Current Exhibition
Previous Exhibitions have included
Cliona Fox
Away from the Ordinary
March - April 2011
Paula Pohli
Artlino Two
April-May 2011
Liminality
Monaghan Artists
January-February 2011
This theme was in reference to the historic status of Monaghan as an area of liminality as it was part of the machaire or borderland between ‘civilisation’ as embodied by the English Pale and the areas of the ‘wild irishry’ outside of it. This region has long been regarded (and still regards itself) as a liminal place; a place on the edge, a borderland. Anthropologists’ concept of liminality may help because it addresses phenomena that are ambiguous and paradoxical. The word liminal comes from limen, meaning threshold, and liminality refers to the condition of being betwixt and between. Liminality applies to change, transition, and transformation.
The machaire was a place where two cultures met and mingled but where neither rule of law held sway. It was a place where concepts of identity were fluid and where the border between cultures was invisible and impossible to trace physically as it ebbed and flowed depending on various power plays and the effects of war. It was and is a liminal place.
The fact that Monaghan has long been a ‘borderland’ both in the past and today means that questions of identity and affinity are still relevant to its citizens. Especially during this recent period of intense social change in Ireland and its ongoing efforts to become a multicultural society. This is why the theme of ‘liminality’ has been decided upon as the starting point for inspiring the artists of modern-day Monaghan. Artists will hopefully embrace the concepts of landscape, peopleand place as areas of liminality and work from that thesis.
Artists are
Maire Treanor, Catherina Donaghy, Joan Mallon, Joe Mallon,
Eileen Ferguson, Neal Greig, Kate Beagan, Denise McCabe,
Enda Hughes, Louise Loughman, Robert Kelly, Theresa Kelly,
Stephen Penders, Roisin Duffy, Orlagh Meegan-Gallagher,
Liz Christy, Brenda O’Reilly Hughes, Orla Gilheany
Mario Sughi (Feb-March 2011)
Nerosunero
'Self-Forgetfulness'
Diane Henshaw.
(15th May – 15th June 2010)
Diane Henshaw has to date received 17 Arts Awards from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, The Arts Council of Ireland, The British Council & Bursary Awards from Local Authorities. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally over the past decade and has worked as Artist in Residence at The Hooger Institute for Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium, The Chitraniketan Art Residency in Kerala, India, The Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig in Monaghan, The Sanskriti Kendra Artists Residencey, New Delhi, India and in 2008 at The Arts Council of Northern Ireland's Residency in the Queens Borough of New York City. Her work has traveled as far as China, New Zealand, New York, Las Vagas, Mexico, France, Belgium, Bosnia, Georgia and many other international venues over the past 14 years. it has made its way into private collections in New York, Belgium, Auckland, France, India, Glasgow, Virginia, London, Connecticut, Qatar, New Mexico, Japan and Ireland.
Diane deals with the abstract and has an obsession with searching for the perfect line - her work, known for its pared down lines and formulated composition, has developed to a new engagement with monochrome and blasting hues and tones, and she is now regarded for her use of gestured line and memory drawing.
'The Homecoming’
Kate Arslanian.
(12th May – 30th April 2010)
Kate Arslanian was born in Crossmaglen in 1952 and has lived in Paris for over thirty years. Her successful evolution from the figurative to the abstract culminated in a critically acclaimed solo exhibition in The Oberkampf Gallery, Paris in 2009. Kate has also exhibited at The Azdac Museum, Paris and at the Salon d’Art Comtemporaine, Paris. This is her first solo exhibition in Ireland.
In these evocative paintings, the artist has moved from the figurative to the abstract. The forms and shapes which flow naturally have been purposely broken. The circle is no longer round and the square distorted. It is a journey of walking backwards where our senses have been surprised and worried and we are no longer sure footed. The emotions and sentiments which reside in the inner self can be felt by no other. It is the interface between the real and the imaginary. It is the eternal personal quest for who we are. Abstract art is the object of this contemplation, of meditation and pleasure and above all else rejects the idea of being decorative. Inspiration for this exhibition has come from continuing research in The Centre Pomipidou Paris, from Francis Bacon to Pierre Soulages and from the boglands around Crossmaglen.
Various.
The Molesworth Gallery.
(5th February – 5th March 2010)
The Molesworth Gallery presents new work by gallery artists. The Molesworth Gallery is one of Irelands leading contemporary art galleries, representing some of the most accomplished and exciting artists working in the country today. It hosts eight sole and two curated group exhibitions annually at its exhibition space in Dublin city centre. Exhibitions are documented in gallery publications ranging from brochures to hardback books. The gallery also collaborates with arts centres and museums to maximize public access to the work of its artists as well as promoting them at international art fairs.
