Visual Arts Trail launch highlights variety of exhibitions on display at Offaly festival

VISUAL arts is now a central feature of Birr Vintage Week & Arts Festival with exhibitions at a variety of venues around the town.

The official launch of the Visutal Arts Trail took place at Oxmantown NS on Friday last where the Open Submission exhibition is on display.

The same venue also houses the Press Photographers Association of Ireland (PPAI) Annual Exhibition.

Speaking at the opening, Caroline Conway, chairperson of Birr Vintage Week & Arts Festival, thanked all their funders, who had helped them put on events in this year's festival, which is now in its 57^th year.

Referring to the Open Submission exhibition in Oxmantown NS she said “we had over 120 submissions, which is lovely to see, and I think we have a really interesting show.”

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She said they had trouble getting venues this year and so had some very small venues. There are exhibitions in the former town restaurant on O'Connell Street, the Masonic Hall, the Space Above, which houses last year's Open Submission winner. She added that they were taking a little time to decide who would receive that award this year and will announce it on the art walk on this Thursday.

She introduced the two curators, Michael and James, the Project Twins. They said initially they were asked to put on an exhibition of their own work in the Masonic Hall, which they agreeed to straight away. They said they were at the festival once before and after agreeing to put on their own exhibition Caroline Conway asked them to select the work for this year's Open Call, which they agreed to.

They thanked all the artists who were there but noted that more than 120 people applied so they had to make a decision of what to try and put into the show. They said it was a privilege to go through the work from all the artists and to see how all the different artists responded to the theme. There was such a variety of different work and they said they also wanted to acknowledge all the artists that they didn't select as well. They said they would have filled the room four times and it was a tough decision selecting the work that did go on display.”It takes a lot of work, time and effort to make work, and to put it out there and put yourself out there, so thanks to everyone who applied.”

On behalf of the Press Photographers Asssociation of Ireland (PPAI), Keith Wiseman, one of the category winners in this year's awards, said they would like to thank the festival for hosting their exhibition and he wished the festival every success for the week. He noted that the overall winner of this year's award PPAI award was an Offaly man James Crombie.

After the opening many followed the trail to the Old Cinema where further exhibitions are on display.

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