The Boyle Arts Festival and Visual Arts Exhibition will be officially opened by Hilary Beirne in King House on Thursday July 14th at 8pm. The evening will be celebrated with a parade of all who took part in our Children’s workshop and music performances from Music Generation Roscommon and everybody is welcome.
(By Brendan McGee)
Earning its place as one of Ireland’s most anticipated summer celebrations of the Arts, this year’s main exhibition entitled ‘Past , Present, Future’ , will feature the works of established and emerging Irish visual artists from across Ireland. This is one of the most important exhibitions of contemporary Irish art in the country and it serves as the jewel in the crown of a jam-packed multi-disciplinary ten day Arts event, in the most gracious of surroundings in King House.
The exhibition has once again been curated by Paul McKenna of the McKenna Gallery in Omagh.
The 2022 Exhibition will feature 140 Artists in different media, concentrating on painting, sculpture, drawing and photography including: Robert Ballagh, John Behan, Diarmuid Breen, Michael Canning, Sian Costello,
Stephen Doyle, Mollie Douthit, Alan Freney, Martin Gale, Graham Gingles, Tim Goulding, James Hanley, Pat Harris, Stephanie Hess, Patricia Hurl, Aimee Melaugh, Miseon Lee, Salvatore of Lucan, Geraldine O Riordan, Michael Quane, John Rainey, Ciara Roche, Neil Shawcross, Mark Shields, Donal Teskey, Vadim Tuzov, Chanelle Walshe and Colin Watson.
Here in Boyle, we have the finest collection of contemporary Irish art which spans over 30 years of the Festival’s life. Indeed, as civic collections of Art go, the Boyle collection punches high above its weight and is one of the foremost of its kind in the country. This didn’t simply happen overnight. Rather, it is the result of years of effort and toil driven largely by one man, namely, the late Fergus Ahern. It is because of both the vision and determination of Fergus that the Boyle Arts Festival, as well as the Civic Collection of Art, endures so well today. In grateful recognition of this, we introduced the annual Fergus Ahern award for merit to an artist with work in the Main Exhibition which was won by Colin Davidson in 2019 and Miseon Lee in 2021.
The hugely popular Open Art Exhibition provides a forum for artists who would otherwise find few opportunities to display their work and attracts entrants from all over Ireland. The art is always of an exceptionally high standard and the exhibition provides an important showcase of local talent. Come and see this year’s stunning collection from 10am to 5pm every day during the Festival, in our new home, the former National Irish Bank on Bridge Street.
Black Hole Studio presents an exhibition of fine art photographic prints by Matthew Gammon, Laura Zito and David j. The work of landscapes and nature will feature photograuves, analogue and digital prints. It will be on display for the duration of the Boyle Arts Festival in the Studio 11 centre and can be found along the river walkway between the main road bridge and the pedestrian bridge at the back of King House.
Also, keep an eye out for ‘pop-up galleries’ and small exhibitions in various premises and shop windows in the town, during the course of the Festival, including a display of the colour palette for Rathcroghan by Paula Barrett, will be exhibited in the window of Sloan’s Hardware for the duration of the BAF 2022. Paula will also be giving a talk on Monday 18th July at 3pm. Our thanks to W.J. Sloans for sponsoring this exhibition.
Malachy Costello will exhibit selected paintings from his spectacular collection in the old Kelly’s Spar shop, next door to Taylor’s Jewelers on Bridge Street.
New Art Gallery Sligo will be exhibiting works by Elizabeth Valentine, Tony Osborne, Michelle McGoldrick and Geraldine Beirne in The Shambles, next to Boles of Boyle. Also look out for Kate Oram’s river inspired work, ‘Along by the Boyle River’ and a selection of paintings by Kara Doherty in the Presbyterian Church on Shop Street.
The renowned Boyle Camera Club, with over 60 members, will showcase a rich and diverse range of their photographic images in the Moylurg room at the library at King House, during library hours from July 14th to 23rd.
Please note that entrance to all exhibitions is free.
The BAF Information office will also be open during the hours of 2pm to 4pm, on Tuesday to Friday this week, if anyone is having difficulty with online tickets. The office is situated in the old National Irish Bank, next to Boles of Boyle on Bridge Street.
For more information, see our programmes and flyers. The Festival office, next door Boles on Bridge St. will be open every day from July 14th until July 23rd. For more information, please visit www.boylearts.com Tel. 089 9830448. Email [email protected] or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Boyle Arts Festival is supported by The Arts Council, Local Sponsors, Roscommon Co. Council and Fáilte Ireland.