‘Sea Change’.
Niki Purcell
(13th November 2009 – 29th January 2010)
Expressionism is an artistic style in which the artist attempts to depict not objective reality but rather the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse in them. This is accomplished through distortion, exaggeration, primitivism, and fantasy and through the vivid, jarring, violent, or dynamic application of formal elements. In a broader sense, Expressionism is one of the main currents of art in the later 19th and 20th centuries, and its qualities of highly subjective, personal, spontaneous self expression are typical of a wide range of modern artists and art movements. This is also typical of the work of Niki Purcell, whose work is inspired by the forces and wonder of the world that she experiences, the works are meant to excite the imagination. Niki holds a B.A. (honors) degree in Fine Art Painting from the National Gallery of Art and Design, Dublin.
‘Faoi Bhlath'.
Jane Talbot
(9th October – 6th November 2009)
Faoi Bhlath is all about taking a fresh look at the every day plants around us – from the mastery of design that make su p the humble buttercup to the swirling complexity at the heart of a sunflower. The varieties of flora in this exhibition all grow in the west of Ireland and each are examined with microscopic intensity, exposing the vivid sensuality and voluptuous abundance of natures. All the images in this exhibition are taken outdoors in natural light and all are without digital manipulation. Jane Talbot is a native of Donegal and lives in Galway.
‘Ink Drawings’.
Denise McCabe
(11th September – 8th October 2009)
Denise is the recipitiant of the Artswell at Iontas Visual Arts Graduate Award 2009. Denise’s practice stems from an interest in an investigation of drawing, the processes involved and the histories associated within it. Interested in the process of drawing, Denise has created an experimental procedure to introduce controlled chance and unpredictability in her work. In contrast to traditional pencil and paper contact techniques, where the artist’s motions are limited to hand and arm movements, Denise’s creates drawings independent of her own hand, using her breath to propel the ink to introduce a wide range of lines and shapes into her drawings. A whole life is manifested in a single breath, making visible the essence of life force. The breath becomes a medium of recording life as such. The resulting drawings offer shapes and line that no human hand could achieve. In this work, Denise is pushing the medium of drawing to new extremes, questioning the definition of drawing. Denis McCabe is an emerging local artist from Drumhowan, Co. Monaghan. She completed a B.A. (honors) in Visual Arts Practice in Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art Design and Technology, Co. Dublin in June 2009.
‘Flotsam’.
James O’Dowd
(7th May – 15th June 2009)
How often are we fully aware of our surroundings and the space we occupy, the landscape we inhabit? Usually are our minds into thinking of something else, another situation, dreaming, fantasizing, planning? In the sense it is true to say we are occupants of two different, simultaneous worlds, and these worlds rarely meet. We float through life like flotsam, most of the time only partly ware of the world we inhabit. This collection of art work is an attempt to represent the unconscious mind and how it relates to the outside world. The paintings draw on the urban landscape as well as the unconscious to create a dreamlike world and touch on themes of neurosis and alienation. Using unsettling perspective and vigorous brush strokes contrasting with areas of flat colour the artist produces paintings which are often dark and apocalyptic and stimulate the imagination. In some cases the finished paintings ar similar to conventional landscapes, in others the original landscape had been rendered unrecognizable and is closer to abstraction. This misture of styles makes for a varied and vibrant array of work.
‘MIFET Graduate Exhitition’.
(1st May – 29th May 2009)
The Monaghan Institute will host an exhibition of artwork done by this years art students. Visitors can expect to see a vibrant collection of paintings, prints, photographs, graphic designs and sculptures, all indicative of the varied and stimulating nature of Art, Craft and Design course (Internationally recognized FETAX, Level 5 Certificate). The course is essentially a vehicle for portfolio preparation and anyone interested in following a career in Art or Design. Students go on to study Graphics, Fashion, Animation and so on in various third level courses at NCAS, Dun Laoghaire IADT and other colleges. The standard is high this year and there is a good mix of mature students and those who have left school more recently.
‘Anima Locus’.
