Celebrating the 80th anniversary of Butler Gallery in Kilkenny

An exhibition celebrating the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the Kilkenny Art Gallery Society, as the Butler Gallery was first known is now running until April 2.

The exhibition highlights new acquisitions and important donations to the Permanent Collection will takes place alongside new long-term loans to the gallery.

Since 1943 the Collection has continued to flourish through gift, loan and purchase embracing a variety of disciplines and genres from painting, drawing and printmaking, to sculpture, photography and video.
Butler Gallery has always sought to be a platform for presenting the best of Irish art today along with demonstrating a strong commitment to presenting work by artists of international repute. The expanding collection has sought to reflect the constantly changing nature of visual art practice and the range of media used in the making of contemporary art today.

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The particular selection on view will include many works either purchased or donated by artists that have exhibited in the gallery over the past twenty years. It will also include a commissioned response on the concept of ‘collection’ from performance artist Suzanne Walsh. In addition, Poetry Encounters - a special series of artist-poet readings and discussions, is presented in association with Poetry Ireland to mark this significant anniversary.

The exhibition features an eclectic range of works by artists Peter Bradley, Michael Beirne, Edward Delaney, Flor Garduño, Vera Klute, Sinéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Tony O’Malley, Gypsy Ray, Emma Roche, Blaise Smith and many others. A film programme of works in the Collection by Bridget O’Gorman, Trish McAdam and Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley will be featured throughout the run of the exhibition in our Digital Gallery.

The exhibition is curated by Anna O’Sullivan, Butler Gallery Director.
A special series of artist-poet, readings and discussions, presented in association with Poetry Ireland to mark this special anniversary.
All are welcome to join for these poetry encounters in which artists whose work features in Butler Gallery's 80th Anniversary Collection Exhibition share and exchange insights into their own work with poets.
The poets, also sharing their work through reading, will engage with the artist to explore the work on show and the visual influences on their own writing.
Performance artist Suzanne Walsh will also present a commissioned response to the exhibition in the form of a poetic vocal/audio work on the concept of ‘collection’ on March 23.