Art Exhibitions

30 July - 5 August | 1pm-6pm

MIGRATION

The Courthouse Yard

Curated by Marta Yanik (Poland)

The history of the world is the history of migration; and this is a phenomenon which increasingly affects each of us, in almost every corner of the Earth. People migrate for many reasons, some in search of peace and security, and others to earn more money and live better lives.
Twin exhibitions in both Ireland and Poland have brought together collage artists from different countries and cultures, asking them to approach the topic of “migration” and reflect on it through their artistic practice.

FIND OUT MORE!

THE ART WALL

The Courthouse Yard

Yuliia Farenyuk aka xлоя is a young Ukrainian artist and is part of the Kyiv Collage Collective and will be working alongside other visiting collage artists to help create the interactive Art Wall that will grow throughout the week. Pop in and add your voice through workshops and drop-in sessions facilitated by Yuliia and the other visiting artists. Since the war started in Ukraine, she found shelter in Ireland where she is currently based with her family.

Community Flag Project

The Courthouse Yard

A series of colourful flags based on elements taken from the Macregol Gospels combined with images representing different aspects of the town identified by the people of Birr and translated by Naomi McArdle.

PLANT-TASTIC: INSPIRED BY NATURE

The Courthouse Yard

London-based, Italian artist Cristina Ottonello in collaboration with young people on the Ashbrooke, Chesterfield Close and McAuley estates in Birr have created an art installation through crafting processes, and includes reusable and repurposed materials, that explores and highlights local plants and their usefulness and how these plants have and can inspire innovation and creativity, such as the Sundew Drosera rotundifolia and Bladderwort Utricularia vulgaris.

The resulting installation will not be botanical replicas of the original plants but an interpretation of how to frame the ordinary into the extraordinary.

This is a Birr Theatre & Arts Centre project supported by the Creative Ireland Programme in partnership with Offaly Local Development Company, curated by Ann Lawlor.

J.J. Kinahan - World-Record Breaking Cycling Legend

The Courthouse Yard

A Cruinniú na nÓg project by Clareen National School with Yvonne Claffey celebrating the World Record Breaking cyclist J.J. Kinahan. Download the Artivive app to see the artworks come to life.

Birr Art Group

St Brendan's Hall

With around 17 members, Birr Art Group has been working together for many years under the guidance of Kathleen Gormley. Their new meeting place is St Brendan’s Market where they are exhibiting this year.

POTTIER by Laura Angell

Masonic Hall

A Galway-based artist, originally from Sheffield, Laura’s work marries issues of status, modern femininity and feminism with contemporary global themes and distractions. Building on her previous work Potty, an installation which explored success and the need for approval and love in a digital world, Pottier asks how much of that is truly in the grasp of our own control? In
this evolution of those themes, we are invited into the artist striving to control anxiety by calling forth all the charms, portents and omens wrapping them in luxe finishes and realising them using knitting, crochet and Bargello work.

PAPERCUTS by Paul Bokslag

Masonic Hall

Paul Bokslag is a visual artist and designer from the Netherlands, based in County Kilkenny. He has completed murals, large scale papercut installations, room-filling tape drawings and twine sculptures spanning multiple floors in numerous high-profile locations nationwide. This papercut installation takes its inspiration from the Japanese concepts of Shinrin Yoku (being refreshed and invigorated by taking in the forest atmosphere through our senses) and Komorebi (the effect of sunlight streaming through layers of leaves).

THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT

Tin Jug Studio

A collaborative exhibition of small works of text and images from visual artists, poets and story writers

THE LISTENING HAND

Birr Theatre & Arts Centre

Bridget Flannery

Pat Fitzpatrick

Jock Nichol

Rosemarie Langtry

“You wish to see; listen”
(St. Bernard of Ciairvaux, 12th Century).

This exhibition brings together the work of these four artists who take their inspiration from experiencing the landscape through different media. Every seemingly instantaneous mark or surface is underpinned by years of looking, listening, reflecting and making, to see beyond the outward appearance and allowing the natural World to speak through their work.

Annual Open Submission Exhibition

Oxmantown National School

Curated by Julie Spollen

We are thrilled to leave the online world and host this exhibition in the lovely Oxmantown National School Hall. Julie holds an MA from the Royal College of Art and works in community and care settings in Offaly. She is an advocate for arts that nourish society focusing specifically on artistic interactions working with older participants.

PORTALS by Tina Claffey

Copper Tree Gallery, Birr Castle

Tina has a unique perspective of the flora and
fauna of the unspoilt raised bogs and wet woodlands of the Irish midlands. Bogs are magical places that defy any distinction between land and water. They are the last true wildernesses in Western Europe and are home to extraordinary plant and animal species that have adapted in this unique environment to survive. This exhibition of macro photographs is taken from Tina’s new book Portals.

This exhibition will be officially opened on Monday 1 August 6pm. All welcome!

BETWEEN THE SIGHTS

AND THE SEA