In 2015, Dublin Canvas, a project aiming to ‘bring flashes of colour and creativity into everyday objects in the city’, kickstarted their initiative with 15 painted boxes around Dublin city centre. Since then, the project has expanded across the four councils, and there will be over 850 pieces in Dublin County by the second semester of 2023. Similar projects can be found across the world, such as in the college town Ithaca in the state of New York. The project Ithaca Murals aims to transform grey walls into meaningful works that tell stories of the people in their community since circa 2008.

I sat with sisters Isobel, 24, and Anna Mahon, 21, to understand the role they play on public art in Dublin. They have been contributing to Dublin Canvas since 2020 with a focus in the area of Glasnevin, where they have lived their entire life.

When did you first get started? What was the first piece you did and where?

Anna: It was 4 years ago, in 2020, on Prospect Way – just behind the top of the hill from Glasnevin Cemetery!

Eduardo Pinheiro: I saw that it was based on the theme of tarot. Why is that? Does it hold any meaning to either of you?

Anna: We were trying to think of a way to represent Glasnevin, so we came up with things that represented the area, which were like: The Met Office, The Cemetery, and the Botanic Gardens. They are all running themes in our Dublin canvases, because they are all in the same very small radius! And I don’t know… I was thinking of the cemetery and the round tower that they have? And I thought: ‘haha! it’s like the tower… Tarot card.’ I also had a vision of a weatherman as the Met Office. Then Isobel put these abstract thoughts into concrete designs. 

E: Can you only do one piece a year? If so, do you need to be accepted every year or can you submit again once you’re selected the first time?

Isobel: There’s a deadline for submitting and you have to do it before then, but you can submit more than one if you want to. We did get two submissions accepted in the first year, but only ended up doing one of them because of time constraints. So yeah, you can submit multiples if you want, but you have to do it every year and get every submission accepted separately!

E: How would you describe the process of pitching your artwork to Dublin Canvas? Stressful, competitive, straightforward enough?

I: It’s fairly straightforward. The only real stress would come from trying to get it in by the deadline.

A: The process of submitting is that you go on the website and you’ll choose a location. Then you go onto a map with all the boxes in Dublin. You’ll choose one and design something that is connected to the area. They want something that is specific to the location!

E: And how has this process changed in the last 3 years?

I: I think it’s been very similar. 

A: It’s been similar, but we’re also more chill about it now. Especially the more we’ve gotten to know David [Murtaugh, Project Coordinator for Dublin Canvas]. It’s not as stressful anymore, because it’s David. We know him, so we know it’ll be ok!

E: What were the main challenges you encountered in executing the 2023 piece?

I: The weather. It was really bad this year! They said it was the worst year they ever had for rain. You can’t really paint them when it’s raining. So they had to delay the whole project for about a month, because no one was able to paint. 

A: Yeah, there’s also a lot of graffiti in our area! Our box from last year got tagged in black text exactly where the face of the design was going to be – the face of the washerwoman. The most important part. 

E: How is the work of execution divided between the two of you?

I: I normally do the submission drawings and then we both do the grid. Then we split up: one person does drawing for the front, the other drawing for the sides!

A: And if there’s one part that someone really doesn’t want to draw, we’ll swap it over.

E: What does the design process look like? Walk me through each step.

I: Anna usually comes up with the ideas. So for the washerwoman one [2022], she said: “Ok, do a washerwoman in the style of Harry Clarke”, and I did that. I have an iPad with Procreate on it. I have an Apple pen and Affinity designer on my laptop. A lot of the time I sketch on the iPad, I put it on my laptop to get the linework, and then I do the flats and colour adjustments!

E: How does Dublin Canvas handle the budget for these works? What was your experience with the budget like for each piece?

I: There’s an option on the form to either provide your own materials or have them provide it. We always opt for them to provide it! They drop it off in a box…They don’t pay us, but they provide a travel budget.

A: Initially, it was €200 travel budget for the first year, then it went up to €250 in the following year.

E: If the budget were larger, what else would you do?

A: Buy paint. Do it full-time, or try to get more commissions!

E:  I’ve noticed all of your pieces are in the region of Glasnevin. What stops you from having your work spread across other areas?

A: The reason that we choose ones in our local area so often is because, one, it’s easier to get to, but also because we grew up there we know a lot of the bits about it! Also, my dad grew up there, which means we know about the old stuff and what it used to look like. Glasnevin is a very historic site. But yeah, we want to exhaust our local area before we move on to other places!

