Can tradespeople be artists? Lets ask Johnny Clasper.

Stone mosaic by Johnny Clasper

Can tradespeople be artists?
An interesting question which is being explored by a new Irish series on TG4 at the moment called 'Dullamullóg'

Launched last Sunday 13th January, the show follows six tradespeople who take on the challenge of creating a piece of critically acclaimed art.

Each tradesperson is paired up with a professional artist who helps them with their work. The final piece is then put in amongst professional art works which are all scrutinised by art critic Ciaran Bennett who then has to decide which piece is made by the tradesperson.

Art Critic Ciaran Bennet

The show features renowned Irish artists Cliodna Cussen, Peadar Lamb and Turner nominated Liam de Frinse. The first episode follows Eamonn O'Neill, a Tree Surgeon from Shankill, Co. Dublin paired with professional sculptor Séighean Ó'Draoi.

Episode two pairs plasterer and bricky Gearóid Ó Ceannabhái, from Dublin, with the great Irish stone sculptor Cliodna Cussen.

Bricky Gearoid on the show.

An interesting show, worth checking out. Screens at 8.30pm on TG4. Repeated the following Tuesday at 11.30pm. The series will run for six weeks. Can also be played back on the TG4 website watch it here.
I will look forward to seeing the next episode. 


This show reminded me of a great tradesperson cum stone artist that I have been meaning to highlight for a while now.
This person being Johnny Clasper.

Artist Johnny Clasper sitting on front of one of his flowing stonework art pieces.

Before becoming obsessed with stone, Johnny started off as a bricky. In fact from an early age his weekends were spent working with his father (a builder) as a labourer on building sites. Johnny quickly got promoted from broom and wheelbarrow to trowel and hammer. Johnny said that something happened when he was handed that rusty old trowel and heavy split handled lump hammer in his hands, a magic feeling inside. "With these tools I can build (a feeling I still get today when I pick up certain tools). A short while after I saved up and bought myself some decent tools. I was one proud 16 year old lad!"

Detail from another stone mosaic by Jonny Clasper

A fast learner and keen to learn anything he could, Johnny put himself into college to study brickwork "At last something I really wanted to learn and really enjoyed doing".
Johnny became top of the class and earned the student of the year award 1997. "College taught me all about the modern ways of building while my time at work I learned many traditional techniques of laying stone, at the time I was always drawn to stone.. so many ways to lay it as opposed to bricks."

Stunning stone wall by Johnny Clasper. I do love this wall.

The next 5 years or so Johnny worked on many stone houses, extensions and barn conversions before going self employed. Years passed doing the same things, that is until he started to read up and practice drystone walling. 

"This changed everything, without the mortar separating the stone, i became more in-tune and aware of the stone, studying the grain, natural shape and textures, different results and finishes were possible, everything was now falling into place or was it?

it was always my dream and goal to build something that hadn't been done before, but everything seemed to have already been done by someone..

I had thoughts of somehow bringing stone to life but how?

a wall will always be a wall or will it?"

Drystone sculpture 'the seed' by Johnny Clasper

In 2010 Johnny decided to rent a small studio where he hoped to create something that wasn't bound by the rules of building or drystone walling “both seem to contradict each other”

He started by making a seed sculpture with leftover roof slate, the pinnacle moment and the start of his creative journey.

“But the seed sculpture wasn't quite what I had in mind” explains Johnny. “I wanted movement in the stone somehow”.

Johnny's stone scorpion sculpture

"I had an image of an attacking scorpion in my mind made with jagged stacked slate and polished black limestone, materials I had kept from previous jobs.

against all advice from my sculptor friends, family and my own instinct telling me not to do it, I decided to create the scorpion (or the illusion I saw in my mind)

the scorpion was an instant success and the door to my creative part of my mind blew wide open!"

Dry stone stream by Johnny Clasper

From here Johnny started experimenting with flow. “If stone can be brought to life maybe it could become fluidic and flow like water would?”.

