Call for Entries for Salon De Chiarrai

In the style of 18th Century French exhibitions, Samhlaiocht will unveil the Third annual Salon de Chiarraí exhibition late this November. No wall space will be left uncovered!

Artists from all over Kerry are invited to submit work for the second annual Salon de Chiarrai, which will take place from 26th November to 12 noon on the 23rd December 2009 at The Samhlaíocht Gallery in The Old Presbytery, Lower Castle Street Tralee.

"We were blown away with the number of entries for last year's Salon De Chiarrai show," said Jason O' Mahony, Director of Samhlaiocht. "We received original paintings, drawings, etchings and photography, large and small pieces in a whole variety of styles."

All original paintings, drawings etchings and photography, in any medium are welcome and there is no limitation on the scale of the work, however, submissions are limited to one or two per Artist. The only conditions for submission are that all work must be framed and ready for hanging, all work must be for sale, and work must not have previously been exhibited at The Samhlaíocht Gallery.

Last year over 80 pieces of art were selected from the submitted works and hung all over the walls in Samhlaiocht's intimate gallery on Lower Castle Street in the heart of Tralee.

"Kerry has always been known for its writers but last year the amount of work that was submitted suggests that in the future it'll be every bit as famous for its Artists!" added O' Mahony.

Work must be delivered to The Samhlaiocht Gallery during the week of the 9th of November.

The Salon De Chiarrai Exhibition opens on 26th November and runs right through the Christmas period until 12 noon December 23rd.

Last year's Salon had a wonderfully eclectic feeling to it, featuring everything from stunning landscapes to sketches of colourful Kerry characters such as John B. Keane and sales were brisk as the public picked up unique Christmas gifts that were treasured long after the holiday season passed.

All work must be clearly labelled with name and address and contact details.

For more information on the Samhlaiocht Salon de Chiarraí please contact Trish Thompson on 066 712 9934 or through email on trish@samhlaiocht.com

Photography Competition in Samhlaiocht

Hanging Out by Michael Gannon

Samhlaiocht, the leading arts organisation in Kerry, was pretty as a picture this week as it opened its doors to a new exhibition featuring the work of over 30 photographers. The exhibition is the result of an open submission photography process that Samhlaiocht has undertaken for the past number of months. More than 250 photographs were submitted for the exhibition by photographers from all over Ireland and as far away as Alaska.

"The photography competition was a huge success," said Mike Foley, Samhlaiocht competition Co-ordinator. "The quality and variety of photographs was simply astonishing. We were absolutely delighted with the work submitted and pleasantly surprised that work came in from all over Ireland and abroad. This year we had two themes – Summer Light and Winter Light and photographers really took the themes to heart."

Given the amount of work submitted, selecting the pieces for the exhibition was no easy task and Samhlaiocht enlisted some of the leading photographers in Kerry to help with the process.

"This year we were blessed with the selecting panel and are thankful to all the selectors. They did an amazing job," added Mike

Selectors were Kerry Kennelly of Kerry's Eye, Dan Muphy, who is a fine art and portrait photographer with Red Couch Studios, Michael Diggin of Irish Landscape Photography and Michael O' Meara of Custom Framing Services.

Four photographs in particular were selected for their outstanding quality. The photographs were taken by Christina Tydings, Michael Gannon, Martin Mulcahy and Simon Quinn. Photographers submitting work were asked to keep the themes in mind but a liberal interpretation of the theme and digital manipulation of the images was encouraged.

When quizzed about the selection panel, Mike said, "Well we thought it was important to get an expert on all different styles of photography. Kerry is an obvious candidate to judge photo journalism, while Michael Diggin is a wonderful Landscape photographer, Dan Murphy, on the other hand, has an eye for fine art photography and Michael O' Meara is an all-rounder that prints his own landscapes and the work of other artists."

All selected photographs were professionally mounted and framed and are currently on view in the Samhlaiocht Gallery, in the Old Presbytery, in the heart of Tralee. The Framing Prize was kindly sponsored by O' Meara Fast Framing Service in Tralee Shopping Center. The exhibition opened on Thursday evening, October 1st and runs until until October 23rd, 2009.