Samhain is the first of four cross-quarter celebrations which occur at exact mid-points between the equinoxes and the solstices, marking the arrival of Winter (Samhain), Spring (Imbolc), Summer (Bealtaine) and Autumn (Lughnasa) respectively. All these traditional festivals have corresponding Christian celebrations. In early November, at the time of Samhain, All […]
Arts
A young student recently asked me how to ‘make blue’. Of course, being a primary colour one cannot ‘make blue’ out of other colours; just as one cannot make yellow or red. In saying this, blue is not simply blue, and in art all the different varieties of blue ‘are’ made. […]
Following the critical success of his first solo exhibition in Ireland earlier this year, O’Connell Gallery is delighted to be showing selected highlights from the Quercu collection in Clonakilty. ‘Quercu’ – the oak – brings together a new body of work by Alan Meredith. The exhibition draws together separate, but […]
The work of printmaker, Brian Lalor, as viewed in the current Uillin retrospective, reveals a Janus-faced graphic artist of, on one side, Bruegelian humour, intensity and detail, and on the other, expressionist fervour and flight. Breaking this down further, in his tighter drawings of cityscapes we glimpse an architect and […]
It seems that whoever I have spoken to recently has lamented our missing summer. Many claim that this year is wetter than last year “and that was bad, mind.” But I like to look at positives and I know there were at least two evenings when we sat under canvas […]
Chairmaker Alison Ospina’s most recent collaboration sees her teaming up with artist and printmaker Shane O’Driscoll resulting in the production of limited edition traditional chairs combining ‘soft’ organic and hard edge abstract forms. Alison has been designing and making her graceful chairs and stools, using locally coppiced hazel, since moving […]