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
“Songs and Questions” Group exhibition launches landmark year for Ballina Arts Centre runs until 5th February. 2011 will be a landmark year for Ballina Arts Centre, with the newly-redeveloped building on Barrett St. opening its doors to the public in May. The long-awaited development will include a 240-seat auditorium, a purpose-built dance studio, a printmaking studio, rehearsal space, coffee shop, workshop areas and visual arts gallery space. An exciting programme of events is already in place with something for everybody, including film, visual art, dance, theatre, literature, and music. Sean Walsh, Director of Ballina Arts Centre, said: “It’s a very exciting year for everybody involved with the project over the years/ Ballina Arts Centre has been in existence since 1993, so it has taken a while to get the proper kind of infrastructure in place. In my opinion, though, it has been worth the wait. The riverside location for the building, and the building itself, could not be better. Architect Kevin Keegan has done an incredible job in designing a building which is beautiful architecturally, but is also very practical. He has managed to fit everything we wanted into the building and there is a flow – from one space to the next – which reflects the creative nature of what we do”. The Centre will remain housed at Ballina Civic Offices until then, however, and the 2011 programme kicks off in style with a group show featuring the work of four artists. ‘songs and questions’ featured work by Rachael Agnew, Yvonne Woods & Susan Montgomery, and Mayo-based artist Jane O’Sullivan. Re-imagining the Edwardian artist and naturalist Edith Holden’s life and tragic death was the starting point for Jane O”Sullivan’s latest body of work, entitled ‘A Song for Edith’. It will be shown in Ballina in a collection of drawings and a specially-made film. Rachael Agnew’s research into scientific life patterns has evolved to incorporate all aspects of life, allowing her to explore many other disciplines and aesthetics including science, mathematics, history, architecture and spirituality. Her work also conceptually plays within the broad and contrasting areas of order and chaos, nature and science. Susan Montgomery and Yvonne Woods have created work inspired by the prose of the Canadian writer Anne Michaels. Their inspiration is drawn directly from Michael’s 1996 novel, Fugitive Pieces, a profound meditation on loss and love, the dead and the living, and the indestructibility of the human spirit.
LINENHALL ARTS CENTRE
Linenhall St, Castlebar, Mayo. T: 094 9023733 E: linenhall@anu.ie W: www.thelinenhall.com
Friday 3rd December - Saturday 29th January
Leonora Neary - Coast
An exhibition of recent acrylic paintings by Sligo-based Roscommon-born artist Leonora Neary. These lyrical and atmospheric landscapes are inspired by the woodland environs of the artist’s North Sligo home, and a sense of water pervades these new works, acknowledging the nearby coastal presence. Evocative and ethereal, according to the artist, “this work pursues the suggestion of separate realms that exist alongside us, often at the periphery of our awareness.” Leonora is a Visual Communication graduate of the University of Ulster . This is her 4th solo exhibition.
Adm.: free
CUSTOM HOUSE STUDIOS
The Quay, Westport, Mayo T: 098-28735. E: customhouse@eircom.net W: www.customhousestudios.iePresents an exhibition of works by David Gearty at the Custom House Studios Gallery. Opening on Thursday January 13th at 7.30 pm. Exhibition open every day until 6 th February 2011.
LUISNE
www.artluisne.com
Artists from The Luisne Art Project will show new work in their upcoming exhibition in Galway University Hospital, Newcastle Road, Galway. Insight will open on Friday 28th January at 1pm. Opening speaker is Film maker, Poet and Writer Bob Quinn.