Printing All things Gaelic and Irish at Ceardlann na gCnoc

The west Irish county of Donegal is home to some of the most beautiful, pastoral landscape of Ireland. Coasts, and and pastures, and sheep and old stone cottages, and of course a multitude of green is to be seen everywhere.

In Gortahork,  a small village of about 500, there is an excellent print shop/residency space called Ceardlann na gCnoc, or CLO for short.

The shop has a full range of facilities for working in all traditional printed medium, plus computer and digital mixed media.CLO also publishes limited editions and artist books. They have a gallery space and regularly conduct workshops and exchanges. An added bonus is their prong of contacts which include collaborative arrangements with CLO centers in Portugal, Greece, Georgia and Armenia.

CLO's premise is to work with contemporary artists interested in culture and preservation of the surrounding Donegal landscape with its vibrant Gaeltacht (Gaelic) culture. Artists coming to live and work at CLO stay at the artist-in-residence house, and they understand it is a self-funded excursion, normally running around 200 Euros/week. 

As for producing art, there is a good-sized studio, where one can do etching, lithography, photography, artist books and even try their hand at icon painting in the traditional Greek style. At the end of the residency, artists are requested to give one image to the CLO archives, and one image per each edition produced while living there.

There is plenty of beautiful Irish landscape and small towns in the vicinity for those wishing to do small excursions, but the overall feel of CLO is one of serenity and a place where one can concentrate to do some serious work

For information, and to contact the good people at CLO, see the address below:

Cló

Ceardlann na gCnoc
Mín an Leá
Gortahork
Letterkenny
Co. Donegal
Ireland

tel / fax +353 (0) 74 91 62800

email: cloceardlann@eircom.net

www.clo.ie