CIRCUS EUROPE book

The Courthouse Gallery is delighted to announce the publication of CIRCUS EUROPE published by Salmon Poetry, a book of art & poetry to coincide with the exhibition at the Courthouse Gallery from Saturday 12th January - 1st February
Official opening and book launch with poetry reading at 4 pm in the Courthouse Gallery

Please check : 
http://www.salmonpoetry.com/details.php?ID=276&a=88

CIRCUS EUROPE: an international collaboration featuring Poetry & Images

Collages by Machteld van Buren (The Netherlands).

From Saturday 12 January – 1 February 2013

Official opening 12th January

4 pm - Reading and book launch

5 pm - Launch of the exhibition

Closing reception with artist talk and panel discussion: 1 February at 7pm

The theme of the panel discussion is: Questioning Europe’s Future

The series of works titled ‘Circus Europe’ are created by Machteld van Buren in 2012. The eight large collages illustrate how the struggle for survival is being waged in various European countries. 

Eight poets were invited to offer their interpretation of these images. The Irish poets taking part in this project are Jo Slade, Frank Golden, Jessie Lendennie and Patrick Chapman. 
The Dutch poets are Arnoud van Adrichem, Martin Reints, Lieke Marsman and Peter van Lier.

Publisher Salmon Poetry, based in Co Clare, will publish a booklet of this project in an English edition. The collages are to be exhibited in both Ireland and the Netherlands.

Machteld van Buren is an established artist and her work is in the collections of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Centraal Museum in Utrecht and the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden. (http://www.machteldvanburen.nl/)

In this project she reflects on the tensions and uncertainties that exist in the present-day European Union which, although it is presented under the banner of a common flag, has always been a patchwork of independent nations. The current crisis has made it clear that a ‘United States of Europe’ is still a long way off. In the future, further disintegration is perhaps a more likely prospect than political union.

The collages explore how the struggle for survival is being waged in various European countries. Most of the countries are depicted as an animal: the body consists of a map onto which the realistic head of an animal has been superimposed. Great Britain is portrayed with a number of horses’ heads, which form part of the landscape. The awkward juxtaposition of these figures suggests that the UK is not only struggling with its position within the EU, but is also divided by internal strife. Germany appears to be a bird of prey – not the traditional eagle, but a vulture. The juggling acts which these circus animals have to perform to keep themselves going are indicative of how each nation functions. But just how the stunts work is not entirely clear.

Rather than leaving it to politicians to define the Europe of today and tomorrow, it would be good to have artists depict it as well. Given the tone of the debate, alternatives with a playful or visionary element might actually be quite useful.

So let the fun begin: ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Circus Europe!’

=± EQUATION ±= an exhibition by Sarah Lundy

In the Red Couch Space

=± EQUATION ±=

=± EQUATION ±= features an edited body of recent work by Clare based multimedia artist Sarah Lundy to be shown in the Red Couch space, Ennistymon Courthouse Gallery, opening 12th January 2013 at 4pm.

Lundys work mediates purely formalist concerns and contemporary conceptualism. Through the use of moving image, assemblage of quotidian objects and ephemeral performance materials, the works endeavour to negotiate provocative arrangement and questions autonomy in the face of homogenization. Her practice involves the production of stoic visual accounts of the experience of the individual through consideration of the inevitable synthetic systemization of language, labour and behaviour. The aesthetic is post-minimalist with a focus on eloquent paradoxes of form and function, and their relationship to the notion of identity.

Artist Biog:

Lundy is a visual artist and curator based in county Clare. She holds a BA hons in Arts, English & Philosophy & MA 1^st Hons in Arts Policy & Practice from NUI Galway, plus a distinction certificate in Professional Art Practice from GTI. Currently she is studying part-time for her MFA with the OCA & is Front of House Manager at Glor Arts Centre, Ennis, Clare and holds a voluntary position of administrator with GUAC. She has exhibited in selected group exhibitions in 126 Gallery, Galway, Catalyst Arts Belfast, Mad Art Gallery, Dublin, Carnegie Arts Centre, Kerry, Galway Arts Centre and Tactic Cork amongst others. Having completed a curatorial internship at The Model, Sligo recent curatorial projects include Void:Volume international group exhibition at Galway Arts Centre, November 2011 & Television group exhibition, Tactic, Cork in association with MART, September 2012.She was recently selected for a group screening at Riverbank Arts Centre, London at the Irish Film Festival, London, November 2012. Further video work can be seen at www.mart.ie.

(http://www.sarahellenlundy.com)

Christmas Greetings

Kathryn, Dara, Crissie, and Trudi wish you all a  Happy and Peaceful Christmas,

& a Creative New Year!

Thank you to everybody especially our volunteer helpers and friends who supported the Gallery throughout the past year.

TRASNA III  will run until 3^rd January

The gallery opening times for the holiday season are as follows:

Friday 21^st and Saturday 22^nd December……….. open 12 – 4pm

Thursday 27^th, Friday 28^th and Saturday 29^th  December  ^………… open 12 – 4pm

Monday 31^st   December  ………open 12 – 4pm

Tuesday 1^st January 2013 Closed

Wednesday 2^nd and Thursday 3^rd January …….open 12 – 4pm

Friday 4^th January the gallery will be closed 

The Courthouse Gallery like to thank all artists who submitted work to the Trasna III exhibition and made it a great success!

