alter / native 2010

Image 1: alter / native night at the movies  Image 2: Padraig Cunningham & Linda Shevlin. Circadian. Installation view  Image 3: Carol Hummel. Wee Shoppe of Global Disfunctions  Image 4: Stephen Rennicks. How to Disappear

alter / native is a diverse venture whose concerns are embedded in the notion of community and was set up in 2009. The members of the group all live in Roscommon and Leitrim and established the alter / native project as an artists collective, or virtual studio, where we could pool  resources, knowledge, skills,  facilities and equipment. The group being made up of Daniel Chester, Carol Anne Connolly, Padraig Cunningham, Alice Lyons, Anna Macleod, Stephen Rennicks, Linda Shevlin and Niall Walsh.  The catalyst for creating such a group being that instead of each of us working in isolation, which is generally the position artists working in a rural context find themselves in, we recognized the potential for collaborative and lobbying opportunities.

 

All the artists involved are interested in the notion of a collective. Bartering, exchanging and borrowing of equipment and skills is something that already happened informally but our intention was to formalise this somewhat and through Minor Capital funding from Visual Artists Ireland on behalf of The Arts Council we purchased much needed audio visual equipment that is now being used by each of the members of the collective.

 

While each member maintains their individual practice, the alter / native project also stages multi-disciplinary visual arts events and recently presented our second exhibition in Boyle, Co. Roscommon with the assistance of some minor funding from Roscommon Arts Office. The intention of this venture was to position the project as a compliment to or an expansion of the official Boyle Arts Festival exhibition by showing artists whose works generally wouldn’t be encountered in the context of the traditional arts festival.  Through building up a relationship with the local Chamber of Commerce and local businesses we secured 8 disused retail units to install the exhibition in, the only charge being for services used.

 

Reluctant to recreate or simulate a gallery situation, the site of multiple, disused retail units adds to the nature of the project. Using two sites, the alter / native project members and invited artist Carol Hummel responded to this particular exhibition situation and installed a range of artworks including drawing, installation and lens based pieces.

 

As part of Culture Night 2010, we were commissioned to curate a public spectacle in the town of Boyle. The alter / native Night at the Movies presented works by emerging and established filmmakers and artists including Desperate Optimists, David O’Reilly, Grace Weir and Olga Bergman.

Info

Biography

Linda Shevlin has curated, facilitated and managed both large and small-scale visual arts projects including the 53rd Venice Biennale where she was project manager for the representative artists Gareth Kennedy & Sarah Browne and is Tulca Festival curator for 2018.

In 2017 she was the invited curator for the Hennessy Art Fund, purchasing new works for the IMMA collection and also curated the visual art programme for Bealtaine Festival 2017/2018 where she developed projects, commissions, residencies & exhibitions. with numerous Irish artists including Vivienne Dick, Kathy Prendergast, Kevin Gaffney, Pauline Cummins and Frances Mezzetti.

In 2016 she curated Radical Actions at RMIT Galleries, Melbourne as part of Culture Ireland’s 2016 International Programme ‘I Am Ireland’. The exhibition featured works by Duncan Campbell, Jesse Jones, Kennedy Browne and Seamus Nolan.

Other recent independent curatorial projects include Americana: Future Rural featuring John Gerrard (IE), Brian Duggan (IE), Kim Shively (USA) and M12 Studio (USA) at The Dock, Leitrim and Amharc Fhine Gall X commissioning Ella de Búrca, Ruth Clinton and Niamh Morriarty.

She has been awarded the Arts Council of Ireland’s Visual Arts Curatorial Residency award for three consecutive years (2013 – 2016) and in that time has produced a series of events and exhibitions in County Roscommon including newly commissioned works by Maria McKinney (IE) and Sean Lynch (IE); public art projects by Sean Rafferty (AUS), Ruth E. Lyons (IE) and Deirdre O’Mahony (IE), exhibitions by Martin Parr (UK), Duncan Campbell (IE) & Eamon O’Kane (IE) and a symposium titled The Workers with contributions from Adam Sutherland of Grizedale Arts (UK) & M12 Collective (USA) among others.

Shevlin is currently curator in residence with Roscommon Arts Centre & Solstice Arts Centre.

Contact

Linda Shevlin
Tivanagh School
Cloonloo
Boyle
Co. Roscommon
Ireland
 
linda@lindashevlin.com
+353 86 605 2571
+353  71 966 4606