Author: laois art

PORTRÁIDÍ ÓIR AGUS PORTRÁIDÍ EILE’

To celebrate the launch of Bliain na Gaeilge and Seachtain na Gaeilge, the Laois Arthouse, Stradbally, Co Laois, will host Portráidí Óir agus Portraidí eile by Pádraig Ó Flannabhra from the 3^rd March. The exhibition will be launched by Liam Ó Maonlaí, Musician with the Hothouse Flowers.

Pádraig Ó Flannabhra has been a Photographer for most of his life and a full time professional since 1984, when he established his Photoart Studio, specializing in Portraiture, Landscape and Press work.  For more information visit Laois Arthouse website http://www.arthouse.ie/

All welcome to attend the Laois Public Participation Network Open Public Meeting  in The Killeshin Hotel, Dublin Rd, Portlaoise this evening Wednesday 17th January. Registration from 6.45.    Have your say on:

• The Creative Ireland Laois Plan 2018-2022
• The Arts Strategy 2018-2022
• The Recreation, Play and Sports Strategy 2018-2022
• The Library Development Strategy 2018-2022

The Evening includes a performance by Stephen James Smith, the Laois Spoken Word Artist.

OR take part in our online surveys available on this site.

 

Laois County Council Arts Service invites applications for the following awards and opportunities to individuals/groups and organisations.

• Arts Act Grants 2018
• Tyrone Guthrie Residency Bursary Awards 2018
• Artists in Schools Scheme 2018
• Culture Night 2018

Details and application forms available from above links or by request from  The Arts Office, Laois County Council, Áras an Chontae, Portlaoise, Co. Laois.  T: 057 8664033  E:  artsoff@laoiscoco.ie.  Closing date for receipt of completed applications is Thursday 15th February 2018.

 

Laois County Council Arts Section has commenced a public consultation process to inform and develop the following Arts and Cultural Strategies.

• The Arts Strategy 2018-2022
• The Creative Ireland Laois Plan 2018-2022

Take part in our Online Survey click here or Email: submissions to ciasl@laoiscoco.ie – clearly marked by area of interest i.e. Creative Ireland /Arts/  By post: Written submissions to be posted and clearly marked by area of interest to Michael Rainey, Senior Executive Officer, Laois County Council, Áras an Chontae, Portlaoise, Co Laois.  All submissions to be received not later than 4pm on Friday 26^th January. Further details available from T: 057 8664013 or E: ciasl@laoiscoco.ie

The Laois Arthouse Gallery, Stradbally presents ‘Heart’ a new exhibition of photographs. Comprising of a vibrant and unique collection of photographs created by dance artist Erica Pessanha Borges and photographer Terry Conroy.  The beauty and richness of some of County Laois Heritage sites form the backdrop to the dance forms captured in this collection of photographs.  The exhibition will be officially launched on Tuesday 12^th December at 7.30pm by Jazmin Chiodi of Iseli-Chiodi Dance Company. Exhibition runs until 26th January 2018

 

Download the latest edition of the Midland Arts Magazine here or pick up a free copy at your local library or from the Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise. http://www.laois.ie/publications/arts/

The annual Leaves Festival of Writing and Music is just around the corner. Leaves celebrates the diversity and richness in today’s literary, music, theatre and film scene. Leaves aims to excite and engage with audiences young and old.

This year the weekend-long programme will be held in the Dunamaise Arts Centre and  St Peter’s Church of Ireland, Portlaoise. At the recent launch of the Leaves Festival, Festival Curator, Muireann Ní Chonaill said, “celebrating its tenth anniversary, the Leaves Festival is  a great opportunity to hear from contemporary writers, enjoy the art of conversation, listen to musicians and appreciate  film and theatre.”

Opening the weekend in the Dunamaise Arts Centre, on Friday night 9^th November, at 8.00pm, is spoken word artist Stephen James Smith and features musician, Enda Reilly. A Dublin poet and playwright central to the rise of the vibrant Spoken Word scene in Ireland today, Stephen’s poetry videos have amassed over 2.5 million views, including 2017’s ‘My Ireland’ and the recent commission by Aviva, ‘Bring it Home’ highlighting this year’s England Vs Ireland rugby final.