"Any chance I got I would arrange pebbles or shards of slate into flowing patterns or drains, mimicking the flow of water spiralling away."

Johnny's swirly pebble path in the gold winning garden at the 2012 Harrogate Spring Flower Show  

Last year Johnny was involved in the construction of a gold awarded show garden at the 2012 Harrogate Spring Flower Show. Part of Johnny’s design brief was to lay a stone slab and pebble path. Most people, if not pretty much everybody else would have been content with pebbles neatly spread between the flagstones. But Johnny being Johnny felt compelled to spend what should have been a five minute job into a nine hour labour of love, transforming what (in my opinion) was otherwise a nice ordinary show garden into an extraordinary gold winning one.    

Johnny's wishing well

Johnny has lots more great work on his website www.johnnyclasper.co.uk  but he is also a great man for the facebook so be sure to give his facebook page a like and keep up to date with all his work. 

More flowing pebbles by Johnny Clasper

Can tradespeople be artists? Hell yeah!

A trip to Co. Clare for some dry stone walling with the DSWAI

An old section of dry stone wall in The Burren

Last weekend the DSWAI had a meet up in County Clare as we were invited by quarry owner David O' Connor of Liscannor Flagstones Quarries to come build some stone features at his quarry in Miltown Malbay.
Despite the long drive, I was looking forward to the trip, as it would give me the chance to take the scenic route through The Burren landscape, a stunning part of the country I have not been to in many years.

The Burren Landscape

The Burren is a karst-landscape region or alvar, measuring approximately 250 square kilometres. It is one of the largest karst landscapes in Europe. 

The word "Burren" comes from an Irish word "Boíreann" meaning a rocky place. This is an extremely appropriate name when you consider the lack of soil cover and the extent of exposed limestone pavement also known as a karst-landscape. However it has also been referred to in the past as "Fertile rock" due to the mixture of nutrient rich herb and floral species that flourish in the limestones cracks known as 'grikes'. There are in fact there are more than 650 different flowers, plants, and ferns to be found in this unique area of karst limestone, from Spotted Orchids to Spring Gentians, from Mountain Avens to Purple Orchids.

There is an annual festival called 'The Burren in Bloom' which takes place from the 4th of May till the 1st of June. Check out www.burreninbloom.com for more information about this wonderfully unique festival.

One of my first stops in the Burren was to visit Ireland's most famous and most photographed Dolmens, Poulnabrone Dolmen

Poulnabrone Dolmen (Poll na mBrón in Irish meaning "hole of sorrows") is a portal tomb dating back to the Neolithic period, probably between 4200 BC to 2900 BC

A lovely old stone cairn in the Burren. Don't know how old this one is, but I'm pretty sure it's at least older than the signpost pictured below  

Although much of the Burren landscape may look bare and desolate, there are many amazing stone structures and awe inspiring landscapes hidden away here waiting to be discovered, from stone forts and massive caves to the world famous Cliffs of Moher.  

The Burren is a great place to go to see vast stretches of beautiful old stone walls and structures, and the Burren stone itself is one of the most beautiful and lively textured types of stone I know. You can see more examples of Burren stone walls in my blog post Drystone Walling on Inis Oírr Island. 

Arriving at my destination in Milltoen Malbay after my inspiring drive through the Burren I was well up for getting stuck into a bit of dry stone walling. For our little stone project we decided to build a section of drystone wall in the traditional style that is most common in this part of Co.Clare. It would be a double sided wall with a single stone cap that is laid diagonally.   

We also incorporated a traditional 'step stile' feature. For those of you who don't know what a step stile is, this is a feature that would allow farmers to cross boundary walls without the need for a gate. They are made by using long stone slabs that run through the width of the wall and protrude out either side creating a cantilevered step on ether side of the wall. This allows a person to step up on to the wall and back down the other side with ease. Another variation of this is what is known as a squeeze stile, where a long narrow gap is left in the wall just wide enough for a person to squeeze through, yet narrow enough to prevent the livestock getting through.    

