Two Artists. Two Generations. In Conversation.

Live in the Gallery

In-Person & Online

To mark the opening of this two-person exhibition, Simpaticojoin artists Raphael Hynes & Carey Clarke (online & in person in the gallery -whatever your preference) as they discuss their practice, their ways of thinking, making and the processes they engage.

Former student and tutor at the National College of Art & Design, Dublin, painters Raphael Hynes and Carey Clarke, share many influences, and have connected and professionally and personally over 30 years, but their practices differ formally and conceptually.

The exhibition opens Friday 4th September at 7.30pm, and continues until Saturday 31st October, 2020.

Please note the gallery’s new opening days/hours are:

Wednesday – Saturday 11.00am-4pm, closed 1-1.30pm

Contact tracing, face-covering, hand sanitising, and one-way system are the newbies, but everything else remains the same including a wholesome welcome from our team.

Booking for this event’s livestream can be made below and through Eventbrite.ie

CONNECTION ‘a relationship in which a person or thing is linked or associated with something else’.

As a word ‘CONNECTION’ has gained a lot of resonance during the Covid pandemic. It is a word that has come to the forefront in a time of isolation and uncertainty. But how do we define‘connection’ and what does it mean to us as an individual or community? How do we express our connection with each other, to nature, to objects, technology, to our town or country or to our spiritual beliefs?

Droichead brings twenty-seven visual artists together for a new creative initiative called CONNECTION, which is part of an ongoing commitment to participate and engage in reinvigorating our community during a time of crisis. The CONNECTION project will have three elements – a live evolving gallery exhibition created by six local artists, bespoke posters created by the eleven Borrowed Ground visual artists and an outdoor exhibition featuring local, national and international artists curated by artist/curator Brian Hegarty in and around Drogheda on Culture Night (18 September).  On the 28 July, when we re-open, two strands of the Project will be launched.

Connection 1 sees six local artists including Adrian and Shane, Olga Duka, Declan Kelly, Caoimhe McCarthy, Dorothy Smith and Dee Walsh begin a dynamic drawing directly on the gallery walls. One artist per day, and over subsequent days, a different artist will continue with the drawing. Each artist will bring their own unique style, ways of working, manner of creating and preferred materials. As the drawing moves from artist to artist, each will in their turn take some inspiration from the previous artwork. From a line, a gesture, a mark, a colour, no matter what the connection it will undoubtedly evoke a spectacle of imaginative meanderings.

Between the 28 July to the 18 August, the artists will work on the drawing and the public will have the option to book a viewing online or drop in and book at our box office on the day and see the work as it progresses. On completion of the drawing phase, the gallery will be fully open to the public to view the work. Visitor capacity is limited in our gallery, and that is why we are encouraging our visitors will to book a gallery visit, available from 11:00am – 4:00pm, Tues to Fri, and 10:00am – 2:00pm, on Saturdays. If you do arrive without a booking, and if space is available, we will book you in and you can view the exhibition.  We have also revised our hours of operation to include access times for our senior, vulnerable visitors and visitors with disabilities who will now have priority booking for a gallery visit between the hours of 11:00am – 1:00pm. 

DATES AND ARTISTS: 

DEE WALSH – 28 JULY

OLGA DUKA – 29 JULY

CAOIMHE McCARTHEY – 30 JULY 

ADRIAN AND SHANE – 1 AUG

DOROTHY SMITH – 5 AUG

DECLAN KELLY – 18 AUG

CONNECTION is part of an ongoing commitment of the Droichead Arts Centre to comment, participate and engage in reinvigorating our community during a time of crisis.

Book tickets

CONNECTION ‘a relationship in which a person or thing is linked or associated with something else’.

As a word ‘CONNECTION’ has gained a lot of resonance during the Covid pandemic. It is a word that has come to the forefront in a time of isolation and uncertainty. But how do we define ‘connection’ and what does it mean to us as an individual or community? How do we express our connection with each other, to nature, to objects, technology, to our town or country or to our spiritual beliefs?

Droichead brings twenty-seven visual artists together for a new creative initiative called CONNECTION, which is part of an ongoing commitment to participate and engage in reinvigorating our community during a time of crisis. The CONNECTION project will have three elements – a live evolving gallery exhibition created by six local artists, bespoke posters created by the eleven Borrowed Ground visual artists and an outdoor exhibition in association with Drogheda Business Improvment Development (BIDS),  and Create Louth and featuring local, national and international artists curated by artist/curator Brian Hegarty in and around Drogheda on Culture Night (18 September).  On the 28 July, when we re-open, two strands of the Project will be launched.

CONNECTION 2 , a Borrowed Ground Project sees each of Droichead’s eleven Borrowed Ground visual artists create a piece of art for a poster.  These beautiful bespoke posters, commissioned back in March when Droichead Arts Centre first closed its doors for lockdown, will be the first thing you see when you enter Droichead Arts Centre on Stockwell Street and Barlow House when Droichead reopens and the art works will feature as part of a group exhibition in 2021.  They will be accompanied by a billboard campaign on Georges Street and Mary Street in Drogheda. 

Borrowed Ground artists include Vivienne Byrne, Nuala Early, Jillian Gott, Laura Gramzow, Brian Hegarty, Breda Marron, Kieran McNulty, Caoimhe Reynolds, Violet Shirran, Rodney Thornton, Dee Walsh.

CONNECTION is part of an ongoing commitment of the Droichead Arts Centre to comment, participate and engage in reinvigorating our community during a time of crisis.

For more information on this event please contact 041 98 33946

Artist in Residence 2020

Ceramic artist and facilitator Etaoin O’Reilly is An Táin Arts Centre’s artist in residence for 2020. Etaoin is a graduate of NCAD (2014), and of the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland’s Ceramics Skills and Design Course (2016). She is also a former artist in residence at NCAD (2016) and LSAD (2018). Etaoin hopes to explore the fading industry and skills of bone china factory workers, with an exhibition of new works planned for the month of September.

Etaoin will be in residence in the Basement Gallery studio during July, August and September 2020. Follow her progress on Instagram @etaoinreillyceramic #antainartists

Find out more HERE.

A Drawing a Day focuses on the idea of journaling through drawing in response to the Covid-19 crisis. Artist Els Borghart lives and works in Drogheda and her drawings are a creative response to the impact of social distancing and isolation as the new normal. During the artist’s An Táin Arts Centre Instagram take-over in May 2020, quick one hour drawings explored visually how this narrative evolved over the course of 31 days. This exhibition of work marks An Táin Arts Centre’s return to the Basement Gallery following the closure of the building on March the 12th 2020.

Els is a founding member, co-director and curator with ELS + DECLAN and EDDE Art. She exhibits regularly in Ireland and Belgium. Her work was shortlisted for the renowned Zürich Portrait Prize 2019 by the National Gallery of Ireland and subsequently became part of the Belgian State Art Collection.

Artist Zoom Talk: Friday 24th July at 8pm: Join us for an online launch with the exhibiting artist in discussion with Director/CEO Paul Hayes. Full details here.

Explore the wonders of the National Gallery of Ireland’s collection, and take a leisurely stroll around our beautiful galleries from the comfort of your own home in the first in a series of virtual tours.

Our physical buildings may be temporarily closed, but you can transport yourself behind our walls by taking a virtual tour of our rooms, where you are free to navigate and explore the works on display at your own pace.