Shorelines exhibition in Workhouse gallery shines a light on diverse art

The organisers of the popular Portumna Shorelines Arts Festival have made an appeal to County Councillors to fund proper lighting for the event’s annual art exhibition.

The Festival’s Director Noelle Lynskey told guests at Saturday’s opening of the show, including several Councillors, that the exhibition was improving every year, but the Shorelines group was being hindered by lack of proper lighting. The event, in the Irish Workhouse Centre, depends on lighting borrowed from participants.

While hurling reigned supreme in the town on Sunday as uncle and nephew Joe and Jack Canning contributed to the All-Ireland Senior and Minor victories, visual art took centre stage on Saturday.

The diversity of paintings, sculpture and 3D pieces, spread over three galleries in the Irish Workhouse Centre, is a credit to curator Margaret Hickey and her co-curator, Jackie Hogan, while the venue’s whitewashed walls and high ceilings show the work off to perfection.

The exhibition which will run until September 24, as part of the annual Shorelines Festival, has different strands, with one gallery being devoted to art from five invited artists. Work here ranges from Liz Doyle’s large dramatic oil paintings to the colourful abstract works of Anna Hyrniewicz.

Judy Hamilton specialises in landscapes in oils while Lorna Watkins’ small works capture vivid flowers in colourful containers.

Jim Osborne from Donegal completes this group. His Steamy Windows prints are sublime. Jim, a window cleaner turned artist, draws figures on a damp window, using just his finger and condensation. He then photographs these figures before they disappear and makes a limited number of prints. The resulting works are eerie and beautiful.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.