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Kerry Visual Artists’ Showcase opens in Killarney tonight (Friday)
ARTY: Cathaoirleach Niall Kelleher will open the Visual Artists' Showcase in Killarney this evening (Friday). Pictured l-r were: Norman McCloskey, Des Fitzgerald, Cllr Niall Kelleher (Cathaoirleach), Nicole Tilley, James Hayes, Lisa Fingleton and Caroline Lynch (Arts Office, KCC). Photo: Michael G Kenny
The fifth annual Kerry Visual Artists’ Showcase opens at 6pm tonight (Friday) at Government Buildings, New Road, Killarney. A key date in the arts calendar in the county, the selected artists are all from or based in Kerry and are building careers for themselves as artists working in Ireland today.
Cathaoirleach Niall Kelleher will open the exhibition and it will run from 9am – 5pm until October 31.
“It’s a wonderful platform for our artists and the standard this year is again very high,” Kate Kennelly, County Arts Officer, said.
“Kerry County Council is delighted to be able to directly support the showcase. Audiences will see some of the best who are creating art in the county today. It’s a wonderful introduction for all ages to art and a great evening out as it is Culture Night in Kerry the same day that we open the show.”
There have been seven artists selected for the Showcase this year. Des Fitzgerald is a sculptor and photographer whose work covers a variety of issues such as communication, loss and friendship. Kaye Maahs works in oils and is a painter whose work is rooted in the personal and the local. James Hayes specialises in oil painting and illustration and his draws on personal connections between the individual and the wider world. Julie Lovett’s influences derive from her rural upbringing, experiences and sense of place. Lisa Fingleton is an artist whose work is rooted in the autobiographical and deals with socio political and environmental concerns. Using paper, Nicole Tilley’s work highlights overlooked historical domestic narratives and mental health experiences. Norman McCloskey’s work is shaped by the landscape of the Beara Peninsula, which he has explored with his camera for 29 years.