The Wilderness Sanctuary Artists Retreat Centre is a studio/accommodation facility on a 48 acre undeveloped stretch of coastal land, north of Allihies, Beara, Co. Cork, Ireland. This facility is being designed, by both artists and architects, so as to:
Applicants for residence will be considered who clearly demonstrate any of the following criteria:
Appreciating the sensitivity of the location, the development of The Wilderness Sanctuary will make maximum use of the existing buildings. In Phase 1, they will be converted and extended to include secluded studio facilities and accommodation for individuals and for groups coming for workshops.
The Main House
The existing farmhouse is stone-built and will be retained as such. It will however, be renovated and extended. Its scale and homeliness make it ideal for accommodating domestic facilities and communal gatherings. Raising the roof by about one meter will allow sleeping and studio spaces on the second floor. Rooflights, and the restoration of an original window at high level in the gable wall, will provide light, ventilation and a view from this level.
The new wing added to the south will accommodate mainly studios and workrooms. The requirement for good daylight will be met by a strip of rooflight, clerestory glazing on the eastern wall and a substantial glazing to the west face of this wing. Wheelchair users and people with impaired mobility will be able to enter the building at both levels.
The Meadow Studio
The existing animal shelter, already in a state of dilapidation, is being renovated as a studio, to accommodate people requiring seclusion. It is being rebuilt to its former solid stone form. The roof will be covered with a sod-grass layer. In addition to the small windows on all sides, light will be let in through glazed panels under the eaves of the roof.
Beara has a reputation for being the home of an unusually high proportion of visual artists. It was on the strength of this that the Beara Community Arts Society began in 1992, as a subcommittee of The Beara Tourism Development Association. As a response to the desire for greater communication between the artists and the community, the first 'Artists in Beara' exhibition was organized along with a full-colour illustrated directory of Beara artists. Since then the Community Arts Society has continued to provide, not only a show case for the region's visual artists, but also a wide range of year round cultural events and projects, plus this year, a two week comprehensive Arts Festival.
Allihies Language and Arts Centre, founded in 1992, regularly hosts groups of US university students in the liberal arts and in this context organises creative writing and art workshops which are animated by some of the country's finest writers and artists. These artists and writers also give public readings and exhibitions at the centre. There are music workshops with young Europeans, principally from France, who give concerts in the local community hall. Allihies Language and Arts Centre has also organised a number of theatre festivals and brought professional productions to the village of works by Beckett, Pinter and Friel among others. The Centre hopes to establish this as an annual event and to continue to participate in the varied creative initiatives that are flourishing throughout the peninsula.
The Allihies Co-operative is at present engaged in a project to convert the old Church of Ireland into a mine museum and a small gallery.
Habitable sculptures, an integral part of the Wildereness Sanctuary.
Phase One -- The First Two Shelters
Text and images from the publication Shelters1.
Phase Two -- Current Proposals for Shelters2
An Eye Open to the Night by Anna Hill
The Falaing Shelter by Carolyn Vernon
Another project under consideratiion that is not a shelter as such is the Labyrinth of the Bull by Sean Taylor