STAMP Festival is back and the line-up is a TREAT for design fans and crafty folk
Incredibly, most of the events will be free.
The rather wonderful interactive visual arts, craft and design festival STAMP returns to Cork city on May 16th-18th for its third year… and this one is bigger than ever.
Beck Getsee, Shandon Art Studios, Hilda De Lacy, Benchspace Cork, and Aoibhie McCarthy, Sample-Studios. Photo: Bríd O’Donovan
The programme includes the popular STAMP market and hands-on demonstrations, workshops, and exhibitions at the Triskel Arts Centre. Organised by benchspace, Cork Craft & Design, Sample-Studios and Shandon Art Studios, you can check out most of the 35 planned events for free, but our advice is to be quick, scan the programme and see which ones require pre-booking over here.
What’s on this year?
The STAMP market, which will have 25 exhibitors this year, takes place on May 17th and 18th, that’s where you can browse a fabulous selection of locally-made goodies, from textiles to ceramics and it’s a brilliant spot to find clever gifts.
Photo: Bríd O’Donovan
Free family-friendly workshops are also taking place — all on May 18th — and they include a pre-teen and teen DJing and music production lesson with Stevie G and a mixed-media model boat workshop by Leah Murphy.
There will be a lesson on creating crazy creatures with children’s book illustrator Olivia Golden; and gelli plate printing. Tickets are free but limited and booking is essential for these.
Further free events include free woodturning demos — lathe-making buttons and boxes with woodturner Tony Farrell (May 17th) and wooden bowls with John O’Shea (May 18th); a demonstration on ceramic slipcasting with Inés Pintó (May 17th); and dry point etching and chine collé printing with Paul McKenna (May 17th).
You can catch a zine-making workshop with Elize de Beer (May 18th); an impressed printing press workshop (May 17th); and a painter’s guide to colour theory and colour mixing (May 18th).
All the chats
Visual artist Shane O’Driscoll, known for his striking large-scale murals, will be joined by textiles artist Mary Palmer for a free panel discussion and other free talks include Design Declares! Ireland, a group of designers, design studios and institutions promoting sustainability; Strategies for Approaching Buyers by Clive Salter; and an overview on exhibition making by Lavit Gallery Director, Brian Mac Domhnaill.
Visual artists Jane Hayes, Chris Finnegan and Rachel Doolin share their experiences of making work in collaboration with young children too.
