Mateja Šmic, Aesthetics of a Split

Engage Art Studios present the CIRCA Writers’ Choice Graduate Exhibition:
Mateja Šmic, Aesthetics of a Split
Subject.

Engage Art Studios are delighted to present an exhibition of the work of NCAD graduate Mateja Šmic opening on the 23rd of August and running until the 14th of September.

Šmic is one of this year’s chosen graduates in the CIRCA Degree Shows: Writers’ Choice series.

Mateja Šmic is a Dublin-based artist working with coffee, gelatin and other often non-traditional materials, chosen by principles of association with her subject matter. Her recent subjects range from geopolitics to national identity. Through printmaking, digital collage, video and animation, Šmic’s installations combine philosophical and psychological questions around experience, the phenomenon of Othering, and tensions between the real subject and its mediated representations. Consisting of intensive cycles and processes of intuitive and experimental engagement with her materials, which become a metaphor for an intangible subject, Smic’s reflexive and multi-layered art practice parallels with her contextual research and writing.

Mateja Šmic was born in 1989, in Croatia. Moving to Ireland in 2015, she enrolled at NCAD in 2016. Šmic formed Clo Collective in 2018, comprised of a group of artists working at NCAD, their work was presented at IMMA as part of a response to Brian O’Doherty’s exhibition Language and Space that year. She participated in The Office for Common Sound project led by Sven Anderson, at NCAD Gallery, in 2019, and exhibited and presented new work at Graphic Studio Gallery, 2019. Her Graduate Exhibition has been long-listed for the RDS Visual Art Award, and she will take part in the international curatorial course, WCSCD, in Belgrade this Autumn.

Chagrin Falls

Engage Art Studios are very pleased to present the second exhibition at our new gallery. Chagrin Falls, a solo exhibition of new work by Blaise Drummond, will open on Saturday 6th of July at 6pm and will run until August 10th. The Gallery will be open 11am-4pm Thursday-Saturday or by appointment.

 The work for this exhibition which is comprised primarily of landscape paintings  has been created in recent months. Working on plywood with oil paint and beeswax Blaise pulls from a range of sources for inspiration, images of driving through mountains, a 1960's prototype scandanavian summer house, the farm at Black Mountain College - built by the students and staff of that experiment in idealism, a birch copse in Helsinki, John Muir at Yosemite.  

We are also delighted to announce that as part of this exhibition Blaise has created a special limited edition print in collaboration with Engage studio member Eimearjean McCormack. The price will start at €150 with the price increasing increments of €5 as the edition number increases. So 1/15 will be €150, 2/15 will be €155 and so on. It will pay to get in early!!   This is a rare opportunity to get you hands on original work by two acclaimed artists. The proceeds from the sale of the edition will go towards Engage Art Studio’s new facility in Salthill, Galway  which contains studios, a workspace, and a gallery. Engage is funded by The Arts Council of Ireland Workspace Scheme and Galway City Council, Arts Grants.
Blaise Drummond was born to Irish parents in Liverpool in 1967 and studied Philosophy and Classical Art at the University of Edinburgh before attending the National College of Art and Design in Dublin for a BA in Fine Art Painting and the History of Art. In 1998 he graduated with an MA in Fine Art Painting from the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London. His work, mostly realised in the form of painting, drawing and sculpture/installation, is centred around ideas of the natural world, landscape and its representation, architecture and design. In 2006 he also began an on-going collaboration on a body of printed work with the American-born, Paris based publisher and master printer, Michael Woolworth.  In 2016 he began working with the Italian design company Magis, for whom he has produced thus far a series of screenprints.He has had numerous exhibitions in galleries around the world and a number of museum shows dedicated to his work, including the Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Germany in 2009 and Musée de l'Abbaye Sainte-Croix, France in 2006. Recent projects include a collaboration with Louis Vuitton on the artist book, The Arctic and the public art commission, A New Path to the Waterfall, for the Children’s Hospital at the Royal London, UK. His most recent show, A History of Hope at Galerie Loevenbruck in Paris opened in November 2018. His work is held in numerous museum, public and private collections around the world and he is a 2019 winner of the Fondation Colas Prize for Painting in France.

