Johnny Duhan’s songs like The Voyage and Don’t Give up till it’s Over are sung all over the world in a variety of languages, thanks to the focus put on them by Christy Moore, The Dubliners, The Irish Tenors, Mary Black and hosts of other Irish and international singers. Over the past few years Johnny has taken to the stage in a series of one man shows based on his lyrical autobiography To The Light and his new show The Voyage plumbs the marriage struggle for “treasures of the heart”. 

“I wrote ‘The Voyage’ partly as a gesture of gratitude to my sailor father for having held a steady hand on the tiller of our family’s fortunes during the turbulent times of my upbringing,” says Johnny. “‘The Voyage’ is one of a series of songs on the concept of the ups and downs of family relations. After the raw nerves of the marriage struggle in ‘Trying To Get The Balance Right’ and ‘We Had Our Trouble Then’, I wrote ‘The Voyage’ to express the sunnier side of family life.”
Christy Moore’s version of the song appeared in 1989 and it has a near permanent residence in the Top 10 of the Irish folk section of iTunes download charts. Last year alone there were five new versions of the song. It is also a popular choice for weddings.
“Politicians, clergymen, writers, journalists, and school teachers have eulogised the lyric,” says Johnny. “Choirs sing it. Comedians gag on it. Marriage counsellors swear by it. ‘The Voyage’ is sung all over the world in a variety of languages.”

Niall Stokes of Hot Press has predicted that ‘The Voyage’ will be around long after most popular rock songs are long forgotten. This echoes Christy Moore’s assessment that the song is destined for a high place in the cannon of folk standards.

These tours are intended to facilitate the understanding of what your students can see in the gallery and encourage students to explore and to voice their opinions about what the artist is doing, or issues raised by the artists work. If you would like your class to visit please contact Sarah on 01 8852622 to arrange a short tour. Tours are free and where possible can include a tour of the whole building. Class numbers are restricted to 25 students with accompanying teacher.

Born in London, Cathy Henderson grew up in Northern Ireland before moving to Paris and then to Dublin to study at NCAD from where she graduated with a Masters of Fine Art in 1993. She has since exhibited in the UK, Ireland, France and Canada.

This current body of work was made over the last two or three years all around the Irish coast. “The most dynamic and resilient influence on my landscape work is the place where land meets the sea. My aim with these pictures is to capture the transience of the coastal view, the sense of shifting skies and the constantly fluctuating mood of weather.” Cathy Henderson

In addition to her continued fascination with landscape, Cathy also focuses much time on portraiture and figurative work. In 2007 she worked as Artist in Residence in Dublin City Council and in 2009 at St James’s Hospital, Dublin. These residencies resulted in two large scale bodies of work which documented cleansing, maintenance and technical support personnel. In 2010 she joined the Blackchurch Print Studio and in the same year she received an Arts Council Artist in the Community award to fund a visual art project with a group of long-term prisoners. She was recently awarded a commission, jointly with Robert Ballagh, to design a commemorative artwork to celebrate the centenary of the 1913 Lockout and the establishment of the ITGWU. Her work is in numerous private and public collections including the Ulster Museum, ESB and Queens University Belfast.

View Exhibition Video here ... 

Dave West was born in Penclawdd, South Wales and grew up in Swansea City. He graduated from the Carmarthenshire College of Art & Design and is now settled in Balbriggan, North County Dublin. This new body of work has been in progress for the past three years and has progressed to an investigation into the relationships between place, atmosphere, light and the moods or feelings they can evoke.

Dave has held nine solo shows to date including two with the Blue Leaf Gallery. He has exhibited with Eigse Arts Festival, the Royal Hibernian Academy, the Royal Ulster Academy, and in the U.K. with the Royal Society of Marine Artists and the New English Art Club. His work is featured in numerous private and public collections including the Office of Public Works, Texaco Corp. and BP. In 2007 Fingal County Council purchased a series of seven paintings for display in their newly refurbished Balbriggan Library. He is also currently studying towards a BA (hons) in the History of Art.

DAVE WEST IN CONVERSATION
Dave will discuss the exhibition and his art practice with Ian Fleming - artist, lecturer at University of Ulster, and Director of Creative Exchange Studios, on 10 March 2012 at 2.30pm. This is a free event and all are welcome.


View Exhibition Video here ... 

D15 Youth Theatre will shortly be entering into its second term of its first year. Working with Eimear Morrissey, Mark Rogers and Ann Ryan, this talented group of 13-18 year olds meet in Draíocht every Tuesday evening and work on many elements of theatre from improvisation to Stanislavski technique to dance. From March the group will begin to work towards a piece of theatre that will explore what they have learned over the course of the term. If you would like to find out more about Youth Theatre, what it is and how to get involved next year please contact sarah@draiocht.ie or log on to the D15 Youth Theatre Facebook page for updates.