In its inaugural year, Westridge’s Summer Global Art Program took ten Upper School students to explore cities, make memories, and create art in the impossibly lush Irish countryside. The program is described by its founder, Art Department Head Ms. Lorri Deyer, as, “…a pioneering art immersion opportunity for Upper School students. The program does not require any previous training or skills, but instead asks students who want an authentic, immersive art experience in a global context to place themselves in unfamiliar settings in order to stimulate new forms of production and thinking.”
Hosted by artists Rosie O’Gorman and Frank Abruzzese of Cow House Studios, Westridge students enjoyed the luxury of staying on the ancestral O’Gorman family farm, nestled in County Wexford, about two hours south of Dublin.
As two of the ten students on the trip, we had the privilege of spending ten days frolicking among geese and alpacas on farmland, painting and drawing with all sorts of materials, and eating piles of toast with rich Irish butter—all while immersing ourselves in the culture and art Ireland has to offer.
Our trip began bright and early at 6:00 a.m. at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on June 10. From there, we grabbed our last Starbucks drinks for the near future and started our 14-hour journey to the Dublin airport, which included a four-hour layover in Vancouver. However, our series of flights were not the last of our transportation. We then hopped on a small bus and traveled for another two hours, all the while struggling to keep our eyes open due to jet lag. But even our tiredness could not deter our excitement when we approached the gates of the cobblestone farm house that we would be calling our home for the next 10 days. Our journey in Ireland had begun.
We had the freedom to roam the vast acres of greenery to find inspiration for our art. Whether it was a herd of cows settling by the creek during sunset, the eerily perfect rows of trees in the forest, or the beloved peacock, George, harassing a cat, the endless little details and idiosyncrasies of Cow House laid the foundation for thousands of vignettes and stories to be told through art.
Each day featured a different art lesson and accompanying workshop. On our first full day, for instance, Rosie led an exercise in using long, wooden dowels and India ink to illustrate landscapes. With such limited room for precision, this activity encouraged us to abandon perfectionism and embrace the joy in the creative process. Another workshop that stood out was the collage workshop. By carving images found in old magazines and newspapers out of their original contexts, we curated entirely new scenes.
After a few days of experimenting and surveying through several mediums, Rosie and Frank introduced the culminating project of our trip: the book project. Each book—a bound, scanned, and formatted compilation of artwork—focused on one theme chosen
by every student at the beginning of the project. Throughout the week, students incorporated their personal themes within the art pieces they created. With an abundance of supplies, software, and instruction at our disposal, the varieties of visual art ranged significantly. Some students heavily based their books in illustration—utilizing gouache, watercolor, ink, colored pencils, or oil pastels. Others featured mosaics made up of magazine shreds, poetry, and film photography. The open-ended nature of the book project granted us a level of creative direction that allowed us to develop our personal art styles.
Alongside the art, a large appeal of the trip was the opportunity to see the country. Each day trip, one to Dublin and another to Kilkenny, included visits to art museums, opportunities to see other famous landmarks, and time to stroll the streets. We visited the National Museum of Ireland, the Royal Hibernian Academy gallery, and the Chester Beatty Museum in Dublin. Additionally, with plenty of free time to roam Dublin, we walked into thrift stores that reeked of cigarette smoke, took a coffee break in a chocolate cafe, and walked around the iconic Trinity College Dublin.
In Kilkenny, we visited the Butler Gallery, looked at the evolution of Irish artists and their art in this century, and had the surprise opportunity to listen to an artist who makes his own paint and paper talk about his ongoing exhibition at the gallery. After the gallery, we walked a short distance to the Kilkenny Castle for a one-hour tour. Unfortunately, we all agreed that the one-hour tour felt like four hours as much of the content was painfully boring. Regardless, to be inside the expansive 12th-century castle was an essential and informative part of our trip to Kilkenny. To end the day, we went into Irish convenience stores, exchanged banter with ten-year-old Irish boys, and ate ice cream.
Though this trip was a full, hearty 10 days, we felt as if it went by as fast as the geese chased after Ella when she was trying to get an aesthetic Instagram picture of them. Ireland’s green, luscious landscapes captivated us, our creative and individualistic art projects entertained us, and most importantly, everything in between, from our day trips to our meals to our lessons, taught us more than we could have ever hoped.
