Sharon Greene Of Queens Of Neon Shares Her Little Black Book

Sharon Greene, of Queens of Neon and co-founder of the Dublin Flea Market, is branching out to begin her own art practice, something she has been putting off for 20 years. Here she shares her list of places to go and names to know for the month ahead.

EAT
I am very excited by Rachel Allen’s new restaurant Rachel’s on Washington Street, Cork. It opened recently and the space and menu looks amazing. I have yet to eat there but I was working in the restaurant for a week before the doors opened to the public, installing an art installation that Rachel commissioned for the front room of the restaurant. The installation comprises a wall display of antique cameras and a series of Cyanotype prints depicting pressed hedgerow flowers and plants I collected and dried in Allihies in Cork last year on holidays. The exhibition is titled Capturing Imbolc, which is the Celtic celebration of spring and references archaic methods of capturing images of new growth. Every months, the featured art installation in the restaurant will change, which I think is really exciting. The next one will be by my artist friend Yvonne Woods.

STAY
Top of my list of hotels to stay in in the world is the Inis Meain Suites, I think it represents the height of getaway luxury and resonates with my love of Ireland, foraging and the wild west. I love the rustic, minimalist style of the rooms and the fact that your breakfast is dropped to your door in the morning to eat in the privacy of your own room with floor to ceiling views of the Aran Islands and the Atlantic Sea beyond.

BUY
Running until May 27th, Deirdre Breen‘s screen print exhibition at Damn Fine Print Studio in Dublin is not to be missed. I love her work and I’m dying to buy a piece. I came across her work when she did a poster for a gig night run by the alternative music event production company Homebeat and it had instant impact on me. I love that her work is very graphic (influenced by her graphic design background) but she creates the images using a screen printing process. I am really into the geometric shapes and her use of colour.

EVENT
It would have to be the Venice Art Biennale, which opens on May 13. I went to it for the first time two years ago and was completely blown away by the vast collection of art installations on display and the sheer diversity of disciplines and materials involved. I think that whether you’re an artist or not, the Venice Biennale and Venice itself, is an unmissable trip to make. The Art Biennale runs until October so if you miss the opening month, which I hear can be a busy, you have a few more months to make it there.

Happy to be back in my studio after many weeks . . . My first job after the RCA was working for Tim Lamb who had the Shaker Shop in Marylebone. I loved this solid cherry wood 12ft (3.6m) table and bought it, to this day I am not sure why as it was so huge and I have lugged it around all these years from place to place, in storage and out. For the last few years It has been wedged against a wall unused and to be honest when I pulled it out I did not remember quite how big it was. Rather than getting rid of it I decided to resurrect it and I am loving it! . . #spacesintoplaces #moragbelonging #shaker #table #furniture #moragmyerscough #studiomyerscough #myerscoughstudio

A post shared by Morag Myerscough (@moragmyerscough) on Apr 22, 2017 at 8:54am PDT

FOLLOW
My latest Instagram’must-follow is Morag Myerscough. She is a London artist who works on large scale, colourful, site-specific projects from city pop-ups to festivals and hospitals. Her use of colour, shape and lettering really inspires me. Another account that I tune into is @amin_ramzi, who re-posts a huge variety of images by other artists and designers.

SHOP
I love the Irish Design Shop on Drury Street, Dublin. If I am looking for a gift, this is my first port of call. They stock a great selection of Irish design and craft which is literally off the charts in terms of quality and style at the moment. Ireland is teeming with really talented artists, designers and craft makers doing amazing things but unfortunately there are not enough shops stocking their work, so huge kudos to those that do. Right now, I’m hankering after one of these gorgeous washbags by Jane Hayden (above).