Where You Are Lost, We Are Sídhe

Engage Art Studios are delighted to announce the official launch of our new facility in Churchfields, Salthill. Saturday 25th May from 1pm. This day long celebration will include Open Studios and tours of the facility (1pm-4.30pm) where the public will get rare access to the Artist Studios, to see the how artist work and gain an insight in to the creative process. There will be free art demos for all ages in our workspace.

This will also see the opening of our new Gallery at 5pm. Our inaugural exhibition Where you are lost, we are Sídhe- will feature work by artists Monique Blom, Zara Lyness, Ilaria Pellizzaro Anushiya Sundaralingam and Ruby Wallis. This exhibition is exploring ideas between those of land art practice, traditionally-feminine creative crafts, and contemporary art practice. Each of the artwork presented is rooted to an action that began outdoors. The artists look at natural landscapes and social structures and explore their place within them as women, as artists, as occupants of space. Their actions are different from those of men artists who work with landscape: They do not conquer, they do not reshape, displace, or replace. They place a body or a texture, they harvest to create.

By creatively acting outdoors, indoors, and filling the space with their work, these artists are constituting a reality in which land art means placing and creating rather than displacing and reshaping. The idea of “constituting a reality” references Judith Butler’s ‘Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory’ where Butler states that acting within public reality, unlike theatrical acting, potentially constitutes a changed reality. The work is rooted outdoors; it comments on the social structures that await us when we walk outside; it represents a creative relationship with land.

The day will conclude with a performance by artist Zara Lyness at 5.30.
Engage Art Studios gratefully Acknowledges the support of the Arts Council of Ireland and Galway City Council .

OMNIPRESENCE

‘’OMNIPRESENCE’’ is a multi-media exhibition by recent graduate Gabrielle Drimalovski, recipient of the Engage Art Studios / Galway Arts Centre Emerging Artist Award.

Her solo exhibition explores gaze in the context of religion. OMNIPRESENCE consists of a photographic series, video piece, and wall installation.

The work’s core context is anchored by the seven deadly sins, as portrayed in the Bible. It plays on the idea of God’s omnipresence, implying he is always watching us committing various sins and exploring the gravity of each of these. The idea behind ‘’OMNIPRESENCE’’ also incorporates Freud’s theory of the ego, which sees the human psyche structured into three parts; the id, ego and the superego, all developing at different stages of our lives. These are systems, not parts of the brain or in any way physical. The collection of pieces delves into revealing ‘’the shadow self’’, the side to us we often do not reveal to others.

The focal point of the series revolves around the sin of Pride, also known as Vanity. This is represented by a masked, shadowed figure admiring their reflection in a mirror, which is scattered into seven different facades, each representative of a deadly sin. It comments on the idea of reflection, in all senses of the word, being necessary to reveal different parts within us.

Working with a combination of sound, coloured lighting, narrative and moving image, the video piece within ‘’OMNIPRESENCE’’ serves to lay down the foundation and core idea behind the piece, whilst the photographs co-exist to convey each of the deadly sins through a rainbow of bright colours with dark meanings. The mirrored wall piece faces the viewer with literal and figurative self-reflection, allowing them to see themselves as both whole and fragmented at the same time. ‘’OMNIPRESENCE’’ probes at the darkest parts of the human psyche, blurs the boundary between the moral and immoral, and challenges the idea of sin in contemporary society.

Gabrielle Drimalovski is the recipient of the inaugural Engage Art Studios + Galway Arts Centre Emerging Artist Award 2018/2019. This award is supported by Galway City Council & The Arts Council. Gabrielle holds a BA(hons) from Limerick School of Art Design. She won the Lismore Castle Arts Solo Graduate Award (Origins) for her degree show in 2017. In 2018 she collaborated with poet Colm Keegan and the Red Bird Youth Arts Collective on the Arts Council-supported film-poem 'Let Go'.


