Art Trail
Due to the pandemic, artists have had to learn to be flexible, to evolve and to create in new ways. The Clancy Brothers Art Trail’s rolling exhibitions and events reflect this with a varied and unusual line up.
With the theme of ‘Respecting, Healing and Restoring Mother Earth’, this year’s Art Trail will roll out and evolve over the six weeks of the Reimagined Clancy Brothers Festival, with exhibits popping up in unusual spaces, some works themselves evolving as the weeks progress.
The Art Trail includes Yarn Bombing in association with the Carrick-on-Suir Lions Club, a Bicycle Street Art installation, window displays by various local retailers, pop up art and craft traders at various events, painting ‘en plein air’ with artists joined by local musicians, and an art benefit with a twist hosted by the Tudor Artisan Hub.
‘Lockdown Is/Was…’ Sketchbook Exhibition
The Seán Healy Library, Carrick-on-Suir is hosting the ‘Lockdown Is/Was…’ Sketchbook exhibition as part of the Clancy Brothers Festival Art Trail.
On public view for the first time, the sketchbook is part of a collaborative project that arose out of the lockdown weekly series of Poetry Plus open mic events run by Margaret O’Brien of Writing Changes Lives. On the final night Margaret asked the group to finish the phrase, ‘Lockdown is/was…’, and the resulting lines were later put together to form a collaborative poem. Linda Fahy from the Tudor Artisan Hub then suggested giving the lines to Sheila Wood, a visual artist, to create a sketchbook based on the poem.
The result is the ‘Lockdown Is/Was…’ Sketchbook, a unique artwork which transforms the poem into a tangible form, something that must be seen to be fully appreciated. Also on exhibition are prints from the sketchbook and a looped video showing the book.
The exhibition will run until the end of August in the Seán Healy Library, (open 10am – 1pm and 2 – 5pm, Monday to Friday).
‘Out my Window’
The ‘Out my Window’ project paired 35 animation production students from LIT Clonmel with 35 Animation students Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, USA.
Each student was tasked with choosing a window and writing a description of what they see and then sent it to their partner across the Atlantic. When the student received a description, they were challenged with creating an art piece capturing this view in any medium of their choice. The result is a stunning and surprising exhibition by up and coming animators and artists of the future.
Coordinated by Dr. Marie Walsh, LIT and Scott Cavanah, Bradley University, a taste of the exhibition is on display in the Nano Nagle Community Centre throughout the month of August.
Exhibition by Francis Casey
An exhibition of large scale portraits by renowned local artist Francis Casey from Carrick-on-Suir’s Camphill community. Quirky and unique, the paintings are packed with colour and infused with light. The exhibition is on display in the Nano Nagle Community Centre.
‘From Broken to Beautiful’
A special installation in the spirit of Kintsugi practices, on repairing an item in a way that foregrounds the repair. Choosing something you have that is less than perfect, it may be broken or chipped or missing a leg or an ear, then selecting a way of repairing it that foregrounds the imperfection. This will be an evolving exhibition rolling out in the Brewery Lane Theatre and into the streets of Carrick-on-Suir.
As part of this, be sure to check out ‘The Green Man of Carrick-on-Suir’ by Sheila Wood currently on display in The Rose Bowl windows.
