The craic kicked off yesterday in earnest with a round of openings of art exhibitions around the city at the start of Kilkenny Arts Festival. First off I visited Daithi Ó hÚallcháin's fantastic collection of line drawings and colour landscapes which are firmly set in the city. Davy's exhibition was opened eloquently as usual by my colleague Malcolm Noonan.Then it was on to Gallery One on William Street where Thomastown artist Debra Bowden has some striking oils and mixed media pieces. Many of them reminded me of the interiors of derelict houses in rural Kilkeny and in my native county, and one fabulous piece represented the fulacht fiadh, the ancient cooking pits of the celts which are becoming hard to find now.
Then it was on to Kieran Street where I officially opened joint exhibition which Brock Butler and Roger O' Reilly are holding ain the Kilkenny Gallery, (formerly the Leather and Hide shop), and the new Blackbird Gallery across the road. I described the exhibition as an eclectic ballroom of art. For my speech at the opening click here.
All the above involved a few glasses of wine and led on to Tynan's and further. Today sees more of the same. Roll on the good times. Now I'm really finding out the joys of being Deputy Mayor!
2 comments:
As an aside to your diary of openings and wine-tastings, you describe the "fulachta fiadha" as Celtic cooking pits. Archaeologists and prehistorians of high renown across Europe are gradually coming to the conclusion that the ancient Irish were NOT Celts. If you compare what are known as "La Tene" period finds in France, and across Europe, there are NONE in Ireland. In their earnestness to resurrect Irish national pride in the 18th and 19th centuries, many of the early historians and archaeologists rushed to delineate our "differntness" from the "Saxon". It seems we Irish have a discrete cultural heritage, and we shouldn't just lazily name it Celtic, as some kind of marketing tool.
Feliz Compleanos, caro Commandante. Ochenta anos mas, Fidel. Viva Cuba!!!
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