Detailed Information

Making, designing, campaigning: Women in Ireland

Marking the centenary year of Irish universal suffrage, this four week course of talks and tours will focus on Irish women’s history in 19th and early 20th century through an exploration of some of the exhibitions at the National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts & History, Collins Barracks. The course will cover Irish social, political and military history and also design history and decorative arts and craft. Students will be introduced to the Museum’s significant Easter Week and historical collections through the exhibitions ‘Proclaiming a Republic: The 1916 Rising’, and ‘Soldiers & Chiefs’ focusing on women’s roles in the Rising and in WW1 through artefacts on display in those exhibitions, with Museum educators and historians Holly Furlong and Dr Edith Andrees. Folklife curator Rosa Meehan will present a talk and tour focusing on the experiences of women in rural Ireland in 19th and early 20th century through an examination of artefacts in the Irish Folklife collections and a tour of the ‘Irish Country Furniture’ exhibition at Collins Barracks. Dr Jennifer Goff, curator of the ‘Eileen Gray’ exhibition and author of ‘Eileen Gray: Her Work and Her World’ will give a talk and tour on Eileen Gray, one of the world’s most critically celebrated designers and architects of the 20th century. Glass artist Róisín de Buitléir will present her exhibition, on display at Collins Barracks during 2018, entitled CAUTION! Fragile Tradition in Transitionand talk about her practice as an artist working in glass and on what inspires her work.

Dates Venue/Location Fee €
11 Apr 2018 to 02 May 2018 National Museum of Ireland - Decorative Arts & History, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7

100.00



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Holly Furlong is a Museum Educator and board member of the Women’s Museum of Ireland. A graduate Museum Studies at University of Leicester, her research focused on the display and representation of gender in museums, including a chapter in upcoming publication Feminism and Museums. Holly has worked at cultural institutions in Dublin and Belfast and is currently based in the Education Department of the National Museum of Ireland.

Dr Edith Andrees is a cultural historian. Her research interests include historical narration and collective memory. As museum educator at the National Museum of Ireland, Edith has worked on various participative programmes that have addressed the interdisciplinary themes of collective identities and belonging, for example in relation to World War One, Asgard and the 1916 Easter Rising.

Rosa Meehan is curator of Irish Folklife at the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life, Turlough Park, Co. Mayo. Recent exhibitions she curated include Migrant Women, which explored the adventures and challenges as well as realities and rich diversity of life for migrants today and historically. She is currently curating the Traveller Pride exhibition on Traveller culture.

Róisín de Buitléar is an artist, educator, curator and writer. Her artworks are represented in public collections nationally and internationally. She was the project director of Waterford the Glass City, celebrating glass design in Waterford city as part of the Year of Design in Ireland. She is currently engaged in designing a National sound garden for Dublin City Council. Her exhibitionCAUTION! Fragile Tradition in Transitionopens at the National Museum of Ireland in 2018, where she will also be artist in residence.

Dr Jennifer Goff is Curator of Furniture, Silver & the Eileen Gray collection at the National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts & History, Collins Barracks, Dublin.  She is author of the biography of Gray, ‘Her Work and her World’ and is recognised as one of the world’s leading experts on Gray’s work and legacy. 

At the end of this course, a student should be able to (for example): 

·         Have an understanding of the breadth of the collections at the National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts & History

·         A broad understanding of the Easter Week, Historical, and Folklife collections and exhibitions and also the Eileen Gray exhibition at Collins Barracks.

·         An understanding of Irish women’s history in 19th and early 20th century through exploration of key artefacts.

·         An understanding of how to explore and investigate objects and primary sources

·         An understanding of how objects and primary sources are interpreted and displayed in Museum exhibitions

Wednesday 11th April 2018

Dr Edith Andrees and Holly Furlong

Wednesday 18th April

Rosa Meehan

Wednesday 25th April

Róisín de Buitléir

Wednesday 2nd May

Dr Jennifer Goff 

·         Museum Studies

·         Material Culture

·         Irish Social, Political and Military History

·         Women’s History

·         Decorative Arts

·         Art and Design History

Goff, Jennifer, Eileen Gray: Her Work and Her World (2015)

Clarke, Kathleen, Revolutionary Woman: Kathleen Clarke 1878-1972 an Autobiography (1991)

Foster, Robert Fitzroy, Vivid Faces: The Revolutionary Generation in Ireland, 1890-1923 (2015)

McDiarmid, Lucy, At home in the Revolution: what women said and did in 1916 (2016)

Ryan, Louise & Ward, Margaret,  Irish Women and the Vote: Becoming Citizens (2007)

Levin, Amy K, Gender, Sexuality and Museums (2010) (Not sure this is as easily accessed)

Sandell, R. and Nightingale, E. (2012) Museums, Equality and Social Justice (As a suggestion instead of above maybe)

http://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/articles/women-of-the-rising