Event
Smiling Dog are an arts and health collective exploring how art and art therapy coexist, and what each does in companionship and/or contention in participatory and healthcare contexts.
The collective is made up of artist Marie Brett, art therapist John McHarg, and Ed Kuczaj, art therapist and former Head of the Department of Arts in Health & Education, MTU CCAD. Their collective work includes research projects, critical dialogues, multi-media exhibitions, immersive events, published writing and artists’ books.
Together they have helped to inform and shape arts and health practice in Ireland over the last 15 years with special reference to ‘dialogues of opposition’ – referring to the similarities, differences and overlaps in their respective practices of artist and art therapist, within participatory and health-care contexts. Their new working title ‘Smiling Dog’ references the three-headed Cerberus and symbolises how they are looking to what’s past, current and future, from three distinct headsets.
Building on their paper “Working on the Edge” (Journal of The Irish Association of Creative Arts Therapists, 2011) which explores the similarities and differences of art and art therapy practice, Smiling Dog will present new research and a new body of artwork in 2025:
Bones of Contention at MTU Gallery Cork
9 – 30 January 2025
This new body of artwork explores a series of contested ideas surrounding current arts and health practice; of people working on the edge, of human health and illness issues, and of embodied practice embracing risk and trust. The gallery space will be utilised as an institutional territory, with the artwork mapping a melee of fragility and resilance.
Text, paint, and biodegradable materials will be mixed with relics and healthcare totems; viewable from both within the gallery and from the street. You may expect to find soil, dirt, unexpected paraphernalia and semi-precious objects, amid more polite art making materials and sound.
More information: https://arts.mtu.ie/viewEvent?id=1546
Cork City Library
A display of documentation and artist’s response will be hosted at Cork City Library from 3 – 24 January 2025.
New Research
As part of publishing a new paper next year, the collective have been working with Réalta (University Hospital Waterford), Mór Artists Collective (Greywood Arts Creative Hub), Links Therapy Garden (St Raphael’s in Youghal), and hopefully soon MTU Crawford College students in creative exploration.
If you’d like to find out more or to take part in this research you can email the collective at smilingdogproject@gmail.com
Feature image: A Quickening, Marie Brett and John McHarg, 2010
