Artist Mags Duffy will work with retired Westport based individuals who, in their working lives, employed a range of innate skills as part of their daily work functions including; fisherman/maker of hazel lobster pots, a stone wall builder/mason and a dress maker/embroiderer.  

Mags Duffy is a visual artist based in Westport, Co. Mayo. She has a background in experimental textiles and a postgraduate qualification in arts education. She has been involved in teaching and community projects for the past thirty years. She is the recipient of a 2021 Arts Council Agility Award.

The group will be guided through activities to reactivate their individual skills; conversations surrounding the use of the skill and practical demonstrations of the work. The artist will then share her own skills as a visual artist, invite conversations and provide practical demonstrations of her own creative practice.

Looking at ideas of contemporary arts practice and traditional crafting, the proposed collaboration will examine shared meaning, value and narratives in handcrafts-based practice and contemporary art. Using recorded conversations and documented demonstrations, the project will look at the intersections in their practices while providing a space for dialogue where the values of both practices are explored through the repeated ritualistic processes of ‘making’.

Please note that the details of events listed above are provided by the relevant Local Authorities.