Tag Archives: Courthouse Gallery

Four decades ago, Ennistymon was a town of 52 pubs, one for every week of the year. Over the years however, the North Clare market town has been transformed from a town of pubs into a town of 52 galleries, cafés and artisan food producers. The genesis of this unlikely transformation was in a year-long art project entitled Ennistymon 1984. That project was the brainchild of Marian Fitzgibbon, the Mid-West regional arts officer at the time, and was originally focused on the town’s unique shop fronts. It was spearheaded by Cork woman, Úna McCarthy, who relocated to North Clare for the year and, with massive support from the local community, helped to organise 100 different arts events and in the process reshape the destiny of the entire region. Miss McCarthy now runs the Limerick City Gallery and also sits on the board of the Courthouse Gallery in Ennistymon. She believes that Ennistymon 1984 helped transform the town and how we …

Over the past six months, a diverse group of people have been coming together each week at Crosby’s old shop at The Square in Ennistymon. There, in the beating heart of the old town, the Croí Art group have been working quietly together to create something special, a community of art. The 20 strong group, ranging in age from 16 to 68 years, have developed into something approaching a family. Coming from different backgrounds, and with diverse and sometimes contrary experiences of the world, the group have found common cause together and the ability to derive strength from each other. The fruits of their work will be on show in the Croí Art Exhibition, which continues in The Courthouse Gallery in Ennistymon until March 23. According to tutor Meave Collins, the group have really come together this year. “It really makes this course special to have a community of different ages and different cultures. Our youngest learner this year was …

The Courthouse Gallery in Ennistymon will host a screening of the documentary Gaza this Friday, December 15, at 8pm. The film, released in 2019, was directed and produced by Irish men Andrew McConnell and Garry Keane. The award–winning film documents the real lives of people living in Gaza, showing how ordinary people courageously have to keep going in the grimmest of conditions, in a world where there is a “wall between the people of Gaza and life itself”. The film features, amongst others, a young cellist, a young rapper, a theatre director, a fisherman and his son, a taxi driver and an ambulance driver as they share their stories, daily experiences and their hopes for the future. Simple aspirations, which people living in Ireland might take for granted, are quashed on a daily basis. Wildcard Distribution, who own the screening rights to the film, have waived the license fees for these charity screenings and welcome people to arrange more screenings. …

CULTURE night in Ennistymon will see a unique exhibition and artist’s talk at the Courthouse Gallery and Studios. ‘Tar Isteach’ is a participatory project with artists Maeve Collins, Monica De Bath and Julie Griffiths and will run from September 23 to October 23. The project started out as a Bealtaine, Age and Opportunity Commission back in 2020, in partnership with Clare County Council, Galway City Council and Roscommon County Council. The show is informed by a series of meetings, workshops and interactions with new Irish residents and citizens in Galway City, Lisdoonvarna and Ballaghaderreen in County Roscommon. Tar Isteach draws on the experience and knowledge that each artist brings, folding these over with the artisanal skills and the cultural perspectives of a diverse range of participant groups both native and New Irish. Embracing the Bealtaine theme of ‘Hospitality’, Tar Isteach interrogates the principle that it is only in our encounter with others that we can truly see and recognise ourselves. …

LITERATURE lovers will flock to North Clare on the last weekend in August as Ennistymon once again becomes a Book Town.  For the eleventh year, the bustling town will become a reader’s paradise, with book shops popping up in vacant premises and taking over the Courthouse Gallery and Teach Cheoil.  On offer at stalls and shops will be new, used and antiquarian books, fiction and nonfiction, for all age groups, including rare County Clare items, GAA histories, children’s books, and literary and light reads.  “This year, our challenge has been to find empty shop units and that’s a great testament to how Ennistymon has flourished in recent years,” said organising committee member, Jon Heddon. “Over the years, we’ve had seven or eight units annually that we would have used. Now, those premises have come back into use and it’s just great to see that. “We will still be able to accommodate all of our regular booksellers, from all over Ireland, …

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 EXCITING winter exhibition at a popular North Clare gallery is now open for expression of interest from artists. The Courthouse Gallery and Studios, in Ennistymon, has just announced an open call for submissions to the new Winter Open Exhibition. That show will take the place of the annual Summer Open Exhibition which had to be cancelled because of the pandemic. Work is also been sought for Trasna IX this December. These exhibitions have been devised to end the year on a positive celebratory note while also supporting The Courthouse Gallery to fundraise in the face of a difficult financial year. Deadline for submissions is November 29. The Winter Open Exhibition is described “a celebration of visual art in all its forms, open to artists of all levels and styles”. It will be staged in the main gallery space of the Courthouse Gallery. Artworks may be priced at the artist’s discretion, with the gallery’s standard 25% commission. Trasna IX is a postcard format exhibition. The …

ENNISTYMON School of Art students are to present an end of year exhibition with a difference due to the Covid-19 restrictions. The school, which is run through Limerick Clare ETB from mid-September until May, offers QQI awarded PLC courses in level 5 and 6. The current students were looking forward to the annual exhibition at the Courthouse Gallery in Ennistymon, which will launch on this Friday, May 8, but the Coronavirus put paid to that and have had to think of alternative arrangements. PLC tutor Rachel Gleasure said they are now in the final process of mounting an online exhibition and hoping to reach wider audiences through social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. “We offer students a chance to improve their artistic skills and the course caters for all levels from beginners to advanced. Learners can learn new skills such as painting, sculpture and ceramics and it’s also an employment-oriented programme, which prepares students for degree courses in …