By John Fitzgerald
If you wish to see a first-rate community art project in action, just drop into St. Canice’s Neighbourhood Hall and meet the Brushstrokes group.
I called last week to view its exhibition and wasn’t disappointed. Local artist Graham Carew mentors the group. His stunning Cherry Blossom mural on the gable end of the community hall is an apt introduction to both his own work and the wonderful people he has shepherded for the past two years along a road of creative self-discovery.
When I entered the hall, the impeccably arranged works made an instant impression. Arrayed tastefully throughout the spacious interior was achievement writ large…a wealth of styles and themes…still life, wildlife, farm life, pub life, and hints of spiritual life. Abstract and semi-abstract…landscapes, seascapes, streetscapes, and perceptions of inner space.
Artist Jenny Cooke, a supervisor at the Neighbourhood Hall, spoke highly of Graham Carew’s ability to bring out the best in each artist, as he guides and facilitates the group. Jenny emphasized that people who join can “connect through art regardless of experience or ability.”
Even those who never painted in their lives have found a happy home in the group. Over the two years, it has blossomed and grown numerically, attracting people of all ages and backgrounds. Graham Carew believes that the hall’s special welcoming atmosphere is conducive to the flowering of creativity and hails the strong community spirit underlying all the hall-based projects.
Jenny acknowledged the importance to the group of successful grant applications for materials and the essential backing of Siobhan O’ Brien and the Kilkenny and Carlow Educational and Training Board (KCETB) in providing tutor hours.
The works I saw in the hall covered the themes you expect to find at an art exhibition and a few more besides…a dazzling montage of perspectives, insights, and interpretations.
Oisín Kelly’s works bestowed calmness. You couldn’t but catch some of the gentle-on-the -eye tranquillity exuded by his almost ethereal seascape and the soporific, inviting form of a rustic doorway giving on to what might be a house- or maybe another dimension.
Ailbhe Fitzgerald’s work had a certain spiritual quality and I especially liked her Lighthouse, lashed by sea waves and the slow grind of time.
Jo Kelly’s acrylic Reflections would appeal to anyone with a yearning for, or a link to, our verdant countryside, with all of its bucolic attractions and resonances. Horses graze in a meadow speckled with yellow flora under a pale blue sky.
In Regulars, she recalled the halcyon days of the now fast-declining rural pub, with capped men playing cards, their stout glasses half-empty. A cigarette nostalgically completed the scene.
Fiona Quigley by contrast had a haunting stone passageway into which a woman was about to disappear out of sight. It reminded me of the Butter Slip but transferred to a rural setting or a time removed from our own.
Her Hare depiction would look well on the wall of any nature lover, as would Theresa Carroll’s A watchful Hare or Tom Barrett’s Jumping Fox. These pay due homage to our wildlife heritage, apart from their shining artistic merit.
Marianne Kelly’s Black and White appeared to hint at human equality and diversity. The silhouette of a woman’s head was a mix of black and white, though we didn’t see her features and were kept guessing. Mish Mash was a kaleidoscope of colour and a celebration of life itself, perhaps the cheeriest work in the exhibition.
Other artists in the group include Agnes Hickey, Eamon Downes, Josephine Kelly, Grainne Quigley Lambert, and Paul Mahony. Paul’s breathtaking drawings were a big talking point among visitors.
I was about to inspect more exhibits when a hush descended on the hall. All turned to welcome the Cathaoirleach of Kilkenny County Council, Joe Malone, whose silver chain of office twinkled in a shaft of golden sunlight.
After a quick briefing on the exhibition, he cast his politically wizened gaze around the hall, taking in the display of talent. He said he felt privileged to be among the artists and their work. He commended the exhibits and the group’s inclusive, confidence-building ethos. He opined that any one of the works displayed would make an ideal gift.
The hall basked in the glow of this tribute, coming as it did from a respected civic leader.
As I bid them goodbye the artists were planning, or contemplating, their next creative ventures and you couldn’t but be moved by the talent and top-class mentoring exemplified by the Brushstrokes group.
In Callan I viewed the Bridge Art exhibition at the Macra Hall. The eight-person group meets on Wednesday evenings at the Droichead Building in West Street and travel to outdoor venues in summer to paint.
They’ve exhibited at Callan Library and Kilkenny’s Mayfair and the art market at the Mayor’s Walk in the City. Artist Paddy Cunningham greeted me at the Marca Hall and showed me his portrait of Glen Hansard, the Irish singer-songwriter who died tragically earlier this month.
A painting that immediately caught my attention when I entered the hall was Laima Bujack’s In Between, which has an angelic figure sprouting gracefully out of the ground towards the heavens, from tree-like roots.
Elsewhere in Callan I viewed an exhibit in the Green House window gallery in Lower Bridge Street that, at first sight, also hinted at the supernatural.
Threshold, an installation by artist Brigid Teehan was locally dubbed the Ghost in the Window. In appearance, it reminded me of those ectoplasmic forms that manifest at a séance. On deeper reflection, a range of meanings filtered through, to tease enquiring minds.
The artist herself alluded to the influence of what she called the “permaculture idea that edges, where different worlds meet, are places of growth and possibility.”
Whatever one’s opinion of the work, you couldn’t but be touched by its macabre ambience in the Green House window, with the windows of houses on the opposite side of Bridge Street eerily reflected in the glass.
For me it hinted at the notion of crucial life situations that can go either way: choices and turning points we encounter on what Macbeth dubbed “this bank and shoal of time.”
Speaking of time, Sceal Mór Theatre pulled off a riveting step back to 19th century Ireland with its recreation of a pony auction in front of the Court House building in Parliament Street, similar to one held at the same location in1899.
McCreery Brothers, auctioneers, conducted that auction. The reenactment celebrated the 150th anniversary of McCreery & Sons, one of the oldest auctioning firms in Ireland, and still going strong.
The drama group did a sterling job, recreating not just a typical 19th century auctioneering scenario with period costumes, horse harnesses, and other relevant paraphernalia; but managing also to rustle up the excitable, tension-fraught atmosphere: The throng of onlookers that filled the street and lined the courthouse steps and gallery joined in the ferocious bidding.
You felt the pull of the past as the players ramped up the frenzy and suspense. Present day Kilkenny melted away and a different era prevailed for twenty-five minutes.
The reenactment was woven into a specially scripted drama, with themes such as greed, generosity, loyalty, moral courage, and the inequalities of Victorian society coming through as the lively cast brought a slice of Kilkenny’s heritage to life.
For me, this was a highpoint of the festival season.