Artist Mary Wycherley was also on-site over the weekend filming for an Arts Council funded film she is working on titled 'The Dance of Making'

It was wonderful to to have the opportunity to work in such beautiful settings surrounded by an abundance of great building stone. As one of the lads said, it was like being in a sweetshop for stonemasons. 

Working here also gave us a chance to see some of the amazing pieces of stone David is extracting from the quarry. 

The Liscannor stone itself is one of the most distinctive types of stone in Ireland, and is instantly recognisable by the rich fossils which run throughout the stone that gives it its rich texture

The Liscannor sandstone is completely unique to this part of the country and over time has found its way to all corners of the world. At its peak the area employed over 500 men in at least nine quarries.

The quarries were so prosperous in the early 1900's that a village was built around the famous Doonagore mines which put Liscannor port on the map. It was one of the busiest of the small ports along the west coast of Ireland with its shipments of stone to London and Liverpool. However, the advent of World War 1 put an end to all the prosperity, and when the boats were unable to travel the mines closed.

A number of mines reopened in the 1960's and are still producing this famous stone today, David's of course being one of them.

This quarry is apparently extracting the largest stone slabs in the country, a claim that is not hard to believe when you see the size of some of the enormous pieces laying around the quarry.

Another DSWAI meet up comes to an end. Pictured left to right  Ken Curran, Waldemar Wower, Noel O' Shaughnessy, Rory Noone, Mal Sheehan, Tom Pollard and Sunny Wieler.

Another successful DSWAI event over. Thanks David O' Connor from Liscannor Flagstone Quarries, not only for use of his quarry and the mountains of stone he donated to the project, but also for the endless hours he put into helping us out.

More info and photos of this DSWAI event and on the Liscannor stone in my blog post on the DSWAI webpage here. 

True love is set in stone

There is something very special about creating a piece of art in stone to celebrate a loved ones life. Probably the most unique and moving example of this is the recently completed Kerry Landman Memorial.

Kerry Landman Memorial Tree 

The wall is situated at Island Lake Conservation Area on Hurontario Street South and is open to the public seven days a week. The Memorial Forest Trail runs through part of the conservation area and takes you through the 'Dods and McNair Memorial Forest' where the dry stone tree can be seen on the south side at a high point on the trail. While people have been encouraged to plant trees in memory of loved ones, Eric got permission from Dods and McNair and the Credit Valley Conservation Authority to build a dry stone wall in memory of his wife Kerry instead.

This fantastic dry stone structure was build by Dry stone waller Eric Landman with the help of his eldest son Jordan, as well as many other friends and family, to commemorate the life of his beloved wife who sadly passed away last year. I cannot think of a more  fitting and beautiful way to commemorate the life of a loved one than by getting together with friends and family and building a piece of stone art together in their honour. All those involved found working on the project a great help with dealing with their grief as well as showing their love for a wonderful lady.    

The concept drawing

Ironically, it was actually Kerry who helped give Eric his dry stone walling start. For many years, the family had a dairy farm in Grand Valley, and Kerry operated Brewed Awakenings coffee shop after buying it in 2004.One day Kerry asked a regular customer at the coffee shop, Greg Wildeboer, owner of Whispering Pines Landscaping, if he needed anybody to work for him. At first, Wildeboer was unsure, until finding out it was Eric she was talking about. “She came home and told me I had a job. I said, ‘I don’t need a job.’ She said, ‘You need a change’,” Eric said, noting he enjoyed landscaping at home. “(Wildeboer) just got me into doing odd jobs for them.”

That work piqued Eric’s interest in the trade. He learned more about the Dry Stone Walling Across Canada, formerly the Dry Stone Wall Association of Canada, began taking courses and things took off from there. Since then he has done numerous walls, water features, and structures. He also has participated in festivals with the DSWAC building various structures, including the Black house on his home farm. As of 2010 Eric became the field director of the DSWAC. He is now working full time dry stone walling and continues to farm in his spare time.

