Irish Art Scene

Yanny Petters is a botanical portraitist from County Wicklow in Ireland. She works exclusively from life, either in her studio in Glendarragh, Newtownmountkennedy, County Wicklow, or out in the midst of her subject's habitats. Yanny paints in a variety of media, including oils and water colours, and she produces exquisite drawings and fine art nature prints. She also specialises in Verre Églomisé, or painting on glass, an old and rare technique she has been developing and adapting to suit her plant portraits since her years working as a sign writer in the 1980s. Her paintings are in a number of important collections including the Dr. Shirley Sherwood Collection at Kew Gardens, London, and the Office of Public Works in Dublin. She is a member of Visual Artists Ireland, the Irish Society of Botanical Artists (ISBA), the Water Colour Society of Ireland and the Dublin Painting & Sketching Club. Her solo show Hedgerows, stories from a linear world" is now showing at...

The book of Kelly is a great example of the rich art history that ireland has offered up to the world. 

Welcome back to irishartscene, we have been away for a number of years but are back to make sure that we cover the best of what the art scene in ireland offers 

13th Jan 2012 (Fri) - 16th Jan 2012 (Mon) from 19:00 - 18:00 Makeshift Ensemble in association with WRKSHP @ Sample Studios presents: Let's Play! Design an exhibition of theatre design, comprisind set, costume and sound design. The exhibition comes as the fourth event of Makeshift Ensemble Let's Play! theatre development programme. The aim of this event is to showcase the design talent in Cork , introduce new designers and to put theatre design into the limelight for once and allow an insight for the public into this aspect of theatre. The exhibition is also preceded by a two day workshop on theatre design for the participating artists which is facilitated by Lisa Lilywhite theatre designer. Opening Times: Friday 7pm Official Opening (drinks and a DJ) Saturday 10am - 6pm Sunday 12am - 4pm Monday 10am - 6pm Let's Play! is supported by the Arts Council and the exhibition was made possible with the generous suppor...

Art Studies 2012: Great Art in the Context of its Time Dates and Venue: 12 January to 29 March, Thursdays 6.30pm, Gallery Lecture Theatre. This series of twelve talks will explore what constitutes great works of art: antiquities, stained glass, paintings, sculpture, museums, architecture and interiors.  12 January - What is a Masterpiece? Nigel Rolfe, Artist, Senior Critic, University of Pennsylvania, School of Design; Chelsea College of Art; Fine Arts Course Tutor, Royal College of Art 19 January - Renaissance Master Sculptor - Michelangelo Dr Paula Murphy, University College Dublin 26 January - Masterpieces of Irish Antiquities Peter Harbison, Royal Irish Academy 2 February - Venetian Renaissance Master: Titian Dr Philip Cottrell, University College Dublin 9 February - Great 20th-century Architecture: Hans Scharoun's Berlin Philharmonie Professor Hugh ...

The Copper House Gallery will launch Coal Story , a photographic exhibition by Darek Fortas on Wednesday 11th January 2012 from 6pm-8pm. Artist Anthony Haughey will open the exhibition. Coal Story , the first solo exhibition by Darek Fortas, is a result of an extensive photographic engagement with the two largest coal mining companies in the European Union located in Silesia, the most industrialised part of Poland. Coal Story combines contemporary photography and archival research dating back to the 1960s, when Poland experienced significant economic and industrial expansion. In the early 1980s, coal mines were a major site of struggle and resistance against the communist regime. Workers’ protests resulted in the creation of Solidarity - a workers’ and citizens' movement under the leadership of Lech Walesa. The coal miners actions eventually led to the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War. This exhibition is part of the inaugural Fire Propeller Competi...

When I started researching for this article I was not sure which way it would go as I had not really thought much about is Graffiti art a valid means of expression. Some of its of course is just tagging hence like many I tarnished it all with the one brush. With the emergence of Banksy onto the British Art Scene many people have begun to see Graffiti art in a new light. Ireland has always had Graffiti artists working not only in urban areas but has peoples attitude to Graffiti changed? "New York is Killing Me" by ADW which only lasted a few days on Abbey Street Dublin   Graffiti can be and is a means for artists to get their work viewed by a mass audience that otherwise would not step foot into a gallery, until recently would not have been shown in many galleries across Ireland.  So what exactly has changed? for one graffiti has become more technically sound and have become more about what the artist wants to say rather than just a form of tagging, it ...

