Thurday 17th May | For his recent solo exhibition, ‘How the Mighty have Fallen’, at Monster Truck, Adrian Duncan will be in the gallery from 16:30 to host an informal discussion about his work.   Admission is Free and all are welcome. | www.monstertruck.ie/blog/?page_id=7163

Monday 21 May 2012, 6pm | 37 Merrion Square, Dublin 2 | Admission free | The Bauhaus was the twentieth-century’s most important and influential experiment in design education. Founded in 1919 in Weimar, Germany, by Walter Gropius, it moved to Dessau in 1926, and to Berlin in 1933, where it closed within months of the establishment of the Third Reich. Its faculty included many of the most important abstract artists of the day.

The emigration of many Bauhäusler, as staff and students alike termed themselves, from Germany helped disperse its ideas around the world, where they were often equated (not always correctly) with principled opposition to Naziism. This lecture will focus on new themes in Bauhaus scholarship, including the increasing recognition being accorded the work of the women who taught and studied there. It will also refer to the exhibition with the same title which is currently on show at London’s Barbican. | Further Information: T: 01 6611155 | E:arts@dublin.goethe.org

May 26, 2012 | 3:00pm | Ormston House, 9-10 Patrick Street, Limerick City, Ireland | In this afternoon talk, controversial Dutch artist TINKEBELL shares an insight into her artistic practice. This event is organized as part of the ‘Dogs’ group exhibition in Ormston House, curated by Rachael Corcoran as part of SOMA Contemporary Projects. Admission is free. TINKEBELL provokes by exemplifying the blind spots of modern society. She confronts a public that revels in being indignant about everything that has nothing to do with them, but at the same time is very apologetic about their own actions. She questions why millions of male chicks are brutally killed every day (often by throwing them against the walls of a barn) but she gets arrested for threatening to do the same in public. Why are people who openly discuss the lowering of the sexual age of consent treated as vile paedophiles, but are ‘barely 18′ websites intensely popular?  For further information on her practice, please see www.looovetinkebell.com | www.somacontemporary.com | www.ormstonhouse.com

Wednesday 22 May 3 – 5pm | Queen’s University Belfast, 12 University Sq. Room 101 | Gail Ritchie, visual artist, will present an illustrated talk on her recent practice which has core themes of culture, conflict and memorial. Using specific artworks the presentation begins with an examination of the forms of 20th century war memorials and ends with proposals for new forms that reinvigorate existing models. The artist will discuss how she reactivates the past in her work and how this is informed by research across several areas: literature and film, site visits, on line, archival and interview. The artist seeks to locate her work somewhere between Monuments and memorials, where the former may be perceived as large scale and permanent and the latter, more localised and intimate. How, as a contemporary artist working in the 21st century , does she reconstruct and commemorate the past in her work? Ritchie works across a range of media from drawing, sculpture, installation, photography and sound. The art works in this presentation will relate to the First and Second World Wars, the Cold War , recent conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan and conclude with work which explores the possibility of a universal memorial for all 20th century conflict | www.gailritchie.com

The second edition of VAWF will be co-presented by the Lewis Glucksman Gallery and the National Sculpture Factory, in Cork on Thursday 17th May 2012. VAWF is a forum for visual arts workers in Ireland to enable an open conversation and a forum for debate. It is for all visual arts workers – artists, art writers, curators, art historians, private gallerists, critics, educationalists, art technicians, students, arts officers, archivists, studio managers, art administrators and more.

Speakers will include Orlaith McBride (Director, The Arts Council), Patrick T. Murphy (Director, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin), Dawn Williams (Exhibitions Officer, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork), Alex Pentek (Artist), Gemma Tipton (Writer/Guest Artistic Director, Kinsale Arts Week), Claire Power (Studios Development Manager, Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, Dublin), Tom Creed (Director, Cork Midsummer Festival), Ann Davoren (Director, West Cork Arts Centre), Maud Cotter (Artist), Stephanie Hough (Artist/Co-founder, Basement Project Space, Cork), Josephine Kelliher (Owner/Director, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin), Clodagh Kenny (Director, Fire Station Artists’ Studios, Dublin), plus more to be announced. Further info E: vawforum@gmail.com | www.facebook.com/visualarts.workersforum | www.visualartsworkersforum.blogspot.com   

Applications are now being accepted for the following Masters programme offered by the Faculty of Visual Culture at the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), Dublin. The Master of Arts: Design History and Material Culture provides a dynamic platform for the study of design and material culture from the eighteenth century to the present day. An innovative series of themed modules introduces students to objects, spaces and the material culture of everyday life, and to the range of critical and interdisciplinary approaches which are used in design and material culture studies.This course draws on the wide-ranging academic expertise of faculty members in the fields of the history of decorative arts and design, dress history, architectural history and material culture as well as interacting with studio staff and students, and benefits from close relationships and joint initiatives with a wide range of museums, cultural institutions and historic properties. We welcome graduates from a wide variety of backgrounds, including: design; fine art; art history; history; archaeology; sociology; politics; literature; film studies; architecture; or communications.

