Siopa na bhFíodóirí, Údarás na Gaeltachta and St Mary’s Church, Dingle, Co Kerry
Smidiríní is a richly diverse exhibition of works from the Irish Museum of Modern Art Collection, curated by fifth-year art students from Meánscoil na Toirbhirte, Dingle, Co Kerry. The exhibition is a culmination of a year-long curatorial project represents a celebration of a creative collaboration between the students and staff of Meánscoil na Toirbhirte and the Irish Museum of Modern Art, which embodies the spirit and participative objectives of the National Programme.
The project was designed both to increase and develop the students individual abilities while at the same time encouraging them to collaborate with their classmates in a constructive and productive way. Most of the works represent the individual choices of the students and was followed by research on each of the artworks. The artworks encompass a wide range of media such as the screenprint, ‘When I woke up in the morning, the feeling was still there’, by Angus Fairhurst, a coloured panel which is deliberately blurred around the edges to suggest the uncertainty of the emotions mentioned in the title, selected by Julie Ní Mhuircheártaigh. The sculpture, ‘Francis Street Boys’, selected by Bríd Ní Churraín, a portrait of 15 students made from a plaster cast of their head and shoulders, was made as the result of a collaboration between the artist John Ahearn and the 4th class boys of the Christian Brothers School, Francis St. However some work received unanimous approval such as the film piece, ‘Waves’, by Marie Jo LaFontaine, shot in the West Coast of Ireland it displays the power and passion of the natural world.
The curatorial process involved a series of meetings, both in Dingle and Dublin, where the artworks were discussed and selected and where venues and layout where researched and decided upon. Each student designed an individual catalogue, the overall design was then debated by the whole group and elements of each design were incorporated into the final catalogue.
The exhibition is supported by Údarás na Gaeltachta and Féile na Bealtaine.
A full-colour catalogue designed by the students accompanies the exhibition (price €5.00).