'I knew if I left Sherkin, it would be the end of me': Art and life on the island 

“It’s a very rare thing to feel that you’ve landed in the place you’re meant to be,” says Majella O’Neill Collins, one of the founders of the BA (Honours) in the Visual Art Degree programme delivered on Sherkin Island.

Recently, Majella, who is an artist in her own right, attended the graduation of seven students, 25 years since the programme was established.

There are now 106 graduates of the unique island course.

Majella, a facilitator on the BA degree course, says there were also seven students from the MA in Art and Environment graduating in March.

The BA in Visual Art, also led by Aisling Moran (Sherkin Island Development Society) and Ann Davoren (director, Uilinn, West Cork Arts Centre) has redefined access to arts education in rural Ireland.

It has not been a smooth ride, with funding problems arising over the years.

But now, the programme, a collaboration with Technological University Dublin (TUD), formerly Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), is on a firm footing, says Majella, who turned down a secure job to migrate to Sherkin and build a life and a pioneering education venture there.

Reared just outside Skibbereen, Majella re first placing her foot on the pier at Sherkin many years ago.

The 61-year-old says: “I just knew instantly it was a place that had amazing energy. Also, the people living there were open and very cosmopolitan. It was like going to a different country.”

The only member of her family to attend college, Majella, a graduate of the Limerick School of Art and Design, was offered an art teaching post in a secondary school.

“But I had other ideas. I knew if I left Sherkin, it would be the end of me.There was the hunger and the drive to get the course going.”

The other instigator of the BA Visual Art programme was Bernadette Burns, who lectured in fine art at DIT for many years and now lives and works as an artist on Sherkin.

Before setting up the degree programme, Majella gave art classes to children on the island.

“A lot of people were complimenting me on the method of teaching.

“I used to take the kids off to the beach. We didn’t have an art shop on Sherkin. We used found materials and materials from nature. The kids really enjoyed it, being out in the fresh air.

“A friend of Bernadette’s from the Irish Museum of Modern Art visited the island with her children and complimented what I was doing. From there, the idea sprung.”

As Majella points out, the most important element in the whole venture has been the involvement of the community.

“We were lucky; the Sherkin Island Development Society was very strong and had a vision for the future.

“It’s made up of locals; farmers, fishermen, bus drivers - all voluntary. And there was already a platform of artists, musicians and writers ever before I got there.”

The degree programme didn’t happen overnight.

There were papers to be written, funding to be sought, and accommodation to be secured.

Along with the collaborators, the BA in Visual Art is ed by the Department of Rural and Community Development and Cork County Council.

“The students come and live on the island (over weekends). We have a house for the lecturers and three houses rented by the students. Some people make a few bob out of it which is good for the locals. Once the students arrive on Sherkin, they have a real taste of what it is to live on an island.”

The nature of the location influences the course content.

“Our course has an awful lot to do with the environment and climate change. The students get a lot of information from the local farmers and fishermen. And there are biologists on Sherkin.

“At the end of the four years, the students show their work in the landscape. It could be in a farmer’s field, in a kitchen of someone’s house, on the ferry or on the beach. The students come up with where they want to exhibit and they engage with the landowners.”

One of the lecturers on the course, leading artist Jesse Jones, who represented Ireland in the 2017 Biennale, is in communication with two local oyster farmers for her own artistic research purposes.

“The good thing for people who are studying on Sherkin is that they see that the lecturers and facilitators are all practising artists. You have some colleges where lecturers just go in and teach. We are living proof of what it is to put on a show and how hard it is. It’s like an apprenticeship.

“I being in college myself. I had all the bells and whistles with print shops, big studios with lighting. But when I left college, I was kind of stulted.

“It was the recession of the ’80s. There were just two choices; you taught or you went on the dole.

“Students now, when they come here, have their own studios at home, be it in the kitchen or the garden shed. So they’re very much practising artists.”

As well as showing their work outdoors, the final year students also exhibit their work at Uilinn, while usually, students graduating from other colleges around Ireland only get one chance to show off their work.

Majella points out that the students are lectured by internationally renowned artists.

“We are blessed to have Jesse Jones come down here. We also have Glenn Loughran lecturing.”

She mentions facilitator Billy Kemp “who is a brilliant technical whizz.

“For the first time, we have a former student, Sinead McCormick, who lives and works on Sherkin and is now employed by TUD. Sinead is head of first years at the moment.

“It’s great for the island because it’s proof that the programme will continue.”

Speaking of the 25-year milestone, Ann Davoren said: “This programme has had an immense impact not only on the students who have graduated, but also on the cultural and social fabric of Sherkin Island and beyond.

“Twenty-five years ago, few could have imagined that an honours degree in visual art, delivered on a remote island, would become a leading choice for aspiring artists.”

See https://sherkinisland.ie/ba-visual-art-degree-programme/