Last chance to see Kilkenny artists in An Chead Tine Art Gallery

“Making Ground” an exhibition which took place in An Chead Tine Art Gallery, Dunnes Stores Kilkenny ends this coming weekend. 

If you haven’t got the chance to call and view it yet, its one that you should put in your diary for this weekend.

It opened as Kilkenny celebrated the 50th year of the Arts Festival. Many will have memories from those summers past. And some of you will have seen the festival expand in that time. You might even recall gathering with friends upstairs for a tea and a chat in Dunnes Stores, located in the centre of the city. So it seems fitting that the old cafe space has now been gifted to the newest branch of that evergreen arts community local to the city and its environs. 

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An Chead Tine is an artist run studio group housed on The Parade.  Its founding director is local artist Mary Doyle Burke.  Opened last year, they provide workshops and classes as well as professional support for those wishing to practice and develop their creative works.

Within a few months Mary approached Dunnes Stores with the novel idea of using the unused space upstairs as a new gallery space for the city that would bring art to the general community.  She immediately met with a like mind in manager Katie Quinn who was so receptive to the idea and brought so much to the venture herself.  With thanks to generous support from Kilkenny County Council and the valued assistance of Katie along with members and friends of An Chead Tine, it was handed over  on the eve of the Arts festival to local TD, Fine Fail's John McGuinness to open this mezzanine gallery for its first show.

This exhibition saw work from artists living and working in the region and welcomes reflections on ideas of landscape and sustainability.. Featuring a diverse range of artworks by local contemporary artists, it is an exhibition exploring the relationship we have to our environments. Whether it be our local everyday environments, the natural world around us or the materials we encounter. 

Comprising of a series of abstracted landscapes, mixed media paintings and works inspired by found objects and gathered materials, in these layered and textured works, the artists tell a story of our interactions with the natural world around us. 

Using different methods such as drawing, painting, walking, collecting, comparing, exploring, and  documenting as artistic processes, these artists reveal to us their intimate encounters with the landscape in Kilkenny today. Exploring what they see, feel and find in these interactions, their work conveys the significant role artists can play in visualising our relationship with the landscape. They ask us to question our relationship with the environment and the impacts that our actions can have going forward in the world. 

Works are available to buy direct from the artist. Viewing is open and attendance is free. All works in Making Ground were selected by Kilkenny's curator in residence and recent graduate Shannon Carroll, whose projects also appeared in Thomastown and Rothe House.  

Participating artists are Mary Doyle Burke, Niamh Curry, Eamon Colman, Mary Butler, Bernadette Kiely, Ross Stewart, Jade Butler, Kate McMeekin,  Vicki O Donoghue and Graham Carew.