Dublin Culture night, Ranelagh Arts Centre, 23rd Sept 2011

Dublin Culture Night again !

So much to do and see in the city..and to try and do it all in just a few hours. It would be much easier to ease it out over a whole day. In Ranelagh Arts , there was lots happening..

One thing I really enjoyed was a documentary film , directed by Conor Horgan, - where he interviewed three Irish portrait painters, over a period of a few months. Namely , they were Mick O Dea, James Hanly and Brian Maguire. All with distinctly and uniquely different approaches to their methods of paintings .

We primed a big ,stretched canvas, for the night , put it on an easel and invited visitors to the centre to take part. it worked well , generating lots of chat and interaction.

Having a go..

Also in the centre, we had " Emerging Artists" expo , which had opened the night before,

a talk by playwright , Jimmy Murphy, about his play "Hen Night Epiphany", which was to be in the school hall the following night ( not to take from the professionalism of the play),

a talk on Irish copyright tradition by writer , Ronan Sheehan,

a display of beautifully restored, vintage radios by Gerry Farrell,

and at 9pm , all went to Humphreys pub, to play away the night with Ciaran Tourish ,( fiddle player) and guests, incuding the wonderful singer Alison Slater.

Sarah Bracken , artistic director and Alison Slater , - Dad's radios in the background.

Two of our resident artists, painter Jean Doyle and glass artist Roisin de Buitlear in Roisin's studio

Community Arts - Irish Rugby Legends Portraits Exhibition, September 2011.

The enthusiasm for this exhibition came from Terry Connaughton, the director of Ranelagh Arts.. One of my all time memories of Terry will be of him - sitting huddled up, beside an electric fire, doing a days work, in layers of coats and scarves, in the depths of our coldest winter in my living memory ( remember night time temperatures of -17c , and daytime ones of -5c ) last winter, in Ranelagh Arts Centre. Terry arrived to the centre, everyday, - day after day, week after week , on the coldest , bleakest, most unfriendly days..and was often was the only one in there, working away..working towards his vision of RA being a vibrant, community hub of all the artforms. The Ranelagh Arts building was nothing like it is these days, there was a lot to do...still is ..and will be..and the future of it is uncertain. His all time hero ( since childhood) has been Jack Kyle, who has often been described as...

Doggie artworks

I love dogs, and this year I have been working on some doggie images. Here are a few..this one is of Sammy, my friend Jennie's Westie.... It is done with chalk pastel on Ingres paper, - I like the dry, chalky , matt, feeling of working in this medium. It can be dusty and messy to work with , but all this is forgiven, as these pastels are so easy to transport. "Boxer puppy", acrylic on canvas 30cms x 20cms Sometimes, a painting paints itself without much effort from the artist , and this is what happened here , - I was surprised to see this wee dog looking back at me. Some times this happens me when i work with animals. This is a mixed media work on canvas of Pucci, a much adored 2 year old lab. Not a great photo. This work is on a large canvas ( A1) size , and is worked up using acrylic, pastel and inks. Above is "Valentine", a mixed media on canvas. He is a rescue dog , an American bulldog crossbreed who was lucky t...

Mountpleasant Community Street Art Mural Project, Ranelagh Arts Festival.

One rainy, cold day in Spring 2013, a few of us were sitting in the back office of Ranelagh Arts Centre, wrecking our heads trying to think of new projects to put forward for Ranelagh Arts Festival later that year. Mountpleasant Mural Project was an idea we felt might work. It would involve collaborative Community Paintings, which would eventually be on display as outdoor art in a local area. We proposed that we would create 4 -6 permanent outdoor 2D artpieces for the enjoyment of local community for display in Mounpleasant Park in Ranelagh, Dublin...and that we would involve the the local RMDS Primary school, local community and park visitors in the creation of some of the pieces. At the end of it, we hoped to have a few o utdoor permanent paintings in the park for all to enjoy, and which would hopefully inspire community and other artists to the potential of projects like these in the city/country. We felt ...

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