MindField Rocks the Art of Conversation, It’s the break from Music into literary items and debate for those who have interests in politics and current affairs brought to you in association with RTE Radio one. It’s three day, seven venue conversation for the nation with seven elegantly decorated tented locations in the Mindfield arena at electric picnic, located behind the Main stage of Electric Picnic. Leviathan: Political Cabaret Back again for another year, its politics and current affairs debate with satirical twist, hosted by David McWilliams, each day starts with chat and fun, Ryan Tudbridy will be orchestrating picnic brunch and Mindfield news quiz. British comic and graphic novelist Pat Mills will join too and Steve Bell will attend for the big comic... Similar posts

Last weekend I went to Dublin for a break with teen daughter and three of her friends - foolhardy you might say but they have been hanging out for the duration of the Irish summer hols, which must be the longest in the planet. At least that's what it feels like when it's late July and you realise you've only passed the mid-point of the three-month-long break.With teenagers who are too old for summer camps (mostly targeting primary school children) but too young to work in a minimum-wage (lower for under-18s than adults) service job (roll on next year!) the boredom factor sets in fairly quickly. And that's just the parents who have the unenviable task of monitoring their movements without being seen to be too much of a "helicopter" parent.The boredom threshold is quickly reached, and the... Similar posts

Click the Picture to view full details on this Fantastic painting byHoward Knee of the Custom House Dublinor... Similar posts

Vancouver is renowned for being a vibrant, multicultural city but it has also earned the title of 'No Fun City' for good reason. It appears that in order to stay afloat here, the art and music scenes have to fight tooth and nail as The City of Vancouver is slowly but surely doing its best to eradicate them.If you're attending the Vancouver Art Gallery or venues such as GM Place and willing to pay the guts of $50-100 per ticket for shows run by LiveNation etc then no problem. It's local, grassroots venues that City Hall appears hell bent on destroying. Hoko's, Roy G Biv, The Peanut Gallery The Sweatshop, The Emergency Room were just a few of the venues shut down who supported independent local Arts .Now it has turned its attention to Little Mountain Gallery (LMG). Little Mountain is a... Similar posts

All the fears I'd had about my exhibition and launch turned out to be unfounded and the evening was better than I could ever have hoped for. I sold eight prints and lots of books, there was beer and cake for everyone, and I didn't once have to utilise the cage I'd installed for my family out in the back yard. When I gave my reading the audience laughed in three places — which is twice when they were supposed to. Needless to say, I was completely and utterly delighted — a huge thank you to everyone who came. The book is now available to buy online, and you can have a sneaky flick through some of the pages here:To the Left of the Midwest by Annie AtkinsThere are also some copies on the shelves in Dublin's gorgeous old Winding Stair bookshop, down near the Ha'penny bridge.There are some... Similar posts

Ahoy hoy readers! (Someone sent me an email the other day which began with that greeting, I’ve used it about 500 times since then. Nautical greetings are quite delightful I find. Somalian pirates aside) So Friday night was a queer one at the good ship Jolly Restaurant. All the waiter mateys and chums of waiter mateys (that’s enough of the sailory type references -Little Miss Manuel) were in a funny mood. The place was set and we were ready to set sail, anchors were raised and the poop deck was ship shape. (Fucking stop it, now – Little Miss Manuel). All that was missing was the guests. There was a veritable dearth of guests and more importantly the valuable cash they may or may not have stuffed into my sweaty palm. A strange mood swept the place and the waiters contained... Similar posts

The FilmHelmut Berger, Brigitte Lahaie, Telly Savalas, Chris Mitchum, Caroline Munro, Stephane Audran, Anton Diffring, Howard Vernon, Florence Guerin, Lina Romay.This eclectic mix of genuine film stars and film stars’ sons, genre icons and scream queens, art house muses and hard core actresses must count as the most easily recognisable cast for main stream audiences that Shlockmeister Jess Franco ever managed to compile. Following the relative success of his previous film Dark Mission (also with Lahaie and Mitchum as well as Christopher Lee), he was now given a budget that even allowed his stars to stay in 5 Star Hotels in Paris. Franco has previously been known to siphon off money for one production and secretly produce an additional picture with the same cast and on the same sets.... Similar posts

“If the church can inspire such people to such generosity, I think we can be assured that the church will survive and grow in strength. He was like a big comforting presence among us.”Bernard Berney’s comment was made at Saturday night’s farewell event in the Parish Centre for Fr Paddy Ryan, who leaves Kilcullen this week after serving here for three years. Though his time here was short, Bernard emphatically placed Fr Paddy in the gallery of priests who have served the parish well. On his own behalf, and on behalf of the people of the parish, Bernard thanked Fr Paddy for his time spent in Kilcullen.“It was Fr Paddy who pointed out to me that the church has undergone major changes every three hundred years or so, and that what we are seeing now is one of those major changes in... Similar posts

Lookwest.ie have launched a photo competition to celebrate Summer in Sligo. You can enter just once, but you can submit 8 photos with your entry. So take your time and choose your entries wisely! The overall first prize is a great netbook from Fastcom Broadband and participation in the shortlisted exhibition at Sligo’s beautiful new fine art photography gallery, Capture. http://www.capturegallery.ie/ Twenty shortlisted photos will also be mounted and exhibited at Capture Gallery (if you would like your photo to be part of this exhibition, please retain a high-resolution version of your photo). There will also be other great prizes announced throughout the competition. Contest Starts: July 05, 2010 Contest Ends :August 02, 2010 Follow Lookwest.ie here on facebook for further... Similar posts

