A Forest Sounds Like a Ship at Sea:

The "ship"

DAY 1: Remote Residency at Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen, Ireland, 7/18/22 to 8/13/22, Maria Driscoll McMahon checking in from New York State

"By the Time You Cut Teeth You Are Already Ancient," Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ, 2/22/20

Four years ago I travelled to Ireland for the first time. It ignited a passion for discovery – of both my own ancestry and the history of Ireland – particularly West Cork. And so began my body of work By the Time you Cut Teeth you are Already Ancient, described as one part “meta-genealogical investigation, one part spiritual quest, one part cautionary tale.” I did many drawings for that project (some of which were to happen during my Uillinn: West Cork Art Centre residency originally scheduled for summer of 2020) which have been exhibited in three solo exhibitions (one of which I shared with my collective, 2x2) at galleries and universities.  The photo above was taken in 2020 as I continued to make more drawings for the project.  You can learn more about that body of work here: www.mariadriscollmcmahon.com  and here By the Time You Cut Teeth You Are Already Ancient.

My new work in progress is an “offshoot” (pun intended!) of the former, but rather explores the habitats – particularly the trees - of my Irish paternal ancestors – both before and after emigrating from Ireland.
 

Surprisingly enough, my wild curiosity about the habitats was aroused, in part, during my daily walks on my own tiny plot of land which turns out to be only 25 miles from where Cornelius O’Driscoll – weary scout from Ireland – and the first of my Irish ancestors to come to America in the mid 19th century, built his log cabin in Ridgebury, Pa. It was there, in the “unbroken Pennsylvania wilderness” where “Cornelius commenced his clearing,” as reported by the Reverend David Craft in the tome, History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, 1770-1878.  Four years later, he would return to Ireland to bring his family and friends to join him in the new frontier. 

In sum, the little forest I enter every day without fail has become my "ship" connecting continents, centuries, and the living and the dead. 

In addition to drawing in preparation for an animation/projection (the process of which I am learning), my research during this residency will entail contacts with natural scientists, conservationists, historians, the priests serving "Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church," in Ridgebury, Pa. (which my own ancestors helped to build in the mid-19th century), visits with descendants of the original immigrants who established the "Irish Settlement" in Ridgebury, Pa., internet articles, and lots of yummy books, including:

1)  The Overstory by Richard Powers | Goodreads 

2)  Sacred Trees of Ireland by Christine Zucchelli | Goodreads 

3)  Wild Woods: The Magic of Ireland's Native Woodlands by Richard Nairn | Goodreads 

4)  American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation by Eric Rutkow | Goodreads 

5)  Remarkable Trees of the World by Thomas Pakenham | Goodreads 

6)  The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben | Goodreads 

7) Barclay Mountain: A History  Bradford County Historical Society (bradfordhistory.com) 

8)  The Fir Tree Map of the Beara Peninsula & South West Cork Sheet map folded 

9) Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit (goodreads.com)

10) An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

11) Lough Hyne – From Prehistory to the Present – Skibbereen Heritage Centre (skibbheritage.com)

12) Skibbereen: The Famine Story by Terri Kearney and Philip O'Reagan

13) Animation Sketchbooks by Laura Heit (goodreads.com)

14) Baltimore Castle: An 800-year History Bernie McCarthy

15)The Chieftain's Daughter by Marie D Driscoll

16) The Textile Trilogy – Destiny Kinal

Many thanks to all the folks mentioned above who have helped me already. I will be sure to name names at a later date! I could not do this research without you!

A Forest Sounds Like a Ship at Sea

Day 1, Part 2: Remote Residency at Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen, Ireland, 7/18/22 to 8/13/22,  Maria Driscoll McMahon checking in from New York State

(Video: 4 1/2  minutes of footage taken in a young forest )

                                           

The inspiration for A Forest Sounds Like a Ship at Sea  came, in part, during one of my daily walks when  the wind was whipping up and I wrote (in my head at first) a poem which I entitled “Intruder,” the first line of which I decided would be the title of my work during my residency here at the Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre.  

Intruder

A forest sounds like a ship at sea,

a creaky pirate

pinnace

g r o a n s

curses

shrieks of girls

delight

or fright

snorts of

whales,

laments

(A rock removed is a

depression

so deep

it empties the

foot.)

moans

Whose prints these are I think I know -

A hole

an inverse heap.

“the way I say!”

(Rimmed with fuschia, the doe’s ears glowed and

"My hands turned to dandelions!"

{Thanks for the blessing, James Wright!})

Ahhhhh….where can I go on this arc,

this wood, this mound,

where I do not follow and am not

followed?

Maria Driscoll McMahon, October, 2020

Some mornings I find remnants of tumultuous nights – sticks the circumferences of swords piercing the ground like ex-caliber,  limbs lying akimbo in the path where my feet want to pass. It all is an apt metaphor for  the story of  "those who came before" who speak to me during these walks. 

The video is 4 1/2 minutes and I find it almost as mesmerizing as the days I gathered the footage when the trees were talking to me.  One thing I didn't notice during "real time" was the phenomenon known as "crown shyness," so apparent to me here in the video!   What Is Crown Shyness? (treehugger.com) 

Moreover, I am beginning to learn which trees, or which limbs, are the poets, which are the orators, which are the cussers/the noisemakers/the activists, and which are the quiet ones.  I also take note of the fallen.  I recognize that the most loquacious trees are often the most vulnerable. After all, the limbs that talk are also the limbs that bump and scrape each other - sometimes to the point of breaking.  Those outspoken limbs - the ones who made the most noise, now dismembered, are henceforth silenced. Forever.