NEWS

Busy Times

Nadim Sadek, Chief Islander:

• "Our 2010 Artists' Residency was great; they lived on the island and did wonderful things. For a flavour of the work and the time we had, please go here.

• I’m final-proofing our Brilliant Irish Flute book today, and then it goes to press along with our great two CDs. I’m afraid our pre-order system collapsed (thanks for the enthusiasm!), so may I ask you please, if you do wish to pre-order a copy, to let us know again by writing to music@inishturkbeg.com. Our website now also has a lovely section on the music, and will keep enlarging with videos and photos of the sessions. Click here to visit.

• Our whiskey bottle has been produced. It was hard. We’ve broken moulds, literally. Each beautiful bottle is hand-blown, and includes a bit of our beach in every bottle. Whiskey news will be announced shortly, including the chance to pre-order our first ever bottling – it’s known as ‘Maiden Voyage’ and there will be only 2,888 bottles produced, so apart from being fabulous, it’s also a collector’s item. It’s a delicious single-malt, using island water and made in barrels that have rested on the island soaking up our atmosphere (and the art and music that’s passed by on some days!). Click here to see the start of our whiskey story."

108 comments | Read the full post

The Kerry March

Johnny Dalgety, Island Manager and Chief Herdsman.

"When we started, there were two ... and now we have a whole family of beautiful Kerry Cows, wandering around the island. With their amazing horns and lean bodies, they remind of times gone by, when cattle were kept for a bit of milk and a bit of meat at the end, existing on the smallest amount of feed available. These are one of Ireland’s two rare breeds, and we love being a part of their preservation."

84 comments | Read the full post

Artists Draw Near ...

Nadim Sadek, Chief Islander:

"An inspiring array of talent comes together for our September Artists Residency on the island. The artists will live together on Inish Turk Beg, and the work they exhibit next March will naturally be infused with the spirit of life vividly lived which pervades our world. We're really excited about having artists live with us -- we hugely value how their creative talents contribute so much, bringing a rare intoxication to everyday life.

Here's a quick preview of the artists:

- Nick Miller is passionately interested in perception and how to pursue objectivity. Working with painting and drawing, Miller intensely observes his subjects, whether individuals or the landscape. Miller has been resident in Ireland since 1984, he work has been seen extensively throughout Ireland and in the UK and USA. More information here.

- Liam O’Callaghan takes the obsolete and disregarded materials of our age and through assemblage and other techniques redeems them from their useless to become aesthetic and poetic objects. His work is regularly shown in Ireland and Germany. For more information, click here.

- Eilis O'Connell -- working in three dimensions the forms she creates echo both the organic and the science fictive. Whether in small or large scale, her objects are imbued with a fierce beauty that both seduces and repels concurrently. O’Connell is known for a number of major public commissions in the UK, including Cardiff and the Isle of Dogs. For more information, click here.

- David Farrell is a photographer whose intimate portraits of places carry not only topographical reference but the underlying evidence of human behaviour. Narrative while never explicit drives these images. Farrell work has been widely exhibited from the Houston to Rome. Click here for more information.

- Nina Tanis's area of interest lies in site-specific installation, in which her works are created out of the unique intersection of a place and the ideas that arise there and the objects that might be foraged there. It is an agile and imaginative process that engages the viewer and sometimes incorporates them. For more information, click here.

- Ruth Lyons is interested in the curiosities that abound in our environment. So much of the build and agricultural environment is taken as a given, Through installation, video and painting she re-locates her subject and re-introduces our ability to interrogate them. More information is here.

- Magnhild Opdol unpicks fairytale and folklore to create contemporary and oft times sinister allegories. Using drawing and sculpture (especially taxidermy), Opdol eschews the saccharine spin that has invaded children’s tales and re-establishes the brutal life lessons that were often the core of the original. More information can be found here.

- Shoichi Sakurai -- a key element of Shoi's work is the aesthetic concept of wabisabi, in which the beauty of an object derives from, or is enhanced by, some flaw in it, or by a patina of age. A piece's past history can be found in its imperfections and can add to its personal sense of integrity and intrinsic beauty. More information is here.

We're also delighted to announce two wonderful co-curators:

- Patrick T. Murphy, Director, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin.

- Peter Prendergast, Director, Monstertruck Studios and Gallery, Dublin.

The exhibition, Life Vividly Lived (Part 2) will take place from March 15th to April 2nd, 2011, in Dublin, at Monstertruck."

45 comments | Read the full post

Hot and Wild!

Nadim Sadek, Chief Islander:

"Hello, on a hot and wild day on Inish Turk Beg. We’ve got tons of good news, so anchors up ...

- Four lovely bacon products have joined our very successful smoked fish range. It’s the best bacon can be! They’re available in all our usual stores (Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Harrods, The Food Company, Market 57, plus on-line, of course).

- Inish Turk Beg, the island, is the ultimate experience of the Inish Turk Beg brand, and we’re delighted that even in these financially tricky times, we’ve still got lots of people coming and using the place for a big lungful of life. We’re very pleased to have appointed Mason Rose as our agents for these stays.

- The 2010 Artists Residency begins on 12 September. We have two world-class curators this year: Patrick T. Murphy, Director, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, and Peter Prendergast, Director, Monstertruck Studios and Gallery, Dublin. The artists are brilliant, too, so more news on them separately and soon ... mark your diaries for a two-week show running from 15 March to 2 April 2011, in Dublin.