Stephen was the Laois Spoken Word Artist in 2017, ‘18. Commissioned by the Laois Arts Office, he facilitated poetry workshops and performance opportunities in Laois secondary schools, the prison, and youth services. His poetry has been recently added to the Leaving Certificate syllabus and has been translated into multiple languages.

Join him for readings  from his debut collection, Fear Not in the  company of musician Enda Reilly.

 

We are very pleased to welcome London based writer, Helen Cullen. Helen who grew up in Portlaoise, has had great success with her debut novel, ‘The Lost Letters of William Woolf’. It was published earlier this year by Penguin in the UK and translated into a number of languages. She will share her wisdom and experience at a special workshop for adult writers at the festival. The Board Room in the Dunamaise Arts Centre is the venue for the Saturday morning writing workshop  running from 10am-12.00pm on the 10^th November.

The Dunamaise Art Gallery in the venue for a double book launch on Saturday afternoon at 3pm.  Dermot Bolger will launch, Growing Pains and Growing Up, an anthology of essays and articles by John Whelan. It represents a journalistic memoir to mark 40 years of his working in media. The book will resonate well beyond Laois as it addresses many of the major political, social and cultural issues of the past half century, featuring many of the major personalities of the era. Midland audiences will have the opportunity to also celebrate the launch of Helen Cullen’s debut novel The Lost Letter of William Woolf.

Saturday evening’s programme will take place in the beautiful surroundings of St. Peter’s Church of Ireland, Portlaoise. Built in the late-eighteenth century to the design of James Gandon, architect of Dublin’s Four Courts and Custom House, the evening promises a wonderful combination of conversation, music and readings by Helen Cullen, Brian Keenan, Dermot Bolger, music by Seán Ryan and Kathleen Loughnane.

Free events for school children and families include Gaeilge Tamagotchi at the Laois Shopping Centre. Members of the public are invited to adopt an endangered Irish word and become a guardian of Gaeilge.  It is a performance installation by Manchán Magan.  Barry Keegan, the creator of the graphic novel, The Bog Road and children’s writer Caroline Busher will also visit a number of schools.

The Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise has scheduled events for Leaves, including cinema;The Happy Prince, which chronicles the last days of Oscar Wilde and   a play by Eoin Colfer entitled Holy Mary.

Booking Box Office: 0578663355 or online at www.dunamaise.ie

Follow us on Facebook at Leaves https://www.facebook.com/leavesliteraryfestival/. For more information please contact the Arts Office, Laois County Council Portlaoise, Co Laois. Email artsoff@laoiscoco.ie Web www.laois.ie and 057-8664013/33

LEAVES FESTIVAL OF WRITING AND MUSIC 2017
Emo Court events 10-12 November
Dunamaise events 7-9 November

The annual Leaves Festival of Writing and Music is just around the corner. Leaves celebrates the diversity and richness in today’s literary, music, theatre and film scene. Leaves aims to excite and engage with audiences young and old.
This year the weekend-long programme will be held in Emo Court; the magnificent Gandon designed neo-classical house and gardens on the outskirts of Portlaoise. At the recent launch of the Leaves Festival in Emo Court, Festival Curator, Muireann Ní Chonaill said, “the Leaves Festival is a great opportunity to celebrate writers, musicians and the world of film and theatre. We are very excited to be hosting the Leaves weekend in the beautiful surroundings of Emo Court and there is no better place to listen to and meet writers and musicians.”
Opening the weekend in the Drawing Room, Emo Court, on Friday night 10th November, at 8.00pm are poets Jean Ó Brien, Martin Figura, and Helen Ivory. They will be joined by musician, Úna Keane and the event will be chaired by Arthur Broomfield.
The Tea Rooms in Emo Court is the venue for Saturday mornings writing workshop, to be led by Helen Ivory. It runs from 10am-12.30pm on Saturday 11th November.
Returning to the Drawing Room for the rest of Saturday’s events(11th November), are poets Denise Curtin, Paddy Moran, Karen J Mc Donnell, joined by Portlaoise born musician, Gary Dunne. This event will be chaired by Séamus Hosey and commences at 3.00pm.
To celebrate National Harp Day, Scottish Harpist, Catriona McKay together with Swedish nyckelharpa player Olov Johansson, will perform a special concert. They will be accompanied by the Music Generation Laois Harpists and it commences at 5.00pm on 11th November.
Saturday evening (11th November) will feature Lisa Harding and Kevin Barry reading and discussing their novels with Sean Rocks, presenter of Arena, on Radio 1 and it commences at 8.00pm.
On Sunday at noon, 12th November, the Drawing Room will be the setting for the premiere of Thresholds.
This new music commission celebrating the theme of pollination, by Ian Wilson will be performed by saxophonist, Cathal Roche. It was funded through the Creative Ireland Laois programme. The winning poems on the theme of pollination will be read by the prizewinners at this event. The new Laois Spoken Word artist, who will commence their ten month residency during the Leaves Festival will be introduced to the public at this gathering also. During their residency the Spoken Word artist will work with young people throughout the county, through secondary schools, Youth Theatre and Youthreach.
The Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise has scheduled events for Leaves, including cinema; My Cousin Rebecca and the live broadcast from the Harold Pinter Theatre, London of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Dubliners’ Women, by Katie O’Kelly, featuring female characters from James Joyce’s Dubliners, will be performed.
Readings in the schools and libraries will be by Helen Ivory, Martin Figura and Alan Nolan.
Booking Box Office: 0578663355 or online at www.dunamaise.ie
Follow us on Facebook at Leaves. For more information please contact the Arts Office, Laois County Council Portlaoise, Co Laois. Email artsoff@laoiscoco.ie Web www.laois.ie

