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Thursday, June 26, 2008

EXHIBITION OF NEW WORK BY EILEEN KENNEDY

Eileen outside her studio in Ashgrove, Tralee

You sometimes hear an artist say they find art therapeutic and when you visit Eileen Kennedy's intimate little studio, it's easy to see why! Eileen, who is married to local music legend, James Kennedy, and has two children, Clare and Ciaran, has a delightful studio behind her house in Ashgrove in Tralee. Access to the studio is by way of a meticulously kept garden that features statues of the Buddha and is soothing to the senses from the first moment of entry.

"Before we built the studio, I used to paint in an upstairs bedroom and when I was preparing the dinner I'd move the easel down to the kitchen and place it next to the cooker," laughs Eileen, "so it's nice to have a space that's dedicated to Art."

Eileen, who is from Tralee originally, studied art at Crawford School of Art and Design where she was awarded Student of the Year by the Cork Arts Society. She is a born painter, sculptor and print-maker and finds inspiration in life but also in the tactile interaction with the materials she uses. In fact one of her earliest memories is of asking her grandfather to show her how to paint at the extraordinarily young age of two! "I love the freedom and sense of discovery every time I create something," she says, "and it's a feeling that I have loved for as long as I can remember."

And while Eileen works primarily from her painting studio at home she also travels to Cork Printmakers on a regular basis. Her work has been shown extensively in Ireland and she has exhibited in Belgium, China and right across the U.S.

One exhibition currently running in America was organised by Jimmy Deenihan, TD for Kerry North. The exhibition, titled, A Different Land: Irish Bogland Interpretations, opened in New York in March of this year at Magnan Projects and features Eileen's print, Windblown Cotton, as well as work from another 26 Irish artists. "Jimmy has been a huge help to me and many other Kerry artists," said Eileen, "not just for this but for all the work he puts into the annual art exhibition in Finuge, during The Sean McCarthy Weekend, and much more besides."

Another two of Eileen's prints were selected for a touring exhibition in the U.S., Prints from Ireland, and, as you read this, are on route to Hawaii!

Luckily, though, you won't have to go to Hawaii to view her prints, as an exhibition of her work will go on display at the new Samhlaiocht Gallery on Thursday, July 10th. The exhibition will be opened by Jimmy Deenihan. Eileen is no stranger to Samhlaiocht having exhibited at the gallery in 2004.

Paper Pool of Love. Watercolour by Eileen Kennedy

"Eileen's last show was a sell-out success," said Trish Thompson, Gallery Coordinator of Samhlaiocht, "and we're delighted to have her back for another exhibition. Her prints flow with an energy that mirrors life and while some are imbued with painterly vigour that belie the formal structure of the printmaking process others are implicitly adherent to the process. It's a wonderful combination and the work is both free flowing and immediate, yet, at the same time, structured and considered."

Eileen elaborates saying, "I relate to Art that is honest and real and reveals life with all its perfections and flaws. There is a beauty and rawness to life and Nature that I seek to express in my work."

This beauty and rawness resonates with the viewer and is surely, at least, partly responsible for Eileen's success to date. Not only are her exhibitions successes but her work features in a wide range of privately held Art Collections including those of AIB, Kerry County Council and Kerry Education Service while she has also been short-listed to design collectors' coins for the Central Bank.

Success aside, you get the feeling that if all sales were to dry up tomorrow Eileen would still paint and print in her little studio. "Sometimes when I feel exhausted that exhaustion is equally evident in the work and results in pieces that are softer and, somehow, more human," she says.

And it's that honesty, that willingness to put herself into her work, which makes it so appealing both to Eileen as an artist and to the viewer.

The exhibition opens on Thursday, July 10th, and runs until Friday, August 1st, in the new Samhlaiocht Gallery which is located in the Old Presbytery on Lower Castle Street in the heart of Tralee. The Gallery is open from 10 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday, is free to visit and all are welcome.

