Samhlaiocht Summer Sale

Muiriosa Murphy with pieces of her work

It's difficult to turn on a television or newspaper these days with out hearing about the recession and the trying financial times. In an effort to combat the doom and gloom Samhlaiocht is hosting a summer art sale, which opens on Thursday, July 23rd and runs through to Friday, August 14th.

"This Exhibition is designed to be a real recession buster," said Trish Thompson, Samhlaiocht Gallery coordinator. "We're hoping to alleviate the suffering on two levels. First by offering wonderful art by fantastic local artists at an unbelievable price and secondly by helping local artists find a market."

The work on sale is by selected artists Judy Costello, Eileen Kavanagh, Seamus McDonnell and Muiriosa Murphy with a range of work to suit everyone and all tastes from drawings to paintings and from prints to sculpture.

Eileen Kavanagh, or Eily as she is also known, is from the Dingle peninsula. She is a self taught artist reared on a farm that was sandwiched between the Connor Pass and Lios Dorgan, a mountain named after her mother’s immediate ancestors.

The middle of five children, Eily is a ciotog or left-handed which is sometimes considered bad luck!

Judy Costello, on the other hand is a Limerick born artist, who discovered the artist within after moving to the beautiful mountain landscape of Tonevane, near Blennerville. Judy and Eily are old friends and exhibited together in Samhlaiocht in 2007.

Muiriosa Murphy hails from Rathmore originally, and is a born painter, sculptor and print-maker. She finds inspiration in life but also in the tactile interaction with the materials she uses. "I love the freedom and sense of discovery every time I create something," she says.

Muiriosa's sculptures have an almost iconic look to them, and would not seem entirely out of place in a museum. "Well I think that people today can feel a sense of alienation to the world around them. Humans have surrounded themselves with masses of concrete and metal for an extremely short time, in an evolutionary sense, and so they can, at times, feel alienated from their surroundings," she says.

There is a certain timelessness about her sculpture, a feeling of connectivity to history. "I think that art should cross boundaries and be relevant irrespective of culture and time," she explains, quickly adding with a laugh, "not that I've achieved that just yet!"

Seamus McDonnell, who grew up in Ballymacelligott, is quite a fan of Muiriosa's work. "I think her work is excellent and I’m delighted to have an opportunity to exhibit work in the same gallery."

In fact the two artists are quick to complement each other and also shared an exhibition in Samhlaiocht in 2008.

Seamus has been sketching and drawing all his life before suddenly taking up oil painting eight years ago. "Well, I've always been good at art, and had a very strong interest in sketching, but I had a very vivid dream about a painting and just had to create the painting and luckily it turned out well!"

In fact this personal approach and connection to art is something that both artists are quite comfortable with, "I find I use Art almost as a therapeutic exercise," says Seamus, who works in Tralee General Hospital and Muiriosa quickly agrees. "Absolutely, it goes back to what I was saying about alienation - Art helps me to make sense of what's going on inside me while also helping me make sense of what's going on with other people."

The exhibition opens on Thursday, 23rd of July and runs to Friday, 14th of August in the 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 www.samhlaiocht.com