Deirdre Frost and Seiko Hayase: Joining forces at the Lavit
Seiko Hayase and Deirdre Frost at the Lavit Gallery in Cork.
Deirdre Frost and Seiko Hayase are best-known as painters. However, their new exhibition at the Lavit Gallery in Cork, Civilisation Blooming, has given both an opportunity to experiment with other media, as well as to work on their first collaboration.
Frost, Cork-born and a graduate of the Crawford College of Art, won the Lavit Student of the Year Award in 2020, and had a solo exhibition the following year that could only be viewed through the gallery windows, due to Covid-19 restrictions. Running until September 21, prices for the pieces range from €200 to €2,200.
Thereafter, while based at Sample Studios in Churchfield, she befriended Hayase, a native of Shiga, Japan, who was working in the very next space. When Frost was asked back by the Lavit for a more accessible show, she invited Hayase to participate.
The title they agreed on reflects their common interests. “I’ve learned from Seiko,” says Frost, “that in Japan they don’t say ‘civilisation,’ they say ‘culture blooming.’ I love growing things, I love plants, and I've always included them in my work. But I'm also worried about climate change. I'm worried that these are things we might lose.
“And then Seiko’s idea of blooming had to do with how you thrive as a person, or not. Once we settled on Civilisation Blooming as the title of our show, we talked more about our ideas, and worked outwards from there.”
Hayase moved to Cork from Marseilles, in the south of France, in 2018. “I think it was in 2016 that my husband and I were watching Ireland playing European soccer online,” she says, “and we saw this Irish supporter who looked very, very happy. So we thought we should come here to visit. We travelled around the south of Ireland, and we loved it. And then, two years later, my husband got a job here, and we decided to move.”
Hayase studied oil painting at Nagoya University of Arts. “I really love to see oil painting,” she says, “but for me, the process is not so good any more. I prefer watercolours; I like to work in layers, and they’re quicker to dry. Painting is my core practice, but then, when I came to Cork, I also began to experiment with sculpture and performance.”
Hayase’s work in the exhibition includes a large sculptural representation of human brains. “I’m exploring addiction. It might be addiction to sugar, or alcohol or drugs. The piece is based on the brain hat I wear for performances.” Frost could never be accused of being stuck as an artist. Before committing to a degree in art, she worked full-time as a classical musician, mostly playing bass. Since graduating from the Crawford, she has mostly shown paintings, but her work in Civilisation Blooming includes City Flora Trio, a group of large ceramic pieces she produced in collaboration with the Louis Mulcahy Pottery in Ballyferriter, Co Kerry.
“I know Louis from when I was a kid, and we used to go down there on holidays,” she says. “I asked how long it would take to learn how to make the big pots I had in mind, and he said about ten years. So then we agreed that they would make the pots and I would paint them. I used oil paints. Usually pots are glazed on the outside, but the idea I had was that we would open them up and I would paint them on the inside, so they’re like a hybrid between painting and ceramics.”
Frost and Hayase’s collaborative work in the exhibition is a stop-motion film. “We had the idea that I’d make a set, based on my paintings, and then we’d each create a character to move around inside it,” says Frost. “Mine is a crow, and Seiko’s is a brain. We spent one day setting the whole thing up, another day filming, and a third day recording bangs and crashes for the soundtrack. Seiko edited the film on a computer; that’s more her area than mine.”
Hayase has recently settled in Mallow, and now works at her home studio. She has two exhibitions lined up for the next few months, at the LHQ Gallery at Cork County Hall, and at Red Rua in Dublin. Frost, meanwhile, now works in a studio at Backwater Artists, adjacent to the Lavit Gallery, and is working towards two exhibitions next year. “One is at the Kevin Kavanagh Gallery in Dublin, the other at GOMA in Waterford,” she says.
She has, she says, no plans to return to performing music. “It’s not easy being a freelance musician, waiting for gigs and tours to come in,” she says. “Since I finished my degree at the Crawford, I’ve been kept going with art projects and exhibitions. I can work full-time as an artist now. I love the freedom it’s given me.”
- Civilisation Blooming runs at the Lavit in Cork until September 21, The gallery will host a Meet the Artists event at 3pm, Saturday, September 14, followed by a Movement performance by Haru (Kanako Nakajima), with live sound accompaniment by Harry Moore. Further information: lavitgallery.com
