Friday the 9th of June 2017 at 4.30 saw the launch of an exhibition of a body of artwork from “Painting and Drawing in Light, Mood and Movement”, at the Laois Arthouse, Stradbally.  The exhibition included selected work from a three day summer painting programme for adults led by renowned artist John Keating, from the  7^th to the 9^th July and also included some wonderful work by the artist himself.

As well as Laois artists taking part, the course attracted artists from a number of different parts of the country including:  Dublin, Westmeath, Tipperary, Limerick, Kildare, and Offaly. 

The Cathaoirleach of Laois County Council Tom Mulhall launched the exhibition.  In his address he welcomed all the artists to the Arthouse, he congratulated them on the quality of their work and he thanked everyone involved in running the programme.

The project was documented throughout by artist Lisa Fingleton and curated by Muireann Ní Chonaill, Arts Officer.

Summer Painting Programme for Adults in the Laois Arthouse, 7, 8, 9 June 2017

“Painting and Drawing in Light, Mood and Movement”, is the title of the forthcoming Summer Art programme for adults in the Laois Arthouse. It will be directed by acclaimed painter John Keating. It takes place on 7, 8^th and 9^th June from 11.00am to 4.00pm daily and the cost is €80 per person.

Over the three days the participants will focus on a number of areas including still life- observational line, texture form and composition in various techniques; the figure- drawing and painting the figure through gesture, movement and static form; a sense of perspective- developing painting or drawing with the emphasis on spatial dimensionality and creating the illusion of space through light, tone and depth.

Born in Tipperary in1953. John Keating studied at the Crawford College of Art, Cork, Trinity College, Dublin, Loughborough University, Leicestershire and The Arts Student League of New York, which he attended on a scholarship. Keating has exhibited nationally and internationally including exhibitions in the U.S.A., Italy, Spain, Greece, Monaco and China. His work is included in private and public collections in Ireland, the U.S.A., Australia, Italy, Greece and England. Keating has guest lectured and tutored on the drawing studies course at the National Gallery of Ireland, National College of Art and Design, Dublin Institute of Technology.

There will be a closing reception on Friday 9^th June at 4.30pm where a selection of the participant’s works and John Keating’s paintings will be exhibited. The exhibition will be on show until the end of June.

Documentation of the programme will be done by artist Lisa Fingleton. This project is curated by Muireann Ní Chonaill, Arts Officer. This project is funded by the percent for Art Scheme and Laois County Council. For more info: T 057 8664033 E: artsoff@laoiscoco.ie www.laois.ie

Coming soon Doorways of Stradbally Art Exhibition

The Stradbally branch of the Active Retirement Association (ARA) will launch their art exhibition entitled “Doorways of Stradbally” at the Laois Arthouse Gallery, Stradbally on Saturday 6^th May at 1.30pm.  The exhibition will be officially launched by Anna May McHugh, the Managing Director of the National Ploughing Association of Ireland.

Included in the exhibition are twelve wonderful original paintings, each depicting a different historic doorway in the town.  The Active Retirement Group wanted to leave its stamp on the annals of Stradbally in some way. Chairperson of the group Ette Kennedy suggested that they  paint some of the Doorways on the Street in Stradbally. This original idea captured the imagination of the artists of the group and thus the  “Doorways of Stradbally” was born.  Seven members took on the task and these include;  Chrisse, Christy, Ette, Mary, Michael, Phyllis and Vera.

All paintings will be for sale with proceeds going back into the ARA.  The Stradbally ARA has been established for three years and currently has twenty members.  It is an open and inclusive organisation who aim to support and empower retired and semi-retired individuals in their community through a wide range of activities.

Commenting on the upcoming exhibition Anna May McHugh said “I extend my congratulations to the Stradbally Active Retirement Group on their initiative and I sincerely hope their work will be appreciated”.

Visitors are welcome to view the exhibition at the Laois Arthouse Gallery in Stradbally from Saturday 6^th May until the closing date on Thursday 1^st June.

