Art News

Laois Arthouse anniversary

Laois Arthouse anniversary
Related Issue

Share

Jock Nichol

Over sixty artists, associated in various ways with the Laois Arthouse, each provided a piece of work for their ten-year-anniversary exhibition, ‘In Trust. In Gratitude. In Hope’. Curator Monica Flynn invited the artists to respond to Pat Boran’s poem The Window Seat, a meditation on life during the pandemic.

The invitation prompted thoughtful responses, including many pieces in seamless accord with an artist’s characteristic work – a polite way to respond to a brief and often the best way. Sculptors found means of tactfully or conspicuously extending the two given dimensions (30cm square) into three. Equally, those working with photography and film were able to accommodate their media. Overall, a significant proportion of the works are exceptionally impressive, regardless of context.

Under the guidance of Laois Arts Officer Muireann Ní​ Chonaill, Laois Arthouse has, from the beginning, offered a dynamic approach to arts involvement. Rather than being simply or primarily a venue for the display of visiting, pre-packaged exhibitions, it has opted for a more rounded, complex model of engagement with the immediate and wider community. It has, for one thing, fostered the development of a local artists’ group, the Laois Arthouse Collective.

Laois Arthouse has opted for a more rounded, complex model of engagement

The Laois Arthouse has emphasised the work of the arts, incorporating studios and other work – and living – spaces from the start. Its residency and exhibition programme has reflected a generative rather than consumerist emphasis (and, incidentally, elicited exceptional generosity from many artist participants), with inventive and productive residencies by Vera McEvoy, Nick Miller, Mary Burke and Jock Nichol, amongst others.

Among current priorities is the provision of more studio space. Here’s hoping that happens in the still uncertain climate.

Aidan Dunne

More Art News

Photography and nature
Art News

Photography and nature

Photography’s power to influence our perception of the natural world and its fragility has been gaining impact with the rise in awareness of climate change.


Continue Reading
Revitalising Irish towns
Art News

Revitalising Irish towns

Touring Ireland over the past six months, ‘The Reason of Towns’ celebrates the design qualities of Irish towns and aims to motivate people to choose them as a place to live.


Continue Reading
RDS Visual Art Awards
Art News

RDS Visual Art Awards

The winner of the 2024 RDS Taylor Art Award, given to the most promising emerging visual artist of the year in Ireland and worth €10,000, is Sorcha Browning.


Continue Reading
Shopping cart0
There are no products in the cart!
Continue shopping
0