Laois Culture Night will take place across the county with 16 locations confirmed to host a range of events from dancing to art exhibitions, poetry and storytelling to traditional music sessions. With such a wide variety of events it is sure to be a great night to bring along the whole family out. Laois Culture Night are delighted that Lucy Deegan from Luggacurren will be the inaugural Laois Culture Night Ambassador. Download the full programme here Laois Culture Night 6pp A5

Laois Arts Office will run a workshop titled Cog and Axle with Colm O’Hanluain in Portlaoise from Tues 4th to Thurs 6th July from 11-1 for ages 9-14 in the Portlaoise Further Education & Training Centre, Tower Hill, Portlaoise. The workshops will involve learning about simple machines through story and play. Participants will create complex hanging mobiles based on the story of Henry’s Piano and learn about, and engage in, paper engineering (pop-up cards) using their understanding of levers and inclined planes. Cog & Axle has participated at the Festival of Education in Learning and Teaching Excellence (FÉILTE) at the RDS, The Dublin Maker Fair 2016 and at Cork City Science Fair at UCC 2016 where hundreds of children and adults enjoyed exploring simple machine through the story of Henry’s Piano.
Booking essential: Application forms available at Laois Libraries or by contacting the Arts Office T: 057 8664033/13 or E: artsoff@laoiscoco.ie. or online at www.laois.ie

Laois Arthouse and The Olivier Cornet Gallery are delighted to present ‘The Meeting’ a group exhibition featuring work by David Fox, Aileen Hamilton, Darina Meagher and Vicky Smith

County Laois Arts Officer Muireann Ní Chonaill and Dublin gallerist Olivier Cornet met for the first time at the Speed Curating event arranged annually by Visual Artists Ireland (VAI) as part of their artists’ Get Together at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). Through working side-by-side in the chapel at IMMA, meeting artists at this event, the idea for the joint exhibition was born. From the artists they met last year, Olivier invited David Fox and Vicky Smith and Muireann invited Darina Meagher and Aileen Hamilton to participate in this joint exhibition.
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The exhibition will open in the Laois Arthouse, Stradbally, Co Laois, on Saturday 1st July, 1pm and will run there until Friday 28th July. Guest Speaker at the opening: Monica Flynn, Professional Development Officer, Visual Artists Ireland (VAI)

The exhibition will travel at the end of the month to the Olivier Cornet Gallery, 3 Great Denmark Street, Dublin 1 where it will open on Sunday 6th August, 3pm. The show will run there until 3rd September. Guest Speaker at the opening: Noel Kelly, CEO and Director of Visual Artists Ireland (VAI)

