Loam sows the seed for unique new art exhibition

Arts Week with Judy Murphy

Galway City’s Michelin-starred Loam Restaurant has inspired the latest project from Wicklow-based artist Frank Corry.  Frank, a graduate of the National College of Art and Design, has joined forces with Loam and its artisan suppliers to create a unique series of work named the Loam Atoms.

The Loam Atoms exhibition will be officially launched at the restaurant on Fairgreen Road in Galway on Sunday, December 10, at 6pm and all are welcome to attend.

The art will be displayed in the restaurant displaying for the following few months before being sold.  Frank Corry spent the summer and autumn collecting sample materials from Loam and its suppliers including Leaf & Root Farm, Loughrea; America Village Apothecary, Baile Mheiriceá in North Connemara; Galway Goat Farm, Dunmore; Ulli Rost Foraging in Gort; Gannet Fishmongers; Galway City; Castlemine Farm, Co Roscommon; Gubbeen Cheese, Co Cork; Burren Flower Farm, Co Clare; Ballyhoura Mountain Mushrooms, Co Cork; Velvet Cloud Irish Sheep’s Milk, Claremorris, Co Mayo; and Gourmet Game, Scarriff, Co Clare.

He then took the foraged and preserved foods he gathered from Loam and its suppliers back to his Wicklow studio, alongside other items such as smoked wood and charred tar from the Gubeen Cheese smoker

He ground them, grated them, pounded them, dried them and sieved them to create an array of pigments from which he has produced a collection entitled the Loam Atoms series.

Frank also photographed and documented all the materials he used and has supplied a brief explanation about the location and dates that items were harvested or collected.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.