Aye right, pal

I spent a few days in Scotland last week, visiting family and friends in Motherwell. On Monday I took the train over to Edinburgh, a place I've never been before. I arrived in at Waverley Station not really knowing where to go or what to look for, so I just spent the day wandering about the city.

On a cold, windy November morning there didn't seem to be anybody else about than well-heeled, middle-aged his & hers North-Face-jacket-and-warm-hat wearing European visitors. I felt a right tourist walking around, but was also struck by how quiet the place seemed.


Sky over the Castle


Castle from the Cowgate


Holyrood House gates


At the top of the Grassmarket, I went into the National Library. Currently on show here are the archives of publisher John Murray who established his publishing house in 1768. He was responsible for putting out the work of Lord Byron, Jane Austen and Charles Darwin amongst other seminal writers of the 19th Century. The exhibition was pretty good: the collections of letters, momentos and other personal belongings from each of the writers were on display in a room decorated like Murray's original office, with touch screens giving the stories behind every article. Next door to this exhibit was a preview of the National Burns Collection which will be shown across Scotland in 2009, the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns' birth.

I also had a look in at the City Arts Centre. In the new year they are exhibiting a collection of Bob Dylan's paintings and drawings, called The Blank Drawn Series.

AOB: Other things I discovered during this day, the arts/cultural magazines The Skinny and Variant. I am a big fan of Irvine Welsh but didn't get to visit sunny Leith; maybe next time, ken.

ICAD Upstarts Exhibition, 2008

Exhibition set-up

Yesterday afternoon in the Rothco gallery.

'The Big I Am' microsite goes on-air

Check out Austin Maguire's guide to the fresh-faced talent on show at the 2008 Upstarts Exhibition.

Disappearing Crafts and Culture

Ray Flynn retired from the Department of Visual Communication in NCAD this year. Last weekend I visited a small exhibition of his photographic work in Colman Doyle's, Wexford town. Over the last 30 years Ray has travelled all over Ireland, capturing images of traditional Irish crafts and craftspeople. This collection of black and white images - silver gelatine prints developed at home by the man himself - was on show as part of this year's Wexford Opera Fringe Festival.


Detail from 'The Village Postman', taken in Co Wexford, 1972.



The prints are a small selection taken from a wider collection Ray will publish as a book in the near future.

"These images are made up of studies of craftspeople in Ireland working in their own environment. They are sure to remind some viewers of how things were done, by hand, before the Industrial Changes, Celtic Tiger and Digital Revolution, forming a visual trip down memory lane. The exhibition should be of educational value for younger viewers who may never have the opportunity to see many of these traditional crafts in real life. The same could be said of the fine examples of Irish culture, which make up the second element of this exhibition."

Stamp superlatives

Finished pieces to be shown at this week's Upstarts exhibition.

Exhibition latest, latest

Mildly warm off the press, the invitation for next week's show:


Ladies and Gentlemen, The Big I Am.