Opening times: Tues and Thurs 1pm-5pm & 5.30pm-8pm, Sat: 10am-1pm (except on Bank Holiday) (entry through library) Wed and Fri 1pm-4pm (entry through Laois Arthouse)

For more details contact T: 057 8664033 E: artsoff@laoiscoco.ie

Most recent exhibition ‘Winter Trees from the Artist’s Garden’

An exhibition of drawings by Mary Lee Murphy was officially launched on Saturday 11th March by Lord and Countess Rosse of Birr Castle. The work was highly praised by  Lord and Countess Rosse in their opening speeches. Winter Trees from the Artist’s garden’ is   a vibrant’ unique collection of pencil drawings that were made outdoors over the winter months, of trees in the artist’s garden.  All  welcome to view the exhibition on display until 13th April. Opening times: Tues and Thurs 1pm-5pm & 5.30pm-8pm, Sat: 10am-1pm (except on Bank Holidays)(entry through library)  Wed and Fri 1pm-4pm (entry through green doors) For more details contact T: 057 8664033

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Mary Lee Murphy is an artist based in the Sligo countryside but originally from Waterford. Mary’s work has been widely acclaimed with thirteen solo shows to date and participation in numerous group, open submission, and invited exhibitions both at home in Ireland and abroad. Her work is in many public and private collections.  The artist and her work has also featured in a short documentary produced by TG4. The exhibition runs from Saturday 11th  March to Thursday April 13th 2016.

More information on Mary’s work is available at www.maryleemurphy.com

Most recent exhibition  “Related to Life”

A wonderful mix of multimedia artwork by Mette Sofie Roche entitled “Related to Life” opened on the  17^th November and was launched by Curator Susan Boyle.

Artist Mette Sophie Roche , speaking at the Opening of her Multimedia Exhibition at Laois Arthouse ,Stradbally . Photo: Michael Scully-

Family members- Chloe Hayes , Mette Sophie Roche , Adam and Peter Roche, pictured at the Opening of Mette Sofie Roche’s Multimedia Exhibition at Laois Arthouse ,Stradbally .

Mette is originally from North-Norway but has lived in Ireland for more than 40 years and runs a full time art practise from her studio in Co. Meath. After a 30 year professional career as a social worker she graduated from NCAD in 2011 with a Diploma in Art & Design.

She is a process oriented and multidiscipline artist who uses a wide spectrum of both materials and methods in her art practise. What she is interested in is to take real life objects or materials and turn them by some inspired, secret process, into something else; related to life in some way, conceptual or otherwise, but stronger, more intense and preferably weirder. Research into the cultural traditions, beliefs and myths of the Samé People in the Northern hemisphere, her ancestors, has given direction to her art work in the last few years.  It is a culture in transition with influences from many different directions both religious, political and economic. Only traces and fragments are sometimes left of the ancient traditions and the knowledge of nature so vital to a traditional Samé community.

The sculptural installation of  Tatterlings  symbolises the deterioration of the old way of life and is made from the synthetic fiber found in workmen’s suits.  A collection of drawings and silk paintings are further fragmentations of these sculptures. She explores the old craft of candle making in her wall mounted and freestanding wax sculptures which are inspired by the old Samé ‘s belief in Totemism; believing in the power of inanimate objects to hold “conscious” spirits that interact with society. The land inhabited by the Samé have been fought over, claimed and contested for generations. The sculptures  Inherited Landscape and  Subject to Inquiry  make references to the many litigation processes. In Whitescape, the memory and knowledge of the landscape are in the folds and layers, twists and turns  of organically shaped rags from re-cycled cotton bed linen.

