Mount Blakeney Christmas 2011

Monday 16th of May @ 11.30am Sirius Arts Centre are hosting a meet and greet with local TD’s as part of the nationwide campaign to promote the arts.

Artists, Arts workers and anyone interested in the Arts are welcome, you can find more info on the Sirius site and NCFA.

“We believe in a society that values creativity, imagination and expression. We believe the arts generate growth and tourism. We believe the arts enhance our reputation. We believe the arts enrich our lives. We believe in the value of the arts.” - National Campaign for the Arts.

Macroom Town Hall in association with Cork County Council, Sirius Arts Centre and Cork Film Centre Presents

“Bittersweet” - Expressions of Love and Hate. An exhibition of Contemporary Irish and International Artists

Macroom Town Hall Gallery
 Macroom, West Cork

Opening Friday, 6 August 7:00pm
    Curated by: Sandra Minchin and Peggy Sue Amison
Exhibition runs until Saturday 21 August 2010
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 11AM – 5 PM

The Macroom Town Hall located in the centre of Macroom West Cork, presents Bittersweet, an exhibition of works by Irish and International Artists, co-curated by Sandra Minchin and Peggy Sue Amison.  The exhibition opens at 7:00pm on Friday 6 August 2010 and runs until Saturday 21 August.

 “Bittersweet” presents expressions of love and hate, illustrating the pleasure and discomfort of intimacy, unveiling a combination of beauty and tension in an attempt to visually interpret the emotional landscape of a challenging existence. Featuring works by over 20 Irish and international artists, the exhibition will include an eclectic mix of media: from painting to sculpture, photography to video.

 “Bittersweet” showcases a number of established and emerging artists based in, or originally from Ireland such as: Kevin Callaghan, Paul Cialis, Bernadette Cotter, Dominic Fee, Tom Fitzgerald, Michael Gurhy, Chris Hurley, Rebecca Hegarthy, Marianne Keating, Keith Kennedy, Max Le Cain, Breda Lynch, Kieran Moore, Harry Moore, Dan Murphy, Ailbhe Ni-Bhriain, Billy Quinn, Bob Rasmussen Jill Ronayne and Alex Rose along with a collection of visionary international artists, including: photography, performance and visual artists: Franko B (UK), Carolle Benitah (France), Nicola Canavan (UK), Julie Collins (Australia), Doug Dubois (USA), April Gertler (USA), Derek John (Australia), Dominic Johnson (UK),  Charlie Jouvet (France), Harold Offeh (UK), Igor Savchenko (Russia)  and Phil Toledano (UK).

The exhibition is co-curated by Cork based visual artist and curator, Sandra Minchin and Artistic Director of the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh, Peggy Sue Amison and presented in partnership with Cork County Council, Macroom Town Council, Sirius Arts Centre and Cork Film Centre.

Sandra Minchin, a visual artist and curator, with a reputation for taking radical departures in installation, performance and photography.  Sandra’s work has been exhibited internationally in Italy, Shanghai, Amsterdam, the UAE and Melbourne.   Sandra has also curated numerous group exhibitions in Ireland, including Death and Desire for the Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh and Fruitcakes and Furry Collars for the West Cork Arts Centre.  More recently she organized and curated Human Oddities, which was a benefit for the arts in Cork and mentored and curated a student show for the University of Ballart, Victoria.

Peggy Sue Amison has been curating contemporary visual arts exhibitions since 2001 with a specific focus on photography, both in her role as Artistic Director at Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh, and as a freelance curator internationally.  Most recently Peggy co-curated “All My Lovin”, the main exhibition at the 9^th Annual Photography Festival in Lodz, Poland which opened in May 2010 and presented the show of Irish photography and video, “Postcards from the Celtic Tiger” in Shanghai China in July 2010.  A fine art photographer, Peggy’s work has been exhibited in Ireland, the United States and other parts of Europe.  Peggy has also authored numerous critical reviews and interviews for international photographic publications.

Bittersweet premiered at the Doswell Gallery in Rosscarbery, West Cork in February 2010, this second expanded exhibition includes new artists from Ireland and abroad. Bittersweet is presented in partnership with Cork County Council, Macroom Town Council, Sirius Arts Centre and Cork Film Centre.

For more information on this exhibition, images for press or for more information on the exhibiting artists, please contact: Peggy Sue Amison at psamison@yahoo.com or Sirius Arts Centre at 021 481 3790.

Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 11 – 5/Sunday & Monday - Closed

CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory (BCO) in Cork is a centre that provides space age technology and information in a 400 year old Castle. On July 2^nd at the monthly open night First Fridays at the Castle BCO will launch Explorers of the Universe, an exciting photography exhibition by acclaimed photographer Max Alexander. The photographic exhibition will be showing until September 2^nd 2010 uniquely in Ireland at Blackrock Castle in association with the European Space Education Resource Office, ESERO Ireland.

Through interpretive and character portraits, photographer Max Alexander introduces us to astronomers such as Sir Bernard Lovell, founder of Jodrell Bank, one of the world’s most advanced radio astronomy telescopes, Professor Stephen Hawking and the discoverer of pulsars, Professor Jocelyn Bell-Burnell DBE.

Supported by the Science and Technology Facilities Council and the Royal Astronomical Society, the exhibition includes pictures of leading UK astronomers, all of whom have made huge contributions to our understanding of the Universe, while other photographs capture the wonder of astronomy and the wide fascination astronomy inspires for both scientists and the public.

The exhibition can be viewed daily with admission to Cosmos at the Castle at Blackrock Castle and freely at the courtyard Castle Bar and Trattoria or during one of three free open days every First Friday throughout the summer.

Max Alexander is a professional photographer and Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and has had a lifelong interest in astronomy. He says, “Astronomy equally fascinates scientists and the public. Ever since Galileo first looked up into the sky with his telescope 400 years ago, finding out more about our universe has captured our collective imagination.”

Steve Owens, International Year of Astronomy 2009 UK Co-ordinator says, “We’re always looking for new and innovative ways of involving people in astronomy, and this exhibition at Cork’s wonderful Blackrock Castle Observatory is a great way to engage an Irish audience.”

The Crawford offer free guided tours of the temporary exhibitons and permanent collection.

Thursday evening from 6.30pm

Saturday afternoon from 2.30pm

Beginning from the gallery bookshop.

Current exhibitons

‘IN THEIR ELEMENT’
EXPRESSIONISM EXPLORED IN THE COLLECTION
until 3 July

Drawing to form: Art from the Weltkunst Collection
Irish Museum of Modern Art
22 April – 3 July 2010

Upcoming Exhibiton

CLOSE TO HAND
July 23 – October 9, 2010 
LORRAINE BURRELL, GARY COYLE, CLEARY + CONNOLLY, KATIE HOLTEN, NICK MILLER,
COLLETTE NOLAN, NATHALIE DU PASQUIER

“Within the current economic downturn, the media’s concentration of the home as a symptom and symbol of the current economic downturn places an incontrovertible focus of the relationship between dwellers and buildings…” read more at the Crawford.