Taking a stroll in Trim is one of our great luxuries; huge green spaces, flowers everywhere, a big lively river, stunning heritage buildings... and now art on walls! How exciting to see local talent Meghan Quinn & John Gray given a blank canvas to add more colour to our town! We have been marvelling at their recent murals and had the privilege to follow their progress.
Their reconstruction of the old Market street is quite spectacular, yet delivered in a naive and nostalgic style that will enchant tourists no end. As for their giant Gulliver, finished just on time for the Trim Swift Festival, it not only represents our cultural heritage and the legacy of our famous writer, but also embodies the quirkiness and resourcefulness of our artists: using disaffected buildings and turning them into something beautiful and relevant.
This is something that the Irish artists have been campaigning for in the past years* and we feel it is an important part of moving on from the damage left by the recession. Like turning wounds into well-healed scars. The support of local authorities and business owners is invaluable in this process: last year, we were allowed the use of a restaurant for the Big End Breakfast, organised by Martin Tighe. This was a perfect example of the successful collaboration between business and artists: empty premises became a lively stage for performance, community encounters and delicious food! Other community groups are currently being helped along, again not with cash but with space. Space and time are our most valuable and unattainable tools. Without them, we cannot produce, we cannot entertain, we cannot survive.
With space and time, we can offer the magic, the wonder, the beauty, the laughter, the moving and the exciting that will delight locals and make tourists say “I'll have to go to Trim and see that!”
Just like Meghan and John's murals.
* See the National Campaign for the Arts for more info: http://www.ncfa.ie/