 

While the main wall is made of Limestone, Eric used local rounded granite fieldstones that were found on site to represent the leaves. A lot of them had green moss on them that added to the effect of the stones looking like foliage.

Photos of the Kerry Landman Memorial courtesy of Eric Landman

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Another sculptural stone memorial I was very moved by is this piece by Australian sculptor Peter Schipperheyn titled "Asleep" Located at Mt Macedon Cemetery, Mt Macedon, Victoria, Australia.

According to Peter, this sculpure came about as a result of knowing a remarkable individual who in many ways changed his life. In 1981 I he met an extraordinary individual: Laurie Matheson, who  purchased the largest work I Peter had made by that stage. From here Peter went on to make Mr Matheson a number of other sculptures, and in the process develop a close relationship with him.

Sadly some years later Laurie became ill and passed away. 

Following his death in 1987 Peter was asked by Laurie Matheson's widow Christina to carve a figure called "Asleep" in Carrara marble as his gravestone.   

"Asleep" by Peter Schipperheyn  photo via funpic.hu 

The sculpture depicts Christina laying on her husband's grave. This wonderful sculpture is the perfect embodiment of one’s deepest emotions after the passing away of a loved one, to be there with them, to desperately hold on and to never let go.

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The Lovers Bench by Stone Art

This is a stone bench I made for a guy in Limerick who asked me to build him a stone bench with the words 'true love is set in stone' engraved in it. Built from local field limestone, the bench was a gift for his wife, as an expression of his love. Very sweet.

The Lovers Bench by Stone Art   

Drystone Walling on Inis Oírr Island

A section of the 'feidín wall' built during the workshop.

Last weekend I attended my first dry stone walling workshop on Inis Oírr Island. And I am already looking forward to going back next year. For those of you who don't know where Inis Oírr (Inisheer) is, it is the smallest of the three islands that make up the Aran Islands in Galway Bay.

Walls of Inis Oírr

As a location for a dry stone walling workshop, I could not imagine a better place, as Inis Oírr has some of the finest examples of drystone walls in the country. Altogether the Aran Islands have roughly 1,500 kilometers of drystone walls over an area of just over 11000 acres (just under 18 square miles)

Group photo of 2011 workshop. photo by Paddy Crowe

The workshop is an action of Galway County Heritage plan and is run by the country's most knowledgeable and experienced drystone waller Patrick McAfee. Pat has also written a number of books on Irish stone walling and restoration and is also a dry stone walling instructor in Dublin.

This years workshop also saw guest instructors and speakers Nick Aitken and Gavin Rose. Nick is a member of the Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain and is a qualified Master Craftsman instructor and examiner. Gavin Rose is a drystone waller and trail builder working in the stunning Lake District National Park in England.



The dry stone workshop on Inis Oírr has been running since 2006. It is attended by a wide range of people, experienced wallers, stonemasons, archaeologists, geologists, self builders and anyone with an interest in heritage and stone.  This year saw the largest amount of participants to date, and I suspect it will grow by next year. One of the positives I have seen to emerge from the recession we are in is that more and more people are taking an interest in our heritage and looking to learn more about the many traditional skills and crafts that the people depended heavily on back in rural impoverished Ireland, skills that are sadly being lost.

A 'feidín wall' built during the 2009 dry stone walling workshop

One of the most unusual and beautiful walls to be found on the island is a type of wall known as a 'feidín wall' (same type of wall we built during the workshop this year). What is unusual about this type of wall is that unlike most other dry stone walls, a 'feidín wall' has the smaller stones on the bottom with the big stones on top. This type of wall is made up of a double sided wall on the bottom with a large single stone wall on top. The double sided wall at the bottom is made up of a series of large upright stones called mother stones, that run the full depth of the wall. The space between them is built up with smaller stones known as daughter stones. The upper part of the wall is then built using large stones only a single stone wide. The result is a extremely strong wall with a dense base to shelter animals and protect the soil from the strong prevailing winds, while the cracks and holes in the top of the wall let wind filter through. The light that shines through the cracks makes the wall look unstable, deterring animals from jumping on it.

