Home from Home

Artists: Sara Baume, Tinka Bechert, Martin Boyle, Brian Duggan, James L. Hayes, Kerry Guinan, Eileen Hutton, Julie Merriman, Doireann Ní Ghrioghair, Treasa O’Brien, Julia Pallone, Amanda Rice, Ciara Roche, Kathy Tynan, Mieke Vanmechelen

Curated by Chris Clarke and Fiona Kearney

The Glucksman is pleased to announce a new online initiative Home from Home intended as a way to provide insight into the extraordinary situation of being confined to home during the COVID-19 pandemic. The selected artists were due to present work in the Glucksman this April as part of the exhibition HOME: Being and belonging in contemporary Ireland which is now postponed until later this year.

Home from Home provides an artistic view of this unanticipated and unprecedented hiatus. Every Tuesday and Friday from April 17, the Glucksman shares an individual response on our website alongside additional information on the artist’s wider practice. As the weeks go by, the artists will collectively explore the shared challenges of being at home, the frustrations, boredom, anxiety, but also the capacity to reflect, create and connect.

The observations range in tone and media, from Ciara Roche’s painterly sketches of domestic space, to Mieke Vanmechelen’s creation of a rural environment turned upside down and Sara Baume’s homemade souvenirs in a world without tourist travel. Brian Duggan humorously records his own children’s cultural ingenuity while Julie Merriman focuses on repetitive cut-and-paste tasks as a means of keeping anxiety at bay. Home from Home began on Friday, April 17 with Eileen Hutton’s brief video clip of a bumblebee soundtracked by the sounds of her newborn son.

Home from Home captures some of the diverse ways we are all experiencing the current restrictions: the implications of working alongside children and pets, the solitary exploration of the imposed 2km parameter around one’s residence, the increased reliance on online networks and applications, a renewed attention to the natural world and the prominence of social distancing in our everyday lives.

Home from Home began on Friday, April 17, with new responses released every Tuesday and Friday throughout April, May and June 2020, and the cumulative works hosted and available for viewing online. 

In addition to this artistic programme, the Glucksman is providing daily art activities online and through our social media channels through its Creativity at Home initiative.

Creativity at Home: Art activities online
Creativity at Home is a programme of daily online activities, providing members of the public with a creative outlet during a time of social distancing. You are invited to explore imaginative ways of making art that respond to themes addressed in previous Glucksman exhibitions.

Every day, the Glucksman social media channels will link to art activities on our website with accompanying video tutorials and activity sheets. Our team are online waiting to hear from you—so participants are encouraged to share their own artworks and the Glucksman’s online galleries will celebrate the creativity of everyone who gets involved.

A full programme of creative activities are available online.

Home from Home and Creativity at Home are supported by University College Cork, the Arts Council of Ireland and private philanthropy through Cork University Foundation.