About the artists

David Fox
Originally from Tullamore, Co. Offaly and born in 1987, Fox has been painting since a very young age. He graduated from GMIT (Galway), with an Honours degree in Fine Art in 2011 and the University of Ulster, Belfast, with an MFA (Masters in Fine Art) in 2013
Currently, he is both living and working in Belfast, and has a studio residency at Creative Exchange Artist Studios, in East Belfast.
Fox has exhibited both nationally and internationally including the Galway Arts Festival in 2009, Belfast’s Platform arts gallery in 2011 and the Luan Gallery, Westmeath in 2015. He has exhibited at international art fairs including Positions art fair, Berlin and international solo exhibitions at Galeria Silvestre, Tarragona Spain. Most recently, he had a solo show, ‘A road less travelled’ at An Chultúrlann in Belfast.
Olivier met the artist at Visual Artists Ireland’s Speed Curating event in Belfast in January 2016. David was then invited to participate in a group show ‘Republic’ in the summer of 2016. Since then the artist has become an AGA member (Associate Gallery Artist ) of the Olivier Cornet Gallery

Aileen Hamilton
Aileen Hamilton considers ecological cycles and organic process within her drawings, exploring the delicate balance and repetitive patterns that bind the natural world to form. Isolated landscapes appear suspended or floating in a fragile and exposed state as Aileen explores the physical and mental borders of our world. In doing so, she reveals hidden layers and draws an analogy between the internal terrain of the body and the wider ecosystems in which we live. Landscapes bend as if in a space-time continuum, the exploratory folds evoking the artist’s search for meaning in both micro and macro environments. The interplay between 2D and 3D environments is an integral part of the process in which Aileen moves back and forth between depth and flatness, her drawings growing out of the wall and interacting with the architectural space. In creating these hybrid landscapes, Aileen is drawn to the thin yet fibrous quality of paper, a material both fragile and solid which she progressively allows to find its own form of existence.
“I am currently based between Barcelona and Ireland. Originally from a rural part of County Meath, I am continually inspired by home, my travels and our connection to the land. In my drawings, I investigate themes of dis-location and our relationship with a changing landscape. The interplay between 2D and 3D environments is an integral part of my process where I move back and forth between depth and flatness, with drawings growing out of the wall and interacting with the architectural space.
I studied Fine Art in NCAD and graduated in 2001. Since then I have shown in Ireland, Spain, Japan, Sweden and Thailand and completed residencies in Ireland and Japan.”
Muireann met the artist at Visual Artists Ireland’s Speed Curating event at IMMA in August 2016.

Darina Meagher
Meagher’s work is an on-going investigation through the medium of paint and the simple act of mark-making. She explores new ways of seeing and experiencing the world, always seeking that juncture within artistic process, which allows the infra-thin to occur.
With an Honours B. Des and an MA in Visual Communication, from the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Meagher spent many years working in the area of design and visual communication. A deep interest in the hand-made has led her to contemporary painting.
Awarded a BA (Hons.) in Visual Arts Practice at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dun Laoghaire in 2011, she completed a Masters in Fine Art Painting at the NCAD, Dublin in 2014. Winner of the Peter O’Kane Solo Exhibition award at the RDS Student Awards 2011, Meagher also completed a three-month studio residency at the RHA, in 2015.
Recently, Meagher was presented with a residency at Arthouse, Stradbally, this was awarded at the Dunamaise Arts Centre Annual Open Submissions Exhibition in November 2016.
Meagher has exhibited extensively. Muireann met the artist at Visual Artists Ireland’s Speed Curating event at IMMA in August 2016.

Vicky Smith
Vicky Smith is an award winning visual artist who is a member of Engage Art Studios in Galway. Her practise is rich and a complex language in a variety of mediums-small drawings, paintings, film to installations predominately installation based often composed of paintings, photographs, sculpture, text, found objects and film that explore feminist concepts. The bell jar is motif for the complex installations of enclosures. Performance films and appropriated films are an enjoyment of this enclosure, the isolation bell jar of a female experience. Her artistic concern is female identity within the domestic setting, the social setting and the workplace defined by traditional roles of house wife, work, woman. The work is rooted in being a woman a female artist, what this means, the made boundaries.
‘HouseWork, Woman, Wife’ is a series of photo stills reflecting a suburban housewife’s realisation that maybe all of her life will end up with invisible, repetitive, uncreative housework.
The film on which these photo stills are based is a non-narrative study of domestic labour, work that seems not to be taken seriously by society at all. The whole notion of women being housewives has changed. Do you talk about yourself as a housewife? Most of the change that has happened since the 70’s is a superficial inequality of responsibility. 70% of British and Irish women said they are mostly responsible for housework. Men did housework, he helped her with the housework not the other way round. The 1970s is still happening now.
This body of work explores the space between the individual domestic labour and society’s economic workplace through the lens of a personal story of a newly-married woman who finds herself temporarily out of work. She marks time through the act of housework.
Olivier met the artist at Visual Artists Ireland’s Speed Curating event at IMMA in August 2016. Since then the artist has become an AGA member (Associate Gallery Artist) of the Olivier Cornet Gallery.

