ART WORKS, Open Submission and Art Prize, sponsored by Hotron.
Presented by Carlow Arts Festival and VISUAL Carlow.

Bastian Birk Theusen, Vicky Langan & Maxmilian Le Cain, Fergus Doyle, Ella de Burca, Lisa Fingleton, Laura Fitzgerald, Ruth le Gear, Saidhbhín Gibson, Eileen Hutton, Bernadette Kiely, Catriona Leahy, Maria McKinney, Yvette Monahan, Miriam O’Connor, Sarah O’Flaherty, Kenneth O’Hallaron, Laurence O’Toole, Curro Rodriguez, Bennie Reilly, Blaise Smith, Deirdre Southey, Aine Stapleton. Including selected works from the Arts Council Collection by Charles Brady, Barrie Cooke, Gerard Dillon, James Dixon, Mairead O’hEocha, Martin Gale, Patrick Hall, Alice Maher, Patrick Pye, Nano Reid.

How does rural life inspire us? What are the challenges facing farmers today? Do you know where your food comes from and how it’s produced? These questions and more are asked in engaging and creative ways by the artists selected for ARTWORKS 2018.In an exhibition that includes photography, painting, film and performance, the romance and the rough of rural life are considered. Ideas relating to our agrarian history, the rural as a sanctuary and the land as provider, are presented.

This years selectors are artist and farmer Orla Barry, Sean Kissane, Curator, Irish Museum of Modern Art and Emma Lucy O’Brien, Curator VISUAL, Carlow.

Two awards for outstanding work have been presented:

The Hotron ARTWORKS Award has been prestended to Maria McKinney for her film work Double Muscle.

Judges Orla Barry and Sean Kissane said:

In this work there is a love for the animals and the farmers who care for them.Yet, inherent there is a critiicsm, these animals are ‘terminal sires’ breeding to produce muscle and meat for a demanding market. Combined with the imagery of these heaving bulky animals are delicate sculptures made from the straws used to artificially inseminate cows. McKinney has woven and sculpted these into dramatic and sometimes abstract forms. The collision between the earthiness of the farmyard and the artificiality of these sculptures creates a dramatic and visual tension that sensitively reflects on this years ARTWORKS theme of agriculture and art.

The Éigse Prize for work by a recent graduate has been presented to Saidhbhín Gibson for her work Once More with Feeling and +X

The judges said:

We were drawn to the apparent simplicity and formal qualities of these sculptures. The forms are technically accomplished and clearly demonstrate a mastery of sculptural skill while also containing weighty narratives about our enviroment and the ways that we live in the world. The use of wood and perspex is a perfect distillation of where we are today in our ecosystems as plastic pollutes every part of nature.

Both prizes are sponsored by Hotron Ltd.

Fancy a chat about art, the environment, farming or further information about ARTWORKS 2018?
Exhibition Assistants will be available for the duration of the festival for individual and group tours. Meet them at the information desk in the gallery. If you wish to book a group in advance contact: info@visualcarlow.ie

Image:Debla, photography, 60x90, Curro Rodriguez