The Higher Bridges Gallery, The Clinton Centre
The Barracks Store and Magazine, Enniskillen Castle Museums
1st Floor, The Imperial Building, 38-40 Queen Elizabeth Road

Janine Antoni

Karl Burke

John Byrne

Maud Cotter

Gary Coyle

Miriam De Búrca

Stephen Dillon

Cian Donnelly

Patricia Kelly

Sharon Kelly

Susan MacWilliam

Fergus Martin

Janet Mullarney

Mariele Neudecker

Abigail O’Brien

Paul Seawright

Amelia Stein

Grace Weir

Daphne Wright

The sacred Project: A Cross Border, Cross Community Arts Project Selects Artworks For Major Exhibition In Enniskillen

Project Overview

In December members of Catholic & Protestant communities from Carrick-on-Shannon/Leitrim & Enniskillen/Fermanagh gathered at The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon Co. Leitrim for the first meeting of the Sacred Project. A PEACE III project funded by the County Leitrim Peace III Partnership through the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund which is managed by the Special EU Programmes Body.

The Sacred Project proposes to use the medium of creating an exhibition as a tool to initiate conversations around notions of Sacred, Divinity and Spirituality by discussing the shared, experiential aspects of religions as opposed to focusing on their differences. By using the “Art Exhibition” as a platform for finding a commonality of interests in the groups, this project will provide all who attend with the rare opportunity of experiencing and discussing spirituality and sacredness in unfamiliar terms.

The participants visited the Ulster Museum in Belfast, the Irish Museum of Modern Art and The Dock in Carrick-on-Shannon where Suzanne Lyle from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the artist and Head of Fine Art at NCAD, Philip Napier, Johanne Mullan, National Programmer, IMMA, Jerome O’Drisceoil of the Green on Red Gallery and Linda Shevlin, project facilitator, presented artworks for their consideration.

The exhibition of works selected by the groups on the theme ‘Sacred’ will be held in The Higher Bridges Gallery, Enniskillen Castle Museum and 1st Floor The imperial Building on Queen Elizabeth Road and  pens on the 25th of June 2010. Recently the groups met to make their final decisions on the works they’d like to have included in the exhibition. The process of selecting the artworks for the exhibition has ultimately be informed by group discussions, visits to art institutions and talks from key figures in the curating field.

Sacred Exhibition

Among the works chosen is the large scale multi screen video installation by the internationally renowned artist Daphne Wright, The Prayer Project. This emersive installation comprises of film portraits exploring the mystery of the intensely private and personal moment of prayer and meditation. Other artists include John Byrne, Gary Colye, Fergus Martin, Paul Seawright, Janet Mullarney, Abigail O’Brien,  Amelia Stein, Janine Antoni, Grace Weir, Susan MacWilliam, Sharon Kelly, Mariele Neudecker, Patricia Kelly, Stephen Dillon and Cian Donnelly.

The exhibition will be housed in 3 venues across Enniskillen: The Higher Bridges Gallery, The Barracks and Magazine Stores at Enniskillen Castle and the 1st floor of The Imperial Building on Queen Elizabeth Road. The exhibition Sacred will open on the 25th of June with venues opening their doors to visitors from 7pm. There will be an opening reception at 8pm in the Higher Bridges Gallery.

Sacred Dialogue

There will also be a one-day seminar/conversation to coincide with the exhibition, exploring the relationship between contemporary art and Sacred on June 26th. As part of this dialogue session the artist Seamus Nolan will be performing an interview with the anarcho primitivist John Zerzan. In Nolan’s description of event ‘The essential element of liveness, of the ritual of performance, the visitation of this cultural thinker being an important aspect of this event. In terms of the sacred, this performance looks at the the idea of the symbolic communion with the ideological moment, the word of god from which we bear testament in the Bible and the text as sacred ‘what is written is divine’. Other speakers include the artists Daphne Wright who will be speaking about The Prayer Project. The artists Karl Burke and Miriam De Burca will also be speaking about their experiences creating new work for the exhibition. Karl and Miriam were selected by the community groups from an open and invited call for proposals. The artists conversation will be chaired by the independent curator Helen Carey. Philip Napier (Head of Fine Art NCAD) will be in conversation with Rev. Gary Mason who’ll be speaking about his work in communities in East Belfast and the role of art in a culture of change. More speakers to be confirmed.

For more information and to request pemissions for images or to book a place at the seminar as places are limited please email sacredproject@ireland.com

For further info you can also visit the facebook page

Contact

Linda Shevlin

Phone: +353 86 605 2571

Email: sacredproject@ireland.com

For Northern Ireland

Connie Bree

Phone: +44 7807 005516

Email: me@conniebree.com

The Sacred Project Participants were:

Ivy Boddy, Mary Boyle, Mary Brady, Kathleen Breen, Majella Curran, Kathleen Flanagan, Martina Gilmartin, Micheal Gilmartin, Corey McDaniel, Kathleen Markey, Yvonne Masterson, Jackie Mullan, Maura Newman, Mary O’Donnell, Stephen Rennicks, Sharon Richardson, Helen Reynolds, Christine and Cian Stewart, Mary Taylor, Martina Ward

With particular appreciation for the work of the Sacred Project Curatorial panel:

Mary Boyle, Mary Brady, Kathleen Breen, Majella Curran, Kathleen Flanagan, Martina Gilmartin, Kathleen Markey, Yvonne Masterson, Jackie Mullan, Maura Newman, Mary O’Donnell, Stephen Rennicks, Helen Reynolds, Christine and Cian Stewart, Martina Ward

Special Thanks to:

Fermanagh District Council

Irish Museum of Modern Art

Arts Council of Northern Ireland

The Higher Bridges Gallery

Enniskillen Castle Museums

Cooper Wilkinson Solicitors

Picture This

Frith Street Gallery, London

Collection of Lowe Contemporary

Galerie Barbara Thumm

The Green on Red Gallery

Clíodhna Shaffrey & Kevin Kavanagh Gallery

Leitrim County Council

The Dock

The Sacred project is Peace III project funded by the County Leitrim Peace III Partnership through the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund which is managed by the Special EU Programme Body.

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