Welcome to Fionnathan Productions: an arts collaborative and video making house that intends to change the world!

PRESS RELEASE

Monsters and Us

an exhibit of works by Fionn and Jonathan Angus

at Cultúrlann Sweeney Gallery, Kilkee Library, Clare

13th May - 16th June 2016

Public Opening Event: Friday 13th May, 6:30 - 7:30pm

‘Monsters and Us' is an exhibition of works by Fionn Crombie Angus, with help from his father Jonathan Angus.  Fionn is interested in mythology and the stories of the peoples of the earth, modern and ancient. He loves outsiders, outliers, and one-of-a-kind originals.

In the world of stories, those we call monsters often live on the dimly lit margins of society, cast there by the majority, who is made uncomfortable by what these ‘others’ say about homogenous, mainstream culture.

In the political world of today, people who are labelled ‘Disabled’ are sometimes cast in a similar cultural role. People who consider themselves ‘normal’ are fearful of or take pity on those who carry this label.

Our art explores this parallel. We work to identify ways in which, although only one of our two-person team has a disability label, we are both disabled (particularly though isolation) while at the same time made completely able by working together. We see this dynamic also in all people around us.

The monsters in the shadows reside as well in our hearts. We cultivate relationships with these monsters wherever possible.

This exhibition is part of the work of Fionnathan Productions, a not-for-profit Social Enterprise. Fionnathan exists to have fun and change the world, to trouble your understanding of ability, to reveal superstars in our midst, and to prove that, in fact, we are the people we've been waiting for. Through music, live presentations, videos, and visual arts, we seek to collaborate with diverse people who are passionate about what they do.

For more information about this event, contact the Curators directly at :

            Fionn and Jonathan Angus

            Tel: 087 - 325 9372  Email: fionnathan.productions@gmail.com                       

Search ‘Fionnathan’ for our website, twitter, youtube, and facebook.

Fionn and Jonathan would like to thank the Cultúrlann Sweeney Gallery and the Clare Arts Office for the facilitation of this exhibition.

 ‘Fionnathan: Collaborations'

an exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Sculptures 

by Fionn & Jonathan Angus, and friends

Venue: The Gallery at the Scariff Library Co. Clare

Dates: 27th April through 16th May, 2015

‘Fionnathan: Collaborations' is an exhibition of works by Fionn Angus, his father Jonathan, and a host of artists and craftspeople from Clare, around Ireland and internationally. Fionn, his passions and his work have been the inspiration for all the pieces in this exhibition. Many of the collaborations were done side by side, while others were planned through emails and video calls.

Fionn is interested in mythology and the stories of the peoples of the earth, modern and ancient. He loves the music of his motherland, Ireland, and the films of his fatherland, America.

With contributions from photographer Julia Kramer; metalworker Mark Wilson; wood turner Max Brosi; glass artist Rosa Ferris; papermaker Tunde Toth; doll makers Grace Burton and Sara Angus; stone carver Mike Hogan; and painters Nathalie El Baba, Mark Lee and Niki Sherey; this project promises to be like none you have seen this year.

This exhibition is part of the work of Fionnathan Productions. Fionnathan exists to have fun and change the world, to trouble your understanding of ability, to reveal superstars in our midst, and to prove that, in fact, we are the people we've been waiting for. Through music, live presentations, videos, and visual arts, we seek to collaborate with diverse people who are passionate about what they do.

This exhibition will be open to the public during usual opening hours

                MONDAY,  WEDNESDAY,  FRIDAY      10.00 am to 5.30 pm (closed from 1.00 to 2.00 Monday)

                TUESDAY & THURSDAY                        10.00 am to 8.00 pm

                SATURDAY                                             10.00 am to 2.00 pm

There will be an official opening event on Thursday, 30 April, from 6:00 until 8:00, open to the public.

For more information about this event, contact the Curators directly at :

                Fionn and Jonathan Angus

                Tel: 087 - 325 9372  Email: fionnathan.productions@gmail.com

Fionn and Jonathan would like to thank The Scariff Library, the Clare County Offices and the Clare Arts Office for the facilitation of this exhibition

Fionnathan Timeline

• Fionnathan starts with a boy’s love for his father, and a father's love for his son. Awww!
   

• We make our first video.
   

• We make a Christmas card video.

• FIonn gets his first video camera.
   

• Ireland has the coldest winter in over 50 years, freezing the water pipe leading to our house for two weeks, beginning on Christmas Eve. School is cancelled all over the country for the first week after the holidays, We schedule a three day trip to Paris. The Irish government changes its mind, and announces schools will only be closed for two days, but we are committed. We tour the Louvre, cruise the Seine, eat crepes, and take a train to Chartres Cathedral. Tres bon!
   

• We go to America and tour from the East Coast to the Rockies.
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• We visit Fingals Cave, and tour Scotland.
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• We visit the coast of Antrim: Giant's Causeway, Island sea bird sanctuary.
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• We go to Skellig Michael.
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• We join the Burren Bio Blitz, and spot a rare emerald dragonfly.
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• We camp overnight, to wake early in the morning and catch the dawn chorus. Then we drive up a narrow road, high into the Burren Hills, where we tear a gash in our oil pan, and unknowingly drive it dry. We are stranded for hours, and the car's engine eventually needs to be replaced. Oops. Remember, always bring the right equipment for the job.We attend a series of talks hosted by an organisation called Mulkear Life, which hopes to restore the Mulkear River to once again become a prime habitat for otters, eels, salmon and other wildlife. One presentation is by Dr Allan Mee, director on the Whilte Tailed Eagle reintroduction project. He tells us that 100 birds have been brought from Finland to Ireland and released, and that the Shannon Estuary and Loch Derg would both offer prime sites for eagles to adopt.

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• We hear through Birdwatch Limerick that a pair of eagles have been repeatedly spotted flying around the the coast  of Loch Derg just ten miles from our house. We make a few trip to the site with binoculars and our bird scope, but only see the Secretary of Birdwatch Limerick, who we invite home for a cup of tea.
   

• We see a flyer advertising Dr. Mee's talk in the community building of our little village, where he will inform those present about the pair of eagles who have built a nest on an island just outside the Harbour. The first nest in Ireland in over 100 years, in an ideal location, safe from disturbance but in clear view of anyone who wants to see them, and a 5 minute bike ride from our front door.
   

• The young parents have one egg, but it never hatches.
   

• They build another nest on the same island, and hatch and rear two eaglets. This pair will soon fly off to find other habitat, but the parents could quite possibly continue to rear young each year here for the next 20 years.
   

• We go to Morocco, with a wide open itinerary. We visit the cities of Fez, Agadir, Essauoira, Marrakesh, Tangier, Beni Mellal and Meknes. Our plans to tour the Atlas Mountains are curtailed due to a tummy bug, though we take a day trip through the Paradise Valley. We see a small flock of the world's rarest bird, the Northern Bald Ibis. We take a camel ride on a beach where the vibe caught there by Jimmi Hendrix and Timmothy Leary is kept alive. We visit the tallest waterfall in Northern Africa, and meet one of the country's only Irish expats, and feed some wild macaques. We visit The Cave of Hercules, and look out across the Straits of Gibraltar, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea, toward the far shore of Europe.

• We come up with the idea for What Do You Love About Your Life.
   

• Down Syndrome Clare loves the idea, and agrees to reimburse our travel expenses, and to send a casting call to its members.

• We premier WDYLAYL? to the cylists of the 2013 Tour de Munster. About 160 people are in the audience.