Mark Garry

Sending Letters To The Sea

Sending letters to the Sea is a collaborative music project by the visual artist and Musician Mark Garry. This unique project is part of Fingal County Councils series of public art commissions, funded through the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government’s Per Cent for Art Scheme

In 2007 a number of artists were selected to be part of Fingal County Council’s Public Art Panel. The selected artists were invited to respond to a brief which reflected, either physically or theoretically, aspects of Fingal’s society, culture, heritage, and geography, with the aim of expanding the notion of public art and further strengthening the role of the local authority as a commissioner of new practices.

When selected to be part of this panel Mark tried to find a mechanism, that would both engage in a local context but have the scope to reach a diverse and far reaching audience. Mark is interested in Ireland’s culturally Christian status and the broader cultural impact of Christianity. Mark researched the connections between music and religious celebration from both technical and philosophical perspectives, and how religion and religious instances throughout history influencedand shaped the many forms of music we hear today.

The project evolved to become a collaborative musical project, Mark brought together a range of musicians working with a broad range of classical and contemporary musical techniques. The outcome from this collaboration is a Vinyl and CD release that was developed over a two year period and recorded in Studio East in Berlin and St. Columba’s Church , Swords, Fingal. For this project Mark brought together a talented and diverse group of musical talents. Electro/ acoustic musician and composer Karl Burke (AKA Karl Him), The Irish female musician Nina Hynes , young jazz percussionist Sean Carpio .Chora/ electronic musician Eileen Carpio .French classically trained pianist Fabien Leseure and Paris based Jazz Violin player Benoit Leseure. These group enlisted the talents of Geaspar Warfield on Cello and John Egan on Violin and Viola and The Fingal chamber choir. This recording will be performed live at 8pm on the 19th of November in St St. Columba’s Church , Swords.

For more information please see www.myspace.com/sendingletterstothesea