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The Bogside Artists Newletter Issue 1.

THE BOGSIDE ARTISTS NEWSLETTER - Issue 1 Date 26/2/03Published by "The Bogside Artists"_________________________________________________________ Hi, No.
We are not going to tell you how tomake a milli... THE BOGSIDE ARTISTS NEWSLETTER - Issue 1 Date 26/2/03Published by "The Bogside Artists"_________________________________________________________ Hi, No.
We are not going to tell you how tomake a million by farming bagpipes in Donegal. Nor do wewish to add to the deluge of unwanted horseshit alreadyin your email box.
Instead, we will amuse, inform, edifyand even hang around later for your questions. If you gotsomething that is useful, true or funny, drop us a line.Mailto: [email protected]__________________________________________________________THIS ISSUE'S CONTENTS__________________________________________________________1.DERRY 2.EDITORIAL.
3.ON THE GRAPEVINE.4.OUR DIARY. 5.USELFUL SITES.__________________________________________________________ 1.
DERRYDerry or "Londonderry", to give it its formal title,boasts some of the most beautiful women to be foundanywhere on the planet, with Belfast running a closesecond. That probably explains why Derry men are crazierthan most and Belfast men crazier than anybody.
Derryhowever, has a colorful history every bit as interestingas its indigenous beauties. Each issue of our Newsletterwill offer a little snippet or two of information on thesubject (history, that is) about which, especially sincethe onset of the "troubles", numerous learned tomes havebeen written.__________________________________________________________ Derry gets its name from the ancient Irish word "daire"meaning an oak grove.
The oak tree was venerated by theCelts and is likely that Druids used the grove for theirrituals. The "daire" was situated on a crannog or smallisland in the river Foyle.
As the waters receded, thesurrounding area turned into bogland, whence derives thename Bogside. The hill itself once boasted a fortress notunlike that overlooking Lough Swilly called the Griananof Aileach.In the sixth century Saint Colmcille (Columba 521-597)established a monastery on the hill.
There is no proof ofthis, but it is more than likely, as founding monasterieswas what Columba liked to do best. This, of course,attracted people to live nearby and so the settlementgrew.
The monastery indeed was intact well into the 17thcentury when the colonists arrived from Scotland andEngland. Derrys boomtime however, was in the 12th and13th centuries when the MacLochlainn dynasty moved in.They used their wealth to build the settlement up andwhen they died out, Derry fell into decline.
It was notuntil the arrival of the De Burgos that relativeprosperity returned to the growing town. The skeleton onDerry's coat of arms derives from the De Burgos.__________________________________________________________ 2.
EDITORIAL.The Bogside Artists are a mysterious trio to many. Ergo,let me introduce us.
As this will take up more space thanI feel entitled to use, I'll be brief. In our NEXTNewsletter, you will find a fuller and more comprehensiveedition at our website.
We will even have our own photos!Consider this a mere introduction.KEVINKevin Hasson's formal education began with The ChristianBrothers school in the Brandywell area of the city. Itlater moved to the Creggan and renamed itself St.
Peters.That was in the early `70's. "Art even then, was thething I was most interested in", he says.
"My dad was avery talented man who used his skills and imagination toentertain us. Creativity therefore, as a bulwark againstpoverty, constituted the environment I grew up in."For his first ever trip abroad Kevin found himself on arelief mission to the starving of Calcutta.
It was anexperience that transformed him. In Frankfurt, he met his American wife to be.
Once married, he settled down in America. Finally, he returned home with his family.He wasn't home a fortnight when he linked up once more with Tom, whom he had first met at St.
Peters. Art wasthe thing they had most in common.
Kevin and Tom bothplay guitar. Kevin likes old movies.TOMApart from several brief stays in England, Tom Kelly hasspent all of his life in the Bogside, where he stilllives.
