Amharcealaín - Visual Art
Ballina Arts Centre
Ballina Civic Offices, Arran Place, Ballina, Co. Mayo.
T: 096 73593
E: ballinaartscentre@gmail.net
W: www.ballinaartscentre.com
Bumpflakes: The Nuisance Bears
Official Opening: Thursday 10th June, 8pm
Bumpflakes is a major new exhibition by Nuisancebears, aka Sligo-born sculptor Nick Devaney. The work of Nuisancebears occupies a cultural geography inhabited by the likes of Jimmy Durham and Gabriel Orozco, a land where familiar, everyday objects and cultural references conspire to create glimpses of alternative possibilities that are both engaging and provocative. Concrete kerbing combines with the likes of cocktail umbrellas, cornflakes consort with speed bumps, an ice fishing hut provides a life-size studio-laboratory for the implied-but-absent ‘scientist/artist’ author of these works. The world of Nuisancebears is one that merges art and reality, blurring boundaries and posing questions. There is playfulness in the compositions, a joy of the absurd arising from the juxtapositions and associations. But this work is more than a series of clever ‘one-liners’ made solid: not only does it express a confident and impressive formal aesthetic that delivers eloquent works of art in their own right, it also invites us to consider how we make sense of the world around us.
Free admission. All are welcome to attend, exhibition runs until 3rd July.
The Nuisance Bears: Gallery talk
Thursday 17th June, 7pm
Nuisance Bears (aka Nicholas Devaney) will host a discussion about his Bumpflakes exhibition. The discussion will also take in wider aspects of contemporary visual arts practise
Adm: Free. All welcome.
CUSTOM HOUSE STUDIOS
The Quay, Westport, Mayo
T: 098-28735.
E: customhouse@eircom.net
W: www.customhousestudios.ie
Exhibition by Alison Pilkington
May 21st – June 13th.
Through paintings Alison Pilkington continues to explore her preoccupation with themes of placement and journeys, both psychic and physical. Influences for this show are loosely drawn from the anonymous Islamic artists whose work she has seen many times in Southern Spain and Morocco. Her paintings explore the possibility that shape, colour and abstract symbol can have diverse interpretations and the unlimited concepts of what can be expressed through them, ranging from searching the heart to mapping the stars.
'Drawing Studies: A Celebration'
From the National Gallery of Ireland Education and Outreach.
On Thursday June 17th at 7.30pm - Exhibition runs until 18th July 2010.
The National Gallery outreach Tour
The exhibition is made up of 26 student works, 6 reproductions of some of the National Gallery works the students were working from, as well as title and explanatory panels.
Ursula Kavanagh | The Pool Series/Locháin Inis Mór
On Thursday June 17th at 7.30 pm - Exhibition runs until 18th July 2010.
Ursula Kavanagh’s recent work - The Pool Series - Locháin Inis Mór - is an installation of over 30 paintings inspired by the rockpools of Inis Mór, where she has lived for over a decade - Sennelier chalk pastel on paper, varying in size, from 76 X 56 cm. to 100 X 70 cm. The series is ongoing.
This is a major shift in her work. The works are in colour, unlike the black-and-white work of The Stone Series - Teanga na gCloch, also inspired by the Island, which have been exhibited widely - in a solo show at the Galway Arts Centre in 2001, and were part of a curated travelling exhibit entitled Úr – Contemporary Art from the Gaeltacht which was shown at various venues in Ireland and at the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris, France, 2003-2005. Large selections of them are part of a permanent exhibit at the Óstán Árann Hotel, Inishmore, Aran Islands.
She works directly in the landscape in all kinds of weather. While there she creates drawings and digital images of the pools to create the large works that are The Pool Series - Locháin Inis Mór.
The work she created outdoors form three installations of 120 drawings, each installation comprised of 40 drawings, each drawing measuring 27 X 20 cm; each installation measuring 147 X 168 cm. The drawings were created using Sennelier iridescent and oil pastel on prepared paper, and form the basis for the large paintings.
