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Thursday, February 21, 2008

Artists on Common Ground


Photo Caption:
Hugh O' Neill, a student with Tralee Community College, who's work will feature in the upcoming COMMON GROUND exhibition in The Samhlaiocht Gallery.

How does one bring six artists together and yet produce a coherent exhibition? COMMON GROUND, an exhibition of work by six students from Tralee Community College, successfully achieves a coherent unity while respecting the unique voice of each of the artists. COMMON GROUND may be seen in the Samhlaiocht Gallery, which is located in the Old Presbytery, on Lower Castle Street, in the heart Tralee. The exhibition opens on February 28th and runs through to March 14th.

"We wanted the exhibition to be an expression of each of our individual identities," says Sarah Kelliher, one of the exhibitors, "and while we are all products of our environment we felt it important to cover such themes as spirituality, individuality, one's state of mind and state of being."

Kristina Zebelyte, another exhibitor agrees entirely. Her work explores her spirituality, using the symbol of a cross, through the medium of densely textured paint. "The cross, for me and for millions of others around the world, is a symbol of Christianity and I felt it important to explore through painting what this most potent of symbols meant to me," says Kristina.

"While we all come from different cultural backgrounds and bring our own personality and flare to the exhibition, we are all doing an Art course in Tralee Community College, and so, quite obviously there's also a lot of common ground, which echoes the theme implicit in the title," adds Sarah. Sarah's work has a beautifully surreal quality and illustrates the concept of alternate personalities, effectively suggesting both the absence and presence of identity.

Such profound and philosophical themes run through much of the work on exhibition, Margaret O' Connell, for example, played with the idea of searching for one's soul, "I feel my work deals with a life journey - not just the physical journey but a deeper, more meaningful, spiritual one. I suppose, in essence, it's about searching for your soul." This search is clearly evident in the metaphysical images Margaret has created in mixed media which are on display in this exhibition.

Hugh O' Neill, on the other hand, places himself very firmly within his work, reflecting on the physical environment and using mundane and commonplace items such as shopping receipts and J Cloths to root his work very firmly in the present. "I went through a series of cerebral summersaults to produce this image," explains Hugh.

From the spiritual to the cerebral and on to the purely imaginative, Robert Moriarty went further to explore, "visions of the beauty and mystery of space and time." His richly textured, highly imaginative, landscape paintings convey the vastness of creation while instilling a sense of awe and wonder.

Ollie O' Sullivan uses the medium of print to examine the complexity and the inner workings of the mind. Ollie has created work that is as intriguing and quirky as it is rewarding to see. "After a lot of thinking, I drew a lot of thinking and then made a stencil of it!" says Ollie with a wickedly mysterious grin. To fully grasp Ollie's meaning, it's probably best to visit the exhibition in person.

COMMON GROUND, an exhibition by six students from Tralee Community College, will open on Thursday, 28th February, and runs through to Friday, 14th March, at the Samhlaiocht Gallery which is located in the Old Presbytery, on Lower Castle Street, in the heart Tralee. The exhibition is open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, From Monday to Friday. Entry is free and all are welcome.

For more info on the PLC course please log onto http://www.ncte.ie/traleecc/art.html

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