod, suspended over water, surrounded by exotic AND Irish planting. Once inside the pod, looking back at the contrast between exotic and woodland, visitors may experience the dream like feeling you might imagine on a mythical island.

The hanging pod is both a work of art and a functional sculptural piece. The pod calls to visitors to climb in and enjoy the view and sounds from inside. It provides a porthole view of the garden where one feels both wholly a part of the installation and yet far away from the rest of the world. Music and sounds play inside the pod adding to the experience.

Our installations seek to blur the boundaries of sculpture, horticulture and people, using plant form and sculpture to echo the Irish landscape, whilst also creating a sense of fantasy and delight. Sculptural pieces inspired by natural forms intrigue the viewer from afar but then offer the opportunity to climb inside and become a part of the installation, viewing the garden from an internal perspective and becoming immersed in the  sounds within.  The sculpture celebrates and depicts shapes and forms within the natural environment crossing the boundaries of everyday perception into a fairytale world of reordered realities. Representation of organic and man made elements are embodied into a single sculptural entity, creating a re-connection from our often disconnected world view towards our origins and heritage. The work aims to blur the viewer's preconception of the boundaries of crafted and natural, evoking a sense of  a place you know but yet feel you have never seen before.

the event...

We are one of the twenty gardens selected for the 20th anniversary of the Chaumont sur Loire International Art and Garden Festival in France. This year the theme of the event is 'Gardens of Delight, Gardens of Delirium'. The Festival features only 20 installations chosen from hundreds of applicants. For us, the opportunity to participate in a prestigious international event like this is not only invaluable but one of the few opportunities we have to fully explore the integration of sculpture and garden

your support:

we have started a kickstarter campaign for our project as we are just a bit short on our overall budget. Your support will go towards the costs of plants steel and ferry rides, all of which adds up with a project such as this working on the scale that we do. Every little bit helps and we can't thank you enough!

being GREEN:

For both Pete and ourselves, a key element of our own businesses is being aware of our environmental impact. We believe awareness and education are the first step to understanding our complex relationships with the environment. While Mag Mell relies more on the fantastical and the idea of eternal happiness (the kind of theme that brightens up a rainy Irish winter's day), most of our installations are intent on raising education and awareness of the environment. For example, by representing threatened or endangered habitats, and highlighting their uniqueness and importance in terms of biodiversity. Through helping this project you will be enabling us to address sustainability in the world of horticulture.

For the Chaumont Festival, we will be working with C-LEVEL, a Brighton, England based company, who will assess our carbon footprint and help us offset this through reforestation projects. We love the opportunity to create and to present our installations but many of these garden festivals can be quite wasteful. This will be the first step in examining our own waste and our own footprint so that next year we can improve!

To see more about the work CLEVEL does check out their website...

http://www.clevel.co.uk/ 

the rewards!

We have put together all sorts of fun and exciting rewards to thank you for your support of the arts and a big huge thank you for your support of us personally in the expression of our experiences through art.

Hanging Cacao lantern that can be lit at night, providing that extra special lighting on a summer's evening. 

Things you could do in your official crew t-shirt! This isn't quite what it will look like as we are in the midst of designing but you get the picture.

Enjoy your very own pod!! Nothing like hiding away in the garden, listening to tunes. Made for the Irish weather...except maybe that sideways rain that soaks you to the bone before you can blink.