MFA Exhibition, Dublin

Our postgraduate exhibition opens this week in Dublin. There are 25 of us graduating from the National College of Art and Design and the show takes place across 4 venues: Frawley's at 36 Thomas Street where 20 of us have our work on display, NCAD Main Campus, 4 artists are based here, 1 artist is showing at Emmett House at 150 Thomas Street, this is also where our studios were based for the year and another is exhibiting at Steambox Gallery.

The opening is taking place in Frawley's at 6pm on Friday the 12th of June and the exhibition runs until the 21st of June.

Frawley's was an old department store that closed, I think, in 2007. We have it opened for the exhibition and have spent the last 3 or 4 weeks preparing it for the show. Most of this preparation has been filling and painting MDF boards and the work is installed ready for assessments and the exhibition opening. 

The view of my space from the central area of the shop

There was a little movement with the wall boards and because of there were gaps that needed filling, I was hoping to avoid using gum tape but because the filler kept cracking we were left with no alternative.

I had to build a corner into the wall, this was done with a lot of filler

Nearly finished the setup I wanted to get a rough idea of how the work looked 

This wallpaper was up behind the stud wall and was one of the last things I removed from the space.

I didn't have too much trouble with the space, The cracking walls were a bit of a worry but I decided to use the gum tape to cover it and when it was painted combined with good lighting it wasn't very noticeable. The stress came during the final week of install and was completely my own fault. I have never used the Oiling Out technique before when painting and decided a week before the deadline to attempt it on some of the work I wanted to show. It was fairly slow drying so 4 of the 9 paintings I wanted to show spent the final week of install in the studio with a couple of heaters on full blast. Thankfully they dried the night before the deadline and were ready to hang.  

Here's a link to the Visual Artist Ireland website where the exhibition has been promoted and also has a list of us taking part: Visual Artist Ireland

New Website Up and Running

I have a new website that you can access here -   http://www.patbyrneartist.com/   - I'll be continuing to post on the blog here whenever there's something to post but the website is just somewhere to show the work all in one place along with my CV and all that.

It still needs a little adjusting and I haven't posted my newest body of work but I will at some stage. As it stands it has work made between 2010 and 2013

Work in Group show at Templebar Gallery, Dublin

I have a painting in an exhibition opening tomorrow night at 6:30 PM at the Templebar Gallery and Studios in Dublin. The event is organised by Peachy Dublin in aid of Aware.

This is the painting I have in the show. The documentation isn't great because it's off my phone because I didn't have my camera.

Laois Arts Act Grant 2015

I was delighted to receive word today that I have been awarded funding by Laois County Council. I applied for the Arts Act Grant to help fund the transport of work and set up the exhibition in the The Hyde Bridge Gallery, Sligo during September this year.

Tyrone Guthrie Residency

Earlier in the year I applied to Laois County Council for the Tyrone Guthrie Bursary and I found out last week that my application was successful. i was delighted to get that news and I'll be going to work at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Monaghan  for one week from the 18th - 25th of August where I'm hoping to work on some sketchbook stuff to possibly develop at a later stage.

Sligo Exhibition Dates Confirmed & Instagram

I sent back the contract to the Hyde Bridge Gallery and the dates are nailed down - 

Tuesday, September 8th is the day it will open on at 6pm and it runs then until the 19th closing at 4pm. 

As far as work goes I have 11 pieces completed, I've been working on the this series solid since around the end of September and have been looking to complete a painting per week, (I had one great week finishing 2 but the following week was a write of) so if I can keep up the momentum I'll have plenty to choose from. They're all fairly small to medium size so far but there's a canvas nearly ready to go measuring 150cm x 130cm I just need to size it and it'll be ready. 

Aside from that then I set up an Instagram profile, just to post up an odd studio shot or installation picture off the phone. You can go through the link here - http://instagram.com/pat.b23/  - I haven't posted anything on it yet though.

New Solo Exhibition 2015

I received word before the Christmas break that my work was accepted into the 2015 exhibition program at The Hyde Bridge Gallery in Sligo. I haven't images of the work to put up because it's completely new stuff that I started working on around last April, it only started to take shape between August and September and has been progressing along since then.

The dates are September 6th - 20th this year.

The Hyde Bridge Gallery