THE WINNOWING BASKET: Art, Loot and The Commons

The work exists as a treasure chest filled with ‘Objets de Vertu’ and special coins which the audience is invited to loot.  These embossed coins, minted from salvaged fishing nets are the specially minted ‘Creach’ currency for the 2025 Art Trail. They are a sovereign earth bond which probes deep into our complex shared local & global history.

The Elephant in the Room explores easily acquired ownership while also probing the moral dilemma not only of historical looting but its continuing justification in an extractionist world. The Artist has created a range of currency both paper & coins over the last 15 years all tied to Ogham lore and messages from the trees with the central tenet of exploring real value. The artist feels the ‘Creach’ coinage is possibly the strongest of the series so far. Also embossed on the coin is the Ogham symbol for OAK, a homage to the forest heritage of the Island of Ireland  looted of its ancient woodland for the making of an imperial fleet.

The true value of the Creach currency lies in the imagination of those who dare to loot the treasure casket. They can store them in their wallet with other ‘fiat’ coinage, perhaps a good luck token, perhaps a tool for change and a growing awareness of injustice. 

An invitation to ‘loot’ is sited by the treasure casket with a poem called ‘Loot’ from highly acclaimed contemporary poet Abu Siddik from West Bengal.The ‘Invitation to loot’ notice draws its inspiration from Gard’s work ‘The Fairy Proclamation’ created in 2016.

Many ‘Objets de Vertu’ such as the Swan collection are likely to have at one point in their past been the spoils of war and therefore may be in fact ‘Loot’. The Swan family first accumulated its wealth with its involvement with the East India Trading Company which at a time had more than double the soldiers than the British army.

Guilty or not: With modern standards of living our very existence on the planet makes us all complicit in extractionist systems. If the purpose of Art is to probe and consider, then it befalls us to consider the consequence of the extraction mode. There is also the potential for the work to feed into a conversation about complementary local currencies.

Elaine Garde is known for her ability to engage creatively, often playfully, and her work often utilizes aspects of Irish symbolism and heritage. She is not afraid to challenge comfortable points of view.

She is an expert panel member of the ‘Heritage in Schools’ programme with the Heritage Council of Ireland 2015 and delivers workshops in primary schools. Her workshops focus on connecting children to their natural environment and Ireland’s native trees.

Education
Crawford College of Art & Design, Graduated 1991 – Fine Art Sculpture
University College Cork, Graduated 1995 – Master’s Degree – Social Science

Past projects include:
The Golden Acorn Coin Design 2012 Minting the Golden Acorn was my response to the financial crisis of the time and involved a creative proposal for a new standard of value. The coin is backed by 1 Square-foot of Ireland. The full art piece entitled ‘Portal go di Tir na Nog’ took 2 years to bring to conclusion and involved the creation of 22 sovereign earth/ogham bonds. The piece was launched in Dublin on Culture night 2012.

The Irish Museum of Modern Art – Earth Rising 2022 IMMA commissioned an interactive art piece for the first yearly event of Earth Rising. Garde designed and presented a Rapid Training for Change-Makers. The event included a spiral dance event and hands on workshops, after which each participant was presented an accolade which contained seeds and the Ull coin. The coin is minted from potato skin and is backed by the value of an Irish apple.

Bloom Festival’ Phoenix Park Dublin 2013 Ogham Zodiac Garden, Garde designed and installed an award winning sculpture garden in the ‘postcard’ category. The garden was awarded a Merit.

Elaine Garde has been part of many group shows and have presented two solo shows – ‘Soul Doubt’ 2003 and ‘Salt on Skin’ 2004 both in Cork’s Tigh Fili. I created a walk-able labyrinth at the entrance to Crawford Gallery for Capital of Culture 2005.

Elaine Garde