www.engageartstudios.com
www.galwayartscentre.ie

Permissions

Just Art It presents the preview of PERMISSION. This new guest exhibition is the outcome of Engage Art Studios’ collaboration with Emilie Pine, author of Notes to Self, (Tramp Press, 2018) and winner of the An Post Irish Book Awards Book of the Year 2018. Building on last year’s collaborative project with Danny Denton, author of The Earlie King&The Kid in Yellow (Granta, 2018), Engage Art Studios invited Emile Pine to present its artists with a short excerpt from her ground-breaking collection of personal essays. PERMISSION is the artists’ visual response to the text provided by her and includes new work by Engage members,Red Burke, Maeve Curtis, Dee Deegan, Maries Diez, Noelle Gallagher, Nicola Gunwhy, Nuala Hiney, Jojo Hynes, Seamus Keane, Paul Malone, Eimear Jean McCormack, Stephanie McLaughlin, Elena Moreno, Ilaria Pellizzaro, Jane Queally, Avi Rathnayake, Vicky Smith and Ruby Wallis.As part of this year’s Cuirt International Festival of Literature, PERMISSION previews at Just Art It on Saturday 6 th April at 7pm, and continues until April 26th.

Emile Pine will meet with the Engage Art Studios’ artists for an informal public discussion on their response to the project on Saturday 13 th April at 7.30p.m at Just Art It, 33 Dominick Street, Galway. All are welcome.

Emilie Pine is Associate Professor of Modern Drama at the School of English, Drama andFilm, University College Dublin. Emilie has published widely as an academic and critic. Her first collection of personal essays, Notes to Self, is published by Tramp Press. Notes to Self won the IACI Butler Literary Award, was shortlisted for the RIA Michel Deon award, and won the An Post Irish Book Awards Book of the Year 2018.

Just Art It is both, an art shop and workshop space situated at No. 33 Dominick Street Lower in Galway’s West End. This beautiful store offers specialised art materials and the opportunity to avail of original artwork from professional Irish artists. It also offers printmaking facilities and a range of art classes, workshops and cultural events throughout the full year.info@justartitgalway.com Mon-Sat, 10am – 6 pm (excl. 1-2 pm)

10x10x100 Fundraiser@126

Engage Art Studio has been located in the in the Cathedral Building on Abbeygate St for just shy of 15 years. In that time Engage has supported over 100 Visual Artist to develop their practices by providing secure, well lit, private studios. Engage has created a supportive environment of productivity and creativity and has become a vital part of the Galway creative landscape.
When the premises was recently sold resulting in a substantial increase in rent, which Engage were unable to meet, the search for a new premises was on. A great new premises has been found. We are very excited and confident that this next chapter will be not only significant boost for Engage but for the wider visual art community and be extension Galway as a whole. More details to follow very soon.
There will be certain costs associated with relocation and so we are having a fund-raiser. We have teamed up with our friends and colleagues at 126 Artist-Run Gallery who will also be seeking to raise funds for their own activities with their annual Affordable Art, Christmas Market. We have invited all current and former members of Engage to donate a work of art measuring 10”x10” each work will be priced at €100 with the proceeds going towards the relocation.
This will be a rare opportunity to acquire an original piece of art by some of the most prolific visual artist currently exhibiting in public galleries, biennales and collections throughout Ireland and worldwide. The only catch... the work will be hung anonymously with the artist identity only revealed after purchase! 10x10x100 opens on Friday 14th December at 6pm, as part of 126’s Affordable Art, Christmas Market and will run until December 23rd

Inside The Box

Engage Studios is delighted to present Inside the Box. Opening at 6pm on Friday 21st of September as part of Culture Night, the exhibition will also be open Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd, 12pm-6pm.  

For this exhibition Engage Members were each given an identical box frame and asked to create a work of Art within its confines. Each piece will be priced at €145 with the proceeds of the sale going to Engage's artistic programme. 

Engage Art Studios is supported by The Arts Council of Ireland ad The Galway City Council.

Conversations on Making

Engage Art Studios is delighted to present “Conversations on Making” an exhibition of work by Engage Members.
The conversation on making started loosely with a discussion on the process of making an artwork. What does this entail? Many artists may begin with a photograph, a film clip, a journey, directly observing an object, person or place, a found object, a thin layer of paint or a word as they begin the new work. The exhibition questions how does an artwork come into being? How is the work made and how do the thought processes transition from the artists thoughts through action into a concrete piece? There will be sketches, works in progress and new work not previously shown in Galway city on display on the studio corridor walls, stairwell and in our Project Space.
Opening on Thursday 19th of July at 7pm in Engage Art Studios, Cathedral Building,Middle Street and will run until July 29th . Open each day from 11am-6pm

Emerging Artist Residency Award

Engage Art Studio Emerging Artist Residency Award

Engage Art Studios together with Galway Art Centre  and Galway City Council are pleased to accept applications for the 2018 Emerging Artist Award. Application Forms are available here. See below for T&C.

September 4th 2018-February 28th 2019

The successful applicant will receive

• A private studio Engage Art Studios Cathedral Building, Middle St,  Galway
• An exhibition in the Galway Art Centre on completion of the studio residency (date to be confirmed)
• Technical assistance with the installation of the exhibition
• Assistance marketing and PR of the exhibition
•  A cash award of €1000
•  24 hour access to studio
•  Wash-up sink
• Participation in member activities, including any group critiques, curator visits, exhibitions etc
• Access to digital suite and equipment.

Applications will be accepted from any artist who has graduated with a degree in Fine Art in the past 3 years. (2018, 2017, 2016)

Collaborative groups will be considered once all members of the group fulfill the criteria.

Applications received after the deadline of 9am on Monday 9th July will not be considered.

Engage Art Studios is a non-residential workspace as such accommodation is not included as part of this award. 

How to apply

Please complete the application form and return to engageartstudios@gmail.com by 9am on Monday 9th July. Please include along with you completed form

• 5-10 examples of your work in jpeg format or for video work a link will suffice
• An Artist CV (for collaborative groups one cv for each individual member should be included)
• Two referees (one to be academic)  

 Any applications forms and further queries are welcome at engageartstudios@gmail.com

Fragmented Shore

Fragmented Shore. 14-28th April Just Art It, Dominick St, Galway

Maeve Curtis, Cecilia Danell, Deirdre Deegan, Noelle Gallagher, Seamus Keane, Paul Malone, Hilary Morley, Ilaria Pellizzaro, Avi Ratnayake, Vicky Smith, and Ruby Wallis

Engage is delighted to have been invited to exhibit in Just Art It. The work for this exhibition has been created in response to an excerpt from The Earlie King & The Kid in Yellow (Granta, 2018)by author Danny Denton. Fragmented Shore will open at Just Art It on Saturday April 14th at 7pm and will continue until April 28th as part of this year’s Cuirt International Festival of Literature. Engage artists will talk about their work on Thursday April 26th at 7pm at Just Art It, all are welcome!

Danny Denton is from Cork, Ireland, and is currently writer-in-residence for Cork County Library. He has published work in various publications, including Granta Magazine, The Stinging Fly, Funhouse, The Tangerine, Tate, Etc and The Guardian. His first novel, The Earlie King & The Kid In Yellow is available now from Granta Books. Denton is one of the participating writers at this year's Cuirt International Festival of Literature.

Narrating Self, Translating the Other

Narrating Self, Translating the Other

Engage Art Studios is delighted to be exhibiting in the Galway Arts Centre. Narrating Self, Translating the Other is a snapshot of current studio practices, research themes and experiments in medium by 15 of our members

Maeve Curtis, Simon Daly, Cecilia Danell, Deirdre Deegan, Brenda Flannery, Noelle Gallagher, Michelle Hill, Séamus Keane, Hilary Morley, Angela O’Brien, Ilaria Pellizzaro, Jane Queally, Avi Ratnayake, Vicky Smith, Ruby Wallis

While each artist has an individual practice and set of processes, they are interested in the nature of  creating artworks in an age of mass image-based media where often times the image that represents an event, person or place becomes its own entity with its own truth and value, separate from reality and original source

The exhibition will open at 6pm Friday 6th April 2018 Gallery 1, Galway Arts Centre and run until April 19th.

Silent Auction

Engage Art Studios are having a Silent Art Auction Fundraiser. Original works of art created by our studio members will be auctioned to raise funds for the development of the Studios. To bid simply comment on the photo of the art work you wish to bid on or alternatively if you wish to remain anonymous please email your bid to engageartstudios@gmail.com. Bidding will close at 8pm next Friday the 22nd of September, Culture Night. All works will be on display in our new studios on St Francis St on Culture Night.

Material Conditions

Material Conditions is a group exhibition of work by Engage Art Studios members Cecilia Danell, Vicky Smith, Michelle Hill, Ruby Wallis, Mariez Diez, Simon Daly and Jane Queally in Platform Arts Belfast. It has is curated by Platform Directors Alex Brunt and Hayley Gault as part of a collaborative exchange between Engage Art Studios and Platform Arts Belfast. The Exhibition is a responce to the immaterial and material conditions that transfer into artistic production. It opens on Thursday 5th October and runs until 20th October.

In Real Time

Engage Art Studio  are please to present  In Real Time, an exhibition of work by Erin Hagan, Michael Hanna and Dave Loder, curated by Nuala Ní Fhlathúin at 126 Artist Run Gallery, Hidden Valley, Galway.

This exhibition dwells deeply in time; work that draws on playful binaries and real time judgements, and a slow echoing consideration of language, materiality and meaning in the present moment.  Some of these works originated as art projects in public spaces, in far off locations, and are re-presented as documents and traces. Others are constructed in the 126 gallery space and embody an intuitive sculptural response to here and now.

In Real Time is part of a collaborative exchange project between Engage Art Studios, Galway and Platform Arts, Belfast in which Engage member Nuala Ní Fhlathúin curates Erin Hagan, Michael Hanna and Dave Loder who are all members of Platform Arts. It a continues the long standing partnership between Engage and 126 Artist-Run Gallery. The second leg of this project will be an exhibition of Engage members in Belfast in October 2017.

New Studios Opening on St Francis St

Engage Art Studios is delighted to announce that we are expanding our operations.Due to the overwhelming demand for studio space, Engage has decided to open additional space in a second location on Francis Street in Galway City Centre. This will open for new members to work and produce art from May. 
Engage Art Studios has occupied the top floor of the Old Pro-Cathedral building Since 2004. We are dedicated to providing work space for professional contemporary visual artists. Engage supports professional artists by providing them with clean, safe, secure studio space in which to create new works of art. Engage also offers exhibition opportunities, chances to meet with curators and professional development for our members. 
Applications for new members are now being accepted. Interested artists should send a letter of intent, an artist CV and up to 10 examples of their work to engageartstudios@gmail.com by May 5th at 5pm. 
Engage Art Studios gratefully acknowledges the support of The Arts Council of Ireland and Galway City Council.

Adventure Time

ADVENTURE TIME, an exhibition by Engage Art Studios members Cecilia Danell and Eimear­Jean McCormack at TACTIC Gallery Cork. ADVENTURE TIME is part of a collaborative project undertaken by Engage Art Studios, Galway and TACTIC, Sample-Studios, Cork. This is the second exhibition of the collaboration. The first part of this project took place in January 2016.  "Shills" by Pádraig Spillane, curated by Shelly Mc Donnell, exhibited at 126 Artist-run Gallery Galway,

Danell and McCormack invite us to visit a wonderful, hyper-saturated landscape contained securely within the walls of TACTIC. Presenting us with a post-nature futurology, the exhibition attempts to satisfy our genuine desire to return to nature which has now become skewed by the commodification of the authentic natural experience. Within this narrative we have evolved past luxury safari vacations and the convenience of “glamping”, yet still search to have risk-­free interactions with nature in a controlled, comfortable setting, preferably with candid photo opportunities!

ADVENTURE TIME runs from April 21st to May 7th 2016.

Shills, an Exhibition by Pádraig Spillane

Engage Art Studios is delighted to present “Shills” a solo exhibition by Pádraig Spillane in 126 Artist-run Gallery. Opening Friday the 8th of January 2016, 7pm. This exhibition is part of an ongoing collaborative project between Engage Studios Galway and Sample Studios, Cork.

Pádraig Spillane utilises diverse representational processes and object arrangements to explore ideas regarding desires and intimacies. His works connect image generation and appropriation with 3D stagings. Shills at 126 Gallery features new works which, by incorporating object and image manipulations, produce anthropomorphic resonances and extend an ongoing investigation of mirror effect arrangements.
Spillane has exhibited widely both in Ireland and internationally this includes: This is not my voice speaking, CIT Wandesford Quay Gallery, Cork, (2015); Magic Touch, CCA Derry – Londonderry, Northern Ireland, (2014); Mammouth, Treignac Projet, France, (2014); Fortnightly Features Presents, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, Ireland,
Shills features an accompanying text by Sarah Hayden, Lecturer in 20th and 21stc American Literature & Culture at the University of Southampton. The exhibition runs until Sunday 24th January. 126 is open Monday- Saturday 12pm-6pm