Our current Artist in Residence, Zin Taylor, will give a talk in The Model on his practice on Wednesday December 7th at 6pm. Zin has become known internationally for his elaborate installations encompassing elements of performance and sculpture along with drawing, printing, and video. Narration is an essential ingredient of much of Taylor’s multifaceted work, and his stories are often culled from the undergrowth of popular culture (more specifically underground music scenes) and contemporary art lore. Journalism, research, storytelling: not surprisingly, both the spoken word and the printed word figure prominently in Taylor’s practice and many of his installations have also been accompanied by publications and/or artist books. The talk, as much as it will be about his work, will traverse a wide variety of influence, anecdote and past history to arrive at the basic principle behind what it is Zin Taylor does – the development of thoughts about a subject in...

“Returning” is an exhibition of works by local artist Georgia Hopkins. The paintings are atmospheric seascapes and landscapes inspired by the natural beauty of Cork and West Kerry. Artist’s Statement ‘Returning’  I chose ‘Returning’ as a title for a number of reasons. Initially it was a literal, working title, as I would be returning to the lovely Alliance Franҫaise de Cork gallery of my first solo exhibition. As I thought more about it however, this title resonated on a number of different levels. The very fact of having this exhibition necessitated my own returning: to the painting process, to the quietness of mind that that both allows & demands, and to my enduring source of inspiration, which is the wonder and beauty of the natural world. It is always a great pleasure to return to my inner connection with nature, to the universal energy, to the place in us all that makes us both unique in spirit yet connected with everything and everyone else. ...

 Structure is John Macormac’s new solo exhibition of recent works on card, paper and wood. The title refers to the artist's interest in combining different elements and techniques to construct works that provoke a subjective sense of atmosphere, and a relationship of entities that coheres in the mind of the viewer. The artist combines collage, oil paint, acrylics, emulsion, ink, spray paint, conte crayon, chalk, felt tips, pencil and anything else that appeals. Found photographs and fragments of text can be included because of a personal sense of meaning, or purely as passages of visual ‘noise’. The work does not start with a finished image in mind. Rather it carries a sense of practical progression; each new area suggests the context and space for the next aspect of the piece. The artist will often work on several at a time. Pieces are often playful, while rough edges and accidents are encouraged. The work is in a constant state of evolution and reinvention. L...

What is a nation? And what do we need to be considered part of a nation? This event aims to consider our identity as curators, as Italians, as Europeans in a precarious time, especially because of politics and economics. We are living in hard times: both Ireland and Italy are suffering due to the global crisis and our governments are forced to cut funds to support culture. Thus the art system is in danger and a lot of people have decided to leave their own country to find other possibilities abroad. The “new emigration”, composed of graduates and highly educated people, art professionals, doctors, engineers, is changing an entire social system, especially in Italy. Taking inspiration from the financial crisis and funding cuts, the event will focus on the reaction of artists to these issues, their interpretations of the causes and effects, and their strategies to address or overcome them. Quoting Boris Groys, “artists today are using the same forms and proces...

Helen Sharp is an artist living and working in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Helen grew up on the tiny Hebridean island of Vatersay in Scotland and left the islands to take up a place in Edinburgh College of Art where she gained a First Class honours in Sculpture and received the Andrew Grant Bequest Scholarship for Highest Academic Achievement. Helen went on to gain a Masters with Distinction in Time Based Art from Dartington College of Arts gaining the highest degree result in her year. After some time teaching and also exhibiting internationally many times, Helen went on to be director of Catalyst Arts Gallery in Belfast and then to complete a PhD in Art from the University of Ulster. Alongside and equally as important to her academic career, Helen has continued her art practice and recently had a major solo show called the `Hero and Now’, exhibiting film,  photography, print and installation. Helen was one of five shortlisted artists for the Cultural Olympiad...

This major mid-career survey of the work of the internationally admired Brazilian artist Rivane Neuenschwander covers a decade of her work. A Day Like Any Other highlights her unique contribution to the narrative of Brazilian Conceptualism and reveals her wide ranging, interdisciplinary practice that merges painting, photography, film, sculpture, installation, collaborative actions and participatory events. Three installations in the exhibition involve direct visitor participation. The first, I Wish Your Wish , 2003, is based on a tradition at a church in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, where the faithful tie silk ribbons to their wrists and to the gates of the church; and, according to tradition, their wishes are granted when the ribbons wear away and fall off. At IMMA hundreds of similar ribbons are printed with visitors’ wishes from Neuenschwander’s past projects exhibited elsewhere. Visitors are invited to remove a ribbon from the wall and tie it around their wrist. Acc...

Located In the north east inner city Dublin, Fire Station Artists’ Studios was established in 1993 to support professional visual artists. Fire Station provides subsidised residential live/work spaces for visual artists. The studios are let for up to two years and nine months and for shorter periods for international artists. A long term residency at Fire Station allows an artist to focus on their practice and general career development in a supportive and well-resourced environment. Fire Station provides large scale sculpture workshop facilities and training opportunities for artists through its Skills Programme. This programme has expanded to include digital and film training and continues to host technical training and master classes which incorporate critical reflection. A key policy of Fire Station is to contribute to the debate on collaborative and socially engaged arts practice. This is achieved through working with both local and international ar...

