An email arrives with more detailed information about the project. It has been written by the organiser, Rosie, whose studio sits in the centre of Roundstone, the mainland town closest to the island. Since 2001, artists have been spending several days each year on Inishlacken, talking, exchanging views, making work, walking the island, listening to local archaeologists talking about the island, giving readings of poetry and prose plus holding exhibitions in Roundstone and Belfast. In previous years, artists have spent days on Inishlacken, returning to the mainland at nightfall. 2007 will be different; we will be staying during the entire project on the island in the last remaining house that is habitable (also including the shed as an extension to the sleeping arrangements!).
Ireland has a grand literary heritage, artists and writers have visited Inishlacken for generations. In the 1950’s James Dillon, Gerard Campbell and James McIntyre spent a summer there writing and illustrating the now rare book Three Men on an Island and it is in respect of this that the project was conceived.
I will need a tent and waterproof clothing (after all, this is Ireland), good walking boots and a resolve to leave behind my home comforts. It is suggested that I read several books prior to the project. Three Men on an Island is at the top of the list so I consult the local library and Amazon and neither can offer a copy. In the end it is through a rare book search that I find only one copy in the UK and one in the US – at the lavish price of £52 or 200 dollars! Nevertheless I reach deep into my pocket and order the UK copy.
I am beginning to get to know this island from afar and starting to mull over the potential for this trip. Right now I have a lot of work on, mostly administrative, and I need to ensure my head is in the right place before I leave England. Over time, you get to know your shortcomings, one of mine is not to allow myself enough quiet moments to think and consider. I have decided to do a long, contemplative walk the day before I leave and then travel to Ireland in advance of the starting date and spend a couple of days in Roundstone THINKING!
