‘The Last Supper’ Prep Work…

A collaborative video performance with artists from Les Yper Yper Artists Hub in Thessaloniki, based on different versions of a ’Secret Supper’… 

Participants used their mobile phones to film and give their personal answer to the question…”How is the imprisonment experience?”.

Workshop Exhibition – July 2020

Folk & Folklore was the theme of this workshop. It was hosted by professional artist Rania Emmanouilidou, Apostolos Rizos of Les Yper Yper Cultural Centre Thessaloniki, & curated by Art Historian Eleni Garoufalia. Lectures and discussions took place on the subject of recasting the use of traditional objects in a contemporary way.

Through the ancient artefacts & the historic surroundings that we were exposed to, I found objects and traditional fare that resonated with me and were appropriate for use with the experimental process I was planning to use.

As an artist I work intuitively, fast and furious and almost always in a very physical way.

I am a lover of process innovation and experimentation. Being open to chance & serendipity can sometimes give you wonderful results. I embrace the unknown.

I decided for this workshop to try out a very old photographic printing process in a contemporary context & take it to another artistic level. This process is known as Cyanotype.

Cyanotype was discovered in the 1800’s by an English scientist Sir John Herschel. He used this process for documenting his work. Subsequently, it was used for a broad spectrum of illustrated publications and were also known as blueprints.

The Cyanotype solution is made up of two chemicals which when mixed together and applied to paper and then exposed to UV light, result in a cyan blue image and silhouette of any object or drawing placed on top.

The element of chance when working with chemicals and the sunlight intrigued me.

The magic and the mysticism of the piece in the making.

This involved, trials and errors, triumphs and failures, falling down while playing but always picking yourself back up. Failures are a very important part of our journey, failures can be kind to an artist.

Each of these piece has its own life and tells its own story….

As a consequence of my work in Les Yper Yper, I was invited to present a workshop on Monoprinting techniques to a 3rd level college in Thessaloniki in January this year. 12 students attended. A full day of interactive demonstrations and monoprinting took place. It was a very successful day with some excellent results & an exhibition of individual and 2 large collaborative pieces.’ Unfortunately, due to the Covid 19 lockdown, subsequent planned workshops had to be postponed.

Exposing Violence – November 6th 2019

“It takes only a few moments for one to pass from the shores of joy and carefreeness in to the nightmare of fear and humiliation. Therefore, why an art exhibition dealing with Exposing Violence? The answer is not only can art entertain but it also has the power to raise questions and awaken consciousness. This exhibition is the thunderous voices of Artists who oppose violence in all its forms. The enormous power of anti-violence art can make us truly believe in a world free of oppression and phobias, giving way to Dreams and Hopes.”

Extract from Art Historian Olga Lakousakis preface in the Exhibition Catalogue.

Workshop Exhibition – July 2019

Contemplating Natural Aesthetics

Epoc Creative Workshop aims at the documentation and reinvention of the identity of our surrounding environment through an artistic procedure.  Therefore, the personal experience of the participants is necessary in order to reveal the special characteristics of the area of research, not only as natural but also as experiential space.”“Epoc Creative Workshop aims at the documentation and reinvention of the identity of our surrounding environment through an artistic procedure.  Therefore, the personal experience of the participants is necessary in order to reveal the special characteristics of the area of research, not only as natural but also as experiential space.

Rania Emmanouilidou

Visual Artist

The Narration of Beauty

The concept of Beauty differs from desire. We can admire something, consider it beautiful, even if we do not want to obtain it or even if it belongs to someone else. At this seminar, we will try to put forward ideas of Beauty over the centuries, identifying those situations in which a given culture or a particular historical era recognized that there are things to be pleasant to admire, regardless of the desire we feel about them. It is true that from antiquity to the present day, a multitude of perceptions of the “nice” has been formed, causing endless discussions, and it is also a fact that different aspects of beauty have collided not only in different historical periods but also within the same era.  In our meetings, we will not give specific ideas but list the ways in which people understood the beauty of nature, human body, light, costume, astral phenomena, mathematical relationships, “God”, the night and the infringement. We will distinguish the taste and the aesthetics of certain historical times, the way they felt, the attraction they felt with the feeling of the beautiful, of that which etymologically happens in its time, the right time and in the expected time.

Eleni Garoufalia

Art Historian, Curator

Macro Image of Finished Pieces

Group Exhibition – March 29th – April 16th 2019

This is a very exciting time for me, my first exposure onto the Greek Art Scene. I was invited to participate in a group exhibition in Les Yper Yper (http://lesyperyper.com/ ), an artist collective in Thessaloniki, run by Rania Emmanouilidou and Apostolos Rizos.

This was my chance to exhibit some of my recent work which is greatly influenced by this dynamic city. In the course of the work I have identified a link between my own heritage, Irish and Celtic Mythology, and Greek Mythology. Both filled with lore of wars, romance, magic and mystery. I’m really excited about what lies ahead.

‘FRACTURED’

Collograph

80cm x 60cm

I am absolutely delighted and humbled to have my piece ‘Fractured’ chosen by the National Gallery of Ireland for their permanent collection.  This piece was part of the touring exhibition ‘Stampa Ora/Print Now’ which visited galleries in Italy, Sardinia and Ireland in 2018.

A very Big Thank You to Anne Hodge and the Board of Governors & Guardians of The National Gallery for acquiring my piece for their collection and of course to Cork Printmakers who helped make this dream come true…