Northern Ireland
The Drawing Box – ‘An experimental socionomic drawing project connecting artists from all over the world’
Curated by Outland Arts
16th May – 4th June
The Higher Bridges Gallery, Clinton Centre, Belmore Street, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh
The Drawing Box is a social network / facebook (secret group) founded on the 27th December 2012. The group was formed by Outland arts member & Fermanagh Arts Officer Diane Henshaw to create an open ‘but private by invite only’ forum for circulatory discussion about contemporary drawing with artists Andrew Crane, John Crabtree and Patil Rajendra.
All of which had a collective synergy within their artistic practice. Quickly the group grew to a membership through word of mouth of close to 80+ artists. The group decided to experiment with a spontaneous drawing exhibition plan + many of our newly formed DB membership are now all creating five new works each scaled to A5 +participating in this inaugural mail art project under the auspices of the ‘Drawing box’, in whatever mode of drawing that might be.
Emerge + See
11th May – 5th June
London Street Gallery, London St, Derry
Opening hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 11am – 4pm
Emerge + See runs at the London Street Gallery, London St, Derry.
A group show of over 40 Derry based artists curated by Rory Harron it is an exciting and eclectic show ranging in media, subject and approach. The London Street Gallery is a public gallery.
Threshold
11th May – 8th June
R-Space Gallery, 32 Castle Street, Lisburn, Co. Antrim
Over a ten year period Avril Wilson made a series of major public commissions all of which focused on boundaries and points of access. In 2000 she was commissioned to create a 400m long and 3m high sculptural railing and four gateways for The Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. It replaces a security wall that was erected between the hospital and the Falls Road during ‘the troubles’ in Northern Ireland. Entitled ‘Life Span’ the railings represent a celebration of life. Reflecting further on the significance of the physical and personal relationships we hold between one place and an – other.
Avril’s solo exhibition at R Space Gallery is a new body of work, 2D and 3D that aims to connect a series of images and objects that explore notions of identity and place. The work fluctuates between the universal and local; the global (human) perspective to psycho-geographic (personal) perspective, often related to her connection to Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Main themes that connect across the work include; altering images of landscapes, specifically locations involving edges; exploring the physical line of borders; the notion of exclusion in the sense of ‘no-mans-land’; properties of blackness, light and focus.
The Changing Nature of Landscape
An exhibition of watercolours by Paul Richardson
9th May – 8th June
Flax Gallery, Museum at The Mill, Mossley Mill, Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim, BT36 5QA
Hosted by the Flax Gallery, Mossley Mill this exhibition comprises of water colour studies taken from the East Antrim landscape. The familiar, the ordinary, the everyday places that are often over looked. Landscape is never static but is in constant flux ensuring that any setting changes from minute to minute.
‘The unpredictability of water colour makes for an exciting process, a process that is led by the medium. The medium is well suited to the depiction of the ever changing light condition which illuminates our iconic landscape’, Paul Richardson. Paul trained in fine art in the mid-1980s and has since exhibited in both solo and group shows. As a social worker with young people in care he encourages the use of self-expression through the creative process.
Flax Gallery, Museum at The Mill, Mossley Mill, Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim, BT36 5QA
The Legacy of Music
7th – 28th May | Reception: 7th May at 8pm
Burnavon Arts Centre, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone.
This is an exhibition by Martin McGrinder, consentrating on the culture of traditional music through the eye of the Impressionist. Paintings capture the energy vibrancy of the performers as they play.
For more information: burnavon@cookstown.gov.uk
Homelands
27th May – 7th June
Ship Quay Gallery, 6 Shipquay St Londonderry, Derry BT48 6DN
Derry born artist Brian O’Doherty has been active in design and the visual arts in the North West of Ireland for many years.
This month, O’Doherty is unveiling his Homelands collection which observes the idea of birthplace, territory and land pride. O’Doherty investigates the characteristics and traits relative to his own homelands of Derry and Donegal, the home territories of African communities and that of a flock of Crows that he studied in pursuit of their survival. This unique combination of studies highlights the tribal instincts of all species and cultures to mark out their stomping ground and protect their soil.
29th April – 13th May
The Playhouse, Artillery Road, Derry.
Helen Heron will be holding an exhibition of her illustrations of Phil Coulter’s song,’The Town I Loved so Well’, at the Playhouse, Artillery Road, Derry from Monday April 29th to Monday, May 13th. These 16 pieces of textile art were shown by the BBC on the large screens the night of the Sons and Daughters concert, which opened Derry City of Culture in January, as Phil sang the song.
Land, Air & Sea
2nd May – 9th June | Opening: 2nd May at 7pm
Castle Espie Wetland Centre, 78 Ballydrain Rd, Comber, Down, BT23 6EA
Castle Espie Art Gallery are delighted to welcome artists Lyn, Sarah & Emma Majury. The inspiration for this exhibition reflects their passion for our environment whether it be the sea, wildlife, the changing landscape or memories that each of these areas can evoke.Artist Background
Emma Majury is an artist and printmaker. Her main areas of research include nostalgia, collecting and archives. She is also interested in working with non-toxic printmaking methods. She is passionate about vintage tins and packaging, old and often obsolete vehicles, buildings with a sense of history and old paper ephemera, whether a postcard, scribbled note or printed receipt.
Sarah Majury has always been fascinated by animals. Many of her paintings are portraits of animals, hoping to capture the character of that individual. Sarah highlights, ‘I try to capture that glint in the eye, the thought, the plan, the next move.’
Lyn Majury’s paintings in this exhibition are influenced by the changing seasons and draw attention to quiet corners of the landscape that have been overlooked as busy people whiz by. Some paintings reflect her passion for recycling so the mundane and discarded can end up as part of the fabric in an acrylic painting. Some paintings are inspired by found quotes.
The exhibition will be opened on Thursday 2nd May at 7pm by Paul Walls, Associate Academician of the Royal Ulster
A darker hue – an exhibition of paintings by Barbara O’Meara
19th April – 20th May
The Market Place, Armagh City
A darker hue features new and recent work continuing the artists’ on-going exploration and investigation of a sunken forest of the Irish coast. These allegorical paintings are inspired by our existence in and connection to nature, and the fragility of our lives. Based on the simplicity and complexity of human nature the work oscillates between figurative and abstraction incorporating the artists own expressive style.
Further Information contact: barbaraomeara1@eircom.net
Courtyard, City Factory, North Edward Street.
Garden Party/ Launch Sat. 13th April 6-8pm
By appointment from the 16th of April – 2nd May then fully open to the public from the 3rd of May
VOID SITES presents a public artwork by Katie Holten curated by Gregory McCartney in the recently excavated courtyard of the historic City Factory in Derry, Northern Ireland.
Factory Garden is part of the Artist’s Gardens project curated by Gregory McCartney and facilitated by Void. During 2013 Void is extending activities beyond the gallery space, creating a number of installations within the public realm (Void Sites). This series of installations will animate vacant city centre buildings and locations, breathing new life into them and allowing for new readings. The placement of these works will create new avenues for the public to access arts and culture in an alternative way.
The Artist’s Gardens project re-imagines Derry’s city centre environment for the UK City of Culture 2013 celebrations. The intention of the project is to focus on the natural in Derry’s city centre and surrounds by creating artist’s gardens in disused/abandoned/unusual spaces and create landscapes which will be catalysts for reflection, imagination and innovation.
