Cathy Fitzgerald Portfolios

In 1993 the Forest Service funded a Crann (an Irish tree NGO) project, in which local people from 13 farms, comprising of over 300 acres, planted broadleaf woodlands across Co. Leitrim, Ireland. This pioneering model of community forestry to initiate a local wood culture of this scale has been little recognised. Yet in Ireland which has the best tree growing conditions in Europe and a need for self-sufficiency in fuel, whilst responding to biodiversity and climate change issues, a return to locally produced fuels will be inevitable.

Ireland has only a very recent history in forestry, having lost its native woodlands centuries ago. In the last 30 years, huge areas have been reforested but in the main it embraced the quick return/cash crop/clear felling forestry that involves spruce monocultures. Moves towards permanent, sustainable forestry are coming, the 'local project' gives some picture of what permanent forestry in Ireland in the future will look like..

The artist and the exhibition:

“It seems to me that there is a new type of forestry emerging in Ireland, involving local communities and broadleaf trees; it's the beginning of a return to a sustainable Irish wood culture.”

C. Fitzgerald 06

While my earlier art projects have focussed on my interest in science, particulary biology, I have continued to develop my involvement in environmental concerns. In my practice I combine research along with my desire to work alongside people in the creative process to make the artwork.

In March 2005 I initiated a proposal which was jointly supported by Crann and The Dock, to reasses the 'local project'. In this exhibition I brought together the voices and images of local people who volunteered to plant broadleaf woodlands 10-12 years ago in an innovative Crann Project in South Leitrim, Ireland.

The Crann ‘local project' was an opportunity for people to act at a local level in addressing issues about international deforestation and Ireland's almost total dependence on imported tropical woods.

The film and photographs document the growing of a new local wood culture in Leitrim that is both sustainable and suitable for transferring to other areas in Ireland.

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See review in the Irish Times Ticket here
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Read recent Irish Times article on Jan Alexander here

read press release here

read Crann Dec O6 review here for full
background to the project and the exhibition

Previous work with Crann:

I am originally from New Zealand, and have lived in Ireland for the past 14 years and have a background in science. My first few summers were spent in South Leitrim working on a Crann Hedgerow awareness project and I was involved in setting up a small Crann craft and information shop in Mohill in Leitrim - at that time I met many of the people involved in the 'local project'. Some of the crafts people from that time now exhibit their woodcrafts in The Leitrim Design House. I received an ESB Environmental Endeavour Award for my work on this project and created an illustrated rare trees and shrubs of Irish Hedgerows calendar (see Hedgerow portfolio) in 1998. I was accepted into the National College of Art and Design for a fine art degree course.