RIANTA - Traces of our past.
uachtarARTS Group Show 2020
OCAP is delighted to present RIANTA - Traces of our past, the first Exhibition of our 2020 Summer Arts Programme which features the work of uachtarARTS Community Arts Group. The Exhibition had originally been planned as part of the SET IN STONE Project which was selected for Galway 2020 Small Towns Big Ideas programme. The SET IN STONE project focuses on the research of local Archaeologist and Historian Bill Daly, who has traced the history of Oughterard back to Neolithic times. Each of the Summer Exhibitions features Artwork created in response to this research.
RIANTA - Traces of our past includes the work of Artists Catherine O'Leanachain, Clare Hansen, Deirdre Stephens, Gil Cusack, Grainne MacManus, Jess Walsh, Kathleen Hinde, Lelia NiChathmhaoil, Mary Byrne, Maureen Mooney, Maria Hutton, Molly McHenry, Olga Magliocco, Philippa Maguire, Shona Butler, Simon Hamnell and Susanne Keane. The Exhibition represents the broad range of skills of the members of uachtarARTS.
uachtarARTS aim is to raise the profile of the arts in the Oughterard area, support artists and craftspeople and develop innovative ways of engaging with the arts in an inclusive environment. The group meets on Tuesday mornings in The Courthouse in Oughterard to skill-share, run workshops and provide a social resource for artists and community members interested in the arts. uachtarARTS would like to thank Bill Daly, Galway 2020, Galway County Council, the Clann Resource Centre and the Courthouse for their continued support.
Click on Video or Image to view
Artist: Olga Magliocco
Title: Druid's Altar - Wedge Tomb
Medium: Video
Artist: Gil Cusack
Title: The Inagh Valley set in stone of the Twelve Bens, where small ancient stone constructions respond to the dominating contours of the mountains
Medium: Watercolour
Dimensions: 35.3cm x 17.5cm
NFS
Bill Daly's sucess at discovering prehistoric structures in the shadow of the Rusheeny Hills recalled Tim Robinson's account of his presentation to the Prehistoric Society*, where he described his excitement at discovering a Bronze Age quartz stone alignment in Gleninagh, and his interpretation of its relationship to the surrounding Mountains.
* "Through Prehistoric Eyes": an article from Tim Robinson's book "setting Foot on the shores of Connemara"
Artist: Simon Hamnell
Title: Untitled No 1
Medium: Cellulose Paint, Steel, Concrete.
Dimensions: 55 x 35 x 70 cm(h)
NFS
"The work is partially in the tradition of the Object Trouve but distorts the basic tenets by being curated out of an unrelated process over a number of years.
The passage of time can be viewed in the micron thick layering of paint visible on the cut edge that can in turn be described as leaves from a book that tell a tale of events within the period and hints at the possible landscape that exists within, which is left to the imagination"
Artist: Kathleen Hinde
Title: So who was King Raha?
Medium: Acrylic paint, Ink, Graphite and Collage on paper
Dimensions: 29.7cm x 42cm
NFS
"While Mammoths lived, a cairn was built. Known locally as King Raha’s Grave, at the summit of Knockacarna Hill, it is thought to be the final resting place of a person who ruled long ago. Long forgotten, nobody knows.
The romantic in me likes to think King Raha’s Grave marks the final resting place of the last Mammoth to roam Ireland. That this is imagination on my part, is shown by the placement of the mammoth/elephant at the centrepiece of the windrose.
Chart the meanderings of this imaginary Mammoth through the prehistoric landscape that gives our place names meaning. Follow the sight lines marking roads, viewpoints and architectural forms on the geometric, abstract, ‘mapped painting’. Find the prevailing winds of Aughnanure.
Think about the red and amber geometric forms and how they signify: fire and burning to clear the land; the copper mining and smelting of the Bronze Age; and the climate change of our modern times. Ponder the fate of our Elephants. And remember this: Elephants never forget.
So who was King Raha?"
Artist: Maria Hutton
Title: Oughterard
Medium: Embroidery and Felt
Dimensions: 30.5 cm x 40.7cm
NFS
Artist: Philippa Maguire
Title: And Stones hold Memories
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Price: €220.00
