Galway Advertiser 2001/2001_02_22/GA_22022001_E1_062.pdf 

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TERTAINMENT

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The PoetPadraic Fallon is - or has been until just recently - one of the sadly neg lected poets of the generation of Patrick Kavanagh and Arthur Clarke. Indeed, there is currently no complete collection of his poetry available, the last edition dating from 1972. A revival of his reputation was begun in 1992 when a major Padriac Fallon Festival was held in the poet's native Athenry. A gala occasion, the main guest was poet Seamus Heaney, who spoke very highly of the quality of Fallon's work, and the inpiration he had been to many younger poets, like himself. A book. Erect Me a Monument of Broken Wings, was pub lished to coincide with the festival, and a beautifully, specially commissioned piece of sculpture with that title, which came from one of Fallon's poems, was unveiled during the weekend. Padraic Fallon was born in Athenry, Co Galway on January 3, 1905. At the age of eighteen he started his career as a civil ser vant, initially based in Dublin, the majority of his time was served as a Customs and Excise i illieial based in Co. Wexford. Fallon contributed to various newspapers and periodicals, but it was not until 1974,

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sioned by Chanel, Ungaro, Versace, Montana, Lagerfeld, Galliano and McQueen, and - most recently - he designed the diamond coronet for Victoria Adams' marriage to David Beckham in 1999. Barrett is currently designing a tiara for exhibition at the V&A for the Queen's Golden Jubilee. John Behan, RHA, one of Ireland's finest artists, has exhibited extensively in Ireland, the US, Australia, China Most recently his sculpture. Arrival - the new dawn, commissioned by the Irish Government was presented to the UN in New York. Joe Boske, originally from Germany, has lived and worked in Ireland since 1969, and is now regarded as one of Ireland's foremost graphic artists. He's exhibited extensively in Ireland, England and Germany, and his Galway Arts Festival posters are legendary. Dublin-born Patrick Bracken served his apprenticeship under his father's supervi sion, in the family tradition (12 genera tions) as a monumental and architectural sculptor. A founder member of The Galway Puppet Theatre. Bracken has worked in many theatre and television pro ductions and has exhibited his paintings and sculptures in both Ireland and Europe. John Brady, from Westport, who studied painting at die University of Southampton, Winchester School of Art, Crawford College of Fine Art and Design, and RTC Galway. has been seen in Ireland, the UK and Barcelona in both one-man exhibitions and group shows. Brady is currently lec turing at GMIT. Fionnuala Collins, from Laytown, Co Meath, studied in Limerick School of Art & Design. Her latest solo exhibition "Faces of Moore Street" was shown in the Law Library, Dublin in November 2000. Collins spent some time at the Cill Rialaig on die Ring of Kerry, where she exhibited her work and painted a 14-ft mural on a gable wall. It's hard to know how to describe Irishborn B P Fallon. He is or has been a pho tographer, writer, broadcaster, DJ, former media guru to T Rex, Led Zeppelin, Bob Geldof and Ian Dury. Phil Lynott famously said of him "he's brilliant, though I'm not sure what he does", while Bono describes him as "the only white black man I know apart from Bob Dylan". Conor Fallon, one of Padriac Fallon's two sons (the other is critic Brian Fallon), was born in Dublin and began to paint as a stu dent at Trinity College, later moving to Cornwall. He turned gradually to sculp ture, before returning to Ireland. He has had several one-man exhibitions, and the Arts Council toured his work in its Artists* Response series in 1983. Galway-born Kathleen Furey studied painting at the Limerick School of Art & Design, graduating in 1984. She is a founder member of Artspace Studios in Galway and has exhibited both individual ly and with the group in Ireland and abroad. Brendan Grcaly. from Ballinasloe. studied in GMIT and the Crawford Academy, Cork. He currently runs the Dun Uisce Gallery in Ballinasloe. Robin Jones, from Tralee, Co Kerry, has

