Kathryn Mcshane
interview with a vaulter
May 2020
It is Sunday but where has the sun gone?
While we wait for it to come back have a read of the interview with a Vaulter with Kathryn McShane.
How’s it going?
I’m doing well, thanks. Keeping busy for the most part but also drinking a fierce amount of espresso martinis (I am now regretting the purchase of a cocktail shaker, but if you’re going to become a lockdown alcoholic may as well do it in style?). Going for walks and reading books I’ve been meaning to read for ages. Feels a bit strange though, usually at this time of year everything is ramping up for festival season, so strange being not as busy as usual.
What is your living situation? Do you have outside space or are you living in an underground bunker?
Me and my fella watched a bit too much doomsday preppers before the lockdown so we decided to get out of Belfast and bug out to my parents’ house in Limavady where I stay half my time anyway. It was a very good call. Close to the woods, close to the Stendhal Farm and has a big garden.
How has the pandemic affected your arts practice?
My background is in sculpture but I’ve worked for the Stendhal Festival for the last 3 years and my practice has taken a bit of a back seat over that time. I thought there would be a silver lining to the lockdown where I’d finally get all the time I always complain about not having. Turns out I really miss being busy. I think I get a bit of a thrill out of having lots going on and I think it might make me more productive when I work like that. I’ve prepped 3 canvases intending to start painting again and had visions of picking up the cello again but have not done as much of that as I’d hoped.
Stendhal wise we had to postpone all of our pre-summer stuff and ArtAbyss Children’s Festival which would have gone ahead in June so that was a bit of a bummer. It’s definitely presented new challenges in the ways we think about how to keep the wheels turning but thinking in different ways isn’t always a bad thing creatively speaking. So it’s been interesting thinking up contingencies. All in all I’m feeling grateful to still have my job, with how hard this has hit the arts sector.
How are you coping with the temporary closing of the Vault?
I am missing the Vault very much. It’s a space I use for lots of things, mostly missing peace and quiet to do work on the laptop. I’m missing Belfast Tool Library and missing seeing all the lovely Vault folk.
What do you appreciate during the lockdown?
Appreciating that all my family and friends are healthy and happy, all the birds in the garden, having time to cook pure class dinners, all the stray cats we keep feeding, having stuff to do to keep me busy, not having to get up at 7am and that off-licences remained essential businesses.
How do you imagine the future after lockdown? For yourself and the wider art world in general
It’s hard to imagine what will come after all this. Certainly the wider view of how society looks at and appreciates the arts needs to change, and questions need to be asked as to how artists and arts organisations are funded and supported. But what I do think is that artists and arts organisations have been chronically underfunded and underappreciated in Northern Ireland for a long time. In my opinion this has bred a lot of resilience within the sector. What I do know is I can’t wait to go to a gig or a play or anything live at all and will never say no to going out for late night art again.
Where can people find you online?