OnTheTown Work by Irish artists over the last 50 years was unveiled at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) in Dublin on Wednesday night.
Siar 50 looks back at work from the collections of the Contemporary Irish Art Society (CIAS), which has purchased art to donate to public collections since it was founded in 1962. The exhibition is also drawn from the private and corporate collections of CIAS members.
"The exhibition provides us with a wonderful overview of the work of the society since its foundation," said Eoin McGonigal SC, chair of the board of IMMA.
Tánaiste Mary Harney, who opened Siar 50, singled out Louis le Brocquy, Barrie Cooke, Tony O'Malley and Robert Ballagh among the artists whose work is on view.
"Art has a very wide perspective in all our lives and it's much more accessible than it ever was before in Ireland thanks to the CIAS," she said. The Tánaiste described the foundation of the CIAS as "a pivotal moment in modern art in Ireland". She paid tribute to the late Gordon Lambert, a key figure in the CIAS for 40 years, who died earlier this year. "He was passionate about promoting the arts in Ireland . . . He will be fondly remembered."
Prof Campbell Bruce, chair of CIAS and co-curator of Siar 50 with Catherine Marshall, said "we wanted to honour Gordon Lambert for all the work he's done".
Along with Prof Bruce, others from the CIAS involved in the organisation of the show included vice-chair Robert Mooney and council members Frank X Buckley and Brian Ranalow, who are on the IMMA board. Also at the opening were CIAS patron and former chair Patrick Murphy and his wife Antoinette; IMMA board member Jackie Gallagher; Gavin Quinn of Pan Pan Theatre Co and Anne O'Donoghue of Anglo Irish Bank.
Siar 50 is at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin, until Sun, Feb 19, 2006
Hazel's hidden gem shines
Singer Liam Ó Maonlaí introduced fellow singer- songwriter Hazel O'Connor to a delighted audience at Dublin's Sugar Club last Tuesday. The occasion marked the release of Hidden Heart, her 10th album.
O'Connor was joined on stage by Moya Brennan to sing their stirring duet Hidden. Harpist Cormac de Barra, who accompanies O'Connor on the 12 new songs, said Hidden is his favourite album track, not least, he said, because it suits the harp so well: "luíonn sé go maith ar an gcruit".
Martin Rushent, the album's producer, also chose Hidden as his favourite song because of "the combination of their voices - Moya's pure angelic voice and Hazel's rough bluesy sound: the two together just works".
"Her voice is so raspy, it's wonderful," said Brennan. "It's a real compliment to the kind of voice I have."
"Hearts and souls of humanity . . . left all their words that were passed on for free," sang the women. "Tell me . . . How were they hidden so long."
O'Connor picked Fear of Flying as her favourite track because "I knew I had to write a song for myself that has to do with spirit," she said. Her mother, Joyce O'Connor, picked it also as her favourite.
Among those at the reception were musician and brother of Moya Brennan, Ciarán Ó Braonáin and wife Lynda; glass sculptor Killian Schurmann; RTÉ associate producer Aifric Ní Chianáin and artist Myriam Kavanagh, whose work will be on show at the Irish Fine Art gallery in Killiney from Thursday, December 1st, and her partner, Phillip Ansell. Olympic walker Jamie Costin and Maggie Breathnach of TG4's Sóiscéal Pháraic arts show, were also there to celebrate the musical gems on Hidden Heart.
Hazel O'Connor will play Dolan's, Limerick, tomorrow night and An Cruiscín Lán, Cork, on Tue, Nov 22
The horrors of war
A world première at The Helix in Dublin City University on Monday night shone a light on the first World War. Second Age Theatre Co, which has a remit to interpret classic texts for schools, staged a new adaptation by Alan Stanford of Jennifer Johnston's much loved novel, How Many Miles to Babylon, which was first published in 1974.
"I think it [the play] is really beautiful," said Bríd Dukes, of the Civic Theatre in Tallaght, who was at the opening with her daughter, Clíona Dukes.
"The central story is about the friendship between two men of different classes in pre-Easter Rising Ireland," said David Parnell, the play's director. "They are from different sides of the social divide who end up going to war together, one is an officer and one is a private, which leads to their ultimate downfall," he said. "It's about the alarming disapproval of their friendship by his family in the first half and by the army in the second part," he said. Stanford "has distilled the book to its dramatic essence", said Parnell.
"I know it's had other adaptations but I felt I wanted to have a crack at it, so I did," said Stanford. "It's always difficult to demonstrate how awful war is but the language of the book does it superbly. It's a book that I have loved for 30 years."
Actors Simone Kirby and Ailish Symons, who will both be in the upcoming production of The Secret Garden at the Helix, were also at the opening. Others in the audience included actor Karen Ardiff; general manager of Farmleigh Mary Heffernan and her friend Fidelma Clarke of the EBS; UCD student Brian Niland and his brother, Kevin, a fifth-year student at Terenure College and Terenure classmate Vincent Lyons.
How Many Miles to Babylon is at the Helix, DCU, until Friday, Nov 25, before going on tour.
For more information tel: 01-6798542, e-mail: info@secondage.com or see www.secondage.com
On top of the world
Grania Willis, the first Irish woman to climb the north face of Mount Everest, was congratulated by many friends at her book launch in Dublin this week.
"I have great admiration for her determination to go along as a first-timer. It's a fantastic achievement," said Frank Nugent, deputy leader of the successful 1993 expedition to Mount Everest under Dawson Stelfox.
"It's a very rarefied place. On the day it depends on wind and weather. You need a bit of luck. She obviously prepared very well. You can't possibly do something like this without being committed. What I love about her is her honesty," he said.
Broadcaster and rugby commentator George Hook, who launched Total High: My Everest Challenge in the RDS last Wednesday, said "she takes on these challenges in her life and never stops taking them on". He praised her "absolutely indomitable spirit".
"She got all the bravery genes. I got none of them," said her twin sister, Megan Willis, a London-based theatrical agent.
"She has an incredible level of fitness and an absolutely unbelievable strength of mind," said Shay Cleary, mountaineer and former chief executive of the RDS, who helped Willis in her training. As a climber, "she has great poise and balance", he added. "It's the ultimate mountaineering achievement. There's the height, the altitude, the danger, the weather," said Cleary.
Joss Lynam, (81), who recalled setting up the first mountaineering club in Ireland in 1948, said "the effort and training that she put into it was terrific and I respect her for that".
Willis, equestrian correspondent of The Irish Times, said she loves talking to schoolchildren about her journey to the top of Everest. "Is it bigger than a building?, they want to know," she said. "Is it bigger than the sky? Is it bigger than God?"