The "Wet Paint Gallery" in Emily Square in Athy will be hosting a Launch of the experimental project on Friday Night August 14th at 7.30pm

The Gallery, which has caused a great deal of excitement in the town already, is open to local artists of all media and styles. The project is entirely staffed by volunteering artists and is seeking to promote art in the area.

Local Artist and Curator of "Wet Paint" Andrew Farrelly said "we have been inundated with people interested in what we are doing here; it has been a very exciting time for art in Athy and for the Wet Paint Gallery."  

The Project was the brainchild of the "Shop Athy" group, in a bid to enhance the cultural life of the town centre, and the gallery has certainly lived up to and exceeded that aspiration.

Painters, Photographers, Sculptors, Video Artists, and many more are represented in the gallery collection, all of which is for sale at recession beating prices.

Andrew Farrelly makes the point that in difficult financial times we all need something to cheer us up and is looking forward to cheering up a lot of people at Fridays Launch party.

Johannah Lyons, Linda Holligan, and other local artists are using the Gallery as Studio space during the day, making an interesting visit an exciting one.

Ken Walshe, Shop Athy Chairperson said "The Wet Paint Gallery has been a fantastic success since opening its doors on the Tri Athy weekend, and has received an unprecedented amount of positive feedback from members and non members of the Shop Athy Group"  "We at Shop Athy are very excited by the development of the Gallery and look forward to greater things to come."  

Mr Walshe also expressed the hope that local people would see the commercial benefits to the town that such an initiative undoubtedly brings, "Athy is a beautiful town with huge potential, it's image as a relatively untouched market town makes it very desirable for people to visit, the addition of a high profile Art Gallery serves only to enhance the reputation of the town as a tourist destination".

The Launch of the Wet Paint Gallery on August 14th will see a range of new and exciting artists in various fields exhibiting for the first time, Entertainment for the evening will be equally varied and exciting. Mr. Farrelly was remaining tight lipped about rumours relating to the centrepiece for the launch; "watch this space" was all he would say.

The Wet Paint Gallery can be contacted by e-mail on wetpaintgallery@gmail.com or telephone 086-8696391 or by calling into the Gallery during opening hours which are 10am to 6pm during the week; the Wet Paint Gallery tends to be open until about midnight during the weekends making it an ideal spot to drop in on an evening stroll.

A unique visual dialogue began between two prominent Print Studios in Ireland and Wales namely the Leinster Printmaking Studio, Co. Kildare and the Regional Print Centre, Wrexham, Wales. Irish artists collaborated with Welsh artists to explore themes of land/language/place/sense of belonging. A series of working prints, drawings, collages and text travelled back and forth across the Irish Sea, with each collaborating artist responding to and working on the artworks.

The seed for this innovative project originates from the thinking and writings of John Berger, who conducted an ongoing visual correspondence with artist Marisa Camino.

Welsh artist Alison Craig collaborated with Irish artist Deidre Shanley on investigating the function and occupation of the land and its buried memories. They have worked directly on each otherÕs prints transforming them from one print medium to another. Monica de Bath and Steffan Jones-Hughes examined ideas of home and domesticity, printing on the posted envelopes that were posted back and forth.

The overall result is this visually and technically rewarding exhibition, which will tour other venues in Ireland, Wales and will participate in the Celtica festival in Adelaide, Australia in December 2009. TG4 broadcasts a review of Le Chéile on their arts programme IMEALL at 11.15 pm on Wednesday 11th March with Pamela de Brí as one of their panel guests.

The exhibition will run in the Graphic Studio, Dublin from March 12th until the April 4th 2009.

The exhibition will be opened by Lucina Russell, Arts officer for Kildare Co. Council.  The Leinster Printmaking Studio is funded by Kildare County Council

Artists Pamela de Brí, Alison Craig and Liam Ó Broin will give a talk  on Thursday 12th March from 3pm - 4pm

Booking is essential | t: +353 1 6798021 | e: gallery@graphicstudiodublin.com

Exhibition runs from January - February 2008.

Twilight Flights of Fancy is the title of the visual arts show which ran in the McKenna Gallery in Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge. The show ‘A Shadow Art Installation’ is the culmination of an Arts in Libraries residency programme initiated by Kildare County Council Library & Arts Service. Shadow puppetry is an ancient artform that uses light and shadow to create captivating images and stories.

From October to December 2007 visual artist Sharon Lynch collaborated with local children at Naas, Newbridge and Athy Libraries in an exploratory shadow puppetry project. The final sculptural artworks combine silhouette figures, atmospheric lighting and mechanical devises to create captivating and magical images.

Sharon is a visual artist based in Galway and currently completing an MFA at the Burren Collage of Art, Co. Clare. She has extensive experience of working on Education and Community Arts Project, with organisations such as Galway Education Centre, Baboro Children’s Festival and The Arts Councils Schools Exhibition Linkage Programme.

The exhibition is open daily from 2.00 – 5.00pm and continues until Wednesday 27th February. For further enquiries about this or other Arts in Libraries Programmes
Please contact: Brenda Brady, Arts Assistant Tel: 045 448328 
Email: bbrady@kildarecoco.ie Web: www.kildare.ie/artsservice