Part of the installation is a series of 30 photographs of the rock pools in situ, an area of hundreds of rock pools on the Atlantic side of the island.
Also part of the installation is a series of found "bullauns" - loose stones in which nature has hollowed out a bowl-like pool- often used in the ancient world to grind corn and used by the church as holy water fonts. They vary in size and lie flat – approximately 40 cm X 17 cm X 12 cm.
LINENHALL ARTS CENTRE
Linenhall St, Castlebar, Mayo.
T: 094 9023733
E: linenhall@anu.ie
W: www.thelinenhall.com
Friday 7th May - Saturday 5th June
Marie Padden - Tombs
This is the first solo show of recent GMIT graduate Marie Padden, comprising works in oils, acrylics and mixed media. According to the artist, “This work portrays the uneasy relationship between death renewal and immortality. There is a deliberate ambiguity in order that the viewer can complete the cycle. Is there hope or sadness to be found here?” The exhibition is supported by an Exhibition Assistance Award from Mayo County Council.Adm.: free
Friday 11th June - Saturday 3rd July
Meadowsweet - A Retrospective: Celebrating the artist Ger Mayock
This exhibition brings together the work of artist Ger Mayock who died in May 2006. Ger grew up in Ross West, near Castlebar, in a family home where love and respect for traditional Irish music and culture were nurtured. Ger’s childhood experiences went on to inform and inspire a body of work including sculpture, writing, film, music composition and photography. A close bond with wood and stone dominated Ger’s work during the final years of his life and he produced a very significant body of sculpture, much of which is on view at this retrospective exhibition. In Ger's own words, "The carvings that I make are capturing a moment. Be it from a dream or a reality. Like an image or, more accurately, a state of mind we have all known from a day or from a lifetime common to us all and unique to each one of us."
The exhibition also includes Ger's writings, photography, and his short film War. A book celebrating Ger's life and work will be launched on the opening night.
Adm.: free
ÁRAS INIS GLUAIRE
ÁISLEANN BHÉAL AN MHUIRTHEAD, BELMULLET,
T: 097 81079
“…in an attempt to find the right words….”
In November 2009, Irish artist, James Hayes, won a shortlist competition from Mayo County Council to create an artwork for Áras Inis Gluaire. This work involves the placement of 2,000 cast bronze pencils, installed along the inner atrium back wall of the centre. The use of these ‘humble’ pencils relates to Hayes’s ongoing use of day-to-day objects within his sculptural practice to form artworks and installations. The work is aimed to be installed in the early summer of 2010. In conjunction with this, the commissioned artist, James Hayes, will be running a series of workshops for students: with secondary school students at 8.00 p.m. on Thursday, June 3; and with primary school children at 11.00 a.m. on Saturday, June 5. He will also be giving a talk to adults at 8.00 p.m. on Friday, June 4. Admission is free, but places are limited – first come, first served. To book your place, please email i.macaindriu@arasinisgluaire.ie or call 097 81079
Anne Finnegan’s ‘North Mayo’
Anne Finnegan’s body of work – in oil, acrylic and mixed media - represents different styles ranging from representational to abstract and semi-abstract, is currently on display at Áras Inis Gluaire. The exhibition will run until June 16. Admission free. All are welcome.
‘First Intent’ Exhibition
Mary Foudy O'Halloran’s exhibition, titled ‘First Intent’, will be launched by Seán Walsh in Áras Inis Gluaire on Thursday, June 17. Mary graduated from Galway Mayo Institute of Technology in 2006. Her work encompasses her daily life - her inspiration is the everyday. While aware of the transience of life, she is intrigued by the indelible marks left by all living things, and the manner in which these traces influence our lives. Her work is a dialogue between the figurative and the abstract. Using mixed media, locating and recreating the ordinary she builds up layers, making marks, and balancing tones to make something new. She is challenged by the properties of her mediums. She believes that it is in the process that the painting is found. The exhibition, ‘First Intent’ has its origins in a small bundle of oddments from a London fabric shop.