21 January 2023
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie

Cork County Council and Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre are delighted to announce two partnership residencies for 2023, taking place in April and May.

Toma McCullim has been awarded the Cork County Council / Uillinn Artist Residency for 2023.

Taking place from 4 April to 1 May, this residency supports artists seeking opportunities to research and develop their practice and to engage with Uillinn, local and diverse communities and the general public. The award includes a studio space for 4 weeks at Uillinn and a stipend of €2,500.

During her residency, Toma will continue her work with Traveller women and says ‘This residency is about unsettling the culture space. It asks the building to go on a journey. I am inviting in Traveller women to create with me a place of imagination. This is a fire which Buffers and Beoirs meet and whiden. This is a crossroads, a meeting place, an intersection. This is a cooking pot. This is a withy bender. This is a ferment of ideas.’

Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr. Danny Collins welcomed the announcement, saying,: “Toma McCullim is an exceptionally talented artist and we look forward to seeing the outcomes of her work with members of the Traveller Community in West Cork. Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre continues to deliver high quality and inclusive arts experiences across the large West Cork area, supporting artists and contributing to the vibrant creative infrastructure of County Cork.”

Toma McCullim is an ‘artivist’- an activist artist. Her work is powered by a strong belief in social justice and environmental ecology. Her participatory practice empowers her collaborators in the amplification of their own authentic voice. As an anthropologist of art, she is interested in the fundamental question: ‘What does art do?’ Her work stimulates a call to action for creative change making.

Sharon Dipity has been awarded the Bealtaine Cork County Council / Uillinn Artist Residency for 2023.

Taking place from 3 May to 3 June and organised in association with Age & Opportunity’s nationwide Bealtaine Festival which celebrates the arts and creativity as we age, this residency supports artists seeking opportunities to research and develop their practice and to engage with Uillinn, local communities and the general public. The award includes a studio space for 4 weeks at Uillinn and a stipend of €2,500.

Sharon’s project is called The Line has Two Sides and she will share her work with the public via several events over the course of the residency including a Bealtaine event at Uillinn towards the end of the residency period.

She says ‘My ambition for this residency is to develop the drawn line through mark-making, movement, and word using different parts of my body to draw and move with. I particularly want to look at creating movement with an older body with its various limitations and old injuries and to embrace and transcend these limitations to create my own fluid vocabulary of movement and gesture.’

Mayor Collins also welcomed the announcement of The Line Has Two Sides, “Bealtaine, a nationwide festival supporting creativity as we age, is a vital part of Cork County Council’s creative calendar each year. Sharon Dipity has a wealth of experience whilst bringing a fresh approach to her work, and I have no doubt this residency will be a huge benefit to the arts in West Cork and the county as a whole.”

Sharon Dipity is a multi-disciplinary visual artist. She holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Scenography from UCE, Birmingham and a BA Honours Degree in Textiles from Goldsmiths College, University of London.

Recent achievements include Leap of Faith, a solo exhibition/residency at Working Artist Studios, Ballydehob (2019); One rung on the ladder, a solo exhibition at Clonakilty Arts Centre (2018) and Journeys, a commission for Blackrock Hall Primary Care Centre, Cork (2015). She has been awarded residencies at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Cill Rialaig, Co. Kerry, Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre and the Teacher Artist Partnership Residency (2021 and 2020). She has been an artist practitioner with the Arts for Health Programme, West Cork since 2007.

Still from ‘Wheel of Dreams’ Film made with Traveller girls from West Cork Traveller Centre Toma McCullim 2022 Funded by Community Foundation for Ireland. Photo Jessie McCarthy Adair and Rosie McCarthy Adair on their father’s horse Princess. Camera credit  Toma McCullim

Sharon Dipity. Still from Marking the Gull’s Tide, performance Following the Line_2022