Work Showing in Dublin

I have 2 small paintings in a group exhibition opening this week in Dublin. I'm delighted to be part of Island Life which opens at the Kevin Kavanagh Gallery on Thursday the 5th of July at 6pm. The exhibition is comprised of 12 painters, here are the exhibiting artists:

Sonia Shiel, Kathy Tynan, Marcel Vidal, Mark Swords, Salvatore of Lucan, Joe Scullion, Robert Armstrong, Julia Dubsky, Lesley-Ann O'Connell, Pat Byrne, Stephen Loughman, Cecilia Danell, William O’Neill and Stephanie Deady

Exhibition Invite

I'm delighted to be included in the line-up, the 2 paintings that I have in the exhibition are the last ones from the show back in February, I would have liked to have had newer pieces but what I have finished  was already submitted to something else which I'll be posting about a little later in the Summer.

The Love of the Darkness Hidden. One of the 2 paintings I have in Island Life

Featured on The Spark

I was delighted this week to have my work on The Spark. The Spark promotes Irish arts and culture and has a a lot on the site covering visual art such as painting, illustration, film and photography and they promote dance, music and poetry. They contacted me during the first week of the Pallas show and asked if I'd like to have some of my work on the site, there's a little about me and the work and 4 images of my work.

Here's a link to my page - https://thespark.ie/pat-byrne/

From Times of Old, Oil on Canvas, 2017, one of my paintings featured on The Spark

Work Showing in Dublin

I'm delighted to have 2 paintings in the Hermione Exhibition at Alexandra College in Dublin. The exhibition is curated by Aisling Prior, opens tomorrow night, March 6th at 6:30pm and runs until March 15th. The opening is followed by The Hermione Lecture which will be given by Una Sealy RHA at 8pm.

One of the 2 paintings I have on show - He Sat Listening to the Songs, Oil on Canvas, 22cm x 18

The exhibition is open from 11am to 5pm Monday to Friday and 1pm to 5pm Saturday and Sunday. There's 63 of us exhibiting in the show, I wasn't able to upload the invite but here's a link to the website for some information on the exhibition - The Hermione Exhibition and Lecture

New Solo Show in Dublin

I have a new solo exhibition opening next Wednesday February 7th at Pallas Projects in Dublin. The title of the show is Between the Hawthorns and its in the same style as the previous body of work but with several new characters introduced. Some of these are completely new, others were referenced in the last body of work through the use of hoodies and hats. The reason for the title is because of the old Irish belief that the hawthorn tree is a meeting place for fairies and to disturb one would bring about bad fortune

To Do No Harm but to Show Favour. My interpretation of the Fear Dearg or Red Man, referenced in the last series as a hat has finally been given a body.

The backgrounds to the paintings are still dark and gloomy but instead of the completely black backgrounds of the Dock Leaf paintings I have started using more detailed backdrops and during the photography process stopped setting up the shots in such a way that they deliberately filled the background with shadow.

The official opening is at 6pm to 8 and it's up then until the 17th. I'm hoping to show between 11 and 13 paintings, the work is still small scale, I think the largest is 36cm x 31cm, but I don't want to have it overcrowded either because I like a fair amount space around each painting.

Laois Arts Act Grant 2017

Last month Laois County Council awarded me the Arts Act Grant. I was delighted to receive the funding because it will be going towards a new solo exhibition I have scheduled for February 2018 at Pallas Project Space in Dublin. I think it's nailed down now and the dates are from the 5th to the 18th. I'll be in on the 5th and 6th installing, I think Pallas have their shows opening on Wednesdays mostly so that will be the 7th, it runs then until the 17th with the de-installation on the 18th.

The new work is following the same theme and style as the Beneath the Dock Leaf series but I have new characters and mythological figures in the paintings. Some are figures that I referenced with hats or hoodies such as the Fear Dearg, but are now in the form of actual people.

One of the new paintings. I have no title for it yet, it's oil on canvas and is 21cm x 18cm

I've started making new props for the characters too and remaking some of the older ones in the hopes they will be more lightweight and stronger. The clover that I made for the leprechaun in the previous series of work is more or less destroyed and it was never built to last, it was heavy and awkward to wear especially when running around in a dark room trying to switch between posing and set the camera.

