The Work of Michael Farrell exhibition

This exhibition, currently on in the Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, is well worth a visit. I'm not an expert but I was fascinated by the range of the work on display. It is difficult to know sometimes when Farrell is being humorous and when he is being bitterly satiric. Often the two are combined as in his Madonna Irelanda series.

There are a number of his Miss O'Murphy series in the show. These were based on paintings by François Boucher for whom the model was Marie-Louise O’Murphy, later a courtesan and mistress to Louis XV.

Many of his titles are poems in themselves An Incomplete History of Ireland for example. One of the works in the show has a title (with a small alteration) from Wilde's Ballad of Reading Jail: That little tent of blue that sometimes prisoners call the sky.

The work above used on the poster and notices is one of Farrell's Presse series and uses newspaper headlines dealing with the Dublin bombings 1974.

Micheal Farrell (1940-2000) was born in Kells, County Meath and is one of Ireland’s best-known artists. He won the Biennale des Jeunes Paris Laureat in 1967 and the Douglas Hyde Gold Medal in 1976. This retrospective highlights the scope of Farrell’s skill. Produced by Solstice, this exhibition will then tour to Crawford Art Gallery and the RHA.

Well done Solstice!

Aidan Dunne in the Irish Times on the exhibition.
Meath Chronicle report of the exhibition opening.

Mary Lavin Season: Sept - Dec 2012

It is fitting that Meath County Council should acclaim Mary Lavin as an artist of distinction in this her centenary year. The Mary Lavin Season invites us to explore and celebrate the work of one of Ireland’s major writers and one of the great artist of the short story in the English language.

Solstice Arts Centre presents Mike Bunn Photography.
Photographer Mike Bunn will present photographs of Lavin taken in the 1970s, alongside a new series of images of contemporary writers and artists in Ireland today.
Venue: Solstice Arts Centre, 7th Sept - 7th Oct.

Renowned theatre company Two Chairs will perform Mary Lavin's well loved stories; A Likely Story and The Widows Son for 5th/6th class pupils. These wonderful stories are set in Co. Meath, and feature the landscape, folklore and people, of the area around Bective, where Mary Lavin and her family lived for many years.
Fri Nov 9th, Dunshaughlin Library, 11am. Tues Nov 20th, Navan Library, 11am. Thurs Nov 22nd, Trim Library Time: 11am. Please contact local library to book places.

Meath County Council Library Service presents Eileen Battersby on Mary Lavin.
Eileen Battersby will present an evening on the Work of Mary Lavin and the Short Story, addressing Lavin the writer and the importance of her writing in the context of Irish literature
November 14th. Navan Library. 7.30pm

Meath County Council Library Service presents Michael Harding on Mary Lavin.
Michael Harding will present a talk on the life and works of Mary Lavin. Michael Harding is an Irish short-story writer, novelist, and playwright, born in County Cavan.
November 22nd. Navan Library. 7.30pm

Meath County Council Arts Office presents Tales from Bellinter.
A wonderful evening of theatre performances of Mary Lavin’s Happiness and The Widow’s Son adapted by two leading playwrights from the Northeast, Deirdre Kinehan and Padraic McIntyre
Bellinter House Hotel. December 3rd - 5th. 8pm Price: €15/ €12 conc. Booking essential, limited tickets can be booked through Solstice Arts Centre.