| Wild Geese Exhibition 
The National Craft Gallery in County Kilkenny will host a major exhibition,
“Wild Geese: The Irish in America,” featuring the work of
Irish-American and Irish-born craftsmakers who now live in America.
Curated by Irish-American Kevin O’Dwyer, silversmith/sculptor
and Top 100 honoree, the exhibition will highlight the work of 20 contemporary
artists who work in glass, metal, wood and clay, including Paul Stankard,
John Boyd Smith, Sydney Lynch, and Harold O’Connor.
An artist who makes wearable sculptural reliefs, O’Connor is descended
from John O’Connor who immigrated to New York in the 1880s. Despite
several generations of separation between the artist and his Irish roots,
his work is influenced by the work of the gold and silversmiths of ancient
Ireland. “I teach several surface embellishment techniques in my
workshops, among them the ancient process of gold and silver granulation,
which the Celts and early Irish silversmiths used in the ornamentation
of their jewelry,” says O’Connor whose use of granulation
in a contemporary context has helped to make his name in the metal arts.
Stankard, whose Irish roots go back to the early 1700s, says, “My
take on Ireland is her literary tradition and the work of James Joyce,
among others, and how he layered a depth of human feelings into words.
I hope to reach that level of intimacy with my interpretation of nature
in glass.”
Much of John Boyd Smith’s work reflects the plant life of Savannah,
Georgia, where he lives and works, but his lifelong passion for forging
metal came indirectly from Ireland. It began when, rummaging through an
old storage shed on his family’s property, he found the collection
of antique blacksmithing tools left behind by his great-great-great-grandfather
Patrick Hoy, a master gunsmith, who came to South Carolina from Ireland
in 1804.
For jewelry designer Sydney Lynch, a grandmother’s appreciation
for beautiful things proved inspirational. “My grandmothers were
both French, but also half Irish,” says Lynch. “One had a
wooden trunk that contained a treasure trove of luxury items saved for
decades: hand-embroidered silk kimonos, beaded evening bags, brocade opera
coats, silk nightgowns from China with beautifully hand-crafted details.
It was she who introduced me to the enjoyment of making things by hand.”
The National Craft Gallery is The Crafts Council of Ireland’s flagship
exhibition space. It is housed in Castle Yard, the former stables of Kilkenny
Castle. The “Wild Geese” exhibition will open on March 31
and run through June 10.
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