For more information on this MA programme please email the course coordinator: Dr Anna Moran (morana@ncad.ie) or the Visual Culture secretary (visualculture@ncad.ie). Further information is also available on the course website www.designhistory.ie. Deadline for applications: 11 June 2012

This MA programme is offered on a full-time or part-time basis over one or two years respectively. For information on application guidelines, fees and funding, please see the postgraduate prospectus: http://www.ncad.ie/postgraduate/postgrad_taught.shtml

21 – 26 May 2012 | Opening 21 May 10am-8pm | In May this year 6 stone sculptors from around Ireland will take part in a 6 day sculpture symposium called “Mór Chuid Cloch”. Each sculptor chosen brings a unique quality and style to this event. The symposium is being hosted by Monaghan County Council. Over the 6 days we aim to engage the public with stone through the sculptors who will be producing a sculpture each inspired by local themes. The public will have a wonderful opportunity to witness the ongoing work in the town centre each day while ongoing exhibitions and talks will ensure this is an event not to be missed this year. The 6 sculptors taking part in this event are Alison Bole ( Co.Monaghan), Barry Wrafter (Co.Clare), Jason Ellis (Co.Sligo), Marc Kelly (Co.Monaghan), Martha Quinn (Co.Sligo) and Stephen Burke (Co.Dublin). The event is being curated by sculptor Marc Kelly | www.facebook.com/clonestone

Friday 11 May 2012 | 1:30 – 5:00pm | Harry Clarke lecture theatre, NCAD | Public seminar chaired by Valerie Connor with presentations by Mary Ann Bolger, Michelle Browne, Ciara Healy, Megs Morley and Dr. Roisin Kennedy. Part of the programme of public events on the occasion of the DOCUMENT! exhibition in NCAD Gallery running from 27 April – 26 May 2012 | www.nival.ie

Republic of Ireland

Visual Artists & The Law | Thurs 17 May | 3 – 6pm | Visual Artists Ireland in partnership with The Bar Council of Ireland – learning and exchange event for artists and the legal profession. Free event at The Bar Council of Ireland, Church St, Dublin 7 (50 places available )

Common Room Lunch Time Talk with City Artsquad | Wed 16 May | 1 – 2pm | Free event at Visual Artists Ireland Meeting Room, Central Hotel Chambers (11 places available)

Common Room Lunch Time Talk with James L Hayes | Wed 30 May | 1- 2pm | Free event at Visual Artists Ireland Meeting Room, Central Hotel Chambers (18 places)

Get Together 2012 | Fri 15 June 2012 | Cost: E 50 / E 30 (VAI Members) at Limerick College of Art & Design (100+ Places)

Northern Ireland

The Art of Collaboration | Thurs 24 May | 10 -3pm | Seminar and Artists talks on collaboration between literary and visual art form | Ards Arts Centre, Newtownards. Cost: £5  (30 Places)

Developing Proposals with Marianne O’Kane Boal artist Jill McKeown | Wed 20 June | 10.30 -4.30pm |
Cost: £30 / £15 (VAI, BX , DAS Members) at Belfast Exposed, Belfast (12 places)

DIY Media & Object Hacking with Artists Cliona Harmey & Saoirse Higgins | Wed 15 August | 10:00-5.00pm | Cost: £30 / £15 (VAI, BX, DAS Members) @ Digital Art Studios, Belfast

Booking & info available online:
For Northern Ireland events see: www.visualartists.org.uk/services/professionaldevelopment/current/
For Republic of Ireland events see: www.visualartists.ie/education-2/current-programme/

Thurs 17 May | 3 – 5.30pm |  | Location: The Distillery Building, Church St, Dublin 7 | Keynote Speaker: Henry Lydiate, The Henry Lydiate Partnership London.  Briefings / case studies from: Robert Ballagh, Artist ;  David Langwallners, Barrister & Dean Griffith College Dublin ;  Alex Davis, Advocacy Officer Visual Artists Ireland. Chaired by: Medb Ruane, writer, columnist and psychoanalytic practitioner.

This event is aimed at: Artists who have individual experiences or case studies that they are happy to share and those with questions to ask; Artists who wish to gain an understanding of legal issues in relation to their own art practice; Solicitors and Barristers who have an interest in the visual arts and in providing their services for artist. To register and for further information see: www.visualartists.ie/education-2/current-programme/?ee=68