Community – Elida Maiques

Moss Collective Open Studio: Rock Paper Stitch. IMMA Earth Rising 2024.

On the left, a paint brush made with sheep's wool and three pens, all made with bamboo. They rest on a white paper drawn with fluid brown marks, the ink is pomegranate ink. A cluster of dried rushes project shades on the paper, while the top right corner of the paper is darkened by a shadow.

Rock Paper Stitch is a series of workshops we designed and facilitated for IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Arts) during Earth Rising Festival 2024. Drawing Tool Making, Collective Pomegranate Ink Drawing, Stitch As Mark-Making and Dandelion Twine were entry points for the conversations and series of actions we are interested in generating.

Moss Collective is formed by Ciara Brehony, Joanna Kidney, Elida Maiques and Susan Montgomery. Things we are about: thinking with our hands, restoring bonds between crafts, science and arts, making friends with plants, being slow as a form of resistance, livable futures for all.

For one week early in 2024 we became a household of women with no children, no wives, no husbands, no parents. The kitchen table went from porridge to sharp tools, making paint brushes and cane pens, testing pomegranate ink, crushing rocks with mortar and pestle, drawing with thread and needle. Our workshops and ethos stem from that residency.

Fair Trade Luxury Swap

Luxury items (hand-made by skilled craftspeople and artists) are traded between two makers. Defining together the terms of the trade is part of the project.

The Winterberry sweater for the Midnight Madness basket – Swap #1

Red Willow Feet song for the Red Stripe basket – Swap #2

Red stripe basket by Elida Maiques, part of the payment for a 3min song for a film.

A handful of wild blackberries for a handful of red ‘Katy’ apples – Swap #3

Plantwerk in IMMA

Plant music collaboration with musician Ruadhrí O’Sullivan, audio description by Mo Harte. Curated by Siobhán Mooney, IMMA, Earth Rising Festival Dublin, September 2023

Audio description by Mo Harte

During Earth Rising Festival, musician Ruaidhrí O’Sullivan and artist Elida Maiques present a plant music performance, followed by a Q&A. Plantwerk started as a collaboration between Klinkerdin Arts Salon and Edible Bray, a public trail of community gardens in Bray. Together we created a sound garden where we listen to plants’ internal movements. Plants gurgle, stretch and turn. We hear.
How can we hear this? We attach sensors to a plant, which allows reading its biodata, like a heart monitor, with a midisprout gadget translating them into sound. The sounds have been programmed and finetuned by musician Ruaidhrí O’Sullivan. The project includes an audio description by writer Mo Harte.

Plants in concert (AKA Plantwerk), a postcard garden for Bloom Festival 2023

*Plants in Concert*, a postcard garden by Klinkerdin Arts Salon & Edible Bray, L-R: midisprout, synthetiser, headphones, potted dwarf fig tree on invasive laurel wood slices. Photo by Eileen O’Sullivan.

Plants in Concert is a collaboration between Klinkerdin Arts Salon and Edible Bray, a public trail of community gardens in Bray. Together they have created a horticultural sound art installation where we listen to plants’ internal movements. Plants gurgle, stretch and turn. We hear.

How can we hear this? One of the plants in the garden has sensors attached, which allows reading its electromagnetic impulses, like a heart monitor, with a midisprout gadget translating them into sound. The sounds have been programmed and finetuned by musician Ruaidhrí O’Sullivan. During Bord Bia Bloom Festival 2023, this plant music was streamed and accessible via a QR code.

The judges awarded us a ‘Highly Commended’ plaque in Bloom Festival.

Plantwerk, the team

Eileen O’Sullivan – co-ordination, production & construction

Ruaidhrí O’Sullivan – sound engineer, sound production & construction

Hugh Ryder – head gardener & soft landscaper

John Mason – head gardener & soft landscaper

Mo Harte – socially engaged artistic collaborator & audio describer

Fergus O’Flaherty – production & construction

Elida Maiques – art direction

Links

www.klinkerdin.com

www.commongroundbray.com

@ediblebray

@commongroundbray

@common_ground_clh_ww

@mo.harte_mo.chroi

www.braytidytowns.com

@showingup_irl

Community Seed Ark – Seed Librarian at Bray Library

Strawberry tree seedlings (Arbutus unedo), germination test

The Community Seed Ark was originally established by the librarians with artist Aga Kowalska. With Elida Maiques as Bray Library’s Seed Librarian, she is curating a collection of open-pollinated, heritage seeds available for free to the public. Any library user from county Wicklow has access to an extensive seed list of vegetables, wildflowers and garden plants. The process is simple: borrow up to four seed envelopes, grow your plants, let some of those plants go to seed, harvest the seed and bring some of it back to the library.

The Community Seed Ark is member of http://www.seedlibraries.net.