Single stone, lace style wall

 Lots more photos of the 2011 Workshop in the slide show below

 

Slide show of 2011 Inis Oírr Dry Stone Walling Workshop 

  

'Aran gap' or 'Bearna'

Another walling feature I was very taken by is what is known as an 'Aran gap' or 'Bearna'. There are not a lot of roads around the island so much of the access to the fields is through other fields. However you will quickly notice that there do not seem to be any gates in the walls. This is because gaps are left in the wall where a single lace type wall is stacked in the gap, which can then be easily stacked up and taken down as needed for access for animals.

'Aran gap' or 'Bearna'

Inis Oírr as an island is quite a spectacular place. This year was not only my first time at the workshop, but it was also my first time visiting the island, and I must say I really was taken by the place. The island is an Irish speaking community with a population of about 250 people. And from what I can tell all 250 of them are about the warmest, friendliest people you will ever meet. 

Some of the other friendly locals on the island

The limestone pavement exposed in one of the fields after the soil has been taken by the strong winds.

Inis Oírr island is basically an extension of the Burren landscape . The large limestone pavements that make up the land are made up of crisscrossing cracks known as 'grikes', that leave isolated rocks called 'clints'. The limestone dates from the Visean period, formed as sediments in a tropical sea approximately 350 million years ago, and compressed into horizontal strata with fossil corals, crinoids, sea urchins and ammonites. Glaciation following the Namurian phase facilitated greater denudation. The result is that Inis Oírr is one of the finest examples of a Glacio-Karst landscape in the world.

It is an amazing feat of determination and triumph over hardship, how the locals turned this once unusable limestone pavement landscape into an island of lush green fields. They did this by removing the rough stone to fill the cracks or 'grikes' in the limestone pavement, leaving a flat surface. They also used the rough stone to build the walls that would later protect the fields from the wind. They then drew sand and seaweed up from the beach to create the soil, from which they would then be able to grow crops to feed their families, and grass to graze their animals.

St.Gobnait church 'Cill Ghobnait'

  For such a small island there are also many spectacular buildings and historical sites to visit as well (and I don't just mean the great pubs) You could spend days just wandering around the island looking at them. The island also has a famous shipwreck, better known from the opening credits of the TV series Father Ted. 

The Plassy wreck, thrown up on Finnish rock in 1960 during a wild storm. No lives were lost as the islanders saved all on board from harm.

There are many more amazing things to discover on the island, but as this is just a blog post and not a book, I will leave it at that. I would recommend everyone, both in Ireland and abroad to take a trip to Inis Oírr. I would also recommend that anyone with an interest in stone do one of the Dry Stone Walling Workshops out there. There are also other great ways of experiencing life on the island, as Inis Oírr also host some great Irish language courses, where you can learn the language by working and living on the island. They also have an arts center with an 'artist in residence' program where artists can take up residence and work on the island for a period of just a few weeks right up to three months.
   

There are lots more photos of the wonderful stone walls and landscape of Inis Oírr in the slide show below.

 

Slide show of the walls and landscape of Inis Oírr  

If you are interested in going to next years workshop, keep an eye out on my facebook page as I will keep you all updated  from there when the dates for next years event are confirmed.

If you are interested in finding out more about the stone walls of Ireland, I would recomend checking out Patrick McAfee's book 'Irish Stone Walls' This is a great little book full of information, useful for both amateur and expert stoneworkers. 

If you are a stone waller or a stonemason in Ireland I recommend checking out and joining the Dry Stone Wall Association of Ireland http://dswaireland.ning.com/

I would also recommend to anyone involved with stone to check out and become a member of the international Stone Foundation http://www.stonefoundation.org/

For more information on the Aran Islands checkout  http://www.aranisland.info/