Droichead Arts Centre has announced the recipients of the second strand of their artist bursaries for 2021, supporting the work and development of artists in the North East. (Louth, Meath, Cavan and Monaghan)
Droichead received a high number of applications from artists based in the north east region and as the quality of work submitted was so good, the panel decided it to award four visual arts bursaries of €1,200 per artist, and two music awards of €1,500 per artist.
Droichead’s strategy is to support the work and development of artists in this region. We want to create an ecology which nurtures art and artists, and which makes the production and presentation of high-quality work available.
Visual arts bursaries
- Laura Gramzow (Visual Artist) With the assistance of Droichead Arts Centre Bursary, Laura will continue to work on and develop a series of four large scale paintings/assemblages, with a very broad reference to Hogarth’s ‘Four Times of the Day’.
- Jackie Hudson Lalor (Visual Artist) is a visual artist working in painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture. Hudson Lalor is working on a contemporary portrait of The Countess Constance Markievicz, an Irish revolutionary and suffragist, the first woman to be elected to the Westminster Parliament and the Minister for Labour in the first Dáil, she was also one of the first women to attend The Slade College of Art.
- Emily McGardle (Artist ) is a printmaker from Co. Monaghan. Emily’s project ‘Screenprinting as Gaeilge’ seeks to promote both screenprinting and the Irish language. The bursary will allow for Emily to produce a series of short instructional publications in Irish, as well as develop screenprinting workshops.
- Eileen O’Sullivan (Artist) is a painter from Ashbourne Co.Meath. This bursary will support Eileen in making a new collection of paintings with hybridity at the heart of their subject matter; a war between abstraction and figuration, beauty and oppression; ‘new spaces’ where contradictions can co-exist.
Music Awards
- Carly Coonagh ( Singer Songwriter) The bursary will be used to fund the completion of Carly’s debut album which she began recording in Nov 2019. The bursary will be used to fund the remaining recording, mixing and mastering to finish the album.
- Séan Mathews is a songwriter from Drogheda. The Droichead Arts Centre bursary will fund the finishing touches to Séan’s album and documentary, which is set for release in early 2022.
In addition to financial funding, Droichead is also planning to support all recipients, in kind. by providing exhibition space, mentorship, documentation and assistance with the future development of their projects.
Borrowed Ground Exhibition Opens At Droichead
4th December 2021 – 29th January 2022
Pop in a visit the Borrowed Ground Exhibition at Droichead Arts Centre which runs until 29 January. The Borrowed Ground Artist Collective was set up in association with Droichead Arts Centre in 2019 and consists of ten professional artists based in Louth and East Meath including Vivienne Byrne, Nuala Early, Jillian Gott, Laura Gramzow, Brian Hegarty, Breda Marron, Kieran McNulty, Violet Shirran, Rodney Thornton and Dee Walsh.
Over the summer of 2019, the collective came together as an experimental artists’ studios and residency that took place in the gallery of Droichead Arts Centre. 11 artists in total took part.
Borrowed Ground offered a communal setting for artists to work in. It was a space for connection, creative thinking, and public engagement through its open studio policy. In a landscape of meagre provision of artists’ work spaces, and common feelings of isolation, the project demonstrated the need for dedicated artists’ studio spaces in Drogheda and highlighted the importance of valuing and supporting visual artists in the north east region.
The collective came together again, while the Arts Centre was closed in 2020, to create art pieces for bespoke posters as part of Droichead’s Connection Project. This exhibition which opened on Saturday 4 December, was launched by Louth Arts Officer, Moya Hodgers, features these works and more from the Borrowed Ground artists. Whilst all the members are working professionally in their chosen disciplines, many are in temporary and precarious studio arrangements, therefore the search for dedicated studio space continues. Meanwhile, the artists still connect and meet on a regular basis and relationships forged and projects imagined in Borrowed Ground continue to develop.
Due to the ongoing Covid19 Pandemic, visitor capacity in our gallery is limited. You can find out more information on your visit, and our programme, and Covid Protocols on our website www.droichead.com Droichead Arts Centre is funded by the Arts Council, and Louth County Council.
