Tag Archives: Clare Museum

CLARE Museum in Ennis is seeking donations of artefacts to expand its collections and to achieve greater representation of the lives of people in Clare for future generations to enjoy. Clare Museum’s Collection Policy is designed to help the museum achieve its mission through focused collecting. It also recognises the collection as the museum’s greatest resource, underpinning exhibitions and educational activities. According to Curator John Rattiganm, “Clare Museum will collect items that exist in, or can be provenanced to, County Clare. We are particularly interested in items associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, but also items relating to the lives of women and local businesses from days gone by.” Items from more recent decades are also required. “An ongoing survey of museum visitors has highlighted an interest in items from the 1950s to the turn of the century. This is a period many of our visitors remember and would like to tell stories about to their children or grandchildren on a …

WITH a shared love of photography, members of the Ennis Camera Club have brought their ‘collective vision’ together in a brand new exhibition of works currently on display in the Clare Museum. The exhibition features 25 stunning images in varying styles taken by the club’s members, who range from beginners to experienced photographers, and regularly meet in Power’s Pub, Clarecastle. In an era where images are more likely to be shared online, club chairman Mike Reen tells us members are delighted to be able to showcase their work to the public through this exhibition which runs in Ennis until September 16. “We live almost exclusively in a digital world in terms of photography. It must be that 99% of photographs are now shared digitally through social media and online. We have a sort of standing mantra within the club, ‘A photograph isn’t a photograph until you print it’. “That was something the late Gerry Ryan who founded the club always …

CLARE Museum is celebrating after maintaining a top national award from the Heritage Council. The museum in the heart of Ennis was among 13 honoured at a ceremony in Kilkenny Castle having achieved official accreditation under the Heritage Council’s Museum Standards Programme for Ireland (MSPI). Established to promote professional standards in museums, selection under the MSPI is a major accolade with accredited museums considered to have attained excellence across a range of areas. The museum assessors noted Clare Museum’s continued work on adding to its collections. With the assistance of the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland, the museum purchased a drawing by the celebrated artist, William Frederick Burton who spent his childhood in the Burren. The museum is one a handful of museums which has placed its collection online, and through the work of volunteers, opened a new temporary exhibition in 2019 on the War of Independence, enhanced by a series of public lectures. The museum also launched its …

A 1947 DODGE car once owned by Eamon de Valera has been moved from its display building in Harmony Row to a new home in the newly refurbished exhibition area at Clare Museum. The car, which was used by Eamon de Valera during his years as President of Ireland, was often to be seen on the roads of Clare in the 1960s and is fondly remembered by the Clare public. It was manufactured in Detroit, Michigan, US, in 1947 and was originally the property of President Sean T O’Kelly. Although de Valera continued to use a Rolls Royce for State occasions while President of Ireland, he purchased the Dodge from Sean T O’Kelly, the outgoing President, and had it resprayed from its original maroon to black for his personal use in the late 1950s. The black Dodge would go on to be a familiar sight in Clare. Many older Clare people associate the vehicle with the annual Clare Agricultural Show …

THE children of Ennis National School are using their artistic talents in more ways than one to show their support for the people of Ukraine. The school has organised a mixed media art exhibition along with a variety show fundraising concert which will be held in the coming weeks. The exhibition will be on display at the end of this month at the County Museum, while the show will be held outside of the museum on June 8. An online fundraiser has been set up at https://www.gofundme.com/f/v7fy4-ennis-national-school-fundraiser-for-ukraine with donations already coming in from those touched by what the students are trying to achieve. Teacher Ciara Harding explains that the children were driven to do something to help those caught up in the war with Ukraine, and they were inspired by the work that is being done by Ennis Lions Club in raising money to support relief efforts. “Colin Mangan an Ennis native and Ennis NS past pupil, has been living …

AN ARTIST who works for Clarecare is putting her talents to use for the greater good, by donating most of the proceeds of her forthcoming exhibition to the agency.  Sinead Slattery has been working in the popular Clarecare Thrift Show for over 15 years and next month she will exhibit a selection of her paintings at The Clare Museum. Her aim is to donate 60% of all sales to Clarecare.  “I grew up in love with nature and art and crafts from a young age,” she said. “I was lucky to have learned many skills in the Holy Family Primary School, from crochet to embroidery. In Coláiste Mhuire I had a fantastic art teacher who used to call my love of red skies ‘Slattery Pink’. My dad taught me how to paint in a ‘domestic’ way from a very young age. “Don’t be afraid of it” he used to say. “Paint don’t tickle,” as I enjoyed painting walls back then. …

CONSTRUCTION on the County Museum redevelopment project has begun with hopes the works will be complete by August. Contractors M. Fitzgibbon Contractors Ltd started works on site following the lifting of Covid-19 Level 5 restrictions for the construction sector. The Clare County Council project will see the refurbishment and conversion of the upstairs rooms in the building into modern office and meeting room space, while the downstairs will be transformed with the addition of Éamon de Valera’s 1947 Dodge car to the Museum exhibition, together with an improved Tourist Office. The iconic 1947 Dodge Plymouth transported two of Ireland’s presidents, including Éamon de Valera, in the early years of the State. The County Museum redevelopment project was designed in-house by Clare County Council’s Design Office in conjunction with the Property Management unit, with external consultancy services engaged for mechanical, electrical and interior design. Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council, Cllr Mary Howard, said, “I am delighted to see this investment in …

WHILE Clare Museum in Ennis has been closed to the public or has operated under visitor restrictions during the applicable levels of Covid-19 restrictions, it has continued to collect the history of Clare. In December 2020, Clare Museum received from a donor in Vancouver, Canada, a collection associated with the Scott family of Cahiracon House, in Kildysart. The Scotts arrived in Clare when the Earl of Thomond leased Cahiracon in Kildysart to Angel Scott in perpetuity. The Scotts continued to reside at Cahiracon until the mid-19th century and owned land mainly in the Barony of Clonderlaw in Clare. At the time of Griffith’s Valuation, John Bindon Scott was High Sheriff of County Clare. The Scotts are remembered as good landlords in the Kildysart area today, as they did their best to help their tenants during the potato famine. It ruined the family financially and their indebted estate was sold under the Encumbered Estates Act in 1854. The Scotts left Ireland …