TD 1
“Molly was at home for a few days in March around
St. Patrick’s Day as she was working on a Malaprop project at the Project Arts Centre. She got stuck staying with us when the lockdown started. The project started on day six of the lockdown, which was March 20th. Molly asked us to dress as the couple from American Gothic, the famous 1930 painting by Grant Wood. I had fun wearing Liz’s round glasses, with my pitchfork made from a salad fork. By day two we were on to Frida Kahlo and Diego Riviera, and on day three we were totally into it with The Kiss by Gustav Klimt, probably one of the most difficult ones we did. We are living in a rented house just now, with most of our possessions in storage. And, of course, Molly had nothing with her, as she was only supposed to be visiting for a few days. So, it was fun and challenging to try to recreate these famous images with whatever we could find to hand in the house. Liz’s collection of colourful scarves, and mine of Indian lungis together became every costume under the sun. One of my favourite recreations is of Hellelil and Hildebrand (The meeting on the Turret Stairs) by Frederick William Burton, from the National Gallery. This painting was voted Ireland’s favourite painting in 2012 by Irish Times readers. My Blue Gor-tex raincoat from many walks in Wicklow and Connemara doubled as an expensive renaissance gown. We had great fun making the bodyguard’s sword from a rail from a wardrobe, a spanner and the hilt of a kitchen knife. The helmet he carries across his arm was made with a saucepan. What was most enjoyable about the whole project was that we all contributed to creating the costumes, with Molly directed the setting, the lighting and the photography to create the overall look, and to capture the perfect image. We quickly discovered that many artist images painted in 2-D on a flat surface are almost impossible to model in real life, as the perspectives are wrong, or the bodies are contorted into impossible shapes. The bent neck of the woman in The Kiss was almost impossible to achieve. The one that got away was The Arnolfini Wedding. We identified that we wanted to do it on day one, but due to lack of props, lack of green gowns and general challenges in recreating, we never got around to it. One for the next time!” Brian We had great fun making the bodyguard’s sword from a rail from a wardrobe, a spanner and the hilt of a kitchen knife. 32