Kennys Bookshop & Art Gallery

EVENTS 2012

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EVENTS 2012
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BOOKLAUNCH  |  MAY 18
The official launch of 'The case of the Craughwell Prisoners during the Land War in Co. Galway, 1879–85' by Pat Finnegan takes place at 6.00pm on Friday 18 May 2012 in Kenny’s Bookshop, Liosbaun Retail Park, Tuam Road, Galway.

This book will be launched by Dr Laurence Marley, NUI Galway.

At the height of the Land War in 1881, a dispute over land led to the shooting dead of a young man called Peter Doherty near Craughwell, Co. Galway. Intense police investigations discovered two informers whose perjured testimony before packed juries resulted in the conviction of two innocent men, Patrick Finnegan and Constable Michael Muldowney. This book features a forensic analysis of the trials that resulted in such a grave miscarriage of justice. Original research in primary sources has uncovered the role of informers, payments made to them and their eventual ‘disposal’ by the Dublin Castle authorities. Following commutation of the death sentences, each of the prisoners served a term of twenty years penal servitude and became known as the ‘Craughwell prisoners’. The experiences of the prisoners in Mountjoy and Maryborough jails are revealed from the prison files, which also contain their heartfelt pleas for release and pardon and affirmations of their innocence. 160pp; ills. Hbk €35.00 | Pbk €14.95 

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EXHIBITION  |  MAY 25 - JUNE 14
BEGGS, HOGAN & KELLY - Elements of Place - Three Person Show.

Three contemporary expressionists with a common inspiration in the Irish landscape.  Leah Beggs, Joan Hogan and Charlotte Kelly will each showcase their most recent individual delvings through the medium of oils on canvas.  None display any fear of paint, and while each are quite distinctive and will not be confused with the next, they none the less do not shout at each other... at least not visually.

The exhibiton will be officially opened by poet Geraldine Mills, with whom the artists have had previous collaborative association.

_{Joan Hogan, Energos (2012), Oil on Canvas, 30x30in} 

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BOOKLAUNCH  |  JUNE 1
Galway Launch of Bernard Kelly's "Returning Home: Irish Veterans after the Second World War". Irish Academic Press.

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EXHIBITION  |  JUNE 15 - JULY 12
THE SEA, OH THE SEA...  Group Exhibition. 

We are blessed in Galway that we live on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. To celebrate the finalé of the Volvo Round-the-World Yacht race we have invited twenty artists to show us what the sea means to them. This exhibition is the result - a collection in an interesting variety of media and of scale and styles. It is a true celebration of the sea. We see it in all its moods, as a great resource, as a source of enjoyment and fun, as somewhere to earn a living. It has inspired poets and painters for centuries. We hope this exhibition will inspire you.  Artists confirmed include John Coll, John Behan RHA, Mike Flannery, Padraic Reaney, Michael Flaherty,  Paul Guilfoyle, John Morris, Jim Kinch, Manus Walsh and Kieran Tuohy. 

_{John Coll,  Gliomach (2012), Cast Bronze and Welded Steel, Unique, 33x21x12in}

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EXHIBITION  |  JULY 13 - AUGUST 9
STONEY ROAD PRESS @ The Kenny Gallery.

An exciting selection of limited edition prints made by some of Ireland's top artists are to appear at The Kenny Gallery, Galway from 13th July - 9th August.  Artist's working with Dublin's pioneering Stoney Road Press present works through the media of etching, woodblock, carborundum and photography.Included will be a selection of works from amongst Stoney Road's line-up of illustrious collaborators, such as Barrie Cooke, Dorothy Cross, William Crozier, Charles Cullen, Felim Egan, Louis le Brocquy, Alice Maher, Sean McSweeney, Mick O'Dea, Patrick Scott... and others.
 
About Stoney Road PressA chance encounter between David O’Donoghue and James O’Nolan at a gallery opening in 2001 led to a cup of coffee, conversation, and soon afterwards a new business experiment, launched on the premises of a former corner shop on the northside of Dublin. James came to the venture as a former director of Graphic Studio Dublin, tutor at the National College of Art & Design and master printmaker; David as trained printmaker, Dublin gallery owner and entrepreneur. Combining expert knowledge of printmaking processes with business and marketing acumen, Stoney Road Press has since emerged as one of Ireland’s most innovative producers of limited edition fine artworks, its practice expanding from prints to publications and 3-dimensional works.Not to be missed, an affordable slice of Irish visual culture - runs from Friday 13th July until Thursday 9th August.

