Art

Well I have had a bit of a break from the blog over the past few months as work and life took over and here we are at Christmas….

I must have assembled hundreds of these gift boxes over the past few weeks.

These little heart dishes are flying out the door.

Andrews brooch’s are so beautiful, a timeless gift…

I have collaborated with Moth to a Flame candles and these candle bowls are the result,  we have Lavender and Christmas scents. My little Christmas bells are very festive.

We have a great selection of other bits a pieces. I particularly love these Nordic snow patterned hot water bottles.

As well as the usual shops we supply, this Christmas we are involved in two pop up shops, The Christmas Boutique in Ranelagh, Dublin which is open until this Sunday and the MADE in Kilkenny pop up shop, Rose Inn st. Kilkenny which is open until Christmas Eve, so if you cant make it to our shop in Castlecomer you might be able to find something special in one of the pop up shops.

I want to share some of the Craft highlights form this years Kilkennys Arts Festival….

Andrew Ludick bowls in ‘A Makers Journey’

Mark Campden ‘A Makers Journey’

Gus Mabelson ‘A Makers Journey’

Andrew Ludick ‘Form a Line ‘ exhibition

Above are some of  the amazing paper pieces on show in the National Craft Gallery

and Lucy McKenna’s hauntingly beautiful ‘Darker Wood’ in the Castle Park.

‘From inspiration to creation’

here is a little insight into how I came up with the bowls that are in

A Makers Journey Exhibition

My journey began in the garden with a plant I love called ‘bells of Ireland’. I love the simple shape of the foliage. Next I did some sketches of the plant and played around with suggestions of form. Here is my story board…

Then I got stuck into the making proccess which took place in our polly tunnel at home ……….

because of this little guy I have very little time in the workshop right now….

and here are the finished pots in the exhibition. A series of porcelain bowls glazed in a transparent glaze.

So there you have it,  ’A makers Journey’ from ‘inspiration to creation’ now on show at Butler House, Kilkenny

This is MADE in kilkennys 3rd exhibition and it looks fantastic. If you are in Kilkenny for the Arts Festival make sure to pay Butler House a visit, we also have a pop up shop open for the week which has a great selection of Kilkenny craft.

The exhibition A Makers Journey demonstrates the craft persons individual creative process. From the inspiring object or image, through their personal process of design, it explores the different element taken into consideration to create a successful, well designed aesthetic piece of work.

The Exhibition opened last night and runs for the duration of the Kilkenny Arts Festival until Sun 14th.

The Year of Craft is well underway with lots going on and hopefully people are becoming more aware of the word craft and what it means in 2011. To mark the National Ceramics Month there was a lovely photo and 3 page article in the Irish Times magazine two weeks ago on some Irish Ceramic makers(I’m way behind on this one as we were in the States for a while) it featured Andrew (third from left on the sofa)  the promotion continues in the Kilkenny shop in Dublin if your up that way take a look at the exhibition of work in the windows.

Andrew and I both have work in the Irish Design Shop which is popping up in the National Gallery of Ireland this month. Also in Dublin is the super exhibition ’transFORM‘ organised by Ceramics Ireland as part of the Year of Craft Program, this is taking place in Farmleigh. This features some amazing work by Irish ceramic artist based here and living abroad including some of Andrews work.

The wonderfully talented stylist Eleanor Harpur has featured Andrew Ludick ceramics and a little of my own work in the last couple of issues of  House and Home magazine. The issue below was shot on location in a beautiful old cottage in the grounds of  the Discovery Park..

Some of Andys beautiful vases…..

Stacks of my plates and bowls look great in this beautiful dresser from Eclectic Interiors….

More of Andys ceramic fish and vases..

It was such a lovely surprise to open the Sunday Times Culture section today, to be greeted by a huge picture of Andy’s pots (there was a lovely one in last weeks Sunday Times as well). It is for the winter Exhibition in The Lavit Gallery, Cork and what lovely things they say about his work……….

