Arts & Culture

IRELAND’S national day of creativity for young people, Cruinniú na nÓg, will be celebrated in locations throughout Clare this June. Cruinniú na nÓg is a flagship initiative of the Creative Ireland Programme’s Creative Youth Plan to enable the creative potential of children and young people. Cruinniú na nÓg encourages children and young people’s participation in culture and creativity through a wonderful spread of opportunities and events. Artistic curator for the programme, Sheila Quinn, says, “Creative Ireland Clare has a jam-packed programme for Cruinniú na nÓg that gives young people from all over the county the opportunity to participate in workshops and performances in theatre, art, dance, film-making, coding, foraging and music. “We are also delighted to welcome audiences back to live events for the first time since 2019. We have a wide selection of events for all ages and interests; children aged 0 to 18 will find something in the programme to excite and delight them.” Highlights include Flamenco Dancer, Fatima Fernandez, who …

ARTWORKS created by pupils from New Quay National School in the Burren will go on display early next month at the Courthouse Gallery in Kinvara.  An exhibition entitled ‘Creative Mapping’, will run from June 3 to 12 at the gallery which is the base of Kinvara Area Visual Arts (KAVA). The show is the culmination of initiatives support by The Arts Council, Clare Arts Office and The Department of Education.  School Principal Mary Reidy said the show will combine pieces from two art projects which children have participated in. “As a recipient of a Creative School grant award in 2020 New Quay National School is certainly busy these days,” she said. “An after-school art appreciation programme has been re-established since Easter, this is offered as a free programme to children from First Class upwards and will continue up into the early part of June. This is facilitated by local parents Ellie Farrell and Cate King. With the help of Creative …

AN Ardnacrusha product design student’s prize-winning artwork has been described as ‘a short story in visual imagery’. Dan Killackey, 18, from Ardnacrusha, was chosen overall winner of the 68th Texaco Children’s Art Competition, taking first prize in the senior 16-18 years age category. “I was delighted to win a national award,” Dan told the Champion, “Since 2019, I have known about this competition. I wish I had known sooner because I could have competed since I was six years old. I think it would be good to promote this art competition more in schools. “When I complete a sketch and see people’s satisfaction, it motivates me to continue doing art and get people smiling.” Clare also had the winner in the seven to eight years category, which went to Aidan Hehir, 7, a pupil at Ennis Art School. Dan’s winning work, for which he receives a prize of €1,500, is entitled ‘Isolation’ and is a detailed portrait study in coloured …

A WINDOW of opportunity for creativity at St Joseph’s Hospital was created as part of the recently held National Arts in Nursing Homes Day. Clare based artist Rachel Macmanus visited the Ennis hospital and painted an artwork inspired by the stained glass windows of St Joseph’s church to the delight of residents. The project was one of a number of nationwide events for National Arts in Nursing Homes Day, held as part of Age & Opportunity’s Bealtaine Festival. Rachel, who has been a part of other creative projects at the hospital pre-Covid 19, tells us she was happy to be able to return to St Joseph’s. Drawing upon the stained glass windows of St Joseph’s Church as inspiration, Rachel painted her own version of the windows directly onto the windows of the hospital’s Sun Room, a congregational gathering space for the residents of the hospital. “The windows of St Joseph’s Church are very beautiful and tranquil and my idea was to bring some of …

As part of the Cusack 175 programme, the Michael Cusack Centre is running traditional hurley making workshops this Friday. ‘Camán to the Burren’ is a 45 minute traditional hurley making demonstration which will b delivered this Friday from 1-4pm by Aidan Cuddihy of Mac Coda Hurleys (Inagh). Further workshops will be delivered on the first Friday afternoon of each month to October 2022. Given there is a Munster Hurling final featuring the Banner this weekend and this is the home of the founder of the GAA, it is an appropriate time to explore the art and craft of hurley making.

HE has interviewed hundreds of people over more than 40 years, but a handful stand out for Eddie Lenihan, among them the late Jimmy Armstrong of Quin. Back in 1982 Eddie’s book Long Ago By Shannonside brought Jimmy’s stories to the public, and he has now published a revised addition with some extra chapters, entitled The Man In The Big House. Eddie visited Jimmy numerous times in the early 80s at Our Lady’s Hospital in Ennis, where he lived for years, although Eddie says it is highly dubious that a man like him should have been there at all. In the preface to The Man In The Big House Eddie writes of Jimmy’s delight when the original book came out as it showed he was in a place that he didn’t need to be. “This was proof, if proof were needed, that he was a man of sound mind.” Jimmy petitioned successive Ministers for Health for a review of his …

AN exploration of the Gaelic songs of County Clare has unearthed 130 songs, with that figure continuing to grow. The outcome of the project, carried out by actor, writer and director Diarmuid de Faoite titled Dúchas is Dóchas (Heritage and Hope), will be launched by the Clare Arts Office and The Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA) this Saturday in Cultúrlann Sweeney, Kilkee. The work was done as part of the third Duala: Creator-in-Residence Scheme. “It wasn’t today nor yesterday that the people of County Clare fell in love with music and the county has a deserved reputation in the field of traditional music,” said de Faoite. “Despite this reputation, however, songs in Irish are rarely heard and even rarer still are songs in Irish from the county, save the ubiquitous ‘Beidh Aonach Amárach’,” he noted. “Though the music has been preserved and enriched, our voice was lost quite suddenly and traumatically with the rapid loss of language” he added, posing …

CLARE has enjoyed siginifcant success in this year’s 68th Texaco Children’s Art Competition with the overall winner coming from the Banner county. Dan Killackey, 18, from Ardnacrusha, was chosen overall winner of this year’s competition, taking first prize in the senior 16-18 years age category. Clare also had the winner in the 7-8 years category, which went to Aidan Hehir, 7, a pupil at Ennis Art School Dan’s winning work, for which he receives a prize of €1,500, is entitled ‘Isolation’ and is a detailed portrait study in coloured pencils of his granduncle Mick. In choosing it as overall prize winner in the Competition, Final Adjudicator and Chairman of the judging panel, Gary Granville, Professor Emeritus of Education at the National College of Art and Design, described Dan’s piece as ‘a short story in visual imagery.’ “In his image of a man and his cat, Dan has captured so many aspects of contemporary life in Ireland. Through understated reference to …