Finished the Abbeyleix Residency

Scratching a perspex plate

I finished up in Abbeyleix Further Education and Training Centre this week after a residency lasting just under 3 months. The original plan was to play around with some animation but after the first 2 weeks my laptop closed down and wouldn't turn back on, the timing wasn't a huge issue though because I was due to start working with the Level 5 students as their work experience module started and ran for another 2 weeks.

I really enjoyed the fortnight teaching, I had to write up a brief and the students worked from that. They were very easy to work with and are a really, really strong group technically. The work being produced over the 2 weeks was a high standard and they gave excellent presentations both at the halfway point and at the end of the module. There was also a huge variation in the work across the group, the brief linked to my my own practice in terms of making prop's and using them to create scenes as source material for paintings but some people concentrated on the prop building and refining it to a point where it served as a finished piece without anything else. Other's worked on drawings, paintings, illustration and photography working from the models that they had made. Some of the work can be seen on the Art Department's Instagram

Skull drawing

I started my second month of the residency after the teaching and decided with the laptop gone I was going to try some printmaking. I never really gave it a proper try before, I did a tiny bit of carborundum printing back in first year in Galway and I think maybe monoprint when I was a student in Abbeyleix in 2006. Drypoint was where I started just taking an old sheep skull as a starting point, it was really to try and get use to the process of scratching into the perspex plate. I was kind of happy with the results as a first drypoint print. There were a number  of problems with it, I think on one of the attempts I wiped away too much ink and on the other not enough. I don't think I scratched deep enough into the plate either so I'm not sure if it was able to hold enough ink or not. With these plates only being trials I didn't worry about dampening the paper either, I would do that for the next attempt.

The first 2 drypoint prints

I started a painting back in early January and I wasn't happy with it so the the next drypoint print would be a way of recycling that and I ended up using the remains of the painting itself to test glazes. I actually used a lot of images from previous work just so I could jump right into the process of printing but these test pieces won't ever be exhibited, so aside from social media and my blog they won't be seen beyond rough documentation.

The painting that was the source of some test prints

I started using linocut in the middle of working with the drypoint. I was using the softer blue lino and hacked through it a couple of times so I want to try using the tougher grey lino and hopefully I can avoid cutting through it. Again I used the painting above to start with and the result is below, there were a few issues to iron out too. One was the application of the ink, I applied far too much on the first print, not enough on the next few and I think the last two or three I was happy with. I think with the first couple I probably didn't roll the ink out enough before putting it on the lino. I wanted to just get going with it so it was slightly rushed.

First attempts at linocut

Overall I was happy enough with these first few attempts at the prints. I was trying to make them with a similar aesthetic to my paintings or see if I could, I think this is something I would try to avoid with the linoprints. It might work with the drypoint process. I used stronger paper and dampened it for the piece at the end of this post and felt the result worked out pretty well.

Second attempt, reusing the image of a drawing I had for Birr Arts Festival last year

From here I'm back working on a new body of paintings based on the same them of folklore and mythology, I'm hoping to keep the prints going too. Jackie, Edel and Jock asked if I would work with them to curate the Level 5 artists' graduate show in The Dunamaise Arts Centre. I haven't any exhibitions lined up this year but I have two solo exhibitions scheduled for 2018. I need to just finalize things for one in February that's going to be in Pallas Projects, Dublin and the other is down for April in Birr Arts Centre. I just wanted to say a massive thanks to Jackie Edel and Jock for having me back for the residency and for the chance to work with them and the artists studying in Abbeyleix.

The last drypoint on the residency and a small mark-making sample

Residency in Abbeyleix

I'm a bit late with this post due to problems with my laptop getting old. I just finished up my second week of a 2 month residency at Abbeyleix Further Education Centre. I started on the 9th of January and the original plan was to play around with some animation for the first month and the second would be taken up with painting and drawing. But again due to technical issues with my laptop the animation is out the window and I'll be focusing on drawing and painting for the duration of the residency.

One Who Holds November Sacred, given the laptop trouble the past while I thought this painting made an appropriate image

This Monday (January 23rd) I'll be teaching the Level 5 students for their work experience module. I've had to draw up a project for them to work on for the next 2 weeks and it's based on Mythology and Folklore. The main two reasons for choosing this theme was that when I was asked to work with the students Jackie, Jock and Edel mentioned that it would be good to have a tie to my own practice and it's something that I'm familiar with. The other reason is that it's a broad theme and I'm going to give them some free reign over the myths they decide to use.