E: Since it’s been a collaborative effort from the start, what were the reasons for it?

A: We started painting when we were babies essentially. Our grandmother lived in Glasnevin Woods and we were very close by. She used to paint a lot, so our mom would drop us off at her house and she’d entertain us with painting! She’d put us down by the kitchen table, she’d have something like a vase of flowers for us to paint, and she’d give us tips and tricks to get better. So we’ve been painting together since we were young – Isobel has always been very good at it. The reason we do it together is because we always have!

E:  So what do you think you’re bringing from your childhood to your art?

A: A willingness to collaborate and communicate, I think. We learned how to talk about art and how to explain our thought processes to each other.

I: Also just a foundation of trusting that we know what we’re doing.

E: One thing you learned not to do based on your past experience with these designs?

I: Don’t do coloured linework! It’s hard to get a straight line with a brush.

E: And one thing you learned to do?

A: I feel like we learned how to divide the work better. We’ve got a system in place now!

E: Does this work in the city inform your fields of study in college?

I: I went to art college after we started this!  Not as a direct result of it, but it did make me feel like my art was good enough for that sort of thing.

A: Yeah, I feel like it opened me up to the possibility that art is a career path that I could go down if that’s what I wanted.

E: There has been a Dublin Canvas design paying tribute to Michael Collins in Glasnevin by Liam Robinson. He claimed that MC’s name should be in people’s mouths much like Chickatees. Hence ‘Mickatees’. Some loved it, some hated it. What do you think of Dublin Canvas displaying works like these? Do you like it?

A: It’s cool, I like it! It’s fun, it’s Irish. I like chickatees!

E: Where do you hope this work will take you?

I: I’m thinking of applying to do murals. Dublin Canvas is good for our CVs and gives us a lot of experience for that to happen. 

E: What does that process look like? Getting into murals in Dublin.

I: I need to do more research on that, but there are various city council initiatives that will have occasional calls for murals! Sometimes they’ll do closed calls if you know someone on the council. So if you’re known to do murals: they’ll contact you and ask for a submission.

E: Would you like to do this in a different city?

I: I wouldn’t be against it. I don’t have any immediate plans to move, but I suppose it’s easier to make art relevant to the areas that you know… 

 E:  What do you think a 7 year old would think of your work?

A: Kids love it. Kids always come up to us when we’re painting. [Whilst making] the Alice in Wonderland one [2021] there were children that walked past us and liked it a lot! It really does help to brighten up the area…

I: We always have people stop by to ask us if we had done them before, or to ask which ones are ours in the area. So the project as a whole is definitely appreciated by the community.

E:  How do you think people will react to your pieces in the city 10 years from now?

I: It’s very much in question whether our pieces will still be there in 10 years! They do have a lifespan of 4 years, so I imagine they won’t be here. But if they are: I hope that people will still appreciate them.

E:  What are the plans for new pieces? Doesn’t have to be related to Dublin Canvas. Are you working on anything at the moment?

I: We’ll definitely submit again next year, but I want to keep painting in the meantime. I have an exhibition in February not related to Dublin Canvas. It’ll be in the RHA! I had a painting there last year… It was the 192^nd annual exhibition and I was shortlisted for the Hennessey Craig Award incorporating the Homan Potterton Prize. Every year they pick five artists from that RHA exhibition, and every second year they have a smaller exhibition with the ones shortlisted for that prize! So I’ll have two paintings for next February.  

E: Bringing it back to Dublin Canvas. Why do you do it? What do you get from it?

I: We get experience, exposure to the community, we learn how to do a mural…

A: It’s also just fun! We wouldn’t be painting together without it. It’s good to have an informal enough thing to stay on the grind.

E:  Lastly, would you consider yourself to be more of a fisherman or a cowboy?

A: Cowboy.

I: Fisherman.

E: Why?

A: If it were an old-timey guy with a bucket hat and a yellow raincoat, then maybe. But a modern-day fisherman? I don’t think so. I feel like a cowboy. I have a cowboy hat!

E: And you (Isobel)?

I: Cowboys are very adventurous. They are moving around and hurting cows! But fishermen stay in one place; they sit down and focus on one thing for many hours. That’s more me. 

A: Maybe that’s why we’re such a good duo. One of us is a cowboy and the other a fisherman. Yin and yang!

The Mahon sisters advise others to contribute to Dublin Canvas. Anna says: “If anyone is interested, submissions are throughout April and May. It’s free to apply. All you need is an idea and a dream.”