Today is a small note on two items in Special Collections that both explore creativity,
its challenges, and its beauty. The first is Jack B. Yeats’ Modern Aspects of Irish Art
(1922), (1.V.10/6) , and the second is the artist’s book of Róisín Stack’s performance
piece No Woman is an Island (2024), (W2.J.4/7).
Modern Aspects of Irish Art (1922) 1.V.10/6
No Woman is an Island (2024) W2.J.4/7
Yeats’ pamphlet was published by Cumann Léigheacht an Phobail, an Irish
publishing organisation founded in the 1920’s. Led by Alice Stopford Green and
Erskine Childers and set up to disperse a range of lectures on economic, industrial,
biographical, historical and artistic subjects at a time when there was a growing
desire for knowledge of this kind.
Yeats argued that the artist had become too glorified and that the act of creation
belonged to everyone. Rather than presenting creativity as an innate gift, he offered
a simple exercise. With a sheet of paper, a black B.B. pencil, and some coloured
chalks, the reader is asked to study the view from their window before drawing it
entirely from memory. He suggests that repeating this exercise strengthens both
observation and memory and, ultimately, “will add to your power of happiness.” The
view from my own window consists of a brick wall and wheelie bins, but for the sake
of my happiness I will choose to romanticise this cityscape. Yeats reassures even the
most hesitant beginner:
“Some will say: ‘Oh, I never could draw anything.’ Could you not make a square and
a circle, so that one could be told from the other? If so, you can draw.”
Jack B.Yeats, watercolours and pen and in drawing, dawson gallery. 1961 (5.N.7/8)
No Woman is an Island was premiered at Project Arts Centre as part of Dublin
Theatre Festival 2023. It was written and performed by Róisín Stack. The artist book
was designed by Eilís Murphy of Folded Leaf and printed by Grehan Printers in
Ireland. It was hand-bound in an edition of one hundred copies. Éilis collaborates
with artists such as Stack to put forward new ideas.
Stack shares her creative process which is not dissimilar to Yeats. She sits in
different rooms of her house, listening and witnessing. Eventually, arranging
quotations, fragments, and clippings across her desk until ideas begin to connect.
The structure of the artist’s book mirrors this method, bringing together personal
narrative, historical references, literary quotations, and fragments of thought together
to make a coherent whole. The pages are punctuated by vibrant International Klein
Blue, creating a book that feels as carefully assembled as the ideas it contains.
Like Yeats, Stack remarks on the figure of the artist and the ever-changing public
perception of its role in society. From the skilled craftspeople of the pre-Renaissance
period, commissioned by churches and royalty, to the celebrated artistic genius of
later centuries, and finally to the contemporary artist, who is often viewed through
negative stereotypes.
She considers solitude and its relationship to creativity, drawing on the experiences
of creative and religious female figures over time, The Desert Mothers, Agnes
Martin, Hilma Klint and Tracey Emin. Those who sacrificed ordinary life for the sake
of religious and artistic pursuits, using less conventional methods such as
pilgrimages and solitude on islands and studios. However, Stack is quick to ground
these endeavours with humour and balances these reflections on creative
independence with the comfort of everyday rituals, such as sharing a cup of tea with
her husband. Occasional moments of practical wisdom emerge through the voice of her grounded sister, whose advice is wonderfully ordinary like have a dance party,
remember that “we are made up of thousands of little stars,” and embrace joy where
you can.
No Woman is an Island W2.J.4/7
Although separated by more than a century, Yeats, and Stack I believe arrive at a
similar conclusion. Encouraging us to look more closely at the world, reminding us
that creativity is less about genius than attention to the world around us, to history,
and to ourselves.
This post was written by Hannah Matthews, Library Assistant, Special Collections