Events

After The Great Scaldwood developed out of a yearlong residency at Draίocht.

Central to Byrne’s work is an exploration of the past in terms of former histories of current sites. Byrne has focussed on two sites in particular, the Blanchardstown centre where Draίocht is located and the Dunsink Observatory, 5 kilometres away.  Through research and site visits, Byrne uncovered aspects of the location’s history in the 17th century which revealed The Great Scaldwood. This ancient forest stretched from the river Tolka to beyond Coolmine and was inhabited by wild boar and wolves until an extensive wolf cull made the wolf population in Ireland extinct.

Byrne links the past with the present in drawings such as Trace and Trail and The Great Scaldwood and in the Wolfcull series of paintings. In Trace and Trail, we can see faint apparitions of wolves passing in front of the entrance to the Blanchardstown centre. The Great Scaldwood refers to the ancient forest, but here we see trees from the immediate urban area and a sign for the forest created using type from a selection of shop fronts.

The Moonrock series of drawings depicts a story that emerged from research into the Dunsink Observatory. After the Apollo11 expedition to the moon, two pieces of lunar rock were presented to Ireland, one of which was kept at the Observatory. A fire at the Observatory in 1977 led to debris from the building being dumped in the adjacent landfill. It is thought that the lunar rock is buried somewhere within the landfill.

The drawings are made with fine line drawing pens and Indian ink on Polyart paper. Byrne experiments with the materials, allowing the ink to flow across the paper and under masking tape which is removed and drawn over when dry. Layers of ink and water are applied in a succession of drips, sprays and splashes. Similarly the paintings are made up of layers of paint which are sanded back and repainted a number of times.

Byrne graduated with first class honours from NCAD in Fine Art Painting in 2003 and a Postgraduate Diploma in Art and Design Education in 2011. Previous exhibitions include Town and Country Monster Truck Gallery and Studios (2009), Amharc Fhine Gall – It's All in the Detail, curated by Caroline Cowley, Draíocht (2008), Winter Salon, Temple Bar Gallery and Studios (2008), Hi-Vis Across The Way (2008). Other Residency awards include the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Monaghan and SÍM, Reykjavík, Iceland. 

Web: www.deirdrebyrne.com

Read Des Kenny's chat with Deirdre here ...

Poised, elegant and sophisticated; Keehan’s depiction of the nude harmonises the academic tradition with gentle intimacy. Through the medium of Indian ink on paper, she gives a fluid lightness to the subject. Controlled and deliberate brush marks are juxtaposed beside happy instances of drips and bleeds, with watermarks giving life and movement to the subjects. The drawings are taken beyond the study of the human form and the models expression and identity come to life. Life drawing is seen as one of the enduring and most difficult themes in visual arts. Keehan’s approach is both expressive and considered, a complimentary extension of Keehan’s other work in oil paint. 

Born in Limerick in 1978. Keehan graduated from Byam Shaw School of Art (University of the Arts London) in 2004 with a MA in Fine Art, after completing a BA(Hons) Fine Art Painting in 2002 from Limerick School of Art and Design. Keehan has exhibited widely including London, Berlin and extensively through Ireland, including solo shows ‘Shimmeriing Synthetic Appearances; I Want To Put You Back In’ at Queen Street Studios Gallery, Belfast in January 2012 and ‘Lookie Likie; Mimetic Protagonist’ at The Molesworth Gallery in 2011. Keehan won the Merit Award in The Golden Fleece Award 2012. She is exhibiting in this years RHA Annual, and in January 2012 she started a six month residency in the RHA Studios. In 2010 Keehan undertook a residency in Takt Berlin. She now lives and works in Dublin.

Niamh’s back with her brilliant blend of rock, soul, r&b, Eurovision hits, tracks from her successful albums and her own favourites with that amazing voice Commitments’ director Alan Parker ‘had to have’. Described as the ‘Rolls Royce’ of Irish singers, Niamh Kavanagh represented Ireland at the Eurovision twice, collecting maximum points from the Irish vote, and is the voice behind 3 of the biggest hits from the Commitments hits ever. Niamh’s easy going sense of fun added to the quality of her voice makes this a really special night.

