Arts & Culture

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 …

Clare artists Óscar Mascareñas and Elaine Tucker have found a spiritual home in Ballycuggaran. The Sixmilebridge based artists have made the woods their second home, and have built up a connection to the wildlife and plant life of the locality. That unique relationship will be the subject of a new exhibition hosted by both artists at Coach House in the People’s Museum of Limerick later this month. Entitled Transposition, the exhibition is a visual love letter to Ballycuggaran, its striking trees and beautiful animals. “Elaine and myself used to spend virtually every weekend travelling to different parts of the country taking photographs. We drove to Ballycuggaran and just fell in love with the place and started going there every weekend,” said Óscar. “We discovered the woods, which aren’t that well known, and we started exploring them and taking pictures of the flora there, there are a lot of very beautiful trees. It is a special place, both the woods and …

A Burren-based artist is to bring her solo exhibition inspired by her travels in Iceland to Claremorris. Irish artist, Kaye Maahs will exhibit a new body of work at Claremorris Gallery, Mayo from September 14. This is her first solo exhibition in some time and includes twenty-eight new captivating paintings. The exhibition, entitled ‘Iceland’, is a body of work borne out of diaries Kaye kept during her 2019 residency in Iceland, a journey made possible by the Thomas Dammann Junior Memorial Trust Award. In her paintings, her intuitive and tactical handling of paint revels in the majestic and ethereal settings of the Icelandic landscape. Kaye’s paintings don’t scream for attention, instead the unpretentious use of paint beckons silently to the viewer; to explore, and to consider our relationship with the natural world, while at the same time calling attention to the physicality of their medium. She works ‘wet into wet’ and it is this immediacy that allows her paintings to …

Local author Tracy Fahey has just been nominated for the award for Best Novella in the British Fantasy Awards for her 2023 book, They Shut Me Up. It is her third time to be shortlisted for these prestigious awards. Fresh on the heels of being a finalist in the London Short Story Prize earlier this year, Fahey, who lives in Sixmilebridge, is delighted that her Clare-set novella is one of five shortlisted for the global awards, which take place in October. “They Shut Me Up is a novella based on a feminist reclamation of the turbulent and colourful life of Máire Rua O’Brien of Lemenagh Castle,” says Fahey. “I’ve been fascinated by her since I moved to Clare in 2018, a woman who in her own time was demonised as a witch, a torturer, a murderer, and even a sort of female Bluebeard.” This novella has attracted praise for its mingling of bio-fiction, folklore and feminism. Reviewer Georgina Bruce in …

Auditions are now open to apply to be part of the Irish Concertina Orchestra for the 2024 to 2025 season. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for concertina players aged between 10 years of age and 18 years of age to compose, arrange and perform with high profile artists such as NOTIFY, Cormac McCarthy and the MGCE Concert Orchestra. May of 2024 provided an exceptional showcase of Irish music talent and in particular, that of the concertina which is so central to the Irish traditional music landscape in Clare. The Irish Concertina Orchestra took to the stage where 42 members aged between 10 and 18 years old performed with high profile artist NOTIFY and Cormac McCarthy and the MGCE Concert Orchestra. Glór theatre was full with an excited audience that reacted to each piece of music with great enthusiasm and excitement. The Irish Concertina Orchestra spent the previous few months working on a mentorship programme with NOTIFY. Notify …

The Rekindle Festival of Lost Skills is set to return to North Clare on August 16 and 17, with this edition focused on uniting communities across generations and cultures through traditional skills and crafts. Following its success at the National Pride of Place awards in 2023, this year’s festival, part of National Heritage Week, promises an enriching experience with live music, workshops, and demonstrations showcasing the richness of Ireland’s heritage and beyond. Festival Highlights include ‘LASRAÍ’ – Rekindle Launch Concert, Ennistymon Community Centre on August 16. Lasraí, which means gathering around the flames, will ignite the weekend with an intercultural traditional music and dance concert featuring masters of tradition from Ireland and also all over the world including Stephanie Keane, Ultan O’Brien and Seamas Hyland. Aindrias De Staic and Louise O Connor will be performing with top class traditional musicians from around the world including Mohammad Syfkhan, a Kurdish bouzouki player living in Leitrim, Citadel a 10 piece global sounds …

A very special concert at this year’s Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Wexford which will pay tribute to Clareman, Séamus Mac Mathúna, who was Timire Cheoil for Comhaltas for more than four decades and drove that great adventure of traditional music revival that inspired so many. It will open with a tribute to Clare music and musicians, in acknowledgment of richness of the tradition in the Banner county, and the many inspirational figures who led the way in raising up our culture and passing it onto the next generation. A proud Cooraclare man, Séamus was a beloved character in the life of Irish music and Irish music people. He knew where the heart of the music lay and he spent a life drawing that out, from sometimes hidden places, to be heard, appreciated, treasured and played, by countless people across the world. He was immensely proud spoke of the wealth and depth of traditional music, dance and song in his …

The Irish are a travelling people, and wherever we go, we take pieces of our culture and our way of life with us. This is something that exists deep within our blood, in our cultural DNA, and something that we share with all of our Celtic ancestors. Clare musicians Tara Breen and Pádraig Rynne have teamed up with virtuoso Cork guitarist, Jim Murry to explore this very Celtic connection in their debut album Odyssey. The album, which was released last week, features tunes collected by the trio throughout their long and well-travelled musical careers. It features tunes from diverse locations, thousands of miles apart, places that, on the surface, are very different from each other. What unites them is the Celtic and then the Irish willingness to travel, and to bring the tradition with them everywhere they go. “We picked up a lot of the music [we play] on our travels,” said Pádraig. “On the album we have a track …