The art work creates innovative compositions with elements of mystery,  ambiguity and a sense of intrigue. The work process is a way of tracing and preserving things that are gone or slowly disappearing – or falling apart. The ambiguity allows the viewer to bring their own meaning to the art work.www.metteroche.com  The exhibition runs until Friday 9^th December   Opening times: Tues and Thurs 1pm-5pm & 5.30pm-8pm, Sat: 10am-1pm (except on Bank Holidays)(entry through library)  Wed and Fri 1pm-4pm (entry through Laois Arthouse) For more details contact T: 057 8664033

E: artsoff@laoiscoco.ie

Previous Exhibition 
And then I paint by Lorna Corrigan opened on Saturday 15th Oct and ran until mid Nov. The exhibition was officially launched by artist Elizabeth Cope and was a great success with most of the works selling at the launch.
Lorna works on canvas and paper with acrylic paint, pastel and acrylic marker. She embraces a range of subjects in her artworks which are inspired by her dreams and also taken from her memory or travels to places like Australia, France, Denmark and America. Working with bright, bold colours, assured lines and repetitious patterns she paints and celebrates people and the world in general. From the young age of 5, when she poured a can of red paint over herself and a dull grey tractor, Lorna has considered herself an artist.
Lorna is a member of the KCAT Studio in Kilkenny. She has shown work in many exhibitions in Ireland including at Ormonde College and County Hall Kilkenny, Kilkenny Arts Festival, St. Luke’s Hospital Kilkenny, Dunlavin Arts Festival Wicklow, Kilkenny County Council Arts Office Gallery, Kilkenny Design Centre, Airfield Trust, Garter Lane Arts Centre, Áras Éanna, Burren College of Art, Waterford Regional Hospital, Axis Art Centre Ballymun, Crawford Art Gallery, Dublin City Council Offices, Butler Gallery Kilkenny, City Hall Cork, Copperhouse Gallery Dublin. She has also shown internationally including in Scotland, Australia, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Germany, The Netherlands. Lorna’s work is featured in a number of publications, documentaries and catalogues including “Beyond: Irish Outsider Art 2015” and “Living Colour”, a feature documentary based on the KCAT Studio artists. A native of Kildare Lorna now lives in Carrick-on-Suir, Tipperary.

Heat manipulated fiber and acrylic medium

Next Showing:
“Related to Life”   A multimedia exhibition by Mette Sofie Roche   The exhibition runs from Thursday 17^th November to Friday 9^th December  Mette is originally from North-Norway but has lived in Ireland for more than 40 years and runs a full time art practise from her studio in Co. Meath. After a 30 year professional career as a social worker she graduated from NCAD in 2011 with a Diploma in Art & Design.

She is a process oriented and multidiscipline artist who uses a wide spectrum of both materials and methods in her art practise. What she is interested in is to take real life objects or materials and turn them by some inspired, secret process, into something else; related to life in some way, conceptual or otherwise, but stronger, more intense and preferably weirder.

Research into the cultural traditions, beliefs and myths of the Samé People in the Northern hemisphere, her ancestors, has given direction to her art work in the last few years. It is a culture in transition with influences from many different directions both religious, political and economic. Only traces and fragments are sometimes left of the ancient traditions and the knowledge of nature so vital to a traditional Samé community.

The sculptural installation of Tatterlings symbolises the deterioration of the old way of life and is made from the synthetic fiber found in workmen’s suits. A collection of drawings and silk paintings are further fragmentations of these sculptures.

She explores the old craft of candle making in her wall mounted and freestanding wax sculptures which are inspired by the old Samé ‘s belief in Totemism; believing in the power of inanimate objects to hold “conscious” spirits that interact with society. The land inhabited by the Samé have been fought over, claimed and contested for generations.The sculptures Inherited Landscape and Subject to Inquiry make references to the many litigation processes. In Whitescape, the memory and knowledge of the landscape are in the folds and layers, twists and turns of organically shaped rags from re-cycled cotton bed linen. The art work creates innovative compositions with elements of mystery, ambiguity and a sense of intrigue. The work process is a way of tracing and preserving things that are gone or slowly disappearing – or falling apart. The ambiguity allows the viewer to bring their own meaning to the art work. www.metteroche.com