‘Andrew Ludick’s lively ceramics steal this Christmas show with their hand-formed shapes and strong patterns, driven by thin black lines and a rich use of limited colour. The Pineapple Vessels in the window are a favourite, but his bowls are equally covetable.’

These vases are available from the gorgeous Lavit Gallery, Rosemarie Durr Pottery, theMADE in kilkenny pop up shop, Kilkenny and The Irish Design Shop, Dublin

Andrews work is featured in today’s Irish Times magazine, click here to read……and our friend Ann Barber owner of  one of the most gorgeous shops in kilkenny the Butterslip was featured in today’s Irish Independent Weekend magazine. Blanaid Hennessy writes about Ann’s beautiful house featuring some of her lovely collection of things which includes lots of our creations over the years…….thanks Ann for your great taste.

Its hard to see from my poor photograph but the table top below is an Andrew Ludick creation, its very beautiful and completely one off..

Here are some photos from the recent ‘MADE in kilkenny’ exhibition in Butler House, which was part of the Kilkenny Arts Festival……

One year on from our launch, MADE in kilkenny are exhibiting again in Butler House as part of the Kilkenny Arts Festival.  Here are some of the pieces that Andy and I are putting in for the show……….

All the work in the show has being inspired from places in Kilkenny.  Andys are photographed here in the gardens of Rothe House the place of his inspiration.

The tea set I made is photographed in Castlecomer Discovery Park by the river, the place of my inspiration…

I wanted to share some photos from Andy’s exhibition in the Narrow Space….its a beautiful show and it runs for another few weeks. Full of colour that makes you smile when you walk into the gallery, better still it will make you smile when you bring a piece home….

Andrew has a solo show opening this Friday in The Narrow Space Gallery,  Clonmel. The show runs for the month of May so don’t miss it….

Along side the coal miner is his buddy Mr. dinosaur……still under construction but these photos will give you a good idea of how it looks. If you are unaware of the connection between these two you should visit the footprint in coal exhibition in the Discovery Park.

The Discovery Park is full of amazing sculptures this weekend and it will continue for the month of May. These sand sculptures are the highlight for me. I have watched mounds of sand being carved and sculpted into a miner and a dinosaur….they will not be finished until Monday so if you can make it down to the Yard to see the finishing touches, you wont be disappointed

Thanks Aisling from the Narrow Space and Patsey Murphy from The Irish Times for the editorial in today’s paper. A really nice plug for Andy’s upcoming exhibiting…

‘American ceramic artist Andrew Ludick has been living in Castlecomer since 2003, sharing a workshop with his wife, potter Rosemarie Durr. A new exhibition of his delicate, glossy earthenware bowls, mostly white with dashes of colour, begins on May 7th in the Narrow Space Gallery, 14 Mitchel Street, Clonmel, Co.Tipperary, tel:052-6127838. Prices for these beautiful collectibles start at around €40 for a small vessel, see thenarrowspace.com’

This is the official US Trailer for the amazing movie ‘The Secret of Kells’ where it goes on release for St. Patrick’s day. Who knows by then it might be sporting and Oscar! I am chuffed for Tom, Paul and all the gang at the Cartoon Saloon (just a bunch of incredibly young, talented, funny guys and gals based here in our little town of Kilkenny) and I got a great laugh to see Tom in this photo with all those other Oscar nominees……Tom your a Movie Starrrr

How cool is this little movie from the New Zealand Book Council (do other countries have book councils?)

I was very saddened to hear of the death of ceramic/print artist, John ffrench, last Friday. He was a real inspiration to me and many of my contemporarys. His work has a timeless quality and radiates happiness and he was a true gentleman that gave his time and information generously to younger potters like myself. I will cherish the very small collection of his work that I have and the joy I get from having it around me.  John ffrench 1928 to January 2010…

Click here for a nice tribute to his life in the Galway advertiser…

After five days without water (it just came back today, thank God) one realizes how precious it is, not wasting a drop using as little as possible to make the buckets last………this is what Nancy Bauch from white forest pottery, is exploring when she makes 108 bowls:a Water Mala. The project has inspired me and I would love to go on a meditative journey of my own with clay and water (I do this everyday, but when you introduce all the pressures of running a business into the equation I tend to loose the meditative journey part) so now I’ve put it in print I must make it happen………watch this space

This gorgeous, talented, young, stylish, edgy,(you get the message)  kilkenny girl has a very exciting year ahead of her (in my opinion). Blanaid Hennessy is her name and she has a couple of blogs on the go right now, if your looking for the latest look both fashion and interiors or inspirational quotes then click here. If celeb gossip, and a bit of a laugh is what your after then click here. Keep up the good work Blanaid………….

