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Digging the stories from the land

Cavan's Bridge Street is a thoroughfare of genuine character. The narrow street indicates its medieval origin. Apparently Bridge Street was one of Cavan's town first streets linking Tullymongan Castle to St. Mary's Abbey.

It is now home to one of Cavan quirkier businesses. Art and commerce can be uncomfortable bedfellows, but through “Dotti Was A Deerâ€, the name under which Jackie O'Neill sells her limited edition prints, this artist has struck a very pleasant balance.

Jackie could be the poster girl for the “find something that you like and you will never work a day in your life†outlook. I walk into her studio and she's in full flight. She tells me she finished work at 5:30am as she puts the finishing touches to Scéalta Dár dTalún.

The late night has extracted no toll from the artist. Were I to haul my carcass around in the wee small hours, then the following day I would be zombie like, but not Jackie. She is the prefect host; strong tea, just a little milk and a chocolate biscuit that I initially decline. I sit down and just before I press the record button the biscuit winks at me, and suddenly it's an ex-biscuit.

Jackie launches her project Scéalta Dár dTalún in Ballyhaise on August 19. Its scope and scale is pretty broad. Billed as 'stories of the land' it is a tapestry of folklore, history, community and nature.

“I have tried not to get too bogged down in what is true, I am not a historian, I am an artist,†Jackie explains. As the lead artist she spent months gathering stories from Ballyhaise Agricultural College, researching the National Folklore Archive relating to St Mary's National School Ballyhaise and seeking advice from historians.

She has worked with a team of artists to create new artworks informed by and celebrating the land.

“I had this idea for Ballyhaise, because that is where I am from. This is looking at my own sense of place and life and where we are born and our roots,†she says.

That sense of place is not only at the heart of this work, but it appears to be a recurring theme in much of the artist's endeavours.

“I was away for years and when I returned to Ballyhaise I started going out walking. I was trying to figure a few things out, and at that time I started to noticed how beautiful the landscape is. It had passed me by when I was younger. After living in the city I had this new found love for the landscape,†she said.


'Life stripped down'

Scéalta Dár dTalún examines the stories that are accumulated and shared in the local community, in the archives and by historians. Using the filter of personal experience and interpretation Jackie's crew have created something that can be experienced at the Agriculture College during heritage week.

Through art, stories and histories the project has brought learning and meaning of the pupils of the national school and the off shoots of that interaction will be brought to a wider audience in its next stage at Ballyhaise House. 

“It is about presenting something where life is stripped down, simpler, forcing you to ponder on it,†is how the artist puts it.

Jackie's core team comprises of her sister Lisa O'Neil, Ann Smith, Joe Doherty and Michael Swords. “The light below the lone bush†is a new song by Lisa that has roots in the singer songwriter's workshop interacted with the 3rd Class at St Mary's National School.

“Myself, Lisa and Anne went into the primary school in Ballyhaise as part of this Creative Ireland Project. I interviewed local people, firstly the older generation as we archived the stories, then we went into the primary school and involve the younger generation.â€

One of the sources for the bedrock that the project is built on was the National Folklore Collection housed in UCD. In 1937 the Irish Folklore Commission, in collaboration with the Department of Education and the Irish National Teachers' Organisation, initiated a scheme encouraging schoolchildren to collect and document folklore and local history. Over 18 months around 100,000 children in 5,000 primary schools in the twenty-six counties collected folklore material in their home districts. St Mary's National School Ballyhaise was one of those schools.


Storytelling

Jackie and storyteller Ann Smith visited the school working with 1st, 2nd and 4th class. Jackie shared the stories she has gathered from the locality and the children illustrated them. She was assisted by Aideen Lynch, a former education officer at The Ark.

“We brought the stories from the students in 1938 in Ballyhaise to the children there now. I got kids in fourth class to do artwork in response and Lisa wrote a song with the third class based on the these tales. Anne had first and second class and did storytelling with them.â€

Jackie says the other sources of the raw material were many and varied. The core inspiration for the project came from speaking to people, meeting them in bars, being directed to “talk to my grannyâ€. 

