The Dublin Community Blog

I took myself and my three children along to the RHA Gallagher Gallery on Ely Place (map) to check out their annual exhibition. It runs until 31st July and I would recommend that you get yourself along to it. It’s a hop, skip and a jump from Stephen’s Green so we combined our visit with a picnic in the park. (This was originally supposed to be a playground post but the playground in Stephen’s Green is closed for refurbishment but looks like it will be ace!)

To be honest my visit to the exhibition was kind of a duty: my brother, Blaise Smith, and brother-in-law, John O’Reilly, both have paintings on display. The painting right is by  the brother in law.

That’s the thing about the RHA Annnual exhibition: if you know any Irish artists chances are you will see some of their work exhibited here. It’s a great opportunity to see the work of up-and-coming or established artists. I am the farthest thing from an art critic. I look at the paintings and think about what they make me think about. I like this or that because the colours appeal to me or it evokes memories or reminds me of a person, place or thing. Some paintings I enjoy because they make me smile or conjure up other emotions. I have a very rudimentary art history education so I won’t even attempt to review the exhibition in those terms but as a way to spend an afternoon in Dublin you could do a lot worse. You are bound to see something that will make you melt inside, raise your hackles or that will feature in your dreams or nightmares. All types of materials are used and while painting features heavily there are also prints, photography, sculpture, architecture and even one brooch featured! The refurbished gallery is a beautiful exhibition space (it’s probably been refurbished for ages but y’know I don’t get out much!) It was a fine way to spend the afternoon with two lively under 7s and there was no difficulty getting the buggy around and up and down.

My husband was very glad when I told him I didn’t get a catalogue and buy any paintings but if you are looking to invest in some work this is a great place to pick up some iconic Irish art as many of the items are for sale. I hadn’t planned to write a blog post about the exhibition so while I know which items would be my top five I can’t remember all the details. I do plan to go back so I might take notes next time!

180th Annual Exhibition, Opening hours:
The RHA Gallery will revert to opening ALL Exhibition AREAS, 7 days a week, for the 180th Annual Exhibition, from 24 May – 30 July.
Monday & Tuesday 11 – 5pm
Wednesday – Saturday 11 – 7pm
Sunday 2 – 5pm

As a mammy-ish aside I also note that the RHA run children’s workshops throughout the year. My older son was very interested in the exhibition so I’m off to book him into the workshop that focuses on the exhibtion.

Being snowed in can have it’s advantages. After doing the laundry and cleaning the living room, I will no try to summarise the year 2009 on the Dublin Community Blog.

Gloomy January showed us that the recession is in full swing, as Dublin indie institution Road Records was forced to close its doors (which thankfully re-opened later due to massive support from many a successfull Irish musician) and Dublin Bus announced massive cutbacks, laying off 200 staff. Add some snow causing massive disruptions to traffic and you had a very bleak start into the new year.

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This morning, as I was getting some work done, my attention was drawn to the MySpace page of a collaborative music project assembled by Mark Garry called Sending Letters to the Sea. As I let the music play in the background, I found it very relaxing and yet interesting enough that it actually began to distract me. It doesn’t seem to have any pretenses of being an ambitious hot new act in Dublin. Instead, one gets the sense that this is a collective of artists who merely wanted to get together to express their creativity, and in the process had a lot of fun and (maybe accidentally?) created something rather special. Be sure to have a listen for yourself and tell us what you think.

Letters to the Sea will be releasing their first album and performing on the 19th of this month at St. Columba’s Church in Swords, where much of the album was recorded. After having a listen to the tracks on their MySpace page, I have a feeling that there will be no better place to experience this music than inside the walls of an old stone church.

On a more serious note: besides the Talk-like-a-pirate-day there’s also the Dublin Culture Night on Friday.

Dublin’s first Culture Night took place in 2006 as an initiative led by Temple Bar Cultural Trust in association with the Council of National Cultural Institutions and supported by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, to provide a new and imaginative route for people of all ages to connect with the arts and cultural life of the city.

Since then Culture Night has grown to include over 100 of the city’s arts and cultural organisations with the vast majority opening until 11pm and their very own free events programme for young and old, which is expected to attract in excess of 100,000 people this year.

This year is also the first time that the Culture Nights expands to other cities, such as Limerick and Cork. So, if you want to spend Friday night with culture instead of getting drunk, this seems like a good opportunity – the cities gallerys and librarys are at your disposal all night long. A map (PDF) is here.

The Rathmines Festival kicked off on the 14th of this month and will pick up again today, finishing late on Sunday night. The festival features a variety of events, workshops, and galleries, all happening along Rathmines Road (Upper and Lower) just south of Grand Canal. Most events are free and those that come with a price tag (like some music performances) never rise above a tenner. Dance, theatre, literature, music, photography, film, sports, history – there really does seem to be something for just about everyone!

For more, including a downloadable schedule, surf over to the festival website at www.RathminesFestival.com. Alternatively, the good folks at Cafe Moda have agreed to allow the use of their coffee shop as the festival club house, so if you happen to be in the area, stop by for brochures, booking, or any other information.

You have another opportunity to participate in a great show ‘Pearl’ in George’s Dock. It starts tomorrow at 7.30. Official Festival’s website requires (free) tickets for that show, but no one was checking them.

Take your children, they will love it.

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In all the melee and mess of Paddy’s day and its related celebrations, there is one exhibition that you should defo take time from your shamrock-wearing schedule to check out.

Every weekend this month, Gallery Number One on Castle Street, D2, will be showcasing the work of Belgian-born New York-based pop artist Daniel Dens. To sweeten the deal, they’re throwing some cool choons from resident DJ Alex Donald and even a free Innocent smoothie!

The Sophia Loren silkscreen pictured here is in the gallery’s window and has been drawing quite a few punters in. (As beautiful as it is, I don’t think I have the €1,200 asking price handy.)

Also on show will be 70s Rock ‘n’ Roll photographer Mick Rock‘s collection of limited edition pics of David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Lou Reed and Debbie Harry, as well as work by Irish-born artist Ciaran Tully who now lives in New York.

It’s great when art galleries do stuff like this. They are very eager to show that art is something to be enjoyed and appreciated, not just purchased; so don’t be afraid to call in, even if, like me, you’re completely broke!

You can see some pics from their first smoothie Saturday on their Flickr page.

 

If you are wondering what is on the picture the answer is very Dublinish: Guinness!!

Michael Davidson of Florida University makes beer photos using microscope. What to say more? Check his beer website. 

Well, Catherine mentioned about it come time ago and so…. it happed.

Maybe it was not extremely popular, but people who ‘got frozen’ were visible. And for one ‘freezing performer’ there was one photographer.

Cheers to all brave ones!

Oisin Gallery presents sculptures of Willard Wigan.

Thanx to poet Nell Regan I’ve learned yesterday about this spectacular exhibition.

The show is really eye catching because you have to look at art pieces through the microscope!! It started just last Friday and unfortunately tomorrow is the LAST DAY.

So hurry up, go to Westland Row an the back of Trinity College to get stunned as well.