Moving out of Mountrath Studio

So yesterday was my last day in the Mountrath Studio and Flat and now I'm counting down the last few days before I fly out to Iceland. I had a great year in the studio. I had my first run at curating a group exhibition, held my first and second solo exhibitions in Leixlip and Dublin respectively, got published in an arts magazine for the first time, met and worked with some really great artists, collaborated on an installation for the Electric Picnic and gained a lot of experience in teaching workshops.

I also had a great deal of support from the Laois Arts Office and Laois County Council who I'm massively grateful to for awarding me the studio and giving me the opportunity to continue my work.

As well as the professional side of things it was really nice to be back in Laois and working so close to home, where I was living was only 10 minutes drive from my parents house.

Just over a week ago I contacted Laois Arts Office to let them know when I would be moving out. Muireann Ni Chonaill (Laois Arts Officer) offered me an extended lease on the studio and flat, which I accepted. So when I get back to Laois from Iceland I will be taking up residence in Mountrath for a further year. I'm delighted to have the studio again because I was worrying about what way I would be fixed for somewhere to work when I get back from Skagastrond. This will allow me to continue painting when I get back.

New Solo Show 'Corrosion'

My second solo exhibition, titled Corrosion, opened yesterday a 6pm at MadArt Gallery & Studios, Dublin. The show consisted of 9 oil paintings from the current body of work that I have been working on throughout the year. The opening went quiet well. There was a good attendance and I received great feedback on my work. I haven't any images to post at the minute but there were photos taken by somebody who works at the gallery so when I get them they'll be up.

The show runs until the 14th of June.

Here's a link to the gallery website.
http://www.madartstudio.com/index.php/corrosion-by-pat-byrne-2/

Artist in School Scheme 2012

I applied for the Artist in School Scheme a few months back and my application was successful. On Monday the 23rd of April I started work at Clonenagh NS, Mountrath. It was mostly painting exercises early in the week which lead towards more completed pieces.

The Schedule:

Monday: Color Wheel & Complementary Colors

Tuesday: Warm and Cool Color & Shading Execises

Wednesday: Negative Space & Free Sculpture

Thursday: Still Life Drawing/Painting and Free Drawing/Painting

Friday: Portraiture & Conclusion of Sculpture

This work was done with Junior Infants - 4th class over 20 hours. I was asked by the Principle of the School would I work with 5th and 6th class too within the 20 hours so I  went back the following week for 8 hours extra (the school was closed on the Friday) to give them as much time, almost, as the younger classes. Because they only had a 4 day week I tried to get more work done each day to make up for having the Friday off.  

Monday: Color Wheel & Complementary Colors

Tuesday: Warm and Cool Color & Shading Execises

Wednesday: Negative Space & Free Sculpture

Thursday:  Portraiture & Conclusion of Sculpture

I think it went very well there was one day when 5th and 6th class didn't want to go out for lunch, they wanted to keep working.

Since the workshops finished I've been asked by the school to paint a mural on the wall outside it.

Laois Arts Act Grant

Mid April I recieved confirmation that my application for the Laois Acts Grant was successful and I have recieved some much needed funding thanks to Laois County Council.

Some of the New Work

This is some more of the new work that I've completed. Around October or November I decided to split the the body of paintings into 2 separate bodies. I've been carrying on with one and once I feel I have enough to fill an exhibition I will leave that one for a while and work on building the second collection.

These 2 are still part of the current body of work. I have another 4 in progress and I'm getting ready to complete several more, these works are the pieces that will be going into the exhibition in MadArt Gallery, Dublin.

I introduced colour to the way I was working back around September and decided to continue with it but a month or two down the line I decided these will go on as their own set and separated them from the paintings above. I'll be back to bring this collection along as well at some point.

These 2 are part of a collection of about 11 small pieces on Gesso Board. They were just samples and tests but some of them worked out really well. Because they were tests I wasn't sure how they would hold up over time and unfortunately some of them became brittle and really can't be moved a lot without bits and pieces crumbling. I used the traditional Gesso recipe of hide glue and chalk as a ground and it will be this that I'm using on a new body of small works that I'm starting soon.

Running alongside the paintings I've been making a series of charcoal drawings. I haven't documented these yet, but when I do I'll post them too. 

You can see all of the work together and my work from 2010/Final Year of College on my website - www.pbyrne.ie

What I've Been at Lately

At the moment the Laptop is kind of acting up slightly, as it turns out the new charger connection is a small bit loose so it has to be moved around until it connects properly but working through that.

At the moment though I have a few bits and pieces on the go, this week is the final workshop in the Arthouse in Stradbally and on Thursday we have the exhibition that the workshop group have been working towards in the Arthouse Gallery.

I'm currently in the middle of sorting out a solo exhibition in the MadArt Gallery in Dublin, the date is booked - 18th of May, really excited about that, it will be the new work going into that and its just before Iceland.

Still working on the current body of work, preparing materials for a new body of small scale works and planning a new video project.  

Updating the Website

I have the website almost completely updated for the year 2011, I have images of my work up, I just need to get      the Midlands Arts and Culture Magazine bit up and the Curating images sorted. I had a few technical issues with the laptop so it's taking a while to get the new stuff up on the site but you can see it here - http://www.pbyrne.ie/