by Megan O'Beirne
The art-group KUBE was formed in October, 2001 by four mature graduates in Fine Arts from DLIADT. The group comprises a print-maker, Iseult O’Flynn, and two painters Chris Atkins and Ruth Lockhart and painter and art-photographer Megan O’Beirne. We have our individual studios in the south-east ranging from south Co. Dublin, Co. Wicklow to Co. Wexford. This geographical spread guarantees a certain privacy while facilitating meetings at points along the N11. The group is cosmopolitan in that Chris Atkins is British, Ruth Lockhart is Swiss, while Megan O’Beirne and Iseult O’Flynn are Irish. The small number of members is significant in that it makes planning and co-ordination practicable with minimal organization, logistics are reasonably stream-lined and generous help is always available when needed. Our aim is to be mutually supportive in the production of work, to have group crits occasionally, and to promote our art as a collective both in Ireland and abroad.
The fact that two members of the group completed the Professional Development Course for Visual Artists at DLIADT immediately after graduation meant that we were business-like in drawing up an agenda and adopting a disciplined, professional approach to making proposals to showcase our work. The course covered aspects of financial and personal planning as well as marketing, communications, technology , documentation and presentation of work. Theory learnt was put to the test in regular exhibitions over the last two years. These were in four Art-Centres in Ireland – Wexford, Bray, Tinahely and Waterford; we also participated in the first annual exhibition of Irish art in Hangzhou, China in March-April, 2003. Membership of the group does not preclude the individual artists from availing of opportunities to participate in selected group exhibitions or to form contracts with commercial galleries. In fact, the members have individually featured in selected exhibitions at arts festivals in Ireland and O’Beirne has had two solo B&W photographic exhibitions (James Joyce Centre, Dublin, Treviso, Italy). This freedom is crucial in that it is supportive without stifling private enterprise and initiative. Many valuable contacts are made this way, too.
From the outset, KUBE was advantaged in a number of ways : the members had a
shared college experience as mature students with all that that implies – the
hard grind of acquiring skills, meeting deadlines and juggling family
responsibilities with course demands. This shared experience over five years
(this includes the Visual Education Certificate year) has engendered mutual
respect for one another’s work, warm friendship, a shared work ethic and a
recognition of the need for a supportive group of compatible people. The age
difference of the four artists spans two decades which provides a wealth of
lived experience, and variety of perspective. There is a particular hunger and
energy about mature students which sometimes makes them ‘formidable’
course-participants.. No doubt, the time factor is key to this and explains a
certain unswerving focus in our enterprise. It is interesting that our special
guests who launched our shows picked up on this trait and in part, attributed
our success to date to this.
Working to deadlines we learnt about pace and momentum and through sheer hard
work we have enabled ourselves as individual artists to move closer to finding
our true voice in our particular discipline. In terms of publicity, a
well-designed and regularly maintained web-site has given us an on-line,
worldwide show-case which is a reference point for anyone interested in
professional contemporary Irish art (
www.artkube.com web-master Patrick O’Beirne,
Systems Modelling Ltd.).
Our experience is that art-centres represent the right level for the current position of our art practice. They also tend to be less conservative, more willing to take risks than the commercial galleries where the focus is sales. We have been fortunate to benefit from the professional expertise of staff who have initiated us into the business of mounting exhibitions; design experts have produced handsome invitation cards, we have had press-releases and launch receptions. Most importantly, the work has been professionally presented in usually well-lit, well-maintained and generously proportioned galleries and our exhibitions have been flagged in advance in the publicity material of the galleries. Local press-photographers have been on hand to record openings. These services are of incalculable value to emerging artists who would not have the finances nor the expertise to mount such exhibitions privately. Without exception we have met only warmth, courtesy and professionalism from artistic directors and their in -house staff. In exhibiting in publicly- funded galleries one is aware that artistic standards is the main criterion and commercial considerations of secondary importance.. Being selected is an affirming experience and we have found that each exhibition is like the completion of a sentence (!), a pause for re-evaluation of the work on view in an anonymous, public space. One learns about scale and the advantage of a series of works by which to explore a theme. Another revelation is how public exhibition clarifies for an artist the niche in the market their work best suits. .Some work has domestic appeal, other work would be best suited to institutions or public buildings. It is only by being given the opportunity to objectively view the work in a gallery context that these questions are answered. One principle is clear - that time spent in the studio is the single route to real work emerging.
As a group of disparate yet compatible artists we are conscious of the challenge the work poses for those curating the exhibitions. Some commercial galleries shy away from group shows altogether. The actual lay-out of some art-centre galleries facilitates group exhibitions – a second floor, for example, as in Tinahely Courthouse, or an L-shaped space as in The Mermaid in Bray or Georgian proportions in Garter Lane Gallery, Waterford.. Undoubtedly, the most enlightened approach articulated by artistic directors concerning group shows has been that diversity is something to be celebrated. Thematically, the group’s concerns have been constant: the ambiguity of human experience, the fragility of memory, the natural environment as metaphor, the play of form and colour as a celebration of constant change – a diverse range yet all of them nuances of life, rich and varied.
Niamh Ann Kelly’s (DIT) tribute to this diversity in KUBE is summed up in her assertion:
“Not by any account are these women or their works the same- they share only that which is most important in this context, the sincerity of their expression.”
This fact touches on current debate regarding the effect of subsidisation of the arts in Ireland. One only has to visit a mix of publicly- funded and commercial galleries to understand the difference and to appreciate the important role art-centres play in promoting emerging artists in particular. The temptation to succumb to commercial pressures is absent - something which can only promote integrity and a sincere working towards individual artistic expression.
The aim of KUBE now that we have found our feet and worked out our marketing objectives, is to gain access to a wider national and international art scene. We believe our group provides us with a solid platform from which to launch careers as a group and as individuals. Our network guarantees the members support and inspiration. We hope to continue perfecting our skills and to produce work which in the words of the artist, Mary Kelly ‘takes courage, discipline and ability’ and to demonstrate ‘the tenacious energy to come together as a group to make sure their work has a life outside themselves’. (Tinahely launch, September, 2003).
Megan O’Beirne, M.A (UCD).Dip.Fine Arts(DLIADT).
Co-Founder of KUBE.