_{Alice Maher, The Snail Chronicles, (Double Drawing), 2004, Intaglio, 28,5 x 28,5cm, Ed 30}

<<< COMING UP LATER IN 2012 >>>

EXHIBITION  |  FROM November 2
Crotty and Kelly's Pretty Pictures
New Works by Dean Kelly and Shane Crotty.

_{'Salthill Promenade - Life in 3D' by Dean Kelly and 'Godforsaken Field' by Shane Crotty}

The Kenny Gallery in Liosbán will host an unusual exhibiton on this Friday, November 2nd. It is a two-person show entitled “Pretty Pictures” by two County Galway artists, Shane Crotty from Woodford and Dean Kelly originally from Loughrea. 

Shane is a printmaker with a difference; he works in a variety of techniques including digital, monoprint, collograph, drypoint and photography. He mixes contemporary media with drawing and gold leaf. He uses wooden plates which degrade and change quickly while working on them and making editions. This change is often unpredictable and can produce some fascinating results. His subject matter varies from Auschwitz to Croagh Patrick, from war memorials to religious iconography and from modern society to floral images. 

About sentimentality rather than being in themselves sentimental, Dean Kelly’s new collection of paintings and photographs – his contribution to ‘Crotty & Kelly’s Pretty Pictures’ marks a shift in that artist’s work to simpler modes.Gone is much of the layered graphic, and to the fore is pure painting. As a young painter Alice Maher told Kelly that she could see that he, as she had herself as a young artist, needed to ‘say everything with every single piece’. However she assured him that the affliction of applying an encyclopaedic method eases with time.So the penny may be dropping... ‘de-cluttering’ stands to these spontaneous, instinctive, unabashedly local (and not so local) images which, while making you think, still manage to be beautiful. The exhibition will be opened by Páraic Breathnach and will run for the month of November.

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EXHIBITION  |  November 30 - December 20, 2012
JOHN BEHAN RHA ~ On the Tide of History

A collection describing the painful journey of two cultures through the medium of bronze by one of Ireland’s foremost sculptors.The Jews and the Irish… Behan makes connections between two peoples, each with their own stories of journey, struggle, hardship and suffering in his new collection entitled ‘On the Tide of History’.  Where the Irish had the anguish of the Great Famine of the 1840s, the Jewish people suffered the unspeakable calamity of the Holocaust.  However, both made journeys to new lives in new places, and both embarked on the voyage into newfound nationhood.A collection of some 30 bronzes are complimented by 22 preparatory drawings and paintings. Not to be missed.

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It is almost fifty five years since John Behan first exhibited his sculpture in public, and forty five years since Kennys first showed his work. He has not really changed much physically since then and is still modest and unassuming about his talents. In that time however, he has quietly forged a name for himself as one of Ireland’s most achieving and influential contemporary artists. He is known all over this country and has a formidable international reputation.
 
One of the formative influences in his life was Paddy McElroy, a blacksmith who taught him how to structure metal into expressive artworks. This experience and his years working with Dublin Art Foundry have given him a complete mastery of his materials. He describes himself first and foremost as a craftsman. He is very disciplined and has a terrific work ethic. He is a great traveller and soaks up much of the local culture, and records it in his sketchbook whether it be in Vietnam or Malta or Inishbofin.  Many of these sketches end up in bronze as can be seen in this show.
 
John is a voracious reader and literary influences are invariably featured in his work, but he has many other interests as well as the ability to put his own original interpretation on virtually any subject. He has done private and public commissions, both here and in many countries abroad. He could be described as a father-figure in Irish sculpture today. He is generous with his skills and talents and experience. Many honours have been bestowed on him for his achievements.

_{John Behan RHA, 'Belfast Famine Ship' (2012)} 

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EXHIBITION  |  DECEMBER 2012 

Christmas Group Show