Isabelle Gaborit
(31st March – 5th May 2009)
The Anima Locus is the ‘soul’ of a place. Its essentially personality. A concept linked to the supernatural spirits of nature residing in the landscape. Isabelle mainly explores the concept through the holy wells/ground waters of Ireland which bear the record of the relationship between the land and its people. The wells evoke a sense of deep earth infiltration, roots, a channel between the seen and the unseen, a reflection or mirror. For Gaborit, the theme of the well is about unwrapping the various layers of this relationship. Her work offers the viewer a space in between, a void in the midst of actual place and memory. She uses the layering of mixed media, collage and paint to explore a personal lore, a viewable expression of many facets of her thoughts. She combines and overlaps found objects and drawings she created, leaving them exposed but also concealed within the work. Isabelle Gaborit was born in La Rochelle in South west France but currently resides in Co. Galway. As a student she gained a foundation in sculpture, drawing and painting at L’ecole des beaux arts in Poitiers. Since 1993 she has been in Ireland playing an active part in the artistic community, where in 2006 she graduated with an honors’ degree in fine arts from GMIT, Galway. Since then she has been exhibiting her work extensively, among other: Enniskillen visual Arts Open; Samhlaiocht gallery, Tralee; Watergate Theater Upstairs Gallery, Killkenny; Gallery of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Bejing, China; The Mill Theatre Gallery, Dublin and the Loft Gallery, Dublin 2.
‘Of Other Places’.
Cassandra Dorer.
(2nd March – 27th March 2009)
‘The Starting Point is the study of colour and its effects on men’. The was written by Wassily Kandinsky in his collection of essays entitled Concerning the Spiritual in Art, in which he was looking at the idea that sensations of colour could be ‘spiritual experience;. It is this concept hat colour, linked to emotions, can provoke feelings fo a spiritual nature that I am investigation within my practice of paint. Loosely based upon the landscape I am exploring the ideas of feelings of longing, loss, absence and memory conveyed by space and colour. Without the use of line, form or movement I am looking at creating a quiet, individual space where the viewer can make his or her own connections with these universal experiences. My method of working involves often starting simply with the feeling of wanting to paint with a certain colour and could signify a particular association or feeling, often with a certain place or event. Initially, I apply a lot of paint, and gradually reduce this down whilst modifying the colours. I often start with gestural, expressionist marks and over a period of time the painting becomes quieter, calmer and rhythmic creating a meditative place. My intention is that by providing a quiet, meditative space with today busy world the viewer can take some time to question their own ‘inner necessity’.
‘Threading the Landscape’.
Patricia Kelly
(3rd February – 27th February 2009)
Growing up on a hilltop farm in Fermanagh, the artist enjoyed panoramic views encompassing Cuilcagh Mountain, Lough MacNean lakes and the Leitrim Hills. The artist was also involved with the landscape in a physical and tactile way through the traditional work of haymaking and turf cutting as evidenced by the highly tactile and physical nature of the work which is realized through the medium of textiles. The contrasting textures of natural fabrics such as cotton, hessian, scrim and felt are essential to capturing the richness of the scene. The works are completed with hand and machine stitching, the threads being used to blend and highlight the colours in the fabrics – this is painting with fabric and thread.
‘Weapons’.
Blaise Smith
(6th January – 30th January 2009)
An exhibition of works by realisist painter Blaise Smith of guns, tanks and shells painted over the last four years in Irish Army Barracks. Blaise is the recipient of many awards including the RHA James Adams Award, artist for future appreciation (2004), RHA Abbey Stained Glass Studio Award (2001), RHA Caracciole Medal (2000), Arnotts National Portrait Award (2nd)(1999), FRH Fergus O’Ryan Memorial Award (1998), Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation (1998). This exhibition is in collaboration with The Molesworth Gallery, Dublin.
The Art Teachers Exhibition.
(18th November – 31st December 2008)
Artswell at Iontas are happy to host an exhibition of the work of art teachers from County Monaghan and surrounding areas. The exhibition will showcase the work art teacher undertake as part of their own practice as individual artists. It will reflect their personal concerns as well as the material and technical expertise that each of them bring to their own work. This promises to be a group exhibition with a diverse range of artistic styles and approaches in a wide range of media and should be well worth a visit.
‘Interconnection’.
Orla Meegan-Gallagher.
(17th October – 27th March 2008)
Everything is linked and interlinked visually in a symbolic interplay of shape and colour, conveying the concept of interconnection and reaction between objects, figures and their surroundings, elements in the landscape etc. A figure, a sphere or a body of water is only part o a larger space filled with elements that impact on the subject, no matter how isolated they appear, no matter how much they seem to resist the influence. ‘I use a variety of approaches in my work, abstracting images, returning to the figurative and, at times, merging the two, using mixed media techniques to achieve a synthesis between the visual and the concept’.
‘Self-Build, Self-Made’.
Orla Gilheany
(12th September – 10th October 2008)
Orla Gilheany is a Monaghan born B.A. Hons, Visual Arts Practice graduate of IAST, Dun Laoghaire. She currently works in the media in animation, video, paint and embroidery. Her work is a series of observations, in the above media, of her home county and its unique idiosyncrasies. She has previously been a member of Monster Truck Studios and has had work included in two exhibitions at Monster Truck Gallery. This is her first solo show since graduating from IADT.
