Open 10:30–5:00, Tuesday – Saturday
Cultural Reflections from the Water`s Edge
Artists & their expressions in the Boyne Valley
Culture Night Gallery Talk by Brendan Matthews
Friday 22nd 7.30pm free, but booking essential and space limited
We open our Collection exhibition this autumn with some of the gems of the Municipal Art Collection and some contemporary work, and a special gallery talk with Community Historian, Brendan Matthews.
This talk focuses on some of the locally based artists and the inspiration behind their work, and in contrast to some of the visiting artists to the Greater Drogheda & Boyne valley area over the centuries.
Work that will be discussed include Nano Reid’s painting of any of pre-historic sites/monuments within the Boyne Valley, Lawrence Fagan`s St. Mary`s Bridge and his brilliant depiction of the Viaduct, John Cassidy`s street scene which captures Drogheda and its inhabitants on the street in the early days of the Gaelic Revival, Thomas Markey sketches of the port area and Industrial Drogheda, and Simon Coleman’s portrait painting Man of the West.
These works will be considered along with the contrasting works of visiting artists over the years such as Ricciardelli`s views at a hugely important period in the changing face of Drogheda, its streetscape and its architectural buildings, Armstrong`s Wooden House, Roper Curzon`s view of Industrial Drogheda and the Viaduct and his depiction of the Old Abbey, Bea Orpen`s Backyard Bettystown and L.S. Lowry`s, Drogheda 1970,, which is particularly apt for the period, at the death-knell that had sounded for Industrial Drogheda on the eve of Ireland joining the EEC, which brought about the demise of many former industries along the Boyne River`s edge in Drogheda.
Brendan discusses these works that he feels portray the storied past of Drogheda of over five-thousand-years.
These cultural reflections, not just of those who were native to the Boyne Valley area of Julianstown, Slane, Duleek & Drogheda and those who paid visits to the area over time; their collective works also reflect the wider cultural society of the Boyne Valley and the communities who resided here over five millennia.