I did my PLC Course here in Abbeyleix before going to Galway to study at GMIT so I'm gone out of it 10 years and in a decade it all kind of went full circle.

Work in London Group Show

I have a painting in a group show in London this week. The exhibition is titled Myth & Lore and is taking place at a venue called Styx. It's a mixed arts venue that is situated in a warehouse and the exhibition is in collaboration with Esoteric Art. I think they have worked mostly with theatre groups including The Royal Court Theatre, The Soho Theatre and a lot more. There's more about Styx and the exhibition including exhibiting artists here - Myth & Lore. I think they're open about a year and this is their first annual visual art exhibition.


The painting below is the piece that I have in the exhibition. The show is up until the 12th of January.

To be About on November Eve, Oil on Canvas, 2015

Work in Westport Group Show

I have a drawing in a group exhibition opening this Sunday (December 11th) at Custom House Studios in Westport. The gallery contacted artists who have worked with them through out the year and invited us to show in their winter exhibition. There's a lot of artists showing in the exhibition, 37 in all. The exhibition is titled Winter Exhibition 2016 and it runs from December 11th to January 21st 2017. The gallery also hired a courier to pick up the work from artists over this side of the country which was great, otherwise to get from Laois to Westport I would've had to get a train to either Athlone or Dublin and go from there across.

The piece that I have showing is To Catch a Certain Fortune, it's one of the pieces that I first exhibited at Birr Arts Festival. The piece overall measures 100cm x 70 cm but below is a close up shot.

To Catch a Certain Fortune (Detail), Graphite on Paper, 2016

Work in Fresh Paint Magazine Issue 15

I have 2 paintings featured in this months issue of Fresh Paint Magazine. I was delighted when I found out and i received my copy of the magazine two weeks ago. There's a good number of artists featured in the issue. The featured artists were selected by Jemma Hickman who launched the Bo-Lee Gallery in London. I have 2 pictures of my pages below, the first page has Beneath the Lonely Rath on it along with a short biography, the second page has A Solitary Mountain and Old Ruin and my artist statement.

                                                      

 

And here are detailed shots of the 2 paintings that were featured. They're both oil on canvas.

Within the Lonely Rath, 2016

 

A Solitary Mountain and Old Ruin, 2015

Work in Glasgow Group Show

The second exhibition of the New York - Glasgow exchange curated by Anna Bauer and Benjamin Lee Sperry is opening this weekend at Gallery Celine in Glasgow, Scotland. Opening reception is 3pm - 5pm and is titled Collective Memory (the past and future is ours). I'm not sure what's happening after Glasgow, I think there were talks of possibly bringing the show to Dublin and if it happens I'll post it here on the blog.

The pice I have in the show, To Catch a Certain Fortune, Ink on Paper, 2016

Work in New York Group Show

I have a small A4 drawing in a group show in New York. The exhibition is curated by friend and artist Anna Bauer and Benjamin Lee Sperry and is titled Collective Memory (the past and future is ours), it's comprised of a crowd of us that are based in Ireland, artists from Glasgow and artists from New York and it opened today with a reception from 4 - 6pm. I think the show runs just for today as part of Bushwick Open Studios.

This is the piece I have in it (minus the tablecloth), I liked the image from a previous drawing so I decided to rework it in ink specifically for this show. The reason I'm a little late with the blog post is because I've been painting all week and could get away from it so this is the first few minutes I've had after completing a new, small oil painting. The location of the exhibition is at 28 scott ave. #114 Brooklyn NY 11237

2 Shows Opening Next Week

This post is more of an update than anything else concerning titles and opening times.

Thursday July 28th, Westport
The first exhibition is a 2 person show titled Treasures Remebered, showing work by Barbara Trawinski and myself at Custom House Studios and Gallery in Westport, Co. Mayo. This opens at 7:30pm on July 28th and Breda Burns will be a guest speaker on opening night. The show runs until August 21st. I haven't any links for a website to Barbara's work but you will be able to find photographs of the exhibition here at Custom House Studios and Gallery Facebook and further information at Custom House Studios and Gallery

Within the Lonely Rath, Oil on Canvas, 2016

Friday July 29th, Birr

The second exhibition is a new solo show of work and will be part of Birr Arts Festival in County Offaly. The title of this show is To Catch a Certain Fortune and consists of a series of drawings that I have been working on for the past few months. These new works focus on the same folklore theme as my paintings. This show will be in one of the underground tunnels at The Maltings(The Vaults). The launch of the festival is at 6:30pm in Birr Technology Centre.

