We are very pleased to present this free street viewing exhibition in the large front and side windows of B. Mulligan & Co. Furniture in the centre of Ballaghaderreen town. We have brought together 5 incredibly talented artists who have agreed to exhibit their work for us throughout the week. All artworks will be priced for sale and contact details for each of the artists will be available for those who wish to purchase a piece. The artists showcasing at this exhibition are as follows:
1) Nuala Clarke is a Dublin born visual artist. She achieved a BA in Fine Art Painting at NCAD Dublin in 1993 before moving to New York City. She has exhibited at the Thomas Werner Gallery, Chelsea (2005/6) & Boltax Gallery, Shelter Island, NY (2005-11). In 2007, she received a fellowship to the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Mayo and began returning to Ireland from NY to work every year before returning here permanently in 2013. Nuala is on the Board of The Yeats Society, Sligo, has presented at the Robert Boyle Summer School, Waterford in June 2019 and was awarded Arts Council Bursary and COVID 19 Emergency Response Grant in 2020. Nuala is part time Learning Curator at The Ballinglen Arts Foundation, and she works often in collaboration with writer Crystal Gandrud.
Her awards include the following: The Mayo Artist Bursary 2022 - to develop ‘The Dream Drawing’, a piece of work made of paper into aluminium. The Fingal Artist Bursary 2022 - to research and visit 17th Century Recipe Books and household medicinal records in the National Library of Ireland and British Library, specifically those of the Boyle Family. The Arts Council Visual Arts Bursary 2020 and The Arts Council COVID-19 Crisis Response Award- resulting in ‘so I have observed’ - a five part video series.
2) David Smith is an Irish artist who works across painting and film/music works. He recently held solo shows in Hong Kong, Ireland and The US. He has participated in the Hong Kong art prize and also in the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture. His works have been featured in 8 out of 9 International Painting Annuals (INPA) published my Manifest press. He taught at the Savannah College of Art & Design in Hong Kong before returning to Ireland in 2016. Recent exhibitions include The RHA Open, The RUA Annual, RUA RED Winter Open and Second Summer at The Dock. His film Eó Mughna’s Lament recently screened at Cannes Short Film Festival. Alongside his painting practice, 2 new short films are being released in 2023, Nemeton and Abhartach. Originally from County Mayo, he is now based in Sligo, Ireland and is currently artist in residence at The Dock in Leitrim.
3) Michael Wann was born in Dublin in 1969, and lives and works in Sligo. He studied under Sean McSweeney at Sligo IT, graduating with a Diploma in Fine Art in 1992, and a Bachelor in Fine Art in 2003.
Michael has exhibited his drawing-based work widely in Ireland, including solo exhibitions with the Ashford Gallery, RHA, Cross Gallery, Dublin, Hamilton Gallery, Sligo, The Model, Sligo, Custom House, Westport, Solstice, Navan, Draiocht, Dublin, and Claremorris Gallery, Co. Mayo. His drawings have been selected for the Royal Hibernian Academy's Annual Exhibition every year since 2004, and he was awarded the AXA Insurance Drawing Prize at the RHA in 2006, and the ESB Sean Keating Prize and RHA Silver Medal in 2016. Michael is a Fellow of the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, and has held residencies at Cill Rialig, Co. Kerry and the Heinrich Böll Cottage on Achill, Co. Mayo. In 2010 Hughie O'Donoghue selected Michael's work for the Tom Caldwell Drawing Prize and the Inaugural Rowel Friers Perpetual Trophy at the Royal Ulster Academy's Annual Exhibition, and in 2012 he was awarded a Merit Prize from the Trustees of The Golden Fleece.
His work forms part of public collections including the Boyle Civic Collection, Waterford Municipal Collection, Office of Public Works, Mayo County Council, Fingal County Council, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, AXA Insurance, and the Ballinglen Archive, as well as private collections in Ireland, UK, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
4) Born in Dublin in 1959 Malachy Costello grew up in Roscommon. He studied painting at the Crawford College of Art, Cork and the Institute of Technology, Sligo. Since graduating in 1983 he has held numerous solo exhibitions and is a regular contributor to numerous group exhibitions beginning with the Irish Exhibition of Living Art in 1984 and including the RHA Annual, Dublin (1987 to present), the RUA, Belfast, Oireachtais Exhibition, Eigse, and many others over the years.
His paintings are in public collections of the OPW, Bank of America, Co. Councils of counties Sligo and Roscommon, and other corporate bodies, as well as many private collections in Ireland and abroad.
5) Siobhan Cox-Carlos is an abstract artist who graduated from GMIT and Limerick School of Art & Design with a B.A Fine Art (Hons). She is best known for her contemporary, innovative colour use and composition. Her work is often inspired by her native Co. Roscommon, Ireland, where she finds inspiration in the hedgerows, flowers and grasses. Siobhan intends her art to be an uplifting and immersive experience, inviting the viewer to contemplate her exploratory and energetic use of colour and subject matter.
She has said: "My work is mainly influenced by my love of nature, in which I am immersed in my native Co Roscommon, Ireland. I find inspiration in the hedgerows, flowers and grasses growing wild in my surroundings and am equally appreciative of the beauty beyond my local landscape. I intend the viewing of my art to be an uplifting experience and use a vibrant range of colours, textures and patterns. Above all I hope that the viewer will forget all of what is going on in the present turbulent times and experience even a moments joy and happiness in the presence of one of my pieces"
Her solo exhibitions include Carnival: Hambly & Hambly, Enniskillen, August 2019; Cass Art, Islington, London, April 2018 and Boyle Arts Festival July 2018 Glas: City Hall, Providence, Rhode Island, March 2018; Genesis: Sol Art Gallery, Dawson St., Dublin and Solas Art Gallery Ballinamore; Meadowfield: Roscommon Arts Centre.
Siobhan’s work is held in Roscommon County Council Civic Collection, OPW State Art Collection, National Cancer Screen Service (for which she was awarded a % for Art Scheme in 2010), Holles Street National Maternity Hospital, Dublin and the Dept of an Taoiseach. Her work is also held in private collections nationally and internationally.