Bridget Irish : film and video work since 1990...
Images by Bridget Irish - please do not copy without permission
stills (l-r): Good Dog, Carl... (Hi8) / Scratching the Sky (16mm) / two cats, one spider (Hi8) {YouTube link below}
Hi! My name is Bridget Irish - I'm an artist who lives and works in the Pacific Northwest.
In addition to making short films and videos, my art practice includes performance,
photography, public art, installation, visual art, music, and writing.
My recent projects include decorating an Olympia city bench with photos of local sites,
creating "experimental films" through knitting and needle-felting on fabric,
and building on a series of short videos I refer to as "photo-mations."
Most of the videos in this body of work are composed of over a thousand photographs each,
shot manually, edited in-camera, and feature an animated panoramic portrait of a city or landscape.
I have screened, performed and lectured at various venues and universities across the nation,
such as 911 Media Arts, On the Boards, San Francisco Art Institute, Sarah Lawrence College,
San Francisco Cinematheque, UCLA, Tacoma Art Museum, Reed College, Artist's Television Access,
William & Mary, Women Make Movies, Tollbooth Gallery, UC San Diego, The Art Institute of Chicago,
Saint Martin's University, and have screened internationally in Guyana, Paris, and Australia.
I curated film and video programs for Ladyfest 2000 (Olympia), Progression Project One Conference
(Boise State University), Homo A Go Go, CoCA Seattle, and the Olympia Film Festival's CINE-X Series,
and have taught in the areas of new media studies and video and film production at UC Berkeley,
The Olympia Film Society, and The Evergreen State College.
It's the View (North, South, East and West)
(USA / Digital stills to DV / color / silent / running time of each loop varies between 5-9 minutes)
- - - 4-channel video loop for installation; stop-motion time-lapse animation
It's the View (North) (USA / Digital stills to DV / color / music by Sedan / 3:30 minutes)
- - - stop-motion time-lapse animation; music video for band, Sedan
Cruising the Urban Inferno from the 4th Floor (Vancouver, BC)
(Canada/USA / Digital stills to DV / color / music by Sedan / 3:30 minutes)
- - - stop-motion time-lapse animation; music video for band, Sedan
- - - clip of first minute available via IMdB
stills from Cruising the Urban Inferno from the 4th Floor
from the compass comes a circle - video backdrop for performance
(Super 8 transferred to video / color / sound / 3 minutes)
Night on Disco Mountain - video backdrop for performance; live action; 2D computer animation
(DV / color / sound / 6 minutes)
Tollbooth Junction: 11th & Broadway (loop for Tollbooth installation) -- Hi8+digital video / color / sound / 74 minutes
Gull Loop -- Super 8 loop / color / with live sound performance by artist / running time variable
It's The Water [montage for the 21st Annual Olympia Film Festival] -- video / color / sound / 4 minutes
Who's There? (Kitty) -- video / color / sound / 3:30 minutes
Red House Home Movie -- Super 8 / color+b&w / with live narration by artist / 7 minutes
Track House 2004 (documentary) -- MiniDV / color / sound / 20:46 minutes
D-Line: Brooklyn-Coney Island R/T -- Hi8 / color / sound / 24:40 minutes
2010
Ellensburg Film Festival - SURC Theater - Ellensburg WA (Cruising the Urban Inferno)
Seattle International Film Festival - SIFF Cinema - Seattle WA (Cruising the Urban Inferno)
Feminist Form - Gallery 1412 - Seattle WA (solo screening, hour-long program of short films & videos)
2009
Northwest Film & Video Festival - Portland Art Museum - Portland OR (Cruising the Urban Inferno)
Arts Walk - MIXX 96 - Olympia WA (solo exhibit/4-channel video and mixed-media installation: "It's the View")
15th Annual Festival of Experimental Musics: film+sound program - Capitol Theater - Olympia WA
2008
The Short Delights - SASOD Fourth Lesbian & Gay Film Festival - Georgetown, Guyana (Nude Ascending Staircase)
FFFucken Film Series - Seattle, WA (multimedia performance, Fox & Flesh, including Super 8 film and sound)
2006
12th Annual Festival of Experimental Musics: ThunderEgg program (curated by Eric Ostrowski) - Yes Yes - Olympia WA
6th Annual X-Fest SLC (Sarah Lawrence College Experimental Film and Video Festival) - Bronxeville NY (Guest filmmaker/performer)
DykeTV - Brooklyn NY (Nude Ascending Staircase)
2005
TIE, The International Experimental Cinema Exposition - Denver CO
11th Annual Festival of Experimental Musics: Northwest Visual Sounds program (curated by Eric Ostrowski) - Capitol Theater - Olympia WA
Olympia Clothing Project - Olympia WA (long-term video installations)
City of Olympia Arts Commission - Artist Forum: The Moving Image - Olympia WA
Ms. Films Fest: Basic Needs program (curated by Cathy de la Cruz) - Durham NC
Tollbooth Gallery - Tacoma WA (solo exhibition - Dec 12, 2004-Jan 29, 2005 - video and paper-based installation)
2004
San Francisco Cinematheque - Shoot Yourself: Artists In Their Own Light - Yerba Buena Center for the Arts - San Francisco CA
21st Annual Olympia Film Festival - Capitol Theater/The Mark - Olympia WA
Dumpster Values - window display (with Becky Valentine) - Olympia WA
Candy Corn - Capitol Theater - Olympia WA (Oct 1-Oct 31 / video installation: Who's There?)
