Artists and students are invited to take part in a group life drawing session at West Cork Arts Centre as part of National Drawing Day on Saturday 18 May. Drawing Day was started in 2004 by the National Gallery of Ireland’s Education Department and has developed into a nationwide event, held in partnership with national and local museums, galleries and cultural centres.
Running from 11.00am to 3.00pm, this session will be un-facilitated, participants are asked to bring their own materials, equipment is provided and some basic materials are available for use. Tea and coffee facilities are also provided.
Cost: €25, concessions €15
For booking and further information please ring 028-22090 or email info@westcorkartscentre.com
West Cork Arts Centre is delighted to host Eye 2 Eye, a new monthly event organised by artists for artists in professional practice. The first session will take place on Tuesday 21 May from 8.00pm to 9.30pm.
To get the ball rolling, eight local artists will share 10 minutes of talk and 10 images on the subject of PROCESS. Each month, one artist will curate a group to show and tell on an aspect of artistic practice. This is an exciting opportunity to stimulate new ideas and foster cross discipline conversations and alliances. Artist Toma McCullim will open by presenting the idea for this initiative.
Artists of all disciplines are welcome.
No booking required, refreshments provided.
Bealtaine is the Irish national arts festival celebrating creativity as we age. It takes place each May countrywide and involves thousands of participants in every art form. Bealtaine is coordinated by Age & Opportunity the national organisation working to promote greater participation by older people in society and is part-funded by the Arts Council. The festival theme for 2013 is ‘Grow Happy’ inspired by WB Yates’ quote: ‘Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing’ .
For Bealtaine 2013, West Cork Arts Centre is celebrating the many programmes and projects with older people that take place at the Centre and throughout the region.
In partnership with Cork County Council Library and Arts Service, West Cork Arts Centre has coordinated the annual Bealtaine Art Trail , a range of exhibitions in libraries in Bantry, Castletownbere, Dunmanway, Schull and Skibbereen. Arts for an Active Mind will host Tea & Talk , a social afternoon of celebration and song at Drinagh Coop Café in Skibbereen on Monday 27 May at 3.00pm. This motivated group of over twenty participants who work weekly with artist Paul Forde-Cialis at West Cork Arts Centre, will mark their numerous accomplishments with an exhibition at the Café. The group will also exhibit work inspired by the Bealtaine theme at the West Cork Hotel which, on Tuesday 14 May, is also the venue for West Cork Older People’s Network’s Bealtaine Tea Dance, a wonderful social afternoon of music, dance and performance with Liz Clark and Tess Leak of The Starling Song Project
Other highlights include a special lunchtime screening at the Arts Centre on Monday 20 May of Last Statue Maker in Cork, a simple story of one man’s life and work. Maurice O’Donnell’s fascination with statues as a small child led him to Italy where he learnt from the great masters and continued to make statues into his eighties. For more information see our Upcoming Films page.
Clonakilty Hospital is the venue for Artifact, an exhibition of bronze sculptures made by residents of Clonakilty and Dunmanway Community Hospitals working with artists Anne Harrrington-Rees, Sarah Ruttle, and Helle Helsner. Portrait of a Street, a fascinating exhibition of work about North Street, Skibbereen made by residents of Skibbereen and Bantry Day Care Centres working with artist Toma McCullim will be open to the public on Saturday 24 May at the Arts Centre.
Among many other free events and workshops taking place at West Cork Libraries, artist Sean O’Laoghaire investigates the written word in his three part workshop In Memory of the Written Word, where participants will explore the memoir and the art of fixing memories on paper.
For more information contact West Cork Arts Centre or your local library.
Arts+Health
Donemark: The Place of the Boat.
West Cork Arts Centre and National Learning Network, Bantry
The National Learning Network (NLN), Bantry, in partnership with West Cork Arts Centre (WCAC) are developing a new, permanent, outdoor artwork for the public garden at the NLN premises at Donemark.
Approximately 20 students from the NLN are working with artist Michael Ray, supported by Alison Cronin of WCAC, on a project exploring the legend of Cessair, Noah's niece who is said to have landed at the mouth of the Mealagh River at Dún na mBarc (Donemark). Cessair and her entourage were said to be the first inhabitants of the island of Ireland, and arrived as immigrants in 2361 BC.
With 2013 as the year of the Gathering, we would like this artwork to commemorate those who have left our shores over the many years since Cessair's arrival, as well as those who have arrived, for one reason or another. The artwork will celebrate the movement of people, and the experience of leaving one’s home, to begin again in a new place.
As part of the project, we would love to hear people’s stories of both emigration and immigration, to and from the Bantry and wider West Cork area. Perhaps a member of your family has experienced emigration recently, or many years ago, or perhaps you have settled in West Cork from another country. We would like to hear about the experiences of those who left, and those who were left behind. If you have a story to tell, or would be happy to be interviewed by one of the students, please get in touch. Your words may end up as part of the final artwork, as a testament to leaving and arriving, celebrated alongside Cessair’s mythical journey.
How did you feel leaving your homeplace? How did you feel reaching somewhere new? What was it like to be left behind? What did you miss? What did you discover? Who did you leave behind? Who did you meet? Fragments of your stories will be used as words in the artwork and we are happy to receive your thoughts via email, or in person. Names need not be revealed, but we will use your actual words.
To get involved, email alison@westcorkartscentre.com with your stories of emigration and immigration or to arrange to meet with one of the students for a face to face interview.
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WEST CORK ARTS CENTRE
NORTH STREET, SKIBBEREEN
COUNTY CORK,
IRELAND.
PHONE: + 353 28 22090
FAX: +353 28 23237
EMAIL: info@westcorkartscentre.com
Monday - Saturday 10.00am - 5.00pm
