Scottish artist, Keith McIntyre, will take centre stage at this year’s Burren Annual Exhibition which takes place at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan later this month.
Mr McIntyre’s work involves exploring coastal geological phenomena through mural scale drawing, print, performance and film.
The title of this year’s exhibition is ‘Mullach Mòr: elephant rocks, drinking dragons and other geo phenomena.
Mullach Mòr translated from Irish Gaelic means the big rock. However, in Scots Gaelic, a similar word Moladh translates as ‘in praise of’ and prefixes the place or person to be eulogised in a poem or song. While in Manx Gaelic the word is Mollyee.
In his first solo exhibition in Ireland, McIntyre will continue his interest in geology that has developed a significant cultural presence in the landscape through a collective community imagining. Work presented will include the Elephant Rocks from Northumbria, the Vestmannaevjar Islands in Iceland and the Drinking Dragon from the Isle of Man.
Keith McIntyre lives and works on the small Island of Berneray in the Outer Hebrides. The exhibition will coincide with a research visit to develop a new project specific to the Burren area thus extending the Moladh, Mollyee, Mullach connected theme between the human and physical geography of our northern and Atlantic coastlines.
The exhibition will include ‘Mollyee Yn Burro’ a film collaboration with Andy Mackinnon at Uist Film, commissioned for the Isle of Man Arts Festival.
In addition to the exhibition, Keith McIntyre will host a public lecture entitled ‘Hey skipper, do you believe me now?’ on Wednesday, September 25, from 11am to 12.30pm.
McIntyre will discuss his work and the influence of the mimetolith, a geo phenomenon where rock takes on a human or animal form. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Keith McIntre was born in Edinburgh and studied Drawing and Painting at DJCA, Dundee. As a student he won the RSA Sir William Gillies and RSA Carnegie Award. He also received an Elizabeth Greenshields Award to study with Laurence Barker at the Barcelona Paper Studio.
He has had numerous solo exhibitions going back to the 369 in Edinburgh, Tramway Glasgow at the opening of Glasgow 1990 European City of Culture, Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery and MIMA in Middlesbrough.
His drawings, paintings and prints are represented in numerous public and private collections including the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, the Contemporary Art Society, the Campbeltown Museum of Modern Art in Sydney Australia and the Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, and Aberdeen city museum and gallery collections.
He also has a considerable profile as an artist working in theatre, performing arts + film projects including ‘Jock Tamsons Bairns’ at the Tramway, Glasgow and the ‘Legend of St Julian’ at the Traverse, Edinburgh with Gerry Mulgrew and Communicado.
‘The Unconquered’, an award winning production with Stellar Quines went on to present Scotland at the ‘Brits-Off Broadway Festival’ in New York. His ‘New Constellations’ drawing and performance installation at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art was the first co-commission with SAGE Gateshead.
He was also commissioned to create the ‘Lockerbie Requiem’ for the Edinburgh International Festival. Film-work includes ‘Walk Me Home’ with John Berger and Timothy Neat. Drawing is central to his practice and he is a winner of the Scottish Open Drawing Prize.
After 10 years of teaching at the Glasgow School of Art McIntyre moved to Newcastle to take up an appointment at Northumbria University where he was a Professor of Fine Art and Head of Department of the Department of Arts. Key achievements in Newcastle include establishing GSN – Graduate Studio Northumbria and the BALTIC 39 Studios. He is a Founder member of Northern Print Studio and was lead on the development of the WOON Foundation Prize, the largest award in the UK for graduating Fine Art students.
The Burren Annual Exhibition brings Irish and international artists working with diverse modes of practice to the Burren to engage local and visiting audiences. Inaugurated in 2004 it foregrounds Burren College of Art as a site for discourse and artistic engagement and prioritises the rural as a hub for building local and international creative networks.
The Burren Annual Exhibition is supported by funding from the Arts Office at Clare County Council.
Keith McIntyre’s work meanwhile is supported by a Research Grant from the Royal Scottish Academy.
This year’s Burren Annual Exhibition will run from September 26 to October 23 at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan.
Andrew Hamilton is a journalist, investigative reporter and podcaster who has been working in the media in Ireland for the past 20 years. His areas of special interest include the environment, mental health and politics.