This article is from page 31 of the 2007-08-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 31 JPG
THE galleries of north Clare will be a hive of activity this month with two major exhibitions due to launch.
Wild Honey, the fourth ‘Burren Annual’, opens in the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan this Satur- day, August 18. Curated by Michael Dempsey, this year’s exhibition fo- cusses on the urban/rural divide and the position of the west of Ireland as a central driving force in forming the identity of the modern Irish.
The exhibition is to be opened by Mike Fitzpatrick, Director/Curator of Limerick City Art Gallery, and
runs daily until September 29.
It will feature work by Stephen Brandes, Dorothy Cross, Blaise Drummond, Patrick Hall, Ronnie Hughes, Fergus Martin, William McKeown, Isabel Nolan and Niamh O’Malley, all artists who have at some stage based their work outside The Pale.
Meanwhile, US Democratic Con- eressman, John Yarmuth, was in La- hinch last Saturday to launch a new exhibition by Pat and Jan Maher at Kenny’s Lahinch Art Gallery.
The Kentucky congressman has be- come a regular visitor to west Clare in recent years and is a member of
Doonbeg Golf Club.
Pat Maher is an accomplished painter in oils and watercolours. He has won a number of awards for his paintings, which capture the essence of the lovely southern Irish coun- tryside through a variety of themes, ranging from Sweeping evocations of the landscape around his home near Tullow, County Carlow, to more inti- mate interiors and still-life studies.
His latest exhibition, entitled °*Pic- tures of Clare and Other Stories’, will show in Lahinch until August 25 and features a collection of paintings of Lahinch and surrounding areas.
Joining Pat for this exhibition will
be his wife Jan, who will be exhibit- ing arange of watercolours as well as pen, ink and graphite drawings.
Jan trained at Epsom School of Art, UK where her tutors included distin- guished watercolourist Leslie Worth. Following a period working as a graphic designer in the 1970s she has concentrated on fine art since 1980, and has found an increasing demand for both her meticulous drawings, and her luminous watercolour land- scape and floral paintings.
The exhibition will run daily until August 25. A selection of the art can be viewed on www.lahinchartgal- lery.com.