He is, in fact, leader of a small non-denominational Christian church called "Wellspring" inthe heart of The Bogside. Part of Wellspring's agenda isto explore all aspects of Irish culture, particularlywhere it addresses the pure Christian message.
Wellspring isself-sufficient and uses The Bogside Artists' studio forits meetings.Prior to joining forces with his brother William, and hispal Kevin, Tom worked for ten years in cross-community artprojects in the city as a means for getting the two communities to understand one another. He was a pioneerin the field.
Tom says: "Our society has done incalculable harm to our natural pride and sense of self-worth. Christianity addresses this." Tom has completed many muralsin the city that depicted life, as it existed a long time ago.
He called these `heritage murals'. They were made for schools,hospitals and community centers.Tom is a fine singer and musician and has producedWellspring's one and only CD, a compilation of well-knownIrish gigs and a few original numbers from Wellspring'scomposers.
WILLIAMTom's older brother William Kelly also worked in England.First he went to Queens University after a formaleducation at St.Columbs College. St.Columbs incidentally boasts no less than TWO Nobel Prize winners - Seamus Heaney and John Hume.
Renowned playwright Brian Friel was also educated there.William decided to leave uni and went to Carlisle,England, to work as a Post Office counter clerk, whichlasted a year. His intention was to `grow up'.
"Happily,I failed," he says.Teaming up with his brother Tom and Kevin to form TheBogside Artists was a natural progression.William likes to read and paint and has little time leftfor anything else. He is married and spends his timebetween Australia and Ireland.__________________________________________________________ 3.
ON THE GRAPEVINESad days for some in Derry. The old stalwarts who were inregular receipt of funding from the Derry City councilhave been axed this year.
The purse strings aretightening. We, of course, have never received a pennyand it seems that this time around, our "chances are veryslim" according to one official.
We are shocked, ofcourse.__________________________________________________________ 4. OUR DIARYRecently we have organized our group along moreprofessional lines with a management committee andeverything.
That means, when we apply for funding, wemight conceivably be taken seriously. In the meantime, weconcern ourselves with our next murals.
The first ofthese will begin at the end of May. There will be threemore in toto, and you can follow our progress with allthree.
You can be sure that this section of ournewsletter will gradually take pre-eminence over allothers._________________________________________________________So now you know all about us! Our intention is tocomplete the remaining three murals for the Bogside. Itwill be an open-air gallery, unique of its kind.
OurNewsletters, of which this is the first, will keep youinformed of our progress; and in the "Diary" sectionespecially, you will read about the bizarre and wonderfulevents that unfold, as we go about making ourmurals......because what actually happens to The BogsideArtists, on a day to day basis, is a helluva lot funnierthan anything we could make up. Also, we will be able topost photos taken in situ on our Newsletter so that youcan get a real intimation of what it is like to work as amuralist in Derry! On that promising note, I bid youadieu and wish you, on behalf of Tom, Kevin and myself, avery happy day._________________________________________________________ 5.
USEFUL WEBSITESwww.derrycity.gov.uk, Spartan in contact info.www.derrycityfc.com, Derry's soccer site, all you everwanted to know about Derry's football squad but wereafraid to ask. Up to the minute.www.geographia.com/northern-ireland/ukider00.htm, usefullinks to all things Northern Irish.http://www.donegalnews.com, has that little village lifecontent.
BIG things happen in Donegal, mostly to fish.http://www.irishroots.net/Derry.htm, for those seeking theirbiological origins all over Ireland. Derry's genealogycenter is based in the Heritage Building where TheBogside Artists have exhibited.http://www.cityofderryairport.com, simple and to the pointgiving the visitor what he needs to know and wellpresented with good flicks.
Flights to Dublin, London,Glasgow, Manchester, Majorca etc.http://www.derryvisitor.com, good plug for thetown. I should say "city"; but Derry will never be a"city" as such, we hope! To Derry "wans", it'll alwaysbe a town._________________________________________________________ Article Tags: Bogside Artists Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com .