The motivation of archiving stories that die with people drew Jackie to these tales of the land and attempt to trap them in amber.

“I find that very important in my work, which is driven by narrative. I love responding to narrative. In my final year of university my work was all about fairy tales -books from my childhood and responding to that. This has been a real constant. The only thing I did find was that because I knew everybody it was quite hard to cut the research off. I could have gone on talking to people forever,†Jackie told the Celt.

“In Scéalta Dár dTalún I am looking at the folklore stories again. Looking at the farm and the land. The idea that land holds memories and is an archive. One layer is the speaking to people, reading, and consulting historians. The next layer was just investigate the landscape and slowing down and spending time with it. Something had drawn me to it, bringing the stories together, these stories of the land and the landscape. They are loosely based on the real proportions of the landscape, they become dreams and they go on,†is how she explained it.

The stepping off point for individual works cropped up in the course of the research: “Olive Brown told me about her granny who delivered eggs to the Humphreys. I imagine her on this landscape. Did she interact with any animals? Was she standing at this tree? It is just very playful stuff, only loosely based on the stories and then my imagination goes wild in response.â€

Another artist who collaborated was Joe Doherty. Joe has worked with Jackie on previous exhibitions and with the Gonzo Theatre. Joe is making wood sculptures from trees recently felled at the college.

“Joe is responding to the land rather than the stories. Joe's sculpture trail is along The Lady's Walk. It will be giving information about nature and about encouraging things to grow. It is about getting people to pay attention to the landscape. There is a playful, almost surrealist, approach to nature,†the lead artist says of her colleague's work.


'Really excited'

The opening day is packed with events. Michael Swords will be on hand to conduct a tour of Ballyhaise House as part of the event: “I haven't gone into too much detail on the architecture of the house on my side of it. It is nice that Michael is going to do that. The house also speaks for itself,†Jackie says of the magnificent stately home that plays an important part of Scéalta Dár dTalún.

With the opening day in sight the artist is still in the phase of frantic work, as demonstrated by her 5:30am finish the previous night. This does not seem to have impinged on her appreciation of what she is doing: “I am really excited to see how it comes together. It all feels very intuitive, it is like the Annalee river, it is all flowing in the right direction. I trust everyone involved, they are all great artists.â€

The enduring legacy of the project is adding to the record and examining our notion of history. Jacky says that she has been surprised by that part of the project “Humans don't last that long, the landscape is there for longer. Stories die out and are gone. It was hard to get information from before the plantation. We have the names of the families associated with the house and land; The Humphreys, Cassels, Newberg and Taylor and before them the O'Reillys. I am shocked that we have no way of knowing what took place on this land before. It is so exciting to guess, to get a lead and build sometime out of it.â€

That provision of a platform where the person viewing the art builds their own reality is a plank of this story of the land: “All I want is for the viewer to guess. To instigate that thought provoking thing. The landscape is so wise and so strong and it has seen it all. We are losing touch with the land – with what it provides us. Part of this project is bring people back into touch with that idea.â€

The project is part of Cavan County Council's arts and heritage offices work developing cultural awareness as part of the culture team. It goes on for 10 days and after that stories and the art will travel outside of Ballyhaise to a wider audience.

It is a family friendly free event. The exhibition is open from 2-6pm from Saturday, August 19 and runs to the following Sunday. Lisa O'Neill will perform on the Friday from 2:45pm. 

It will be closed on the following Monday and Tuesday, but re-opens Tuesday and runs to the following Sunday. 

Also on the opening day agenda is a moth hunt with Heather Bothwell and bee keeping demonstration with Aidan Brady. There is a nature walk for children. Jackie sums up Scéalta Dár dTalún by saying: “We will always have the stories that we have gathered and the art work will live on.â€