Most recent exhibitions included an exhibition of paintings, entitled ‘Another Reality’ from Limerick based artist, Nuala O’Sullivan, in September. Nuala’s interest in the aesthetic and culture of the 1950s period and the friction between outward appearance and hidden restriction, come together in this series of paintings. The works reference family Super 8 movies and photographs from the 1950s and 1960s period.
Within the work many thin layers of paint are used to allow some of the light from the canvas to remain, reminiscent of holding a negative or piece of old celluloid film to the light. ‘Through my painting I want to intervene and interfere with the still image. This interference with the original image involves bringing colour, new scale, and new meaning to the images; bringing the viewer’s attention to the surface of the painting, and in so doing to show the passage of time within the final painting. Through painting these photographic images they will have an afterlife.’ Living and working in Limerick, Nuala O’Sullivan was awarded her BA in Fine Art (Painting) from Limerick School of Art and Design in 2006 and completed her MA in 2013.

In July the Arthouse Gallery, presented Night Shade Sound Scape an exhibition by Leitrim-based artist, Dorothee Kӧlle, officially launched by Enda Coyle-Greene, Poet and winner of the Patrick Kavanagh Award.
The work included paintings, collages, assemblages, and an installation reflecting the gallery space, the artist environment, and outer and inner experiences. Spontaneous creation, contemplation and analytical reflection go hand in hand during her process of working. A constant juggling between flexibility, openness, control and boundaries. The idea of a journey of travelling without knowing the outcome is reflected in searching and discovering different approaches in her art practices.
Dorothee Kӧlle has exhibited in various venues in Ireland such as in the RHA Annual Exhibition, IONTAS, Sculpture in Context and other selected or invited group shows since 1991. She completed the three years Sculpture Course in Manorhamilton, and graduated in Fine Art at Sligo IT in 2005.

‘On My Green Way I Wend’ an exhibition of paintings by Tipperary born artist Maria O’Brien took place in May.
A new body of work, created during her residency in The Laois Arthouse, reveals a renewed exploration into landscape for the artist. The exhibition was officially opened by Noel Kelly, CEO of Visual Artists Ireland.

The work explores humans engaging recreationally with the outdoors – using nature for their own diversion and entertainment with all the paraphernalia this involves. Action shots are painted quickly and deftly capturing the energy and spontaneity of the interaction between humans and their surrounds. O’Brien draws attention to how bizarre the human struggle to engage with nature often seems. She highlighted this through her palette, the often ostentatious coloured garb jumps out against the natural background. She paints people who want to be seen; a basic human desire. As much as wanting to be seen is innate in human nature, so is wanting to watch others, in the artist’s case painting the memories of perfect strangers. It is through her observation of the human in their surrounds, through her choice of content and rich surface, that the artist has created a new platform from which we, the audience, can vicariously people-watch ourselves.

Studios and Apartment now available at The Laois Arthouse, Stradbally, Co Laois.
Facilities include: Artists Studios, Exhibition Space, Rehearsal Space, Kiln, Garden, digital facilities, public library.
State of the Art Studios and one residential apartment – €180pm for Studio & €180pm for accommodation (including utilities & min rental 3 mths)
Application form available contact: Muireann Ni Chonaill, Arts Officer, Laois County Council Tel: 057: 8664109/8664033 or email: artsoff@laoiscoco.ie For more information visit the website: www.arthouse.ie

30 YEARS, ARTISTS, PLACES  – Major Touring Irish Art Exhibition

One of the most significant exhibitions of Irish artists in recent years will be launched in glór Ennis this December ahead of an extensive nationwide tour. The exhibition marks 30 years since Local Authorities embarked on providing for the arts locally, featuring 30 artists and 30 places.

This is a must see, not just for the extraordinary line up of Irish artists who rarely find themselves curated into one room, 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 our local government for the past 30 years.