Royal Hibernian Academy.
(24th June – 29th August 2008)
The Royal Hibernian Academy has a strong tradition of drawing that continues to be maintained by all of its members be they architects, printmaker, painters or sculptors. Drawing is a common language that unites the various disciplines represented in the Academy, while at the same time conveying the diversity of styles and approaches of this creative grouping. This RHA Drawing Exhibition is the second in a series that commenced in 2005. Organized by Mick O’Dea RHA, for this show all Members of the Academy were invited to submit a monochrome drawing either A1 or A2 in size on a paper of their choice. The work of 34 Academicians will be shown including drawings by Basil Blackshaw HRHA, Gary Coyle ARHA, Stephen McKenna PRHA, Michael Warren RHA, Liam Belton RHA, Pauline Bewock RHA, Barrie Cooke HRHA, Richard Gorman RHA and William Crozier HRHA.
Len Yurovsky.
(15th May – 16th June 2008)
Len Yurovsky was born in Kiev, Russia in 1952 the only child of famous Russian painter Yuri Yurovsky who worked with Kandinsky in the 1920s and 1930s. Like his father he has devoted his life to the exploration of colour continuing the traditions of Cezanne and Matisse. He has studios in Kiev, Costa Rica, Miami and Rome. Len inherited from his father his most gifted qualities: purity of pallet colours, fresh spontaneity and perception of nature. Yuri has succeeded in passing on to Len his innovative techniques which depict wonderful, fleeting glimpses of life> Len Yurovskys painting combine and harmonies the effect o ‘Plein Air’ with concrete graphics to create an impression of visual unity and poetic abstract expressionism with a vitality of specific realism. Works have been shown in numerous galleries and are in private collection in the USA, Russia, Ukraine, Asutria, Israel, Italy, Spain, France and Costa Rica.
‘The Echo of a Silent Cry’.
Dianne Whyte.
(11th April – 8th May 2008)
This work deals with the effects of institutional enclosure on the person confined. Are they ever free from the inflicted rules and suppression ? Once freed from the enclosure itself, the remaining scars have embedded themselves into the very psyche of the person involved, forever holding, forever tightening its grip. The loss of identity in the realization that all are reduced to a document or simply a scrap of paper. These images were taken at Shanganagh House, the only opern prison for juveniles in Ireland. It was closed down in 2002.
‘An Exhibition of Contemporary Figurative Art’.
The Molesworth Gallery, Dubln.
(11th March – 10th April 2008)
The Molesworth Gallery is one of Dublin’s leading contemporary art galleries. This exhibition of figurative art includes works from some of Ireland’s leading contemporary artists. This stunning exhibition will include paintings from Elizabeth Taggart, Patrick Redmond, Blaise Smith, Sheila Pomeroy, Mercedes Helnwein, Maeve McCarthy, Eugene Conway and Pádraig Mac Miadhacháin.
‘New Works’.
Kaiser Caimo
(1st February – 29th February 2008)
This work uses the human figure to deal with the idea of dislocation, of something being misplaced. It touches on the issues of identify and obsession. Ambiguous depths and disjointed planes create an improbably space for the figure to occupy. Influences of Chinese landscape inform the treatment of distance and perspective and the work accordingly describes a mood rther that making a commentary. There is nothing didactic in the paintings; an atmosphere is created through suggestions of a narrative. The palette used is generally quite muted, consisting of whites, blues, pale purples and greens.
‘Identity’.
Carmel Rudden.
(28th July 2007 – 10th January 2008)
‘Identity’ is the individual characteristics by which a thing or person is recognized or known. And the use of portraiture aims to capture a likeness and in essence a sense of something other than an outward characteristic. Every day we look at images that portray one meaning outwardly while hiding another inwardly. Normally this conflict of appearances and emotions does not affect our daily lives. But on the occasions that it does we are at a loss to comprehend what is actually happening. Are we consciously choosing to ignore the internal emotions of society and self by concentrating on project images ? The practice of only examining an acceptable outer image refers to Andy Warhols comment that in or every day lives we are encountering a sense of reading without seeing, ‘the surface of things, a kind of Braille’. This latest body of work from Carmel Rudden is a presentation of surface images that theoretically supports society’s view of the portrait; as individual characteristics by which a thing or person is recognize or known. At the same time, the work seeks to look beneath the layers in an attempt to read the surface of the portrait.
‘Living to Tell the Tale’.