For more information: Birr Vintage Week and Arts Festival

And here is the Festival Programme

(No Title Yet), Graphite on Paper, 2016

2 New Exhibitions in July

Custom House Studios, Westport, Mayo. Opening July 28th

I have 2 new shows next month. the first is in Westport, Mayo and it's a joint exhibition between Barbara Trawinski and myself at Custom House Studios. I applied back in 2013 to be part of the exhibition programme and I received confirmation during my first year of the MFA. Originally the show was scheduled for September this year but was brought forward to July 28th and it will run until August 21st. I'll be exhibiting some of the current paintings from Beneath the Dock Leaf.

The New Baal Fires, 2015

There isn't a title as yet but I'll post an update nearer to the opening on the time.

Birr Arts Festival, Birr, Offaly. Opens July 29th

The second exhibition, as far as I know is a solo exhibition in Birr Arts Festival. Francis Kawala who is the organiser of the festival contacted me last weekend about possibly taking part. I had work in it a few years ago and it's a great festival and because a lot of the spaces are vacant buildings it can throw up a few challenges especially the first year I had work in it because there were several of us showing in the vaults underground.

Here's a link to the post from the first year I was in it - Installation Shots of Birr Arts Festival

The work that I'll be showing in Birr will be drawings because the Westport exhibition overlaps and my paintings will be up there. I can't post any images of the drawings because I only started last week and haven't any documentation but I'll probably have an installation post on the blog shortly after the opening. With Westport opening July 28th and Birr, July 29th I'm going to have to juggle installation days in both places.

Solo Show in 2018

I received confirmation last week that my submission to Birr Theatre and Arts Centre, County Offaly was successful. I applied for a solo exhibition and as a rough estimate I've been offered a space for mid April 2018. At the minute I'm working on a new body of paintings still based on folklore and similar to Beneath the Dock Leaf, depending on how the work is going it could be these new works that will be in that show.

The Result of Solitude, Oil on Canvas, 36cm x 25cm, 2015

2 Paintings in New York

I have 2 paintings going on display this week in a group exhibition at Field Projects Gallery in New York. The exhibition opens on Thursday the 5th of May at 6pm and runs until June 11th. Jesse David Penridge is curating the exhibition and there are 13 of us exhibiting in the show titled Signaling to ^ the Cipher ^ Towards a Segway. The 2 paintings that I have in Field Projects are below:

Half in the World of Form, Oil on Canvas, 55cm x 35cm, 2015

Red, Oil on Canvas, 17cm x 16cm, 2015

This link goes to the gallery website page for the show, it has all exhibiting artists listed and a brief about the theme of the show - Field Projects Gallery.

'Get a Real Job' Symposium

On Saturday the 20th of February the Dunamaise Theatre was the venue for a symposium titled Get a Real Job. It was organized by Abbeyleix Further Education Centre and The Dunamaise Arts Centre and involved 9 of us, all past students of the Abbeyleix Centre, speaking about our careers in art since leaving.

It was a really good day because we all got to see what each of us are up to now, also because we got to catch up and also meet artists and designers that I didn't know before. I haven't seen some members of the group in years. We were split into 3 groups, the first group was lead by Jackie Carter and the 3 speakers in that group were Janet O Grady, Laura Amy Dunne and Mary Carroll followed by a Questions and Answers round. 

Our group consisting of all studio artists and oddly all of us named Pat was lead by Jock Nichol. Pat Wallis spoke first, then myself and then Pat Fitzpatrick whose work is going to be installed at The Dunamaise Arts Centre next week after my show closes. Pat Fitzpatrick's show runs from the 4th of March until the 30th of April, the exhibition reception is on the 10th of March and after hearing a little about it at the symposium I think it's going to be an amazing show. We had a Q&A too.

The final group then was lead by Edel O Keefe and the 3 speakers were Heidi Higgins, John Hennessy and Pascal Kenna. After another Q&A round there were a few words said by Jackie, Jock, Edel and Michelle de Forge. 

