Tag Archives: clifden

‘Charms of Plenty’ by Rosie McGurran at the Lavelle Art Gallery

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Painting by Rosie McGurran
11 Oct

 

The Lavelle Art Gallery hosted an exhibition of work by Rosie McGurran this September for Clifden Arts Week. Rosie has had a long association with the gallery and she has shown her work with Gavin in two joint exhibitions, at the Peppercanister Gallery in Dublin and more recently at the Whalley Gallery in County Down. Originally from Belfast and a member of the Royal Ulster Academy, Rosie has lived in Roundstone since 2000.

This exhibition was inspired by the wild flowers of Connemara. June heralds the bog cotton and foxgloves while summer ends with fuschia, heather and montebresia. Rosie gathers these seasonal markers on her daily walks and she has used them to make a series of pastel drawings and paintings. Figures often appear in the work creating a visual narrative, deeply informed by symbolism.

Here are some photos taken during the summer of the work in progress at Rosie’s studio in Roundstone.

 

14141844_10154470285992392_3081387001425341698_n Work in progress at Rosie's studio

 

 

The exhibition was officially opened on the 17th of September by Sheila Pratschke, Chair of the Irish Arts Council of Ireland. It took place in the newly renovated upstairs room of the gallery and ran for the duration of Clifden Arts Week 2016.

Sadly I missed the opening night myself due to a family commitment but here’s a few photos of the gallery space just before the show opened.

 

Rosie Mc Gurran show at the Lavelle Art Gallery

 

 

 

Upstairs at the Lavelle Art Gallery

 

 

Rosie's work at the Lavelle Art Gallery

Irish Times Best Shops in Ireland

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19 Jul

The Lavelle Art Gallery is our family business, run by my husband Gavin Lavelle. This year is the first year that we are entering the Irish Times Best Shops in Ireland award 2015 and this is where you dear readers, can help – we would love to have your nomination!

All you have to do is click this link Best Shops in Ireland and fill in the nomination form. Here’s the information you will need:

The Lavelle Art Gallery

Best Specialist Shop

County Galway

The rest is up to you 🙂

 

Post Script

Thanks to everyone who nominated us – we were delighted to have our photo featured in the Irish Times Magazine on Saturday 8th August. Sadly we did not make the short list this year but the competition was very stiff – over 3000 entries for a short list of 100. All to play for again next year.

 

Lavelle Art Gallery Relaunch Party

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Gavin with friends Carol Anne and Kevin
01 Jun

Gavin with friends Carol Anne Joyce and Kevin Griffin

 

We will remember this June Bank Holiday week end for a couple of reasons – firstly because it was the occasion of our much vaunted ‘relaunch party’ ( a plan we’ve had in the pipeline since we developed the gallery late last year ) and secondly because of the atrocious weather. I gasped when I read the forecast early last week and I tried desperately to find just one contradictory prediction but it all became a reality on Saturday night. Continue reading →

Preparations and Industry in Clifden

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Heavy machinery on Main Street
21 May

Road works outside the Lavelle Art Gallery this week 

 

Clifden has been a hive of activity this month in spite of the inclement weather.

It is the last few days of the Irish referendum on marriage equality and we are proud to have been engaged in promoting a YES vote in Clifden. We have ‘YES for Equality’ signs in the gallery window and Gavin and I took it upon ourselves to source some posters in Galway and put them up around town. There was a disappointing proliferation of NO placards that frankly made for a sorry sight each time we stepped outside the door. The YES campaign has been slow to mobilize here, perhaps because we are a small population and not therefore deemed worthwhile in terms of votes. Continue reading →

Life drawing Residency in Roundstone

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Some friendly faces at the gallery
05 May

James Hanley (RHA), Carey Clarke (RHA), Gavin Lavelle and Una Sealy (RHA) outside the Lavelle Art Gallery, Clifden 

 

We’ve had some interesting visitors to the gallery recently – old friends and acquaintances that we don’t get the opportunity to meet often enough. Pictured with Gavin outside the Lavelle Art Gallery are RHA ( Royal Hibernian Academy ) artists James Hanley, Carey Clarke ( former president of the RHA ) and Una Sealy. They were part of a group of fifteen artists that were here for a life drawing residency, organised by mutual friend and RUA painter Rosie McGurran.  Continue reading →

April Sunshine

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The gallery in the sun
23 Apr

Clifden came alive this Easter and although the rush has subsided, there is still a good energy about town as visitors continue to arrive and the sun continues to shine. People started arriving on Good Friday and by Saturday, the town was full. There was a fantastic energy on every street – people sipping coffee out of doors, restaurants busy with their new bills of fare, shoppers bustling in and out of doorways and not a free parking space in sight.  Continue reading →

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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Clifden - St. Parick's Day 2015 by Aerial Eye
17 Mar

Cover photo by ‘Aerial Eye‘

 

We woke to sunshine and blue skies in Clifden today, the 17th March, a notoriously unpredictable day on the weather front. In the last five years, we have had a couple of warm, dry St. Patrick’s day celebrations and at least two wet cold ones. 2013 was so wet, the parade had to be cancelled outright – I remember this particularly as my parents travelled from Dublin especially to see our girls in the parade. We had to make do with a low – key performance in our kitchen instead!  Continue reading →

March Steel

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03 Mar

It’s the first week of March and temperatures have dipped again with no real sign of spring in Connemara just yet. This week saw our first real snowfall with spectacular drifts on the mountains and a heavy smattering of white along the valleys and roads. We’ve been hearing about the icy weather around the country for a while but our proximity to the coast has kept us just above freezing point.  Continue reading →

Open for Christmas

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New work at the Lavelle Art Gallery
21 Dec

The Lavelle Art Gallery is open for Christmas after several weeks of renovations! We have extended our ground floor space so that our visitors can now view work upstairs. Where before you were greeted by a door just inside the gallery ( often covered in promotional material and cards ) we now have an open staircase leading to a landing space and a newly refurbished room. Continue reading →