Sirius Arts Centre receives Culture Ireland Grant to attend 8th International Festival of Photography in Lodz Poland.

Sirius Arts Centre Centre has been awarded a grant from Culture Ireland enabling Artistic Director, Peggy Sue Amison to send five photographic artists from Ireland with their works to the 8th International Festival of Photography in Łodz, Poland from the 7 – 10 May, 2009.

As part of an invited team of six curators from different countries, Sirius’ Artistic Director, Peggy Sue Amison has created a special programme featuring 5 Irish photographers as part of this year’s 8th International Festival of Photography in Łodz, Poland . Each invited curator was asked to make a presentation of artists that reflects contemporary photography from their country.Since 2001

In her position as Artistic Director of Sirius Arts Centre, Peggy has curated numerous photographic exhibitiosn at Sirius, working with Irish and international artists. Peggy also facilitates the development of new works through the international artist-in-residency programme at Sirius, often partnering artists and organisations together.

A photographic artist herself, Peggy has also written critical essays and reviews for numerous photographic publications internationally and serves as a reviewer at meeting places for photographers at different photographic festivals. An important part of her work at Sirius is focused on raising the level of discourse about photography in Ireland through all of the above.

The photographers from Ireland who will be exhibited as part of the 8th International Festival of Photography in Łodz, Poland are: David Farrell, Jackie Nickerson, Mark Curran, Eoin O Conaill and Seán Hillen.The Irish photographers will also have the opportunity to participate in the festival’s porfolio review sessions, providing them a rare opportuntity to show their works in one on one meetings to curators, publishers and other photographic professionals throughout Europe.

Other curators invited to participate and invite artists from their country include: Martin Brindl - Curator/FLUSS, Austria and Co-Curator of the International Photographic Triennial Backlight, Finland, Jim Casper - Editor and Director/LensCulture International On Line Magazine, Paris, France, Nina Kassianou - Curator/Thessaloniki, Museum of Photography, Greece, Alessandra Capodacqua - Curator/Fondazione Studio MarangoniCenter of Contemporary Photography in Florence, Italy, Tomasz Ferenc - Photo Editor & Researcher/Dept of Sociology of Culture, University of Lodz, Poland.

This programme is one part of the 8th International Photography Festival in Łodz, Poland which will run from 7 – 31 May. The festival’s main exhibition is an EU funded project curated by photography institutions from Austria, Italy, Finland and Poland. Titled ‘Tickle Attack’ the exhibition is a collection of images presenting humour, absurdity and irony.

For more information on the Lodz International Photography festival visit their website at : http://www.fotofestiwal.com/2009

For more information contact Sirius Arts Centre at 021 481 3790 (http://www.siriusartscentre.ie/)
Sirius Arts Centre would like to thank Culture Ireland for their support in helping to facilitate this opportunity to showcase photography in Ireland internationally.

Sirius Begins is Spring Garden Trail Fundraisers TOMORROW SUNDAY 26 April in Glanmire

Tomorrow Sunday 26 April from 12 - 6pm Sirius Arts Centre in collaboration with Mrs. Punch will host an Open Garden Event. Come and visit this important private garden in Glanmire. Admission is €5 per person. Dunsland Garden Centre will be present on the day selling a variety of garden plants and tools.

For more information and directions visit our website at www.siriusartscentre.ie.
This is the first of three such open garden days happening on the last Sunday of April May and June - the next event will be on Sunday May 28 in Mrs. Wanda Ronan's garden in Cuskinny, Cobh!

Sirius Arts Centre presents an evening with The UNWANTED TRIO

Featuring: Cathy Jordon & Seamie O'Dowd from Dervish

CANCELLED - DUE TO CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND OUR CONTROLL

Sirius Arts Centre apologizes for any inconvenience.

Stereopsis a 3D Projection Installation by Athina Chroni Opening Thursday 9 April (regular gallery hours)

Sirius Arts Centre presents the first Irish exhibition by Greek photographic artist Athina Chroni. “Stereopsis” a collection of three dimensional black and white projections featuring stunning black and white portraits.

“If you look with both eyes, the two different impressions on the retina are united in one single image in the brain. Although the eyes actually record two images, we have the sensation of viewing the scene from one spot, as if we had only one eye in the centre of the forehead. The process is called stereopsis, and we talk of the stereoscopic or cyclopean image.”

The images were acquired for this exhibition through the portfolio review at the Photo Biennale in Thessaloniki, Greece last year. Athina’s photographs combine the antique process of viewing a static image through special glasses which translate the final viewed experience into a three-d image.

