St. Pappin's Ladies Club (1966-2003), opening night at Project, Dublin, 2003
An archive of activities of the St. Pappin's Ladies Club (1966-2003). Initial display in Artists/Groups curated by Grant Watson at Project, Dublin (30 October - 6 December 2003)
In the spring of 2002, I met the St. Pappin's Ladies Club in Ballymun. In hearing about their history, I proposed to present their Club memorabilia in public as The Metropolitan Complex's participation in the exhibition Artists/Groups curated by Grant Watson at Project, Dublin (November 2003). Their archive represents a chronicle of group activity from 1966-2003. In the gallery were Club minutes, personal mementos, craftwork, community newsletters, group photographs, video documentation, and individual artworks made by Club members as recently as 2003.
The Club and its output leads to questions about what constitutes an artist group, and what parameters surround artistic production. The systems that describe artist groups, such as establishing a peer network, working outside of institutions, and responding to shared circumstances, can be found in the St. Pappin's Ladies Club. The Club was formed in 1966 (in the same year artists in Dublin set up Project). Its members are among the first women who moved to Ballymun in the 1960s when the community there had little to offer young mothers and working women. Isolated from the rest of Dublin, and with no official context in which to work, the women joined together. They co-opted their name from the local parish where they first met and over the past three decades the Club has met regularly on Monday nights. On November 10, 2003 an open meeting at Project celebrated this tradition.
(Sarah Pierce, wall text for Artists/Groups, Project, Dublin 2003.)
St. Pappin's Ladies Club (1966-2003), opening night at Project, Dublin, 2003
Letter in Satallite from the St. Pappin's Ladies Club, Ballymun, 1972
SP/01
Sylvia Walsh & Janice Broe
Flower Arrangements 2000/2001.
SP/02
Nellie Byrne
Court Variety Players Mother Goose Costumes 1982.
SP/03
Sylvia Walsh & Janice Broe
Flower Arrangements 2000/2001.
SP/04
Janice Broe
Plaster Cast 2003.
SP/05
Patricia Barry
Sketches 2002.
SP/06
St Pappins Ladies Club
Minutes 1968 – 1985.
SP/07
St Pappins Ladies Club
Ballymun Community Magazines 1969 – 1989.
SP/08
Lily Hanley
Macramé Plant Holder c. 1979.
SP/09
Annie Crean
Macramé Plant Holder c. 1979.
SP/10
Jean Fitzpatrick
Macramé Plant Holder c. 1979.
SP/11
St Pappins Ladies Club
Original Pantomime Scripts c. 1982.
SP/12
Sylvia Walsh & Janice Broe
Flower Arrangements 2000/2001.
SP/13
Annie Crean
Greeting Cards & Book Marks c. 2002.
SP/14
Janice Broe
Knitted Top 1982.
SP/15
Cora Marshall
Oil Painting 2002.
SP/16
Janice Broe
Watercolour & Etching 2002 & 2003.
SP/17
Patricia Barry
Oil Painting 2002.
SP/18
Sylvia Walsh & Janice Broe
Fan Arrangement 2000/2001.
SP/19
Patricia Barry
Watercolour 2003.
SP/20
Marie Dempsey
Crochet Hat 2003.
SP/21
Marie Dempsey
Crochet Top 2003.
SP/22
Annie Crean
Pressed Flowers 2002.
SP/23
St Pappins Ladies Club
Documentation of the East Timor Project 2003.
SP/24
St Pappins Ladies Club
Documentation of the Los Angeles Project 2003.
SP/25
St Pappins Ladies Club
Ballymun News 1978.
SP/26
Sylvia Walsh & Janice Broe
Flower Arrangement 2000/2001.
SP/27
Nellie Byrne
Rag Doll c. 1978.
SP/28
Janice Broe
Watercolour 2002.
SP/29
Janice Broe
Mosaic Tile 2003.
SP/30
Annie Crean
Macramé Plant Holder c.1979.
SP/31
Sylvia Walsh
Christmas Table Mats 1999.
SP/32
Jean Fitzpatrick
Macramé Plant Holder c. 1979.
SP/33
Kay Rooney
Food Collage 2003.
SP/34
Jean Fitzpatrick & Annie Crean
Crochet Bags c. 1979.
SP/35
Janice Broe
Trinity Ball Gown & Debs Gown 1991 & 1988.
SP/36
Nellie Byrne
Four Pantomime Costumes 2002.