Seen and Unseen at Kinvara Courthouse

The Seen and The Unseen, an exhibition of ceramic, sculpture, painting and photography by Bláithín Ní Leannain, Catherine Dunne and William Fulford will open next weekend in the Courthouse, Kinvara.

The show is being presented by Kinvara Area Visual Arts which supports and promotes the visual arts and artists in the Kinvara area.

It will be officially opened next Friday, July 22, and will run until August 7.

Bláithín Ní Leannain’s ceramic art is inspired by the tones and textures of the Atlantic coastline and the Burren, and also by her own illness.

“For a time, life has had an unsettled, ungrounded feeling, which has been a necessary part of my journey,” she explains. “Being physically stopped in my tracks due to ongoing health issues, I have been forced to delve deep inside, unexpectedly.

“Surrounded by the magical landscape of the Burren, inspiration is everywhere, from the natural flora and fauna, the tones and textures to the Atlantic sea itself,” she expands.

The medium she uses has a special appeal for her.

“Working with clay is a passion, hand-building leads to a certain intimacy between the artist and a piece of work. It is as much about the process as it is about the material. Equally it is as much about pushing the limits of that material as it is about the finished work.”

William Fulford’s fascination with the expressive power of the face and marvellous complexity of the human body led him into a career in medicine – he trained as a family doctor.

“Alongside medicine, the wordless world of sculpture gave me the freedom to develop my own style of representing the human face and figure,” he says. “I create an openness of form with a sense of movement, rhythm, and ambiguity that involves our imagination and feelings.”

He has three Celtic crosses in this show and describes them as “an abstract representation of the body, depicting the tension between the spiritual and physical sides of our nature”.

The third artist taking part in this exhibition is Catherine Dunne, who is drawn to the subtle colours in the limestone and special light of the Burren.

“My work is inspired by the emptiness of the landscape and my close proximity to nature,” she says. “The Red Shoes is based on the children’s skipping rhyme and I have based a large part of my material on the fragility of childhood”.

The Seen and The Unseen opens next Friday, July 22, at 8pm and will run at Kinvara Courthouse from July 23 until August 7 between11 am to 6 pm daily.