Conway Mill - Committee

2003 | 2002 | 2001

Crafting a living in Irish mythology
Chiselling Away At The ‘Art Of The Community’
Spinning yarns down the Mill
Celebration looks on the light side
Tough Tasks

Irish News
Crafting a living in Irish mythology

Based at Conway Mill, the Belfast League of Sculptors are a group of talented local artists who are determined to boost awareness of the arts and crafts sector. They are the only group of their kind in Northern Ireland, and hope to open a professionally run gallery and studio space at Conway Mill in the near future.

Among their number is sculptor Raymond Watson, who won the Aisling award for best sculptor in November 2000. Raymond, who was also the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s artist of the month in January 2001, produces original sculpted pieces from a variety of woods. Drawing on mythology and Irish literature as key influences, he recently completed his latest work, based on the legend of Deirdre of the Sorrows. This piece was commissioned by a local business, which is an extremely popular practice.

Hugh Clauson is well aware of the commercial potential of his work. An all-rounder, but specialising in bronze and copper metal work, Hugh’s pieces have been in huge demand from both local craft outlets and from people looking for distinctive ornaments or extra special gifts. He takes pride in producing detailed, high quality pieces.

Hugh and other artists use most of the money from their work to fund their non-commercial pieces and personal projects.
Farhad O’Neill has had great success with his metalwork-based pieces. An impressive looking handmade metal statue of which will soon be installed at Milltown cemetery, while the Jordanian government commissioned a bronze figure of a Jordanian bide for the Jordanian pavilion at Expo 2000 in Hamburg. Soon he will even have pieces on display at the Vatican!

The League of Sculptors is aiming for major funding, which they hope will enable them to expand and improve what is already an extremely promising concept.

Andersonstown News March 12th 2001
Chiselling Away At The ‘Art Of The Community’

The determination of the artists in Conway Mill to put themselves at the ‘art of the community’ continues this week with an innovative arts and crafts scheme taking place in the run up to St Patrick’s Day.

The committee of Conway Mill in conjunction with the newly formed Belfast League of Sculptors is designed to raise community awareness of events at the Falls Road complex.
The scheme will run from Tuesday 13 until Friday the 16 March with two sessions per day.

The artists based at the Mill will guide visitors through the arts and crafts activities taking place and there will be the opportunity to meet and talk to a variety of artists about their work.

Conway Mill’s Ann Deighan said the scheme was an opportunity for the local community to see what was happening at the complex and become more involved in arts in the community.

Spinning yarns down the Mill 30/4/01

West Belfast residents have been invited to take a trip down memory lane this Thursday when a host of local artists and historians gather at Conway Mill to examine the history of the linen industry in West Belfast.

The ‘Milling in the City’ event is being held in the Sam O’Neill Craft and Exhibition Centre this Thursday 3 May for one-night only.

Some of West Belfast’s best-known musicians, artists and writers have been invited to give their views on this vital part of local history.

Award-winning local artist Rita Duffy has created apiece called ‘Evocation’ which will highlight the harrowing working conditions people had to endure when the linen industry was at its height.
There will be a lecture and slide show on the role of women in the mills given by QUB professor Dr Myrtle Hill and the Ulster Museum’s Vivian Pollock. And author and playwright Martin Lynch will be reading from his novel ‘Here comes the night’.

News Letter 21/6/01
Celebration looks on the light side

The Celebration of Light exhibition by 18 artists and artisans at the old mill building has been reborn as a centre in which bands, students, printmakers, sculptors, photographers and fine artists are beavering away in attics, nooks and crannies all over the place.

The exhibition opened on Monday and organiser Anne Deighan is delighted at the response so far.

All the pieces are on sale without commission, so you could pick up a bargain from a star of the future.

Andersonstown News 8/9/2001
Tough Tasks

Conway Mill bore the brunt of the British Government’s spiteful economic blockade of West Belfast, it’s no surprise then that the community- led jobs’ project believes it should reap the rewards of any economic rebirth in the west of the city.

For almost 20 years, Mill stalwarts braved bullets, bombs and bureaucratic bullies to ensure the survival of a vibrant centre combining job creation with education and cultural rejuvenation.
For daring to suggest the Mill could be the hub of a regenerated lower Falls, the Mill was slapped with a British Government vetting order banning all funding for projects there. That ban lasted the best part of a decade-it was only lifted in 1995 to save the blushes of the British on the eve of a post-ceasefire jobs conference in Washington DC.

“We’re finalising a £3.5m funding package which would transform the Mill while maintaining it’s integrity as one of West Belfast’s greatest buildings”, says Moya who succeeded earlier this year in having the two oldest-and admittedly dilapidated blocks in the Conway Street Mill listed by the DoE as building of special architectural merit. Renovation work could begin as early as April 2002.

Courtesy of the Belfast Regeneration Office, the space gallery has been opened on the top floor of the rear building to showcase the work of the artists who now work in the Mill.
The renaissance of the Mill will involve the demolition of the two newest buildings on the site in order to provide more breathing space for businesses. Conway Street in front of the mill, now an impromptu car park, will become an official forecourt offering secure parking and directing visitors to a new entrance closer to the peaceline.

The area between the two mills, now abandoned, will be roofed over and become a ‘winter courtyard’. The boldest innovation proposed by architects Mackel and Doherty will see a new glass-walled art gallery emerge on the top of the front Mill building. Offering exhibition and meeting space, the gallery will also double as an area where artists can work on commissions-and provide an unrivalled view of the city and Cavehill for visitors.
The third floor in the front building will be maintained as an open space, providing a historical echo of the mill in its hey-day and affording space for trade shows, public meetings and concerts.

As well as approaching the Heritage Lottery, Arts Council, Belfast Regeneration Office and the International Fund for Ireland, the Mill is also falling back on the support of its American cousins. “During the black years of the economic blockade, Elizabeth Logue and her Doors of Hope organisation in the US kept funds flowing into our coffers so that the education and cultural activities could continue in the mill,” says Moya.

For Moya, the Mill provides a lesson in community regeneration that the West Belfast Task Force must take on board. “IDB and Ledu are traditionally more inclined to look at high-profile businesses and overlook the contribution which indigenous businesses can make,” she says. “Yet the local business which does well is more likely to stay in this area and employ local people. The economic agencies need to be more flexible in their approach. Businesses such as craft businesses don’t fit into the pigeonholes used by Ledu but they can make an incredible contribution to economic and social uplift. I see the mill as an enabler, having the flexibility to encourage business and to act as a catalyst for economic regeneration.”