EXHIBITIONS IN THE CASTLE CAFÉ GALLERY
15 September - 25 October during Castle Opening Hours
Joe Hogan
Joe Hogan has been working at Lough na Fooey since 1978 and in that time his reputation as one of Ireland’s most important artist-craftspeople has been growing both at home and internationally.
Last year, President Michael D Higgins presented Joe with a Lifetime Achievement Award and we are very proud to present a selection of Joe’s work as part of our Shorelines visual arts programme. There will be some of his traditional baskets, wonders of skill and judgement, some of his artistic baskets, which are collector’s pieces, and some of his latest interaction with nature – his nests. Of these, he writes: ‘I wanted to make objects that might, in some vague way, rekindle our connection with the world of twigs and stones and remind us of the joyful surprise we might feel when we encounter nature’s abundance. Rachel Carson remarked that the greatest gift we can give a child is a sense of wonder…In the essay Mossbawn, Seamus Heaney remarks, ‘All children want to crouch into their secret nests… ‘ The project also seeks to highlight the shocking collapse in bird numbers over the last 20 years and the general loss of biodiversity…’ For more, see www.joehoganbaskets.com |
Gerardine Wisdom
Gerardine Wisdom is an artist who works in rushwork basketry. Uniquely in Ireland, she has taken this ancient craft of rushwork and turned it into a new Irish art form in sculpture.
Her passion for rushes is inspired by the natural beauty and cultural heritage she sees around her on the shores of Lough Derg and the Shannon. With woven and bundled rush, she creates organic forms and sculptures using rushes she sustainably harvests by hand, often up to her chest, in the cool waters of Lough Derg. |
15th Shorelines Arts Festival
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