To Mary Conroy, Artist in Residence at Ormston House.
Mary,
It was a Monday and we had forgotten that the gallery would be closed, so we gawped in the window instead. I had seen them before at the Ursula Burke opening, but this was my first proper look.
I liked the snaky trails. Like dream-time song-line maps. Where are you going? The green is really nice as well, the different types of green, especially the long one that leans to the left at the top. The planters are grey and earthy, but dryer than that. Their solidness is calming, even with their wheels. Wheely good! How many sides do they have? I forget! Is it eight? They don’t look like a “display” display, and I like that.
Because we were peering in the window, I enjoyed the added extra of the faint film of me reflected over it all. Jan looked quite funny at the window taking photos of the inside. Everything inside was careful and clear, and there she was, standing in the rain and the wind beside the posters for shows and plays.
I wonder what we looked like to the planters.
B.
Dear Mary Conroy,
I visited Ormston House with Bee Carroll a few days ago to see the opening of a show there. I walked in the door and immediately noticed that they had really nice plant pots in the entrance. (I love having any kind of plant inside.) I rushed past them to where the free beer was. Mary, you were there too.
Anyway, I went back to look at the plant pots because I liked them so much. I liked that they are hexagonal and dark grey, and that it looks a bit like they have fossils in them. They are sort of Giant’s Causeway-like, or at least they remind me of that bit of coastline, I used to go fossil hunting round there when I was a kid. If I’m honest I still do, there’s a pile of rocks on my kitchen windowsill now.
Getting back to your pots, the dark grey colour looked really great with the green of the plants. It was also nice that they were at different heights, so it felt more like how you would see them in nature. The stands that you made for them looked really good. It was great that they matched the shape of the pots and were balanced on those tiny wheels. It worked well that the stands were smooth and shiny next to the heavier and rougher texture of the pots.
I liked all of it, the pots, the plants, the space.
Best,
Jan