The arts book Earth Writings: Bogs, Forests, Fields and Gardens began through an Irish Research Council New Foundations STEAM grant. In November 2019, an exhibition and symposium was hosted by the Maynooth University Geography Department, organised and curated by Karen Till. Four artists working in southwest Ireland, Monica de Bath (Kildare Co.), Cathy Fitzgerald (Co Carlow), Pauline O’Connell (Co Kildare) and Seoidín O’Sullivan, exhibited work in the foyer of MU Library, and discussed their creative practices in a series of short conversations between the artists and Patrick Bresnihan, Nessa Cronin, Gerry Kearns and Karen Till, respectively, at the Tirdhreach Feseach: Irish Environments in Transition. With additional funding from the Creative Ireland and Kildare County Council Arts Service, Maynooth Geography Research Incentive Fund, an arts and geography book was published and EarthWritings.ie webpage launched in November 2020.
The book of creative essays by the artists and academics is richly illustrated with images from the exhibition and launched as part of the Dublin Art Book Fair 2020, with events hosted by the Moore Institute NUI Galway on 25 November and by Creative Rathangan Meithal on 5 December 2020. The 2019 artist-geographers conversations were recorded and are now available as podcasts, and a Youtube video of the first book launch are available on the webpage. Copies are now available for purchase by contacting karen.till@mu.ie and a PDF of the Earth Writings arts book will be published next year on this EarthWritings.ie webpage.
earthwritings.ie 