Artists promoting county’s cultural tourism

A GROUP of Clare-based artists and musicians, determined to put the county on the map as a destination for cultural tourism and boost the economy, are set to bring an exhibition of their work to Ennis’ twin town of Phoenix, Arizona.
There are also hopes that the Anon is Anall audio-visual exhibition will be brought to more locations throughout the world, showcasing the culture that Clare has to offer to even more potential tourists.
In order to help bring the exhibition overseas, as well as fund the creation of documentaries displaying the beauty of the county, which will be broadcast to the world on the internet, Ennis artist Carmel Doherty is raffling off one of her paintings, titled Garden of Daisies.
The fundraiser will be launched in the Rowan Tree in the town on Sunday with a jazz music night planned at the venue. Tickets will be on sale for the duration of the summer in venues throughout Ennis and on www.anonisanall.com. The event will take place in the Rowan Tree on the weekend of August 20/21.
The Anon is Anall exhibition has been held in conjunction with the Ennis Trad Festival over the past four years and in November, the exhibition will be launched in the Rowan Tree.
For the exhibition, Clare-based visual artists have partnered with traditional musicians to examine traditional music in a visual art context.
“What makes this exhibition so exciting and original is that the partnered artists use each others’ work as the creative initiative to create their work. The musician uses the artwork as inspiration to create music and for the following year, the
artists use the musicians’ work to create the art. This is where the title of the exhibition comes in, Anon is Anall, meaning over and back,” Carmel explained.
The exhibiting artists for this year’s exhibition include Bernard Dowd, who has been partnered with Michael O’Connell; Brian McMahon partnered with The Pecker Dunne; Carmel Doherty with Siobhan Peoples; Jean Regan partnered with Tóla Custy; Mick O’Dea with Martin Hayes; Mike Mulcaire partnered with PJ King; Padraig Rynne partnered with Mick Lyons and Will Gilchrist partnered with Karol Lynch.
Carmel explained the impetus behind Anon is Anall. “In this increasingly difficult economic market and with grant aid incredibly difficult to achieve, I believe the solution to this problem is to pool our resources and exhibit our creativity as a unit, rather than individually and that much benefit will be achieved by marketing County Clare as a cultural centre of expertise, appealing to worldwide tourism.
“I believe a full-scale mobilisation of the arts sector to support tourism in Clare would reap great benefits, both in the traditional Irish music field and contemporary fine arts.
“Culture and heritage is a key driver for Irish tourism, contributing an estimated €2 billion to the Irish economy last year.”
She described the artists and musicians involved as “the best of the best that the county has to offer. With so many different people involved and such a variety of styles, there is something for everybody to enjoy in this exhibition.”
She went on, “County Clare offers the world a diversity of culture that is incredibly individual, as nowhere else can you experience a wealth of music, artistic and environmental opulence, a cultural extravaganza which I believe is unique to the county.”
As part of the group’s aim to showcase to the world what Clare has to offer, plans are underway to host the exhibition in Phoenix next March, with Carmel in talks with the Ennis Twinning Town Committee. While in America, it is hoped to move the exhibition to at least two other venues.
As well as the art and music, it is hoped to have a number of short documentary films made depicting the artists and musicians’ areas of inspiration.
The documentary would feature different scenes from throughout the county, including the Bridges of Ross, the Burren and the lakes of East Clare.
It is intended that the film would be launched to a worldwide audience on You-tube. Carmel has been in talks with filmmaker Mickey Smith, who created Dark Side of the Lens showing surfers under the Cliffs of Moher.
“If we achieve our budgetary requirements then we will be producing the short documentary, which will inspire all viewers to visit the ‘County of a Thousand Welcomes’.
“We’re hoping to be able to make a few short documentaries and with these we want to be able to create the wow factor. We want people to see these on the internet and want to come here and experience the culture that is on offer,” she said.
In terms of the fundraiser, Carmel said, “Although I know things are tight for many people, this money will be used to put something positive back into the community, encouraging people to come here. Of course, you will be in with a chance to win the painting,” she added.