Cathy Fitzgerald, BA Fine Art (Hons), Visual Culture PhD by Practice
| eco-social art practitioner | researcher | educator

My most well known and ongoing eco-social art practice is The Hollywood Forest Story, begun in 2008. This work builds audience engagement using blogging and other social media to share the experiential and aesthetic qualities, and the real-world practice of transforming a monoculture tree plantation using new-to-Ireland continuous cover forestry practices in the small forest in which I live into a permanent, species-rich forest. In dialogue with leading Irish and European continuous cover foresters, policy-makers, philosophers, environmental writers, and members of my community, I communicate a new story of Ireland’s move to ecological forestry at http://www.hollywoodforest.com.

In 2019, I was awarded a feasibility study grant from the Carlow Enterprise Board and a Carlow Arts Office Award to develop an innovative online course, and seminars, on essential ecoliteracy for creative workers. In recognition of growing up in beautiful inspiring Aotearoa New Zealand, I am developing these courses under the name of Haumea, the name of the earth goddess of the Pacific, see www.haumea.site