- Music's hoving into view, and we’re thrilled to be hosting a variety of great Irish musicians on Inish Turk Beg in August this year, which will culminate in us launching a series of book CDs, celebrating Irish instruments, beginning with the Irish flute. It’s brilliant, quite simply. This will be on sale all around the world, and there’ll be more on our website shortly.

- Our whiskey gently sits, awaiting its launch on the high seas later in the year. Our beautiful bottle is quite a thing to produce, but it’s even better to behold. It’ll be available in Dublin, London, New York and Tokyo later this year. Meanwhile, the image below shows you some of our barrels resting on the island soaking up the views!

- The Stud has given us all its foals for the year, and our stallions continue to win their competitions, and more importantly, lots of admiring glances. It’s a special feeling to be producing such wonderful animals in Clew Bay.

- Our website has garnered loads of praise, but not wanting to rest on our laurels, we’ve re-worked it, especially to improve navigation (always useful for mariners!). It’ll be relaunched at the end of July. Dylan Thomas, our Art Director, lived on the island for a month, didn’t cut his hair, and will populate the new site with gorgeous and wild new imagery.

- We’re active in the digital world, appointing Lean Mean Fighting Machine as our digital partners. They were on a photo-shoot last week on the island, producing our first commercial – we’ll circulate it soon and hope it blows your socks off!

- Mona Abbasi has joined us in the office, as Chief Organiser. She was Global Director of Consumer Insight at Electrolux till recently, so she can see a big opportunity. Anyway, it’s good to have a boss! As far as I can work out, she’s in charge of everything.

- Matthias Kiehm has also joined us, as Stays Chief and North American Chief. He was until recently Director of Food at Harrods, so he knows his onions, and before that, he was a General Manager of Four Seasons, so knows how to tidy a locker, too. We’re thrilled to have him on board and he’ll lead our journey to the USA towards the end of the year.

I hope you’re all doing well and always, thanks so much for all your messages of support, and indeed, your purchases from our brand."

51 comments | Read the full post

Look At Him Go!

Kirstin, Inish Turk Beg Stud:

"Cartier, our beautiful Connemara stallion, keeps on winning things -- International Ridden Performance Trials. He's quite the boy, and look at him move through the Clew Bay spray! Anyone going to the RDS in August? He, and we, will be there."

62 comments | Read the full post

Wild on the Point!

Kirstin, Inis Turk Beg Stud:

"Summer is here and all our foals are on the ground. Beautiful, healthy and well, thank goodness. Three fillies and three colts. At this stage all of the mares have been covered again -- this happens ten days after birth -- three of the five have been scanned in foal, two have had to be covered a second time at around 28 days after foaling, and the sixth mare (Padraig!) is due for her scan, so fingers crossed she is in foal.

All the ladies are now turned out on "the point" which is their summer pasture, and allowed to go wild and bring up their children in peace and quiet with very little interference from us humans!"

79 comments | Read the full post

An Ash Dash

Louisa, General Manager & Hospitality Chief:

"High, bright, and sunny skies full of dramatic white cloud formations greeted our latest visitors -- a happy, relaxed group with lovely children who made the most of their time with us.

They rode and swam and also enjoyed the clay pigeons. The grown-ups had some therapeutic massage treatments, while the others swam and relaxed with the kids, who were brilliantly behaved.

Lunch was enjoyed outside on the upper terrace in blazing sunshine with lots of compliments about the food which included our island lamb and gravadlax -- well done Sue!

The ash cloud did affect their journey home, but there was little fuss made and they headed upto Dublin to get a flight home. A really great group of people who we hope to welcome back again."

47 comments | Read the full post

Second Foal of the Year

Kirstin, Inish Turk Beg Stud:

"Coolfin finally gave birth to her first foal and the Stud's second of the year -- a couple of weeks late, but beautiful all the same! We're delighted with them both. She's a filly, and we're calling her Moon Dancer."

42 comments | Read the full post

New Bacon on the Way

Paul Clarke, Food Chief:

"I’ve been watching our first batch of island cure bacon slowly maturing for nearly three weeks now, and even though it’s a process I have some understanding of and have seen many times before, there is still a sense of amazement at the slow alchemy that transforms raw pork into succulent bacon.

In the past, bacon was cured solely as a means of preservation, which at its most basic, involved packing cuts of meat into salt barrels for transport on merchant sailing ships or storage over the winter months when other foods were scarce. However, the luxury of refrigeration means that we no longer require this excessive salting, and we can now balance a lighter salt cure with flavours that further enhance the true savouryness of the pork. Having now tasted the results first hand, I’m delighted to report that our island cure does just that!"

45 comments | Read the full post

Late Night Revellers

Louisa, General Manager & Hospitality Chief:

"Another great gang of visitors arrived, filling the island with their enthusiasm and appreciation. Mandy, Johnny and Rachel had the place looking fantastic and everyone was blown away by the location and its sense of freedom.

A late, fun filled dinner was followed by a very late night which included a burst of karaoke ...

The next day was taken up with a dip in the sea, a gentle ride around the island and lots and lots of soaking in the hot tub. Nicola served a seafood feast for lunch which was so admired it was photographed and then finally consumed. Wild native oysters are on the menu followed by a a delicious shank of island lamb. Maybe an early night is on the cards? Doubt it!"

31 comments | Read the full post