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Interpreting the poetry of Padraic Fallon through painting and sculpture
Tomorrow, February 23, in the Athenry Heritage Centre, a very special and quite unique exhibition will be opened by poet Moya Cannon at 8.00pm with the evocative title Working against the void: interpretating the poetry of Padraic Fallon through painting and sculpture. Twenty-six artists, including some of the best known in the country, were asked to g.ve the.r response .n terms of the.r own chosen med.um, to the poetry of Athenry-born poet Padraic Fallon. particularly, and Tony O'Malley in later years. Stella was the wife of his great friend Seamus O'Sullivan, poet and beget ter of die Dublin Magazine. I suppose that George Russell, or AE as he was known, who figured so largely in my father's earli est years in Dublin, would have been the first visual artist he had a close contact with. AE gave him several paintings which hung in my father's study all my life and it is interesting that they were paintings of those mythical figures that inhabit AE's visionary pictures. Jack Yeats was a very different friend and my father was one of those who had a standing invitation to call to the painter's studio. My father told us once that Yeats had offered him a painting as a present and for some reason - too big for the tram-something like that - he had had to refuse. He spoke without any expression of the regret that his aghast sons thought such an admission warranted, treating it with his very typical sturdy sunny fatalism. And not as a parable, for he was never pretentious, but you felt a glimpse of the proper proportions of life, to be fair to my brothers and me, we were thinking of having the artist we revered hanging on the intimacy of the family wall. in a time of innocence of any connection of money with art. It seems to me that my father's response to visu al art was invariably in terms of the imagery. In his later years, when his reading of Jung in partic ular had such a profound effect, he would interpret a painting as a document recording a spiritual jour ney, often prophetic, and aware that there were many levels revealed in it that had come from the artist's unconscious and outside the intention of the actual painting. So what is the business of a visual artist and. if it is different from a poet's, how is it different? I think that intensity of consciousness is the busi ness if the poet. The visu al artist starts with the visual experience some glance that implies a huge vista that can only be realised through the visual terms of actual materials. If you start with a concept, you must firsUy discard it and it will never be there until it is found in the making. The inferences are to be seen only after die battle is over - perhaps by some one like my father. This exhibition combines two very differ ent activities and in an unconventional way. By that. I mean it is usually poets who arc asked to respond to visual art. It will be very interesting to sec what emerges, and I would think my father would be very intrigued. The artists Slim Barrett, bom in Athenry and living in London since 1983. has carved out a repu tation as an influence on contemporary design, with high profile works commis exhibited in numerous group shows and open submissions through out Ireland and the U.K. as well as various solo shows. Jones is a board member of Artspace Studios and currently lives and works in Galway. Jimmy Lawlor, from Wexford, has been exhibiting solo for the past eight years in var ious galleries through out Ireland, including the Kenny Gallery, Galway, Lavelle Gallery, Clifden and Gallery 44, Cork, and has had various private commissions in Europe, USA and Japan. design/manufacture and craft woodwork. He works from home and exhibits his He has also designed posters of Galway Arts Festival and Baboro, the children's work at the Hawthorne Gallery, Market St, Galway. arts festival. Printmaker Siobhian Piercy was born in David Lilburn was born in Limerick in Oakham, England, and the Royal College 1950 and studied at Trinity College Dublin, Scuole Di Arte, Urbino and The of Art, London, and has exhibited widely throughout Ireland, the UK, Europe and Limerick School of Art and Design. He has the United States. She lectures in art fullexhibited widely throughout Ireland and time at GMIT and lives in Athenry, Co the EU, including Andiamo passiagare, Galway. Chris Doswell Gallery, Limerick and Padraic Reaney, from Carraroe, Co Palazzo della Penna, Perugia, 1994. Landscape artist Sean McSweeney is one Galway, studied Fine Art at the RTC, Galway and subsequently worked in etch of the most eminent painters in the West of ing and painting. He was awarded the Ireland and, with his dense abstract style Padraic MacCon Midhe Prize at the and colour. He is one of Ireland's most Oireachtas in 1979, and has exhibited accomplished abstract expressionists and widely throughout Ireland and Europe, as has exhibited extensively throughout well as in Japan and Monte Carlo. Ireland and Europe. Ger Sweeney, from Castlebar, 1959, stud Mairead Mahon, from Galway, studied at ied at the RTC, Galway and NCAD, the RTC Galway and went on to study Dublin. He is a founder member of Metal Craft Design in NCAD, Dublin, Artspace, and has exhibited widely in both graduating in 1992. Group exhibitions solo and group exhibitions throughout include the Summer Craft Exhibition in Ireland, Europe and the United States. His Paris and projects include several local. most recent solo exhibition was in Galway Clare-born J J Moroney did his apprentice Arts Festival 2000. Sweeney currently ship with Brian Gleeson in Ballcasey Craft lives in Boston where he has a studio. Village. He is currently a designer at Kinney's Jewellers, Corbett Court, Originally from Dublin, Janet Vinnell moved to Galway 20 years ago and started Galway, where his designs are handmade drawing and painting in her spare time, on site. attending various courses in oil painting Ailbhe Ni Bhriain graduated from and watercolour, specialising in pastels. Crawford College of Art in June 2000 with Vinnell lives in Galway and exhibits her a first class honours degree in print, win ning the Cork Film Centre Award, the work in The Hawthorn Gallery, Market Street, Galway. Cork Printmakers Bursary. The Mercier Mark Walsh studied Fine Art at the RTC, Thesis Prize and the Crawford Student of Galway and has had two solo exhibitions the Year Award. Her academic work on The Tain is due to be published by New and participated in numerous group shows in Ireland and Italy. He currendy lives and Hibernia Review in March 2001. works in Casdebar. Cork based Don O'Mahony is a specialist Nancy Wynne-Jones, Welsh bom painter in the ancient art of hand engraving whose and composer, studied under the distin work ranges from jewellery to special oneoff presentation pieces. Past commissions guished Cornish painter Peter Lanyon. She moved to Ireland in 1972 and has exhibit include pieces for Pope John Paul II, Bill ed widely throughout Ireland, the U.K. and Clinton, Mary Robinson, President Mary Europe. Elected a member of Aosdana in McAleese and the Jewellers and 1996 Wynne Jones is represented by the Metalworks Guild exhibition in Dublin Taylor Galleries, Dublin. She is currently Casde. living in Wicklow. Tony O'Malley, from Callan, Co Kilkenny, Working against the void will run at the is one of Ireland's most renowned painters, Athenry Heritage Centre from February 23 with colour and landscape as his signa to March 2. Make sure you get a chance to tures. He is a member of Aosdana and an see this wonderful exhibition. If you can't, honorary member of the Royal Hibernian you'll be cheered to know that it will be Academy. shown again in early April at the NUI Ger O'Regan's work is divided into three main areas: sculpture, furniture Galway Gallery.

the year of his death, that his first book Poems was published. The fact dial no col lection of his work appeared during his lifetime has led to his being less well known than his contemporaries Austin Clarke and Patrick Kavanagh with whom he can be ranked. Apart from his poetry, Fallon wrote two plays for the stage as well as several radio plays. 1990 saw the publication of Collected Poems, this definitive work cootains almost two hundred poems as well as translations and songs. CONOR FALLON ON HIS FATHER'S LOVE OF THE VISUAL ARTS: "My father Padraic Fallon was very inter ested in the visual arts. He told me once dial if he had not been a poet, he would have liked to have been a sculptor, and this before I started to sculpt. Many of his friends were painters. Estella Solomons