Cine & Heard: Women in Film - Oakland Box Theater - Oakland CA
Olympia Film Ranch Benefit Event: Mi Casa Es Su Casa - Capitol Theater - Olympia WA
Homo-A-Gogo II - State Theater - Olympia WA
Women in the Director's Chair: Pride Program - Chicago IL (Nude Ascending Staircase)
4th Annual Flaming Film Festival - Intermedia Arts - Minneapolis MN (Visiting Artist)
The Art Institute of Chicago - artist/curator presentation for undergraduate class: Microcinema and the Short - Chicago IL
4th Annual X-Fest SLC (Sarah Lawrence College Experimental Film and Video Festival) - Bronxeville NY (see awards)
Robert Beck Memorial Cinema - Collective Unconscious - NYC NY (Solo Screening)
92nd CAA Conference: Electronic Arts Exchange - WA Convention Center's ARTspace - Seattle WA (Nude Ascending Staircase)
2003
20th Annual Olympia Film Festival - Capitol Theater/The Mark - Olympia WA
Artist's Television Access: ANTLERS, AIRPORTS AND DESPERATE DETECTIVES
- San Francisco CA (with Bryan Connolly)
Emerald Reel's Satellites: Screens from Outer Spaces: North Meets South - Jewelbox Theater - Seattle WA
2002
What Can You Do With Half - Tacoma Art Museum - Tacoma WA (Nude Ascending Staircase)
Don't Bite the Pavement - Kickstand Cafe's Red Planet Room - Tacoma WA
Progression Project One - Boise State University, Idaho
2001
Tracy and the Plastics/Space Ballerinas Record Release Party - Thekla - Olympia, WA
Murdra Film and Video Showcase - Midnight Sun - Olympia, WA
2000
17th Annual Olympia Film Festival - Capitol Theater - Olympia, WA
Ladyfest Olympia - Capitol Theater/Midnight Sun - Olympia, WA
Circus for the New Year - Commencement Art Gallery - Tacoma, WA (video installation: The Artist's Feet)
1999
YoYo-A-GoGo - Midnight Sun - Olympia, WA (Super 8 film: 6 and 1/2)
Dressed for the Balcony: tactile cinema - The Nick - Santa Cruz, CA
1997
Artist's Television Access - San Francisco, CA
In-production: music video for band, Romanteek
Unknown (song) - director: Greta Jane Pedersen
2009 / USA / 5 minutes / DV - Color - English
WRITING: NARRATIVE
co-writer
Lesbian Jerky - director: Kanako Wynkoop
2009 / USA / 5 minutes / DV - Color - English
co-writer
Butthole Lickin' - director: Kanako Wynkoop
2008 / USA / 5 minutes / DV - Color - English
Recipient of "Best Humor" award - The Stranger's 4th Annual HUMP Fest
2009
Judge's Award: Honorable Mention
for short video, Cruising the Urban Inferno from the 4th Floor 36th Annual Northwest Film and Video Festival - Portland, OR
2008
"Best Humor" Audience Choice Award
for short video, Butthole Lickin' (co-writer/co-star)
The Stranger's 4th Annual HUMP Fest - Seattle, WA
2004
2nd Place - Small Category 0-6 minutes
for short video, Nude Ascending Staircase 4th Annual X-Fest SLC (Sarah Lawrence College Experimental Film and Video Festival) - Bronxeville, NY
still from video, Nude Ascending Staircase
EXCERPT: "Another video artist, Bridget Irish of Olympia, captured literal motion on a two-way ride
on Tacoma's Link in her portrait of urban transport playing at the Tollbooth Gallery.
(The very cool Tollbooth is a former TV Tacoma kiosk on the corner of 11th Street and
Broadway now transmitting contemporary art day and night.) Tacoma is gray and monklike
compared to the footage of busy trains in Chicago, New York and Boston. The camera shoves
into a joyful bouquet of yellow roses on Boston's T train. The sun outside animates webs
of thin scratches and fat dried raindrops on the train windows.
Meanwhile, the Link footage shakes. The city is fragile and mostly quiet, shyly introducing
its seductive historic buildings as the train glides by. It feels like a homage to something
only beginning to be understood."
