Two exhibitions from the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s own Collection, organized as part of IMMA’s National Programme, open to the public in Wexford and Daingean Ui Chuis, Co Kerry this April. Roots, Beanstalks and Growing Up, a partnership between Art Alongside and IMMA, opens to the public at Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford, Co Wexford on Monday 23 April 2007. An Exhibition of Works Selected by Maura and George McClelland from their Personal Collection and the McClelland Collection at IMMA, being shown as part of IMMA’s longstanding relationship with Féile na Bealtaine, opens to the public at Clós na BhFíodóirí, Daingean Ui Chuis, Co Kerry on Saturday 28 April 2007.
Art Alongside, which began in 1999, aims to provide a dynamic experience of the visual arts for children and adults of Co Wexford. Each year, the Art Alongside artists, explore a specific theme in their work with primary school children. The current project is based on the theme of growth and includes work by Barrie Cooke, Tom Molloy, Thomas Ruff and Vik Muniz. Children from nine Co Wexford primary schools have been involved in a range of projects connected to the theme. In Roots, Beanstalks and Growing Up a selection of this work will be exhibited in the Wexford Arts Centre alongside works from the IMMA Collection on the same theme.
An Exhibition of Works Selected by Maura and George McClelland from their Personal Collection and the McClelland Collection at IMMA includes works by William Conor, Gerard Dillon, Paul Henry, Tony O’Malley, Dan O’Neill, Colin Middleton and William Scott amongst others. In the 1960s George and Maura McClelland opened a gallery in Belfast, which grew out of a love for art and was a means of supporting contemporary artists. In 1999 the McClelland’s offered 400 paintings, sculptures and drawing to IMMA on a five-year loan. Subsequently, almost half of this collection was donated permanently to IMMA, allowing the McClelland’s to start a new collecting campaign. This exhibition, drawn from the McClelland’s private collection and some of the works now in the IMMA Collection, is coming home to Daingean Ui Chuis, where Maura McClelland went to school and in September 2007 to Omagh, where George McClelland grew up and first began to dream of buying and making art.
IMMA’s National Programme is designed to create access opportunities to the visual arts in a variety of situations and locations in Ireland. Using the Collection of the Irish Museum of Modern Art and exhibitions generated by the Museum, the National Programme facilitates the creation of exhibitions and other projects for display in a range of locations around the country. The National Programme establishes the Museum as inclusive, accessible and national, de-centralising the Collection, and making it available to communities in their own localities, on their own terms, in venues with which the audience is comfortable and familiar.
Both exhibitions are accompanied by workshops supported by the Department of Education and Science.
Catherine Marshall, former Senior Curator: Head of Collections, IMMA will interview George McClelland in Collectors’ Choice: Bringing it All Back Home at Siopa na BhFíodóirí, Daingean Ui Chuis at 11.00am on 1 May 2007. Telephone: 066 915 1688
Roots, Beanstalks and Growing Up continues at Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford, Co Wexford until 7 May 2007.
An Exhibition of Works Selected by Maura and George McClelland from their Personal Collection and the McClelland Collection at IMMA continues at Clós na BhFíodóirí, Daingean Ui Chuis, Co Kerry until 6 May 2007.
For further information and images please contact Monica Cullinane or Patrice Molloy at Tel: +353 1 612 9900; Email: [email protected]
23 April 2007