Faoin Spéir exhibitions to be revealed in Offaly

When you are out and about towards the end of March through to the end of April, take a look around your local surroundings in Birr and Tullamore town as dynamic and socially engaging artists exhibit their work at different locations as part of the In the Open | Faoin Spéir programme.
An exhibition entitled RGB BIRR, opens this Thursday, March 24th, at Birr Castle Vistor's Centre. Visual Artist Alan Phelan invites you to enter the world of Offaly native John Joly who invented the Joly screen process - a colour photography processing method. An exhibition of illuminated photographic works by Phelan will be presented along with a series of red, green and blue outdoor interventions. The project builds on the rich photographic history of Birr Castle which houses Ireland's oldest photography darkroom. Keep a lookout for railings around Birr town near the castle painted red, green and blue to mirror the Joly vertical colour screens that serve as framing devices for possible striped camera phone photos, a contemporary take on the Joly process out of doors. The RGB BIRR Exhibition is open from 9am-4:30pm daily until April 27th.
In the Open | Faoin Spéir – Offaly, funded by the Arts Council of Ireland, is a collaborative partnership led by Offaly County Council’s Arts Office with Birr Theatre and Arts Centre and Birr Festivals Collective, Tullamore Arts Centre & Lough Boora Parklands. The aim is to develop the exciting and innovative curated programme of outdoor events, taking place throughout Co. Offaly, in anticipation of the opening of the new Arts Centre for the town next year. In the Open | Faoin Spéir – Offaly will generate a sustained and curated programme of multidisciplinary, inclusive arts activity in public or open spaces in towns and communities around Ireland until April 2022.
‘Crowned – Exploring Black Hair Culture’ will launch at the end of March, presented as a series of photographs and a film at Tullamore Library from March 31st to April 18th. Through a series of online workshops which took place over the winter, participants collaborated with Mayo-based artist and musician Breda Mayock, assistant Amanda Nyoni and African Diaspora on exploring what Black Hair Culture means to them.
Amanda reflects on the project’s journey: ‘For me, it was an opportunity to provide a forum that would challenge the misconceptions and biases that have defined our perception of beauty standards for the black community. There has never been a better time than the present to come together, talk and reflect on shared experiences of hair, good and bad as it is only through this, that we can begin to pave a better way forward and redefine the terminology used when describing afro hair.’
Launching on the same date, writer and Museum of Everyone 2021-22 Curator in Residence Diana Bamimeke will reveal a series of window front ‘Text Installations’. The texts are based on a series of writings and discussions, which are the outcomes of an ongoing workshop series where the participants, who work across different art disciplines, considered the role of critique in response to their own respective fields.
Diana says of the art criticism explored: " The outcome of the workshop lives in a space that's typically commercial – shopfronts invite you to come in and spend spend spend! But what if you encountered an artwork instead? And what if it asked nothing of you - not your custom, not your loyalty - except to be more critical about the structures and visual cultures you exist in?" Come by for a look and find out! The installation is available for viewing at the Dunnes Stores entrance to the Bridge Centre, Tullamore from March 31st to April 27th.
Lastly, County Offaly has highly anticipated the return of another signature wall piece from one of Ireland’s leading street artists and activists Joe Caslin, since his large-scale street art display on the Tullamore Town Hall in 2015.
Joe’s work is well known for opening people’s minds, hearts and eyes to what large scale imagery can achieve. This time Joe will reveal another major work at Tullamore Train station, following a series of conversations and interactions with asylum seekers in Co. Offaly. This project centres around identity, representation and connecting established and new communities in Tullamore through creativity and action. Joe’s past large scale visual achievements include ‘Counterpart’ at the Ulster Museum in Belfast, ‘Finding Power’ with writer and activist Stephen Moloney, ‘The Volunteers’ on Trinity College, 'Ar scath a cheile a Mhaireann an daoine' in Waterford and more recently ‘Don’t Talk Down to Me’ marking 50 years of Down Syndrome Ireland from 2021 to name just a few. This latest addition to In the Open | Faoin Spéir will be officially unveiled on Monday, April 4th.
In the Open |Faoin Spéir and Spectacular Vernacular emerges from the foundations of artistic cultures that already exist between our towns and in County Offaly; examining the traditions of Offaly and its rural arcadia through the lens of the contemporary practitioners who live there or artists and culturalists whose practice may be associated with the locale. These featured artists share a united association with new blood, new cultures and potential that will look sharply to a shared future and consider what collective legacy may be possible for our community to envisage today?
For more information on the above artists and their In the Open |Faoin Spéir and Spectacular Vernacular projects visit https://intheopenoffaly.ie/Artists