The Courthouse Gallery invites you to

Trasna III

Opening Reception
 & Christmas Party

With Silent Auction

December Fri 7^nd at  8pm

Trasna III 
an exhibition of postcard-sized works by national and international artists continues until January 4^th 2013

Following the overwhelming success of Trasna I and Trasna II, the Courthouse Gallery are delighted to be bringing to your attention Trasna III small artworks, exhibition, which promises to be the best yet!

With more than 400 original small artworks, from your favourite local, national and the occasional international artist, this is a wonderful opportunity to purchase artworks for loved ones in the upcoming festive season.

Drawing, painting, sculpture, and mixed media artworks, from country sketches to contemporary photoworks, there is something for everyone.

To encourage you to share in this event there will be a wine reception and a humorous auction on the opening night Friday 7th at 8pm. Members of the public are invited to come early and place an opening bid on their favourite pieces before the auction, the gallery will be open from 7pm.

The pieces will be auctioned by Chris Wallis and Sarah Fuller

There is a reserve price of €40 on each work, giving people the chance to have something truly original on their walls at this accessible price. This is a silent auction, meaning artists are anonymous until after works are purchased.

The exhibition will run on until January 4^th, giving the public a chance another chance to view this wonder captivating exhibition and chose the perfect gift for someone they love, including themselves!

In keeping with the community spirit, upstairs, in the Red Couch Exhibition Space there will on display a patchwork quilt made by the Irish Aid Development Sewing Class.

 

In this work the participants reflect on the importance of water in the lives of the people of Pemba Island, Tanzania and Ennistymon, Co.Clare. At the heart of the project was a focus on ethical choices that make the world a fairer place to live. This patchwork quilt made by a voluntary group of women in Ennistymon is called ‘Uisce’ and illustrates scenes from both communities.

Noland Folk and Twin Headed Wolf

The Gallery

presents and invites you to

Noland Folk 

and 

Twin Headed Wolf

Friday, November 23^rd at 8 pm

Having parted ways due to extreme musical similarities, NoLand Folk members, past and present, are now re-united to form the definitive folk supergroup. For one night only, they will join forces with the ethereal Twin Headed Wolf, whose transcendent harmonies belie their sinister themes and raw sound.

€5 at the door.

All proceeds go to the Lahinch town twinning association.

Something of the Night

Something of the Night paintings and a sculptural installation by

Mary Noonan and Peter Burns

From 2 November – 29 November 2012

Official opening 2 November at 8 pm

Peter Burns makes paintings and objects in a variety of materials. The paintings have sculptural elements and the objects are strongly linked to the practice of painting.

Peter says about his work: ‘I have a very tactile and experimental approach to my work. In the paintings chunks of old dried oil paint are often attached to the canvas while in other areas paint is scraped off to reveal underlying layers. The objects are made using ephemeral materials such as wax combined with found objects. They are painted, small in scale and often fragile. In the paintings people are shown in relation to nature and the universe. Small figures and animals exist and roam in painted worlds. I make sculptures of heads defined by their individual personalities. Other objects play with scale and have elements of landscape. The inspiration for these works originates in my interest in literature, art history, myth and allegory amongst other things’.

His work has been described as rhizomatic, suggesting an organic practice, growing through a gradual accumulation of marks and taking myriad forms, producing works without a definite beginning or end.

Mary Noonan employs a variety of working methods, though most of her work is drawing based. The body of work she shows in the Courthouse Gallery comes from research into Irish folklore and superstition relating to “fairy-faith”, particularly from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The materials and processes she uses such as tearing and cutting the paper become a metaphor for psychological aspects of uncovered narrative. The work is informed by the uncanny and, explores varied themes including myth, allegory and storytelling.  It forms a continuous dialogue referencing not only past work but also memory, place and mortality. November traditionally seen as the month of the dead provides the backdrop for the work shown in this exhibition.

                      

Hunger / Lullaby / Melancholia

Official opening : Friday 2 November at 8 pm

Carles Casasín  -  Animations

Hunger / Lullaby / Melancholia

 Nov 2 – Nov 29,  2012

About the Animations:

“My animations are allegories set in an imaginary world where fantasy and reality merge like in dreams. The atmosphere is charged with psychological undertones. The recurring goat man represents the animal side of human nature, our primary instincts gradually fading from our genetic make up.

To create my images I work with oil paintings, watercolours, ink, charcoal and pencil drawings, oil pastels, crayons, digital drawing, photography and Photoshop.” Carles Casasín.  Carles is living in Ballyvaughan, Co Clare.

Entropical

Entropical an exhibition of paintings by Rupert Bagwell

In the Red Couch Space

From 2 November – 29 November 2012

Official opening 2 November at 8 pm

Rupert Bagwell’s work for this exhibition was initiated by an interaction with the ideas of emptiness and balance and taking them as reference points during the creative process.

The exhibition and the images are presented with working titles as descriptions. The thought behind this is to allow ideas of fixity to remain outside the presentation and let a primary sense of fluidity emerge from the work.

Rupert Bagwell lives in Liscannor, Co. Clare and is a studio artist at the Courthouse Gallery in Ennistymon.

“Je ne Sais Quoi”

The Courthouse Gallery will host

“Je ne Sais Quoi”

A series of French Evenings

Continuing on  Tuesday 30^th October 2012 @ 8 pm

 with “Paris, je t'aime”

  €3 on the door includes a glass of wine.

The aim is to watch a movie, and afterwards have an informal discussion in French with a glass of wine.