Creating a sociable art space

"Sometimes I think art can be taken a bit too seriously," says Karen Goode. "You have to learn to have fun while you’re doing it as well."

That's exactly what the Monksland resident is planning to do with Acrylics Craic, a new venture she started in recent weeks which is running 'paint and sip' art classes at the Venue 4 premises on Athlone's Bastion Street.

The idea behind the class is that people come to create a painting while bringing along a beverage of their choice to sample at the same time.

Or, as Karen puts it, "It's a bit like going back to playschool, but with wine!"

The mother-of-four has been a socially involved artist and community worker throughout her life and has been heavily involved with Athlone groups such as Making Space arts initiative, Poetry in the Park, and the Shannon Storytellers group which she founded in 2014.

She is a daughter of Mary, originally from Omagh, and the late Kieran Gallagher from Curraghboy. Her parents both emigrated to find work and met in Birmingham in the 1960s, before returning to Ireland to settle here in the '70s.

Karen is a former Our Lady's Bower student whose working background is in administrative management and community development. She recently undertook a BA in Business, Enterprise and Community Development, graduating in 2017.

Currently she works as an administrator for 123 Financial Services on Castlemaine Street in Athlone. Married to Derek, she is the mother of Chloe Schmid (27), Tegan Goode (14), Katelyn Goode (12) and Daithí Goode (10).

Speaking to the Westmeath Independent, Karen was enthusiastic about arts initiatives which help to develop individuals' confidence.

A chief example she cites is the Shannon Storytellers group, which was established to provide an outlet for reciting original and published pieces of writing and also to create a platform for old-style Seanachaí storytelling.

The group meets in Flannery's pub on the third Thursday of each month, at 8pm. 

While Karen no longer hosts the storytelling meetings (they are currently hosted by Brian McClean) she still attends when she can and enjoys seeing how contributions to the group evolve over time.

"You can see people’s confidence growing and how they kind of blossom from one month to the next when they’re bringing in the next piece that they’ve written.

"It’s wonderful. It’s great for adults to have these outlets where they can socialise and be creative at the same time.

"You never come away from (storytelling group meetings) without tears in your eyes from laughing. And, of course, we’ve had people from all over the world, who are in the bar that night, joining in.

"The Storytelling Institute of Phoenix, Arizona, have come over three times and they stay in Athlone for a night specifically to go to it, so it brings in a little bit of revenue to the town too."

Karen has contributed to all four volumes of publications from the Poetry in the Park collective and has assisted with children's art and craft clubs in Monksland and creative writing workshops for teenagers at the Gateway Youth Project in Athlone.

Her new Acrylics Craic initiative is named after the type of paint used in the classes. Karen first came upon the idea when she was researching social economy ideas and heard about 'bring your own wine' painting parties taking place in the UK.

Fast forward to six weeks ago, when she received a call from her eldest daughter, Chloe, who was on holiday in New Zealand.

"She rang me and said, 'Mam, I was at one of those paint and wine parties here in New Zealand and it was brilliant – I had so much fun'. I said, right, that’s it, I’m starting up my own class! So I got straight to work on it," she explains.

The inaugural class was held on Friday, October 26, and was warmly received by the ten painters who took part.

Karen is currently organising classes for the coming weeks. She hopes to run them each Friday evening, between 7.30pm and 9pm, provided there is a minimum of six people (up to a maximum of ten) booked in each week. The cost is €15 per person, and for the month of November there's 50% off for students and job seekers.

Asked what people can expect from the class, she replies that it will be "an experience for your five senses."

"We’re going to have some lovely New York jazz on, some incense burning in the corner, you’re going to be able to taste your favourite drink, and then of course you’re going to be looking and touching while you’re painting. You have to let your paint dry for ten minutes, so that gives you a chance to talk!

"Everything is supplied, so you don't have to bring anything except whatever it is you would like to drink. Everything else - the brushes, canvas, paints, aprons, easels, will all be supplied, and the painting will be started and finished in one class."

She has set up a website (acrylicscraic.com) and is hoping the classes will appeal to a variety of people and organisations. "I’m hoping it will be something that people can use for their birthday parties or Christmas parties.

"I don’t do the painting of nudes or anything like that, but it could be for a hen party. It could be a team building event for a corporation, an office party, or a way to start a night out for people.

"Seamus O'Rourke of the (nearby) Bailey bar has kindly offered to keep people's paintings behind the bar until 3pm the following day for those who are out and about in Athlone afterwards and buy a drink in his bar."

Karen was previously involved with the Making Space group, which operated from a premises at Custume Place. The group still has a committee in place but no longer has a premises in town.

"The Making Space Studios was a great place for community artists to meet up and so many events were run in that little common room at the studios," she says.

"It would be wonderful if we could get something (like that) up and running again because there are so many creative people around Athlone."

The initial level of interest in the Acrylics Craic 'paint and sip' classes has been encouraging and she is looking forward to seeing how things progress with the initiative over the next year.

"It’s a passion of mine - I love people and love to see people enjoying themselves and having the craic.

"There will be no Da Vinci’s coming out of it, but it will be fun and relaxing!" she concludes.