Paul and Suzanne Carey of the Good Food Gallery hosted a very entertaining talk by artist Bridget Flannery in the gallery on Wednesday night. An exhibition of the artist's work is on display in the gallery until 21 August. Full report... Similar posts

I’ve had some time recently to review a lot of wiki applications for LoCos.  It is truly amazing the amount of work some teams do and is a great source of ideas to try for other teams. With that said, I’ve also seen some wiki pages which are less than clear on what the team is doing which makes it very hard to judge. So I thought I’d put down some best practices to make it clearer what is expected. So firstly let’s recap: The LoCo Council has been tasked with identifying Approved LoCo teams which were approved over 2 years ago and thus are due for re-approval. The criteria for re approval is the same as for approval which is outlined on the getting approved instructions and the LoCo Council guidelines can be found at the team approval guidelines. It should be... Similar posts

Wilhelmina Koning featured / Nationwide RTEFeltdesigner and my dearest friend, Wilhelmina Koning, was featured in nationwide RTE - in case you missed it...here the link. This woman is a sun. I took some fashion images for her. who ever will be in touch with her or her creations will be madly IN LOVE with it AND her ( ;Nationwide RTE features Wilhelminahttp://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0623/nationwide_av.html?2776230%2Cnull%2C228Wilhelmina Koning websitehttp://www.pietkoning.com/wilhelmina/and here some info about her:Wilhelmina Koning works as a textile designer in Cahersiveen, Co. Kerry. She specialises in felt making. Felt is a non-woven fabric (the oldest fabric in the world). First the raw fibres are blended together to a recipe that will give the required characteristics of felt. These... Similar posts

This is going to be an unusual post, to say the least, focussing on a single topic, an exhibition at the lovely Glucksman Gallery in Cork which explores the relationship betwen pop music and art, and hence was of great interest to me beyond that which an average art exhibition tends to stir (although I have previously spoken of some finer forms of art here).  Anyway, somehow it didn't seem appropriate to mix such culture with, for example, a review of 'Predators', which will have to wait for the next post, so I will stick to the single topic for now.I guess I haven't thougtht too much previously about art and music, although certain album sleeves always to me showed an artistic sensibility, for example the classic covers Peter Saville designed for Joy Division's 'Closer' (what a... Similar posts

I finished the redesign of the Website of the Bervie Guesthouse last December. I have since  gotten a lot of indirect positive feedback through the owners of the Bervie.I now made contact through facebook to the photographer John Cowman, who has known the Bervie for quite a while and contributed the main photo gallery to the old and also new websiteJohn gave me the nicest feedback about the Bervie website, I ever got about any website:“Love it. A work of art, which really captures the special nature of the place. You must have stayed there, or you’re fantastic at taking a brief, or both. Simple, very refined, concise, beautifully styled and extremely attractive. It’s possibly the best site of it’s type I’ve seen. Nice coding, too. [...] I wouldn’t mind... Similar posts

Hamilton Gallery, formerly known as The Cat & The Moon Gallery, presents an exhibition of bronze sculptures by artist and goldsmith Alan Ardiff. The exhibition continues until July 31st, opening hours are 10am to 5pm Monday to Saturday. Alan Ardiffs kinetic works have been exhibited both nationally and internationally, including the RHA, Dublin; SOFA, Chicago; Museum of Decorative Arts, New York. Hamilton Gallery, 4 Castle Street, Sligo Find them on Facebook.... Similar posts

I got the fear about my book and my photography and my entire life this morning when I arrived at the gallery to prepare for my show. I feel so exposed! "Art" seemed much more enjoyable when it involved sitting behind a computer screen eating Fruit Corners all day and blogging."I don't want to do this anymore," I said to my American friend David, who had come along with his laser-beam spirit-level to help me hang the prints on the walls."Yeah, you do," said David. "You just need a cowboy's breakfast, that's all." "What's that?"He pulled a pouch of tobacco out of his back pocket and rolled a cigarette."A cowboy's breakfast," he said again. "A smoke and a look... Similar posts

www.photoireland.org'DID IT!' Opening Reception: 22nd July, 6pm – 8pm Daily Viewing: 23rd – 30th July, 12pm - 7pm daily, Photograph by Irene Sirgausa DID IT! is a celebration of creativity, confidence and completion. To mark the end of the first year of their degree course in photography at DIT, the exhibition provides a platform via which young emerging talent can display their work. DID IT! gives fresh talent a voice and creates newfound confidence. DID IT! allows each photographer to give individual and unique expression to an overarching concept, and will bring this newly created work to a new audience for the first time. The artists’ theme is 'Space'. Though the theme can be interpreted in a myriad of ways - workspaces,... Similar posts

The Good Food Gallery is hosting an evening with artist Bridget Flannery on Wednesday night at 7pm.Bridget Flannery is a visual artist of international reputation who works from her studio in Carlow. She will speak about her work, which is currently on display in the... Similar posts

(Not so well advertised so give them your support.) National Gallery Lunchtime Readings | Celia de Fréine Wednesday 21 July @ 1.05pm Poetry Ireland in association with the National Gallery of Ireland presents a lunchtime reading with Celia de Fréine. Wednesday 28 July @ 1.05pm Poetry Ireland in association with the National Gallery of Ireland presents a lunchtime reading with Theo Dorgan. National Gallery of Ireland, Merrion Square West, D2 I went last week. Mary O'Malley. No notices at the entrances for drop ins. Mad. I'm not going this week if it's raining as I'll be on a Dublin Bike... Similar posts