For more information on Samhlaiocht please log on to http://www.samhlaiocht.com/

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Exhibition of Award Winning Art from 54th Texaco Children's Art Competition

The exhibition will include Work from Rebecca Murphy, Kerry Native and Art Competition Winner, pictured above.

With past winners including everyone from TD's to world renowned artists, the Texaco Children's Art Competition has played an influential role in the artistic lives of children in Ireland for fifty four years. To celebrate this achievement, Samhlaiocht, Kerry's premiere Arts Organisation is exhibiting a selection of the winning entries from the latest Competition.

"The Texaco Children's Art Competition has been encouraging artistic talent in Children for over half a century," said Jason O' Mahony, Artistic Director of Samhlaiocht. "When you look at a list of past winners and the effect that winning the Competition had on their lives it's absolutely unbelievable! The spirit of the Competition is very much in keeping with the ethos of Samhlaiocht, to encourage Children to enjoy, create and participate in the Arts."

Ruairi Quinn TD, a prize winner of the Texaco Children's Art Competition at the time of the Suez Crisis, said, "I won my first Texaco prize at the age of 10. Then I was doing it (art) without realising I was good at it. By the time I was a teenager it was central to my life. I painted constantly, right through until I was about 27 or 28."

"I was fortunate enough to get encouragement from that first award. I won a couple of other awards at different age categories," he added. "It had a profound effect on my life and what I subsequently did."

The Competition is having an equally influential effect on current day winners. Rebecca Murphy, who hails from Killarney is 8 year old and was a First Prize Winner in this year's Competition with a wonderful painting called, The Hungry Toucan.

"I feel like the luckiest girl in Ireland," laughed Rebecca, "it's a great feeling to win." When asked about her inspiration for the painting, she says, "I love animals and birds. I got a book about the rainforest and decided to paint a toucan and now budgies and toucans are my favorite birds or animals."

"We were delighted and very proud of Rebecca that she won," said Maire Murphy, Rebecca's mom, a Killarney native. "We were humbled by the standard of work that we saw at the Awards Ceremony. Winning the prize has had an immensely positive effect on her and given her fantastic confidence."

Maire, who is a teacher in Killarney and husband Sean, who owns Lord Kenmare's Restaurant, felt becoming part of a winning group of talented Children was central to Rebecca's growing confidence. Maire was also quick to heap praise on Texaco for their "amazing generosity" while saying that all the prize winners were "treated like royalty."

With over thirty thousand entries a year, the Competition is a breeding ground for young artists, and many past winners have gone on to have successful careers in Art. When asked to describe the impact the Competition had on her career, renowned artist and former winner, Bernadette Madden, said, it was "a wonderful childhood experience. A magical memory. Children's Art sowed a seed which encouraged me to develop my artistic talents at a very young age."

Artist Marie Connole, another past winner, is equally full of praise for the Competition saying, "I entered the Competition often during my teenage years and it was very influential in my decision to continue with art as a career."

Their memory of the Competition and of the influence which it had in helping to develop their careers in art is typical of past winners' feelings. Such warm memories mirror the regard which Kerry's Artistic community has for Samhlaiocht. And given the success of both Samhlaiocht and Texaco in promoting the love of Art in children it would be difficult to bet against Rebecca and this year's other winners having equally fond memories and maybe even equally successful careers in Art!

The exhibition of selected artwork from the 54th Texaco Children's Art Competition opens in the new Samhlaiocht Gallery which is located in the Old Presbytery on Lower Castle Street in the heart of Tralee on Thursday, 12th of June, and runs through to Wednesday, July 2nd. The Gallery is open from 10 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday, is free to visit and all are welcome.

For more information on Samhlaiocht please log on to http://www.samhlaiocht.com/
For more information on the Texaco Art Competition please log onto http://www.texacochildrensart.com/

For further information about the Texaco Children's Art Competition, contact Don Hall/Maeve Barry, Hall PR on 01 660 9377 (office), 087-2552699 (mobile) or email pr@hallpr.ie.

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