ARTFarm Collective
The ARTFarm Collective is a non profit voluntary arts group. It consists of 10 to 12 artists who have a broad range of practices covering Visual Arts, Dance, Music, Performance, Photography and Film and expertise in Ecology, Body, Human Rights, Equality, Disability, Spirituality, Cooperatives and the Commons. The Collective acts as an umbrella group to support many artists in the area who regularly collaborate on local projects. We hosts workshops, talks and events in the locality throughout the year.
Collaborations: Experimental collaborations began through workshops with groups such as Green Sod Land Trust and invited artists for socially engaged art projects in the locality. In 2012 contact was initiated with G126 Artist Led Gallery in Galway City with an aim to connect rural and urban. This partnership proved successful with residencies, projects, open days and exhibitions.
Participation on an EU ‘Street Art’ Project in Zaragoza, Spain in 2014 led to Spanish Print artist Noelia Marin undertaking a month long residency exchange here in 2015. Galway Print Studio were very generous in providing use of their studio and technical support during this residency. Other collaborations have included Third Space Research Group and Collaborative Ways Forward, Teagasc, An tOireachtas and Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture.
This collaborative approach has been key to creating and facilitating many projects in this area. Huge gratitude goes to groups and communities of Newbridge, Mountbellew and Ballygar who have been extremely open and supportive of all projects.
Artists: Past and Present
Sheila Flanagan, Armand Golden, Margaret Hannigan Pop, Mark Sebata, Tetiana Vysotska, Derek Duffy, Niamh McAuliffe, Elaine Delaney,
Claire Boosh, Elise Tolan & Christian Bernecke, Grete Agaard, Minne De Lange, Berni Divilly, Kevin Flanagan, Nuala Ward, Angela Flanagan.
Projects
2024/2025: Elevate Arts Bursary funded by Galway Culture Company and Galway International Arts Festival.
Collaborative project with Talegate Media, Mountbellew (talegatemedia.com) entitled 'Digital Media Voices Unleashed'. This project sees three Artfarm Collective artists receive artist bursaries to develop new work with the theme of Climate Change, entitlement and extraction. Artists involved are Tetiana Vysotska, Mark Sebata and Claire Boosh. Project coordinator is Marilyn Flemming of Talegate and artist mentor is Sheila Flanagan of Artfarm.
2023
Newbridge Village Eco Art Trail: A Creative Ireland project under Creative Communities, this work is a collaborative project between The Artfarm Collective artists Sheila Flanagan, Derek Duffy and Niamh McAuliffe and members of Newbridge Tidy Towns group.
2022
The Landscape of Longhand.
A collaborative place based community art project harvesting community handwriting. The request:- to share one line of handwriting. In an age where digital communication is dominant, this project gathered approx 150 samples of handwriting placed on an large image on the wall of the community centre beside the community garden. Supported by Creative Ireland Galway County Council.
Heritage Trees of Newbridge. A short poetry film supported by Galway County Council Heritage office under Natural heritage highlighting awareness of the heritage trees in the village of Newbridge.
https://www.facebook.com/ArtfarmCollective/videos/697067468094045
2021 The River Shiven Film was created to highlight the importance of the River Shiven in our local environment. This project was supported by the Community Waters Fund and LAWPRO, Local authorities water programme.
2020 Ruralism Real and Imagined A Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture funded collaborative project between Artfarm, Ballygar Arts and Danish Artist Grete Aagard. Due to Covid 19 pandemic this project was not completed. This video was part of the research undertaken on our psychogeographic mapping of the area.
2019 The Elephant in the Room was a year long project investigating Racism with themes of People, Place, Prejudice and Privilege. The project culminated in a week of talks, panel discussions, poetry, exhibition, screenings and performance. It was funded through Galway 2020 Small Towns Big Ideas programme as part of its year as European Capital of Culture.
2019 The Atmos Collective had a two week residency at Artfarm and worked with young people in workshops to create a fusion of musical styles in their project to harvest sounds of the county.
2016 Súgan was a six month project involving over 150 people including individuals, community groups and schools. Súgan investigated the strands of community and how they weave together. The project involved talks, workshops and also invited artists Bernadette Divilly and Ceara Conway working with Body Movement, interviews, conversations, film and song.
Other projects were smaller and more intimate gatherings including Pride with young members of the Travelling community and Article 1 which involved discussions on the Declaration of Human Rights.
Ongoing Research Projects;- Forestry, Community and the notion of marginal landscapes.
ARTFarm Residencies has been supported by Galway County Council Arts Office and local projects run by the ARTFarm Collective have been supported by community funding from Galway Co. Council and Galway Rural Development.