 Early Bird: €14 (book before 31 Mar 2012)

We’re introducing a bit of a twist this year by introducing another art form – dance! Throughout the week we’ll work with a variety of visual arts material and tools under theme of exploring colours with artist Gen Harden. Towards the end of the week, participants will see their creations come to life with the help of choreographer and dancer Mark Rogers. Participants will have the opportunity to show off all they have done by inviting parents to come and watch a last day ‘performance'.

MON 02 – FRI 06 JULY // 11am-12pm // Workshop A (6-8years) // €25
MON 02 – FRI 06 JULY // 1pm-3pm // Workshop B (9-12years) // €40

Access Places:  If you would like to nominate a child to participate in any of the summer projects who may not have the fee, please contact Sarah Beirne, Children & Youth Arts Co-ordinator on 01 8098029, or email sarah@draiocht.ie in confidence and enquire about access places. Draíocht is committed, within its resources, to access to the arts for all young people.

On the 10th of August 1897 Percy French’s epic journey to a show performance at Moore’s Hall, Kilkee resulted in the highly entertaining ‘Are ye right there Michael?’ which describes his journey from Dublin to Kilkee on the West Clare Railway. Enjoy this evening of songs and poems by Percy French in the intimate surroundings of Draiocht's cosy Studio, featuring all time favourites ‘Are ye right there Michael?’, ‘The Darling Girl from Clare’, ‘Poems to the West’ and ‘Abdul Abulbul Amir’ (Percy’s first successful song), sung by an eclectic mix of local Dublin 15 singers with a 5 piece band.

Percy French is perhaps best known as a writer of humorous songs, but he was active also as an editor, concert promoter, landscape painter, sketch writer, poet, banjo player, and stage entertainer. Born in 1854 at Cloonyquin House, County Roscommon, he was the second son of landowner Christopher French and his wife Susan Emma (nee Percy). He was educated in Ireland and England. In 1872 he began an engineering degree at Trinity College, Dublin. There he developed his talent for songwriting.

EXTRA DATE ADDED: TUESDAY 03 JULY
WEDNESDAY 04 JULY IS NOW SOLD OUT

This July Draíocht is delighted to be back, once again, working with the Daughters of Charity’s Summer Camp ‘The Connect Club’ in Laurel Lodge. The summer camp is filled with social and recreational activities catering for young people with varying degrees of intellectual disability, with the aim of providing an outlet that is fun and focused on the individual’s likes and interests. 

Over the last number of years Draíocht has partnered with the Connect Club over the summer, by facilitating drama, dance, music and visual art workshops. Last year we transformed IKEA tables into individually decoupage styled tables. This year, participants will work on their individual creativity and style again with long time Draíocht facilitator and artist Genevieve Harden to create fabulous magical goblets. We will work with recycled plastic bottles, PVA Glue, glass paint and crepe paper to turn a mundane plastic bottle into individually created, beautiful pieces of art work -  that you can also use as a very fancy drinking vessel! Each participant will end the week having gotten a little bit messy, learn a bit about glass paint, a bit about gluing, have a goblet to drink out of…or maybe just to keep their pencils in…. but most of all to hopefully have had some fun! 

Once again Draíocht is delighted to hold its Youth Theatre Summer Project for 2012.

No audition or application form is required to take part, as this summer we want to take EVERYONE who wants to take part. You do not need to have any experience – you can just be looking for something to do, have a new, fun experience or want to find out a bit more about youth theatre. The workshops will run over one week and end with a low key showcase in our studio space.

Dates: Mon 23 July-Fri 27 July 2012
Time: Approx 11am-5pm (this time may change if we get a lot of participants)
Cost: 45e (there will be a number of access or reduced rate places available, so if cost is an issue please contact Sarah Beirne directly on 8098029 or email sarah@draiocht.ie)

To book your place please contact Box Office on 01-8852622 or call in and book in person. 
This workshop is for young people aged between 13-18 years.

Check out our D15 Youth Theatre Blog ...