Laois Artist in Profile
Laois Artist in Profile
‘Heat is half your food’ is a memory book by Laois artist and, now, writer Doreen Bourke. She raised the money necessary to get an ISBN number and have it printed via the Fundit website. Click here to see what Doreen offered her Fundit helpers who ensured she realised her book’s publication.
Here’s Doreen explaining why she did what she did. “My grandmother used to say ‘Heat is half your food’ meaning it’s better to be warm and hungry than cold and hungry.
My name is Doreen Bourke and I am a Laois-based resin artist and photographer. Like a lot of artists I take inspiration from my surroundings and my inspiration for this book is not just my grandmother’s saying but a cheese and onion sandwich with fizzy orange!! Yes that was it. Why? Because when I have this its brings me back 35 years to when we used drive from Birmingham to take the ferry from Holyhead, north Wales, to Dun laoghaire. Do I want to do that terrible journey again? No but I don’t want to forget it either, it’s a great memory, it’s a memory of coming home, it is part of who I am.
But fear not, this is not a book about hard times, nor is it a book about the flora and fauna of the bog. It’s a memory book. It’s not my memory that I am trying to get across though, it’s drawing out yours and anyone who has been to the bog and had tea, but not tea out of a flask but out of a glass bottle kept warm in a sock. It’s a memory to pass on to those who will never eat a guggy egg boiled in a kettle on an open fire.
So what did you eat on the bog, how did you prepare it? I have also put in some traditional recipes like potato cakes and rabbit stew. Up until fifteen years ago our diets were plainer than today and no where would you get sweet chilli sauce!
As the ban on turf cutting tightens and oil, gas and electricity take over our homes, a way of life will be forgotten forever.
The money collected (was) used for the ISBN number and printing of this little memory book.
Please drop by my Facebook page Facebook.com/bogcotton.”