“It is a good time for me,” says Dublin-based photographer and visual artist Conor Horgan. “I am having a moment, as they say”.
Horgan is standing in his new studio overlooking Dublin’s O’Connell Street, which is one of 22 affordable workspaces for practising visual artists launched by the Lord Mayor of Dublin Daryl Barron on Thursday.
The mayor is there because Dublin City Council’s arts office is subsiding rent on the studios. In Horgan’s studio, he admires a close-up photograph featuring vivid pink oyster mushrooms, part of a series titled Disco Vegetables, before he and Horgan move to the large, sash windows overlooking O’Connell Street Lower. “I’ll be selling premium tickets for the [St Patrick’s Day] parade”, Horgan jokes, while the mayor asks about the oriental plane trees lining the street.
In a nearby studio with tall windows also overlooking the streets below, Jen Donnery, who sculpts and draws, stands by two larger-than-life drawings on the wall. “I make large work”, she says, adding the studio is most welcome as she has previously been working in “small, spare rooms”.
Margaret Farrell, who gave up teaching 10 years ago to become a full-time artist, says she is delighted to have a studio to showcase her work – which is inspired by her experiences as an outdoor enthusiast and hillwalker.
The collection of 22 studios in Manfield Chambers, on the corner of O’Connell Street Lower and Middle Abbey Street, is a joint project put together by Dublin City Council’s arts office, Visual Artists Ireland and backers Quanta Capital.
The initiative was developed in response to the growing shortage of affordable studio space available to artists, particularly in Dublin.
Dublin City Council contributed €294,000 and sees the venture as a pilot project, one that may help revitalise O’Connell Street and that could be replicated elsewhere. Some €150,000 of the money was invested in refurbishing the building, while the remainder provides revenue support to subsidise studio rents and help keep the workspaces affordable for artists.
Quanta Capital has invested €3 million in restoring the heritage building, while Visual Artists Ireland will manage the programme and support the participating artists.
Visual Artists Ireland chief executive Noel Kelly said the new studios provided additional creative space in the city, particularly since the closure of The Complex, a venue that housed 17 artist studios in the inner city but closed permanently in January after its lease expired.
“O’Connell Street is Dublin’s main street and it should reflect the full diversity of life in our city,” the mayor said. “Having artists working and creating here brings a new energy to the area and strengthens its role as a place for people, culture and community.”