Micheal Parsons wrote a great article yesterday in the Irish Times on MADE in kilkenny featuring yours truly and I was delighted with the photo they included………..

Andys Solo Christmas show opened last night at the Waterfront Gallery in Westport. Its looks great, bright and joyful for the season thats in it. There was a great reaction from everyone there with lots of sales. Prices range from €40 to €400 so its perfect Christmas present territory. If your not going to be down Westport way then call by our shop where he has lots of new work available…….

We had a great night on Thursday with the launch of the MADE pop up shop. Everyone came out to support us and some of us girls got dressed up(any excuse) wearing some beautiful millinery creations by Rebekah Patterson. We had our ‘annual ladies festive dinner’ afterwords. Anne from the Butterslip (just 3 doors down from the MADE pop up) also had her customer night on Thursday complete with pink champers, and mini cup cakes  for everyone………this made for a great festive pre dinner warm up.

I love a challenge and one of the biggest to date is the transformation of an empty two storey shop unit in Kilkenny city into a beautiful styled shop full of gorgeous craft which is all designed and hand MADE in Co.Kilkenny. I think in this day and age this is pretty amazing. There are not many places anywhere, where you could get this quality of work all MADE in such a small geographical area. There was lots of hands on deck and within three evenings we got this great shop together with a beautiful exhibition upstairs. The people of Kilkenny and the surrounding areas have no excuse this Christmas…………they can support their local community of crafts people, give amazing gifts that will bring pleasure for a lifetime and it is all on their doorstep under one roof. Click here for more info.

As part of the Savour Kilkenny festival Andy took part in a beautiful exhibition at the Kilkenny Design Center. There was a food theme going on, lovely colourful work. The show is now over, but the work which wasn’t sold is now available from the main shop. Andy is busy getting ready for a solo show which opens in December at the Waterfront Gallery, in Wesport, Co.Mayo. I’ll keep you posted……….

 Jack Dohertys beautiful pottery is still on show in the National Craft Gallery. Its a real treat to see rows and rows of beautiful pots………..

Check out the new MADE in Kilkenny website………..the best of craft in Kilkenny and some of the best in Ireland

The launch of ‘Made in Kilkenny’ was a huge success, lots of people turned out and there was a great atmosphere around Butler House and the Castle Yard. The exhibition itself looked great and the theme ‘Kilkenny 400′ really came trough (it was not easy to get craft from 26 different makers and have it sit together, and look good in one room, well done Ray). Thanks to the group for the beautiful flowers and wine they presented me with it was much appreciated…….

I made (with the help of some fairys) 400 ceramic flowers and placed them in the garden of Butler House….

Above are some photos from the exhibition to show the diversity of the work. We will be live with the ‘MADE in kilkenny’ website very soon, watch this space………

Six artists from the Estate Yard have a joint exhibition in 4 William Street, Kilkenny for Arts festival. All the artists share the some working environment at the Estate Yard, whilst creating their own varied personal artworks. It was a buzzing launch, great reaction to the work and lots of red stickers………….

Work by Lucy McKenna and some potential buyers……

Rachel Burke Painting and Ruairi Carroll sculpture

Ross Stewart Painting

Tomm Moore, director of ‘The Seceret of Kells’ pointing to the new addition to his houshold, a beautiful ceramic fish by Andrew Ludick.

Maeve Coulter beside one of her beautiful prints. Two of Maeves textile peices.

Rachel Burke paintings