Annaghmakerrig - the annual visit

Having written lots about the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig before I'll not bore you with more details other than it was the estate and family home of an aristocratic composer Tyrone Guthrie who left it first to two workers who looked after the farm and that was susequently taken on by the Arts Councils of Ireland and Northern Ireland as a retreat for artists to come and gain inspiration and quiet out of their daily routines.

The old maze at the back of the house

 As well as the main house accommodating up to 13 writers full board, there are also five self catering cottages that are mostly occupied by musicians and visual artists.  They're also ideal for couples like ourselves.  

 

The farm buildings turned into cottages - we were in the end one

from outside the cottages courtyard

 I feel the presence of Seamus Heaney and Paul Muldoon, playwrights like Martin Lynch and Marie Jones and Brian Friel, there's a wonderful concert pianist here at the minute whom we can hear practicsing in one of the rooms and the paintings adorning the walls have all been left or donated by well known names in their fields as well as people just beginning on their artistic paths.

Lots of stone carvings around the grounds ...

heading to the lake

 With visitors from America, England, Germany and Ireland there was a very international feeling during our week.  

Annaghmakerrig Lake

and old boathouse

What must it have been like to live in a place like this - call it your home!

The gardens are beautiful and we've decided to go back at the end of the Summer this year so we can experience the place in full bloom, althought with its winter coat on it was still a lovely place to walk through with a surprising amount of colour showing through. 

So between the usual January days with storms and bluster we had some lovely frosty mornings with gorgeous sunsets and blue skies during the day.  Who wouldn't be inspired with skies like that ....

A young artist from Lisburn just starting out on her path was vying for the biggest grin along with the young German classical guitarist - their delight was infectious and we all felt the need of an injection of joy which the place always imparts. We came away with some more or less finished songs and more new ideas - the bones of a new album starting to shape up - now to not let the world crowd in again so we can get them moving onwards. 

A week in creative rest

Sunshine between the showers

I'm very impressed by young writers these days - whether that's on blogs, songwriters, authors - they have a great sense of honesty, openness, authenticity.  Perhaps it's our growing up in a society where it wasn't ok to speak your mind - you didn't know who was listening - but I find it very difficult to be that open.   This week we saw the restart of our Stormont Assembly, after 3 years of not working.   Doubtless our health and education services were used as pawns by the powers that be to coerse our idiots to get beyond school yard politics and start behaving like politicians - I wonder how much honesty will be evident there. 

My view from our studio this week

We've come away for our annual visit to Tyrone Guthrie House in Co. Monaghan. - hopefully I"ll get some nice photos from here for next week's Scavenger Hunt. 

It's a great place to re-focus priorities - move back into my own realm - after such a busy couple of months with choirs and an impending tour of the Emigrant Woman's Tale, it's hard to find space to hear your own thoughts and tunes and see where you want to move to next - to find your own honesty. 

So we've both been going through hundreds of voice notes and memos on our phones, dumping, editing, rearranging and getting into a rhythm of work that's exciting us both and setting a way of working for the coming months.

We've use of a studio although mostly we're working in our cottage but I absolutely love having access to a beautiful piano to work through chord progressions when I get stuck in a riff on the guitar.  And looking out across green fields through rainy windows is better than being stuck in front of the tv or computer screen at home.  

As always, there's an international group here this week - several writers, a couple of painters, a pianist rehearsing for an upcoming concert in Paris, a young German guitarist writing music for a new album and a couple of people editing scripts for films and tv shows.   That mix is so inspiritng and makes for very interesting converstaion at dinner.

An Artist's Retreat

The Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annamaghkerrig

I've fulfilled a long held ambition this weekend past, to have a stay at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Co. Monaghan.

This is a residential retreat for artists of all disciplines to come and have a space away from home and be looked after, fed, watered and housed to facilitate the creative process.

And it is magnificent.

Some more of the residence block

Part of the old formal gardens

" The opening of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig, County Monaghan is today seen as a turning point in the cultural life of Ireland. At his death in 1971 Tyrone Guthrie, with the encouragement of his family, left the house in his will to the Irish State for use as a residential workplace for artists.

Guthrie’s dream was pursued by visionary and dedicated people through the two arts councils in Ireland at a time of deep political division. The old house was skilfully converted and Annaghmakerrig opened its doors to its first residents on 10 October 1981."

At Annaghmakerrig Lake

Anyone from any art form (and you don't have to be Irish) can come here for some seclusion - and the only rule is that everyone comes together for dinner which is home cooked and 5*.   There's a dance studio, library, art and sculpture studios .....

I had no less than 3 grand pianos to choose from!!! 

... we were in the music room which houses two grand pianos - luxury.  Plus there's another grand piano in Lady Guthrie's drawing room.  

The Music Room - the other grand piano is in the opposite corner

I found that this piano on the right in the big room brought a new tune from me every time I sat down ... the one at the window in the photo above that was perfect for working over ideas and transposing chords and the one downstairs only wanted folk music played on it!!!   

What a luxury to be the only player and be allowed free access to all these instruments - my piano at home does not compare and might have to give up its place for a newer model.  Although it breaks my heart to part with instruments that are still intact, still it would be wonderful have one that feels good under your fingers.

Writing a melody at the piano

Bulrushes

I was fortunate to be here with a poet, Csilla Toldy, who secured a bursary for the two of us to work on a project for 4 days.   Very lucky for us.

Csilla (pronounced tShiela) is from Hungary.  I have been setting some of her poems to music and we are co-producing a piece about emigration which we hope to have ready for International Women's Day in March next year.  

As our stay went on the creative energy just grew and grew to the point where I found it very hard to switch off and get some sleep - I wanted to write, paint, play, create - anything to get the adrenaline, ideas and energy out of me and onto paper or into the voice recorder on my phone.

An oasis of calm

Each night all the artists come together for dinner.  One night we had a singing and storytelling session afterwards and on another night a tour of the art workshops.   There were 4 painters, 2 other poets, a playwright, a storyteller, a journalist, someone developing a script for an animated film, another working on a poetry Ph.D, an essayist (who knew such a thing existed) and at least two novelists.  We come from Holland, Germany, Australia and America as well as Csilla from Hungary and a few of us from Ireland.

Looking in to the big dining table
where everyone gathers each evening

It has been so interesting to hear the conversations at dinner and to exchange ideas from all around the country North and South - and to exchange ideas with people from different artistic disciplines.

The stairs beside my room
and some artwork that a previous resident had done.

Over the years, many world famous artists have stayed here - and most leave some of their work behind to dress the walls, fill the library and add to the already huge collection.




We've made very good progress over the weekend, had many long conversations and pushed ourselves hard to produce work that would not so easily happen at home.   I've written two piano pieces and one song and Csilla has written several new poems.

I will definitely try to go back here for some time on my own in the future.   It's a working holiday and everyone leaves utterly exhausted ....  but oh what a wonderful exhausted.