Festival’s stag-gered approach to fundraising

TWO East Clare artists have put their talents to great use as part of an art raffle which will take place in support of Mountshannon Arts in June.
Mel White and Gilli Browne have joined forces to create the collaborative artistic due known as CocoNut. Together, they have created a stunning graphic painting of two fallow stags. Entitled ‘Fallow Me’, the piece takes its inspiration from Mountshannon Arts’ theme of ‘Regeneration’.
Mel, also known as Maximillist, is described as a pop artist whose influences range from Andy Warhol to Frida Kahlo. She uses neon to bombard the viewer’s senses, while Gilli invokes movement and texture through palette knife techniques.
“We decided to undertake this initiative to help raise much needed funds for the Mountshannon Arts Festival,” said Mel.
“The arts offer an opportunity to experience something new or gain a new perspective which is represented in the festival theme ‘Regeneration’. Buying a ticket helps the festival, an important cultural amenity, continue into the future.
“Besides the feel good factor that comes with purchasing a ticket, we also think it’s a great prize for one lucky winner.”
As part of their artistic process, CocoNut have also created a short time lapse video to give people a sneak peak of the finished work. The video is on Mountshannonarts.ie as well as on the organisation’s social channels.
Tickets will be available for sale from June 5 from Whitegate Post Office, The Snug, Crowe’s and Under the Oak in Mountshannon; as well as from The Grainey and Bane’s in Scariff. They can also be purchased online at Mountshannonarts.ie. The Fallow Me Art Raffle draw be held on Monday, June 7 at 8pm. Regeneration is the theme of this year’s Mountshannon Arts Festival which celebrates its 25th birthday this summer.
With Covid-19 restrictions in mind, the committee are using all their creativity and ingenuity to make sure that, whatever the pandemic may bring, the community will still get to share in arts and cultural activities over the coming months. Organisers have recently revamped their website and rebranded to Mountshannon Arts.