“My pictures which are simply set, present several people in their space or out of it, directly facing the lens, always in conditions of available light and, often, in very long exposures. I chose to present the portraits of this specific unity in a 3D projection so that the spectator, being in total darkness, may feel isolated from the environment and literally slip in the picture, being aware of the space, depth, distances among the elements which compose it. My intention is the achievement of the mostly possible discreet 3D result, so that the picture attracts not, maybe, because it impresses but because it causes emotion.” Athina Chroni

For more information please contact Peggy Sue Amison at Sirius Arts Centre 021 481 3790 or via email at:cobharts@iol.ie

A Tale Of Two Cities exhibition to end soon!

This is the last weekend to see the exhibition "A Tale of Two Cities" By Malcolm McClay and Harry Moore in our galleries. The exhibition ends on Sunday 5th of April.

The exhibition is a documentary project focusing on New Orleans and Cork. The images explore two cities that have experienced unprecedented change over the last few years and includes the moody black and white pin hole images of bridges in Cork by Harry Moore and the colour pictures of homes being rebuilt in the 9th ward of New Orleans which was devistated during hurricane Katrina photographed Malcom McClay. McClay's images include written narratives by the owners of the homes.

The aritists would like to specially thank Culture Ireland for their assisting in the support of this exhibition when it was shown in New Orleans earlier this year.

Gallery Hours: Saturday and Sunday 2pm - 5pm

IN RESIDENCE: David Eisenlord American Photographer

David J. Eisenlord is in Residence this month at Sirius Arts Centre

"Growing up taking family camping vacations to the shores of Lake Michigan and Huron, and later as an engineering student in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, the power and beauty of the Great Lakes made a profound impression on me. The Great Lakes are my Big Sky country, a place for solitude and contemplation of ones smallness. I'm drawn in particular to the landscapes of the northern shore of Lake Superior and similar areas such Iceland and the coast of Maine. " David Eisenlord

American Photographer, David J. Eisenlord is in residence at Sirius Arts Centre until the end of February. During his time here David hopes to create photographs of the landscape of Cork County . Based in Minnesota, David (known as Ike) has exhibited his stunning platinum palladium prints throughout America, his work in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas and private organisations.

During his stay here Ike will give workshops on Platinum Palladium printing to students at Cork Institute of Technology. You can learn more about this interesting antique process on his website at www.davideisenlord.com

We welcome Ike and his wife to Cobh on this his first trip to Ireland, and hope to exhibit the works that result from his residency at a future date in the Sirius Arts Centre.

Sirius Arts Centre opening receiption for Open House 2 Saturday 31 January 2pm

OPEN HOUSE 2
A unique group exhibition
featuring artists living and working in Cork City and County

Opening Saturday 31 January 2pm – all welcome

Running until 1 March 2009

Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Friday 11am – 5pm/Saturday & Sunday 2pm – 5pm/Monday & Tuesday Closed

Sirius Arts Centre presents for the 2nd year "Open House" celebrating a wide range of artists who live and work in the Cork Area. We began Open House last year based on a presentation made in Łodz, Poland of the Homeless Gallery (Galeria Bezdomna http://www.galeriabezdomna.art.pl/), which was a spontaneously created photographic exhibition begun in 2002. The idea of the Homeless Gallery is to make an exhibition space available to everyone.

The initial Homeless Gallery was organised in the Former Merchants Guild House in Warszawa in May 2002, followed by the second Homeless Gallery in the Gdansk shipyards. Since then there have been 55 Homeless Galleries successfully organised in a wide range of areas such as: Wrocław, Kielce and Kraków in Poland, as well as in South America, Australia and Algeria.

Unlike these Homeless Galleries – Sirius Arts Centre doesn’t have the vastness of space for a completely free for all exhibition, so we had to change the format a bit to suit our organization. In December we made a public call out to artists living and working in the Cork Area. We opened the submissions to any 2D visual art piece that was ready to hang on the wall and not bigger than 75cm squared. Artists had the opportunity to pre-book their space in the exhibition – Reservations had to be taken due to our limited space, allowing only those artists who took the time to arrange an appointment for dropping off their work to participate.

The response has been astounding! The slots were completely filled in a matter of a few weeks. This illustrates to us the huge need for more exhibition space in the Cork region. The presentation of this exhibition is very casual, our Open House exhibitions are not “formal” in the traditional sense of the word. Instead, it is evidence of the huge energy, variety and talents existing in the area and the creativity that abounds in our community.

For more information contact Sirius Arts Centre at: 021 481 3790 or via email at: cobharts@iol.ie