Michael Craig’s miniature worlds continue a traditional Irish art form dating back to illuminated Christian manuscripts, writes James Howley
In The Poetics of Space, published in Paris in 1958, the French philosopher Gaston Bachelard included a chapter on the subject of miniature in which he describes why it commands, for most people, such a strong psychological attraction. Bachelard defined the phenomenon in terms of our imagination and capacity to daydream. ‘ .. … imagination in miniature is natural imagination that exists in all ages in the daydreams of born dreamers.’ The work of the illustrator Michael Craig is the epitome of imagination in miniature, continuing a traditional Irish art form dating back to the illuminated Christian manuscripts of the early medieval period.
Mark Ewart visits the studio of Allihies-based artist Rachel Parry who transforms natural matter into mesmerizing art.
Kim Haughton’s portraits, on view now at the National Museum Collins Barracks, reflect on Ireland’s multi-layered society at the end of the first century of this nation state, writes Stephanie McBride