The links below have some information on the day:

Dunamaise Arts Centre

Visual Artists Ireland  

Abbeyleix FEC Twitter

'Beneath the Dock Leaf' Video Documentation

I ran through the exhibition during the week and did a little video documentation of the show in The Dunamaise Arts Centre. I meant to do it for the previous showing of Beneath the Dock Leaf  but I forgot to charge my camera battery and I think it's probably more fitting that I captured this one because for the moment it's the last planned solo exhibition of Beneath the Dock Leaf. I'm planning a new project and will start working on that in the next couple of weeks and while it will be the same style and focus on the same themes it will be running under a new working title.

As for Beneath the Dock Leaf, the works in that body will be going out into group shows the first of which is in March at The Presentation Arts Centre in Enniscorthy, County Wexford. The exhibition is curated by artist John Busher.

'Beneath the Dock Leaf' by Pat Byrne from Pat Byrne on Vimeo.

Installation Shots at Dunamaise Arts Centre

Beneath the Dock Leaf opened on the 14th of January at The Dunamaise Arts Centre in Portlaoise. There was a great crowd at the opening and I got some very positive feedback,  there has also been a good footfall through the gallery since the launch night. I have a few images of the show in this post, none from opening night but just the installation itself.

With the work being so figurative I was really keen to avoid having exact spacing between each work. I had some of them grouped slightly more for this purpose and interaction rather than for any real narrative. 

The Dunamaise is a great space, It;s an open white cube with a skylight that runs the length of the gallery and along with the natural light there are also spotlights too.

There is 2 new paintings in the exhibition since the work was on display at The Hyde Bridge Gallery in Sligo, they're the one just to the left of the door above and the one beside it. The piece beside the door is titled Upon the Lonely Rath and the one beside it is called Slouching. Slouching was originally intended for the Sligo exhibition but it wasn't ready.

Out of the 15 paintings 6 of the paintings were completed during my time on the MFA at The National College of Art and Design, the other 9 are all new. The 3 above were from the MFA and the one below is new and actually was installed while still wet. Upon the Lonely Rath is my first completed painting of 2016.

The build up was really good and the staff at The Dunamaise were great. All I had to do was get the work to the gallery. Michelle de Forge, who is the Centre Director, Nick who is Installation Technician, Laura is Box Office Manager and Lorraine is Head of PR took care of absolutely everything, installation, promotion, invites, they had everything cover and it was a complete pleasure to work with them, they were brilliant.

I was in yesterday just recording some footage of the show and Michelle asked would I be available during the week to talk with the students of Abbeyleix FEC so I went in today (February 10th) to talk about the work and what I've been up to since I finished Abbeyleix almost 10 years ago. I got to catch up with Jackie Carter who is head of the art department and was one of my tutors when I was in the PLC course. I also got to meet Sharon Murphy who is working with the students as part of their work experience and was running a workshop in the space on documenting artwork. I still find it a little bit terrifying talking in front of a group but I think it went fairly well and it was quite laid back.

I'll be updating my website soon with documentation of the new work and any other little adjustments that are needed. As far as studio work goes, I'm currently working on a commission and after that's completed I'll be starting a new body of work based on the same theme and in a similar style to what I'm doing but I'm hoping to push it on a little bit and also introduce new characters.

On the 20th of February I'll be one of 10 artists speaking at a symposium called Get a Real Job. The symposium is organised by Abbeyleix Further Education Centre Art Department in conjunction with The Dunamaise Arts Centre.

Beneath the Dock Leaf runs until the 27th of February.

Exhibition in Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise

Back in early December I met with Michelle de Forge, director of Dunamaise Arts Centre and Nick who is the centre's technician. We confirmed dates for installation, exhibition opening and possible dates for a talk. I'll be in the gallery to install work on the 11th, 12th and 13th of January with the opening taking place on the 14th at 7pm. The show will run I think for about 6 weeks and for the 27th of February, towards the end of the exhibition, Abbeyleix Further Education Centre are organizing a symposium. Several of us who have previously studied there will be talking about our experience since leaving. I finished in 2005 before moving to Galway so it's just about 10 years.

A Solitary Mountain or Old Ruin, 2015

I'm running with the title of Beneath the Dock Leaf  for this show too as it's mostly the same works from that body of work but I think this is the last show that will be under that title. After this exhibition I will be starting a new project, it will be focused on the same theme and style but I hope to push it on slightly, introduce new characters, which means building new props and possibly scale up the work.

To be About on November Eve, 2015