Artlinks: Visual Arts Resource, Ireland

Artlinks
Development Resources and Career Support For Artists From Kilkenny, Carlow, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow.

Cathy Fitzgerald.
Director of Artlinks.

Originally from New Zealand, Cathy
spent 8 years as a research scientist
before coming to Ireland where she
gained a joint honours degree in
Fine Art Painting and the History of
Irish Art at the National College of Art
& Design, Dublin. She followed this
with an MA in Fine Art New Media
and several years experience as a
creative practitioner in a variety
of innovative and collaborative
situations. She is always open to
suggestions from artists as well as
business or community bodies.
Contact her at info@artlinks.ie

CULTURAL PREHISTORY: IRELAND
Note: For the history of Celtic culture
and examples of ancient metalwork
created by the first Celts, see:
Celtic Art. For a guide to the earliest
styles, which influenced so many
Irish draughtsmen and metalworkers
during the renaissance of the early
Christian era, see: Hallstatt (800-450)
and La Tene (c.450-50 BCE).

Artslinks
Support for Irish Visual Artists

ArtLinks is an exciting new professional resource for artists of all disciplines (inc. Visual Arts, Literature, Music, Film, Dance, Theatre, Art Management), which was recently established by the Local Authority Arts Departments of counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wicklow and Wexford, together with The Arts Council /An Comhairle Ealaoin, and local artists.

A product of extensive research into the needs of creative practitioners, Artlinks was launched on 26 Nov 2007, in the Parade Tower, Kilkenny by Dr Micheál Ó'Súilleab háin, Prof of Music at Univiversity College Limerick.

In keeping with its stated mission "to cultivate a culture of self-sufficiency (and collaboration) among creative practitioners", the organization offers a range of developmental services and support to all artists resident in the five counties, (aged 18 and over), in order to assist them in acquiring the necessary skills, knowledge and understanding to develop their work practice and generate an income from this practice, on a life-long basis, beyond their initial arts training.

Services Offered By Artlinks

Among the diverse range of services offered, are:

• Bursaries
Artlinks bursaries permit individual artists of outstanding merit to undertake significant creative projects or further their education/skills to enhance their creative careers.
• Courses
ArtLinks delivers innovative subsidised courses in new areas, such as: personal One-to-one Business Mentoring for the Arts, information courses on 'How to Approach Galleries', 'Applying for Funding' and so on. In addition, it is the only body in Ireland which offers practical Internet courses to artists in order to help them develop an online presence in the form of websites and blogs. A range of other courses are aimed at developing practical skills for different art forms.
• The Artlinks Website
An essential reference point is the wonderful ArtLinks Website, which includes an interactive Noticeboard, Calendar and Forum, as well as news of arts events across Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wicklow and Wexford. It also provides an interactive database to help you find a person or a group working in a particular discipline or Arts Management area.

Register With Artlinks Today!

• Are an artist living within the 5-county catchment area?
If so, you should definitely register. There are tons of benefits!

• Are you involved in the creative or performing arts outside the area?
Don't worry, you can still register, and there are several practical benefits to be gained. For details of these, check the ArtLinks Website.

Visual Arts Areas Covered By Artlinks

To give you soon idea of the breadth of the organization, it covers almost all the visual art disciplines, including:

Acrylic painting, Animal Portraits, Animation, Batik, Bronze Sculpture, Botanical Art, Ceramics, Comic Book Art, Calligraphy, Digital Art, Drawing, Enamelwork, Felting, Furniture Design, Giclee Prints, Glass Art, Guilding, Illustration Art, Installation, Interiors, Land Art, Landscapes, Life Drawing, Metal Sculpture, Mixed Media, Mosaics, Multimedia, Mural Art, Oil painting, Performance Art, Photography, Portraiture, Printmaking, Quilting, Patchwork, Bronze/Stone Sculpture, Sewing, Still Life, Stone Sculpture, Template Web Design, Textile/Fashion, Video/Film/Sound Art, Visual Art Writing/Criticism, Visual Artist's Agent, Visual Designer, Watercolour painting, Web Art, Web Design, Wood Sculpture.

....as well as Auctioneering, Curating, Art Education, Art Handling, Transport, Framing and Installation, Gallery/Festival/Studio Management.

• For more about Irish culture, see: Visual Arts in Ireland.
• For more about fine art in the 32 counties, see: Irish Painting and Irish Sculpture.
• For more about painting and sculpture in Ireland, see: Homepage.