Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre Artist in Residence
Julielou Bacon
Almanac 2026 ce
5 June to 4 August 2026
Julielou Bacon
Almanac 2026 ce
5 June to 4 August 2026
Midway reflection
St Mona’s Holy Well, Sherkin Island
The other day, while out on Sherkin Island talking with a local, I found myself
describing my residency at Uillinn (5th June-4th August) as being like a migratory
bird that is spending a season in a different hospitable setting from the climate of
their usual life. Birds were on my mind since a conversation earlier that day during a
walk with an islander on their neighbour’s land – where there is a Mass rock – had
raised the topic of the corncrake. I listened to my hosts’ recollection of the birds’
arrival, nesting and calls. Later, I looked up this species – unfamiliar to me – on the
Internet and read that they had been regular “summer visitors, breeding in Ireland
from April to September and migrating to Africa for the winter.”
A field trip to Drombeg stone circle organised by the Skibbereen & District Historical Society
This visit to Sherkin is one of a regular series of fieldwork trips and meetings that I
have undertaken at sites in and around Skibbereen and West Cork since setting up
in my studio on the 2nd floor of Uillinn. They are joined by conversations in the
studio, including on my open days on Tuesdays and Wednesdays: you are very
welcome to come by. Sites visited and events in which I have participated range
from: a cycle out along the Baltimore Rd to Lough Hyne (in Midsummer brightlight); a
talk organised by the Skibbereen Historical Society at Drombeg stone circle (in the
sea fog); a walk along the shores of Roaringwater Bay with residents (in sunblaze
with a gentle south-westerly breeze); a bus trip out to attend the Fastnet Maritime
and Folk Festival in Ballydehob (in thickhumid pub air); joining a songwriting and
community band workshop on Heir Island (in seafogshine).
have undertaken at sites in and around Skibbereen and West Cork since setting up
in my studio on the 2nd floor of Uillinn. They are joined by conversations in the
studio, including on my open days on Tuesdays and Wednesdays: you are very
welcome to come by. Sites visited and events in which I have participated range
from: a cycle out along the Baltimore Rd to Lough Hyne (in Midsummer brightlight); a
talk organised by the Skibbereen Historical Society at Drombeg stone circle (in the
sea fog); a walk along the shores of Roaringwater Bay with residents (in sunblaze
with a gentle south-westerly breeze); a bus trip out to attend the Fastnet Maritime
and Folk Festival in Ballydehob (in thickhumid pub air); joining a songwriting and
community band workshop on Heir Island (in seafogshine).
At these places, I have arranged to meet, and encountered, people who have
connections with this area, whether through their livelihood, family, work, retirement,
interests or research. In conversations we have discussed their reflections on
climates, sensings of time, and the almanac, which is the umbrella idea of my
residency. I completed my first project reflecting on the contemporary relevance of
this age-old publication in 2024. Then I presented works exploring climates and time
in Edinburgh, my current home, and the Outer Hebrides, where I had also
undertaken a residency. I have a similar approach this time around, working in the
studio and in the field, I have a set of tools, methods and materials for my art
research that include working with: watercolour, pencil and charcoal, sound samples,
drawing, video clips, and assemblage of (found, made or bought) objects.
connections with this area, whether through their livelihood, family, work, retirement,
interests or research. In conversations we have discussed their reflections on
climates, sensings of time, and the almanac, which is the umbrella idea of my
residency. I completed my first project reflecting on the contemporary relevance of
this age-old publication in 2024. Then I presented works exploring climates and time
in Edinburgh, my current home, and the Outer Hebrides, where I had also
undertaken a residency. I have a similar approach this time around, working in the
studio and in the field, I have a set of tools, methods and materials for my art
research that include working with: watercolour, pencil and charcoal, sound samples,
drawing, video clips, and assemblage of (found, made or bought) objects.
Working beehives near Skibbereen
guess in musical terms (I also sing and play guitar) you’d say that I am ‘riffing’ on the
idea of the almanac, not attempting to be systematic, but sounding, fathoming, or
intuiting place, guided by the publication’s basic framework which addresses
seasons, land, sea, climate and time. People I have spoken with have experiences
of time and climate shaped by trades, the arts, tourism and heritage, beekeeping,
birdwatching, the sea and other waterways. I feel thankful for this time and
experience generously shared and look forward to more exchanges to come in the
second part of my residency.
This creative approach to the almanac – working with the anecdotal, soundings, and
observations – is not so distant from the traditional almanac, which often held a
curious mix of…'information'. I pause over the term, because ‘information’ often
means ‘data’ today. Tides are usual parts of an almanac, and while I can buy a
standalone tide table from Fields Supervalu (as I did, thanks to a helpful suggestion)
and it can tell me a lot of useful information, what does it mean to me in this form
alone? I am from South Shields – we are called sand dancers – and tides are very
real to me, they live in my memories, but not ones woven with this place. When
information connects with, or is embedded in, the climate and time of stories,
sounds, smells and images of lived experiences – direct or passed on to us –
different kinds of understanding and relationships emerge.
I am interested in the diverse ways climate and time are embodied in people, and
other species, and the different durations of this, from the rooted to the settled to the
newly arrived. I am also drawn to the stuff of place, such as rocks! What happens in
the mix, when samplings, fragments, piecings, and tracings, of time and climate
captured in different ways come together? At this point, I am looking around my
studio at the collection of things here and wondering how I might arrange them into
stepping stones or twine them together. As part of Skibbereen Arts Festival (date
tbc), I will be holding an Open Studio where I will arrange residency materials as a
work-in-progress installation.
With my process so far, I am leaning into the betwixt-and-betweenness of
information-storytelling-observation associated with the almanac. I am turning over
the threshold between the incidental and the significant, signal and noise. I am
exploring how our bodies are weather stations of sorts, barometers of climate and
time. Through materials and methods, sensing the rhythm of place here, I am
considering what counts as knowledge, and of how available, layered, open, hidden,
enduring, and ethereal it is.
Julielou Bacon
07/07/2026
This residency is supported by the Crespo Foundation.
The Crespo Foundation is based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and was set up by the photographer, psychologist and philanthropist Ulrike Crespo (1950–2019). The foundation carries out operational projects in the fields of art, education and social affairs. The Crespo Foundation works closely with Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre for its own residency programme "ArtNature/NatureArt" in Glenkeen Garden, West Cork.
Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre acknowledges the financial support of The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon and the Crespo Foundation in making this residency possible.
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