The Arthouse and Library
Stradbally, Co. Laois
057 866 4033/ 13
Web: www.arthouse.ie Email: artsoff@laoiscoco.ie
FB: thearthouseandlibrary Twitter: @ArthouseLibrary

Opening hours:
Tue+Thu 1-5pm, 5:30-8pm
Sat 10am-1pm (entry through library)
Wed+Fri 1-4pm
(entry through Laois Arthouse)

Olivier Cornet Gallery
3 Great Denmark Street
(beside Belvedere College,
off Parnell Square)
Dublin 1
Opening hours:
Tues to Fri: 11am to 6pm
(till 8pm on Thursdays)
Sat & Sun: 12 noon to 5pm
Closed on Mondays (or viewing by
appointment only)

www.oliviercornetgallery.com
olivier@oliviercornetgallery.com
FB: Olivier Cornet Gallery
Twitter: OC_Gallery
0872887261

Dunamaise Arts Centre Portlaoise is proud to present the finale of the 30 Years Artists Places exhibition, after an extensive national tour, from Monday 10 June to Saturday 15 July.

Following an 18-month national tour to venues in Clare, Mayo, Waterford, Cork, Tipperary, Limerick, Cavan, Louth, Dublin and Donegal – the exhibition, curated by Muireann Ní Chonaill, Laois Arts Officer-  is a must see at Dunamaise and features an extraordinary line up of Irish artists.

This exhibition is a collection of artworks owned by Local Authorities across Ireland and marks 30 years since the first local authority arts officer was appointed in Ireland. The works speak of places, people and home which reflect upon local authority arts development as just that, of a place and of a people, of rural and urban Ireland, of home in a changing island where we are bold with new ideas but rooted in our past. Renowned artists such as Tony O’Malley, Alice Maher, Robert Ballagh, John Kindness, Norah McGuiness, Seán McSweeney, Sean Lynch and John Shinnors alongside emerging artists Cora Cummins, Cleary Connolly, Seán Cotter, Lisa Fingleton, Jenny Brady, Vanessa Lopez and David Stephenson and many others feature in the exhibition.

On 29^th June at 3pm at Dunamaise Arts Centre, a panel discussion to mark the exhibition, entitled Collecting: Who for What, will be chaired by Cliodhna Ní Anluain with contributions by Cristín Leach, Jacquie Moore, Kevin Kavanagh and Seán Cotter. A musical response to the exhibition by Andreas Balke will also take place. Admission is free and all are welcome.

 

On the same day at 5pm, Liz Meaney, Arts Director (Performing & Local Arts, Arts Council of Ireland) is Guest Speaker at the reception to mark the conclusion of the exhibition.

 

This is a must see, not just for the extraordinary line up of Irish artists, but for the stories of how they each came to be purchased, commissioned or acquired by local authorities – therein lies the real narrative – the quiet, genuine and imaginative support for Irish artists demonstrated by local government for the past 30 years.

 

A beautiful souvenir catalogue, with details of each of the artworks accompanies the exhibition and is available for €5.

 

For further information see www.dunamaise.ie or Tel: 057 8663355

 

For further media information please contact:

Muireann Ní Chonaill, Arts Officer, Laois County Council, Portlaoise, Co Laois.

Tel: 057-8664109 mnichona@laoiscoco.ie  | www.laois.ie/arts

or

Lorraine O’Callaghan, PR & Marketing Manager, Dunamaise Arts Centre, Church Street, Portlaoise, Co. Laois

Tel: 057 8663355 | lorraine@dunamaise.ie