Located in Dublin city center, Broadstone Studios is an independent visual artists’ studio workspace that was founded in 1997 by visual artist Jacinta Lynch. The core philosophy of the studio is one of autonomy that supports professional development for contemporary visual artists through the provision of affordable studio workspace within a safe, secure, accessible and creative environment. Support facilities include a black & white darkroom, digital video editing facilities and a large ground floor project and exhibition space. The large open project space enables the studios to provide public access for a predominantly private artists workspace through a series of practice led initiatives, partnerships and collaborations. Broadstone Studios works in partnership with many artists’ studio organisations, both nationally and internationally to research new models for studio providers, to lobby and advocate on behalf of visual arts workspace’s and to create networ...

This exhibition is devoted to images of China by Scottish photographer John Thomson (1837-1921). Born in Edinburgh Thomson first travelled to Asia in 1862, where he set up a professional photographic studio.  Fascinated by local cultures, Thomson returned in 1868, settling in Hong Kong.  Over the next four years he made extensive trips to Guangdong, Fujian, Beijing, China’s north-east and down the Yangtze.  This exhibition is drawn from his time in these regions. In the early days of photography, when negatives were made on glass plates, a cumbersome mass of equipment was required but Thomson was nevertheless able to capture a wide variety of images.  His works present the human aspects of life in China through the extensive record of everyday-street scenes, rarely captured by other photographers of that era. After returning to Britain, Thomson took an active role informing the public about China, through illustrated lectures and publications. ...

Block T is an organisation that has been operating from a formerly disused tile warehouse located in Smithfield Square, Dublin since July 2010. Block T  provides a platform for visual and performing arts, as well as fostering philosophical, social and technological innovation, locally and internationally through education and exchange. Producing an interdisciplinary and varied programme, Block T hopes to establish engagement that encompasses a diverse and wide ranging audience Block T's wider mission is to provide a platform for creative thinking from all avenues. It strives to help independent, self-sufficient and productive individuals to bridge the gay between theory and practice in their art or discipline and to give them exposure to a wider audience. Block T is a 8000 square foot space which encompasses 11 resident artist studios, a gallery space, a workshop room, a performance room, a communal room and a photography darkroom. View Larger Map

The term Unknown Knowns which constitutes the title of this exhibition, is the description used by the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek when he refers to the “unconscious beliefs and prejudices that determine how we perceive reality and intervene in it.” Things we know, but don’t know we know, dictate how we address situations we encounter. Obviously it is impossible to know what the unknown known is because if we did it would become the known known, but the work in this exhibition addresses the theme of unconscious knowledge. The three artists have explored and represented specific elements of this through their work. Shown through a diverse range of works, from the manipulation of materials that we know on some level are familiar to us, to the investigation into the possibility of another self and how this can determine our lives, to the idea of the second life and the attempt to survive for eternity, all three artists’ work delve into certain aspects ...

Black Church Print Studio is an artistic collective and one of the leading contemporary fine art print studios in Ireland. It was established in 1982 as a non-profit organisation and is grant-aided by the Arts Council, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and Dublin City Council. The Studio provides fully equipped facilities for all types of fine art printmaking from traditional to innovative techniques, offering facilities in etching, photo-intagilo, screen-printing, lithography, relief and giclee printing. Its main focus is to enable Studio Members to create high quality limited editions and to expand the boundaries of printmaking by embracing new, innovative processes. It has 70 full-time artist members with 24 hour access. Black Church Print Studio is a friendly and supportive environment with full-time technical and administrative staff and part-time digital support. The Studio has an exhibition, artist in residence and peer critique programme to support the  ...

Signal is proud to present the exhibition of paintings and drawings by artist Brigid O’Brien.  Brigid has exhibited widely in group shows in Dublin, Wicklow and London.  She has worked with other artists and people with disabilities, designing gardens and painting murals in places of long –term care.  As an artist, drawings are her specialty, she has a unique quirky view of life which she portrays in her work.  Allotments were a feature of the earlier part of the last century. I recall observing the patterns left by them on railway banks around Dublin in the nineteen sixties. Quaint, they looked, old fashioned and definitely part of our past.  Fifty years later, in tall glass buildings, decisions are made that affect all of us. A sense of anxiety is now seemingly part of what we are.  Outside of the economics, the protests and resignations, a new movement has started. It is an underground revolution. It is happening in your...