New civic plaza to be at the heart of the Clonmel Junction Arts Festival

Clonmel’s new civic plaza will be at the heart of the Clonmel Junction Arts Festival, and thoughts around access to space for the arts has given the theme to several 2023 events, particularly in the festival’s visual arts programme.

“Coming out of the last few years, we wanted to look at the idea of the place of art in people’s lives, and invite both the public and artists to respond to that thought” explains Festival Artistic Director, Cliona Maher. Planned in partnership with South Tipperary Arts Centre’s Helena Tobin, Broken Fields presents: Art, What is it good for?, a social space guided by the question: How can we co-create a space with the public in Clonmel?

It is a work-in-progress for the duration of the festival, featuring encounters that stimulate discussion and support collective creative practice. Activities include collective canopy making, printmaking and conversations with a series of invited artists, printmakers, community workers, architects, writers, musicians, and activists.

Summer camp for Tipperary Lego enthusiasts

The Social Space is created by Broken Fields (Louise Harrington, Enya Moore, Aideen O Donovan & Kate O’ Shea) with invited collaborators Print Van Go, Living Commons, Justseeds Artists Cooperative, Red Wheelbarrow Productions, Go Dance For Change, Isabel Lima, Kathleen O’ Donovan, Siobhán Kavanagh and Padraig Stevens.

Long-time festival partners at The Narrow Space Gallery invited artists to respond to the question Art Enriches Life? “The beauty of art is that it takes on significance via the experiences, associations, emotions, and interpretations, of those who view and discuss it” says gallery owner Aisling Kilroy. The exhibition has been co-curated by Aisling with curator Máire de Leastar. “Over 35 artists have presented us with their unique perspectives. This intriguing collection of works encourages us to engage, and consider, issues that directly impact all our lives.”

Máire de Leastar is a graduate of UCC. She has worked on a number of exhibitions with Aisling for The Narrow Space Gallery over the past number of years, and is one of several members of the de Leastar family involved in the festival. At Tipperary Museum of Hidden History, her father, Eugene de Leastar presents Allegory, an exhibition dealing with philosophical and religious themes in a metaphorical way, thus continuing a long tradition of allegorical painting. Brother, Ruairi de Leastar, will perform at the exhibition opening as part of the Art Trail on Friday 30th June, the eve of the festival where the public are invited to attend 3 festival exhibition openings, beginning with John Kennedy’s This Will Be A Long Time Ago at the Main Guard.This exhibition of paintings is drawn from personal experiences, internet  research, video stills or ‘point and shoot’ photographic styles as starting points. Inspired by everyday life, the blend of figuration and abstraction depicts a range of subject matter, which are often revisited across numerous works. The Art Trail moves from the Main Guard to the Narrow Space and finishes at the Museum.

Two projects are being created for the festival with students from the Clonmel Digital Campus of Limerick School of Art & Design, a constituent art college of the Technological University of the Shannon. Digital Animation students have created six animated short films responding to the idea that ‘Art Enriches Life’ and will be shown in the Arts Centre’s studio space.

Meanwhile, in Clonmel Library, festival goers can experience River of Memories, River of Music a VR headset experience led by writer Eve O’Mahony working with Game Art and Design lecturers John Hannifan and Paul Keating and students Daria Kratsava, Alan Devine and Ryan Y Hng Lim. The team are experimenting with how a Virtual Reality space can work as a location for art, for both visual arts and performance.

Artistic Director Cliona Maher invites locals and visitors alike to take the opportunity to spend a day exploring the rich and varied visual arts programme of the 2023 festival.

Dance, film, music, street theatre, literature events - all this and more in 10 days to immerse yourself in arts experiences! Full details at junctionfestival.com