Celia Richard
(2nd November – 6th December 2007)
This exhibition explores the stuff life is made of in a multiplicity of media, subjects, treatments, shapes and sizes to mirror the bewildering variety of the full experience of living. More than a log book of dark times, it is a passionate celebration of the intricacies of soul and body, or our near perfection pitted against the inevitability of death, of what really matters, once trials have stripped you to the bone. One finds beauty in the fullness of experience, joy in organic processes, delight in intellectual thrusts, solace and magic in spiritual realities.
‘Images of Glassillaun’.
Robert Kelly
(5th October – 1st November 2007)
Images of Glassillaun is a limited edition collection of fine art photographs of Robert Kelly. These exclusive images are Roberts’s personal response to the rock surface on Glassillaun beach in Connemarea, Co. Galway. The images are the result of a visual exploration of the colour, pattern and textural features of rock surfaces. They display the underlying abstract qualities inherent in natures design. The photographs assume the quality of contemplative images that evoke a feeling of the passage of time and the ongoing metamorphosis inherent in the process of rock transformation. When viewed collectively they allude to themes of flow, change and erosion. These enigmatic images are more about perception than about mere representation.
‘The Rise But Not The Fall’.
Darragh O’Callaghan.
(1st September – 26th September 2007)
The alteration of surrounding within the family, friends, loved ones and the home has led to the examination by the artist on the effects this has on the human psychological and physical approach to life. Externalising internal thoughts through the use of the body and physical space and illustrating how far one may go to protect oneself, or others, from the reality of life has become an integral component in the intentions in this work. This has been expressed through the medium of video, sound and mixed media. Feelings of sadness, a sense of loss, a yearning to hold on to something or somebody, challenge us to examine our cultural identify – that is whatever enables us to survive morally and physically. Darragh O’Callaghan is an emerging local artist from Inniskeen and graduate with a B.A. Fine Art from Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design, and Technology in 2007.
Exhibition of works by Monaghan Fine Arts Graduates.
(23rd August – 26th September 2007)
Annual exhibition of work by a recent Monaghan third level Fine Arts graduate. The exhibition features works created by the graduate for their degree show.
‘Illusions'
Catherine McGregor
(19th July – 22nd August 2007)
Catherine McGregor is a local textile artist concentrating primarily on hand painted silks. Catherine has a passion and love of colour with the wonderful arrays of emotions that come alive with vibrant hues and shades. Drawing inspiration for her designs from her local surroundings in Ballybay, Catherine find her work of painting on silk totally absorbing as evidenced in this wonderful exhibition. This exhibition show new works by Catherine on a breathtaking scale.
Green Door Group Exhibition.
(2nd July – 18th July 2007)
A summer Group Show by a range of local artists.
Joe Mallon
(25th May – 29th June 2007)
Exhibition of new painting and sculptures entitled ‘Good Man Arthur’ by renowned Monaghan artist Joe Mallon.
‘Dear Kathleen’.
Mary Duffy.
(19th April –23rd May 2007)
Highlights the life, tragedies and uniqueness of a Monaghan farming woman. With no remaining physical evidence of her presence in the world it stitches together lost fragments and absences taking us on a journey of deep personal loss and memory. ‘What was she famous for ?’ This work challenges the current emphasis on celebrity and the devaluing of the valuable and the vulnerable.
‘Learning from Art’.
National Gallery of Ireland.
(16th March – 18th April 2007)
This exhibition has been on show at the Arts Institute of Chicago from summer 2006 to January 2007. The exhibition, which represents 39 works created by young people from all over Ireland, was inspired by master-pieces from the Gallery’s collection.
‘Women Rising Up’.
Francis Noel Duffy.
(9th February – 14th March 2007)
Born in London but reared in Carrickmacross, Francis’ portraits of well known and lesser known women from the 1916 rising have attracted the attention of arts lovers. Side by side with these he exhibits portraits of well know politicians and Irish literary figures.
‘Skies, Tarts and Angels’.
Sheila McCarron.
(13th January – 7th February 2007)
Sheila’s style is illustrative and animated in form, storytelling being a fundamental element in creating new pieces. The use of colour also forms an integral aspect of her work.
‘Collective – Paintings and Sculpture’
Various.
(16th June – 26th July 2006)
The paintings of Roisin Duffy and Kate Beagan, the sculpture of Betty Maguire and the varied work of Ray Henshaw.
‘Lace & Grace’.
Teresa Kelly
(5th May – 14th June 2006)
‘Meditations of Cooney Island’
Neal Greig.
(21st March– 4th May 2006)
Links
www.molesworthgallery.com
www.irishartgalleries.com
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