NOLLAIG MOLLOY

Material-to-Hand Glossary, A5 Publication, Leitrim Sculpture Centre, Manorhamilton, Leitrim, 2017

PDF of Material to Hand folded leaftlet (2017)

Extraction (2017)

Daub clay, willow, hazel, coal slack, coal dust, manure, crushed fired bricks, cyanotype, paper, sound, words, text.

Extraction is a series of material experiments with a recurrence of daub used within each structure, armature and form. In some cases it is the remaining material within each element of the exhibition, imprinted with a ghost or residue of another. The experiments derive from a fascination with material-to-hand and the resourcing, gathering and collecting of the above list from a land of un-tillable drumlins.

The rhythm of process and time is a focal point of the exhibition as the above list of material’s are presented in various states. The clay dries and cracks and the mixture of manure, straw and daub strengthen and become rigid on wattle while moisture evaporates. Harvested during the LSC artist residency; daub clay, bricks, coal, willow, hazel, straw and manure were extracted from identified sites in Leitrim such as Lough Allen, Lough Rynn, Rossinver, Kilargue and Arigna in Co. Roscommon. Tapping into traditional forms of construction and industrial value, the material combinations within Extraction, such as coal slack or culm (anthracite) pronounced ‘colm’ and daub reference its historical use as a domestic fuel within the north west region of Ireland. The rick of unfired and fired culm balls, grenades and pellets consist of various recipes of coal slack or coal dust applied to a daub clay mixture. While some of these forms were put through a ceramic experiment in a gas kiln; each ball, grenade and pellet are distinct in their make-up, their remaining levels of coal residue, their state of drying or influence from a human hand. They are formed by dexterity, repetitive and confident in manipulation.

Two gas kiln fired vessels of locally dug clay, marked with an apparition of textures from burnt willow armatures reflect the empty space within a cyanotype print; an architectural blue print process. The absence of material felt in some elements are present in another as ‘Dwelling’ focuses on the construction method of wattle and daub using willow, hazel, daub, manure and straw. Its organic components will progress and change over the course of the exhibition, as the applied mixture will gradually dry, crack and strengthen.

Recited definitions of the collected materials in the sound piece 'Talking to the wall', how and where they were extracted from, resonates within ‘Dwelling’. The language-to-hand is also listed in a glossary entitled 'Material-to-hand Glossary' printed for the exhibition to integrate the relationship between human presence and interactions with landscape and language. The words allow an understanding of the interplay between each. These Irish words and phrases were collected from an range of resources such as ''Dancing the Culm: Burning culm as a Domestic and Industrial Fuel in Ireland'' authored by historian Michael J. Conry and the 1937-38 National Schools Collection of the National Folklore Archive specific to Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo and Donegal. The collecting of materials-to-hand and access to the sites within Leitrim could not have been possible without members of the community within farming, horticultural and artistic circles.

Talking to the wall soundpiece installed inside Dwelling, as part of 'Extraction', Leitrim Sculpture Centre, Manorhamilton, Leitrim, IRL: