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.

Call for New Members

Engage Arts Studios is currently accepting applications for Core and Orbital membership.

* Applicants must be 18 years or over and practising visual
artists with a minimum of a degree in Fine Art
* and/ or a minimum of three jury selected shows.
* Their application must include up to 10 medium sized images of their recent work (jpeg format)
* a biography,
* an up to date CV
* a letter of intent

Applications should be made to engageartstudios@gmail.com by 5pm on
Friday 19th January, with the subject "membership application"

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