Arts & Culture

DVD REVIEW

ENNIS artist Carmel Doherty has launched a new website which will enable Clare artists to showcase and sell their work without taking on the crippling costs of galleries and exhibitions.

FOURTH-class pupils at Ennis National School are getting the opportunity to learn the violin during their school day, through a pilot music project starting in the school later this month.Well-known music teacher, Cathy Desmond, a former member of the Irish Youth Orchestra, will be teaching up to 90 students from the three fourth classes in Ennis National School in the programme, which the school has aptly named Swinging Strings. The director of Ennis National School Band Fiona de Buitléir explained how the project came about. “A number of teachers in the school saw the Music Changes Lives series on RTÉ last year, which featured various schools and how the introduction of music classes impacted on some of the pupils. The series showed how the children were provided with instruments and tuition once a week. The series was wonderful and some of us began considering the possibility of running some sort of similar programme here at Ennis National School. We were …

STUDENTS of the Dinan School of Ballet on the Kildysart Road on the outskirts of Ennis have formed a new dance company in residence. Niamh Dinan, who organises the Free Spirit Dance Company, says this will give local dancers more regular opportunities to perform. She hopes the company will also help to broaden and develop dance appreciation in Clare and the Mid-West with its varied programme of classical and contemporary dance. As well as performing new works choreographed by directors Niamh and her colleague teacher from the Dinan School of Ballet, Tara McGovern, the company will also welcome visiting teachers and choreographers from at home and abroad. “Local dancers will be able to showcase their ability in ballet, contemporary, tap and jazz with a creative and professional repertoire. So far this summer, company members have performed at events in Ennis, Cork and Dublin. Over the next few months, they’re also looking forward to performing at festivals, fashion shows and on …

A PLAY by a “star in the making” from Ogonnelloe has received critical acclaim after its performance at the world renowned Edinburgh Fringe Festival recently.

CAHER-based woodturner William Edwards is carrying on a family tradition of woodwork by creating functional and unique craft items. William Edwards is one of a group of Clare craftspeople who exhibits at the new monthly Artisans’ Craft Fair in the Milk Market in Limerick on the last Thursday of every month.William, originally from Kent in the UK, has been living in Caher, near Feakle, for the past 23 years. “Before coming to Ireland, I had been a science teacher in Austria and Singapore in international schools. I was looking for an English-speaking country to settle in and to find a new career and I always considered that I’d like to live in Ireland. My mother’s family were Irish. I saw an advertisement in a magazine for a house in Caher and we instantly liked it. It was one of those chance things. We came to have a look at the house and we fell in love with the area,” he …

THE fourth annual Tulla Traditional Music Festival takes place this weekend and a lively few days of music, song and dance has been lined up.

WHILE the country fears recession, Clare man Paul Walsh has decided to open his second antique and art auction house in Clarecastle.