James Harrold Galway City Arts Officer remarked on the early days of being an Arts Officer “No, we weren’t going to fund the local heat of the Rose of Tralee, and we didn’t do heritage.  We would head off, free and untraceable, pioneering into the blue undiscovered hills and suburbs. Unbothered: we hadn’t mobile phones, no-one had. In the untethered bliss of communion with the invariably creative communities we encountered we were free to devise residencies, tour theatre, install exhibitions and bring our counties to life.”

Catherine Marshall of IMMA writes in the accompanying catalogue “..arts officers went quietly about their work, not heads of smart new venues, not curators of major festivals, not heads of glamorous collections but the real harbingers of the kind of change that empowers and transforms a society.”

At the heart of all this work are artists, and featuring in the exhibition are renowned artists such as Tony O’Malley, Alice Maher, Robert Ballagh, John Kindness, Norah McGuiness, Sean McSweeney, Sean Lynch and John Shinnors alongside alongside emerging artists such as Jenny Brady, Julie Merriman and David Stephenson and many others.  The resulting collection speaks of places, people and home which reflects 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.

This touring exhibition, which is being funded by the Arts Council, is the first real public telling of this story. The exhibition will tour well into 2017, beginning with Glor in Ennis (December 7 – Jan 21),

See www.localartsireland.ie contact localartsireland@gmail.com

En Plein Air Film and Catalogue launch, Friday 20^th May at 7.30pm

Friday 20^th May at 7.30pm saw the launch of the film and catalogue documenting the

The En Plein Air residency and exhibition by Jock Nichol held in the Laois Arthouse in July 2015.

En Plein Air is a phrase used to describe the act of painting outdoors, also called: peinture sur le motif (“painting of the object(s) or what the eye actually sees”), where a painter reproduces the actual visual conditions seen at the time of the painting.

Jock utilized the facilities and  environs of Stradbally, running a very successful residency programme. Jock had three weeks to work on his own art practice and one week where he worked with a group of artists and enthusiasts interested in learning more about the En Plein Air process. He is a natural teacher and gently gets the best out of his students. The five day course was open to adult students of all abilities and focused on painting the landscape En Plein Air in the surroundings of the nearby Stradbally Hall Estate.

The catalogue is a record of the residency; demonstrating the importance of public engagement and opening the doors of the Laois Arthouse to the public. Documentation of the residency was Lisa Fingleton. She produced a short film on the residency which will be screened on the launch night.

Commenting on the residency Jock said, “I have several abiding memories of the summer of 2015. Playing a kind of hide-and-seek around Stradbally Estate, searching for people as they crouch over drawing boards behind hedges and walls (hopefully they weren’t really hiding from me) or sitting against an orchard wall simultaneously sunning ourselves and sheltering from the wind, eating lunch -tired from the mornings work but itching to get going again – long days that seemed so short.”

Laois Arts Officer, Muireann Ní Chonaill also curated the project, she said “The Laois Arthouse comes into its own with residencies. It opened in 2011 and offers support to artists through a variety of means. The Laois Arthouse is a place of work for artists. It is also a place where the public and the artist can meet and it was an obvious choice to invite Jock to lead out the En Plein Air programme.”

The En Plein Air progamme was funded through Laois County Council’s Arts programme and the Percent for Art Scheme.

At the Laois Arthouse, Stradbally, Co Laois curated by artist Vera Mc Evoy, opening on Thursday 11th June at 1.30pm. Launch by Debbie Thomas, children’s author and director of Nepal Leprosy Trust Ireland. A touring exhibition of 42 national and international artists,

Opens Monday to Friday, 11th to the 26TH June, 1-4pm or by special appointment. Sales from the Art Exhibition are in aid of Nepal Leprosy Trust Ireland.

Further information from the Laois Arthouse, Stradbally. T: 057 8664109/ 057 8664033. E: artsoff@laoiscoco.ie