Paper pooches get a new leash of life

Artists, volunteers and their canine creations went for walkies through the streets of Cork. Louise Roseingravejoined in

IT’S A STRANGE feeling to walk among a pack of hounds frozen in a moment of animation. One has a hind leg cocked. Another is sitting up begging, with front paws outstretched. What looks like a Yorkie is curled up asleep, while Sammy the smiling Samoyed is on the lookout for a playmate.

There are poodles, daschunds, corgis and Dobermans, a few mongrels, a Jack Russell, an English bulldog and a whole pack of hounds. Noses in the air, they are poised and ready for action.

Oddly enough, there isn’t a peep out of these pooches, they are the best-behaved dogs in the world. Possibly because they are made of paper.

The Dog Project, devised by Scottish artist Tom Campbell, is a collaborative art project in conjunction with Cork’s fastest growing community arts centre, Camden Palace Hotel.

With help from 129 volunteers, Tom spent four months creating a collection of 120 papier mache dogs, in what initially appeared to be a madcap canine creation. But delve a little deeper and the true ethos of this unusual exhibition comes to light.

For 29-year-old freelance film-maker Mars O’Reilly, from Waterfall in Cork, the long hard slog has paid dividends. She first came to Camden Palace Hotel, a former courthouse turned arts centre overlooking the River Lee in Cork city centre, following a request from a friend to help out.

Four months and a few dozen dogs later, she has gleaned an enormous sense of satisfaction. “Dogs have a universal draw – everyone loves them. I came in to make one dog and I just kept going. There was a great sense of completion about getting a dog finished,” she said.

Artists and volunteers have joined the process, each taking at least eight hours to make a medium sized pooch, from a wire frame, newspaper stuffing, layers of cardboard and a coat of varnish.

A vibrant mix of nationalities took part, the majority of them women, O’Reilly explained. “I think people found it incredibly therapeutic. The process is really relaxing and we worked to music, chatting and comparing the different characters of the dogs, getting the right size and dimensions. The personalities of volunteers really came out in their dogs. There’s been a constant buzz of positivity and a really friendly atmosphere – no arty pretension around here. It was open to anyone wanting to take part,” she said.

In between projects in her freelance career, O’Reilly found a way to use her time for a collective purpose. “In these times especially, people who are not in full-time work are looking for things to do. This presented an opportunity to meet new people and do something positive.”

This week, all 120 completed dogs – the group aim for 133, in order to tour around Ireland under the name 33 and A Turd – were unleashed from their workshop and let loose on the city, where they sniffed, barked and scratched their way around town. Proud volunteers perched dogs on their shoulders for a tour of Cork city centre, forming a line down French Church Street that drew squeals of delight from passers-by.

So what possessed Tom Campbell to embark on this project? “I’d started this on my own and never got it finished. I needed help from volunteers and the opportunity came up to do it as a collaboration with Camden Palace. It’s a great thing for me that 129 volunteers have learned papier mache; it’s an easy, direct and environmentally friendly form of art,” he said.

The process has a meditative effect, according to chief coordinator at Camden Palace Hotel, Bertrand Perennes, a Frenchman who secured a temporary lease on the building while plans to develop it into a shopping and apartment complex are put on hold. “It’s repetitive, working in layers. Doing that empties your mind. It’s typical of sculpture work, it brings you to back to your memories. It is therapeutic; I think that is the effect of art,” he said.

Campbell and his team of core volunteers are planning a future for their four-legged friends. “We want to do a book of pictures, a calendar and a documentary film. It’s very much an evolving process, we want to tour them around a bit at festivals and document the exhibition in different places,” he said.

In the meantime, if you don’t spot the dogs out on their morning walk, you can catch them in all their engaging glory at the Dog Project exhibition, running until Saturday August 7th at Camden Palace Hotel, Camden Quay, Cork.

camdenpalacehotel.org