BROOK ART

Martello Tower Sutton - oil NFS
Sheila Flynn
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This tower is following me around. Two days ago it was a photo exhibition in Coolock Library, today it's an art exhibition in Raheny Library.

The art is from the Brook Art Group in Donaghmede, and, as in the photo exhibition, I'm just drawing attention to some pictures that caught my attention. There are plenty more, so if you are in the area between now and 27 May, do drop in and have a look.

Ballaghaderreen - acrylic NFS
Breeda Culhane

I've been to Ballaghderreen. Arrived there at 8am for a 10am meeting. Everywhere was closed. Had to go to Ballyhaunis to get a cup of coffee. The locals never heard the end of it from me when they finally opened up shop and I had a go at them.

It looks like the Group also had an outing to Ballaghderreen, and this, unusually, gives us a chance to look at three slightly different interpretations of the same scene. Probably a bit more picturesque than the Dillon House where I had my meeting.

Winter Scene - oil €95
Jackie Daly

Lamplight in the Snow - oil €50
Valerie Gannon

Dunguaire Castle Kinvara - oil €80
Margaret Briscoe

And finally, this lonely pile, Dunguaire Castle,

Michael Edwards 2015

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Michael Edwards has done it again. And this time the exhibition in the Donaghmede Shopping Centre has a slight change of style.

This year we have a series of exhibitions each from a different photo club. Currently on display are photos from St. Benedict's club in Kilbarrack. The standard is very high and there are some really fabulous shots.

The scheme works as follows. The studio invited 6 camera groups to exhibit for 4 weeks each. The public will view and vote for 10 out of each group. At the end they will exhibit the top ten from each group and these will be judged for The Michael Edwards Trophy 2015 and finalists 1 to 10.

The exhibition is run in association with the shopping centre and sponsored by Dublin City Council, who, incidentally, are doing great work promoting culture all round the city and right through the year.

So, if you're in the area, do drop in, checkout these great photos and leave your vote.

Click Tweak Print

It's great when stuff gets moving locally. Readers may remember Michael Edwards's excellent photo exhibition in Donaghmede Shopping Centre some while back.

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Well, he's off again. This time with a workshop/course covering taking photos, processing (Photoshop) and printing them.

The course has two in studio sessions: (i) an introduction to the course and your camera, and (ii) a Photoshop class. There are also two outdoor sessions: (i) a morning on location in St. Anne's park, and (ii) an evening on location at night.

Participants will be able to submit two of their best photos for inclusion in a mini-exhibition in the Donaghmede Shopping Centre.

Course starts on next Wednesday (25/2/2015), cost is €99 and further details can be got by emailing (info@photograph.ie) or phoning Michael (01 8470110).

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And I gather a camera club has now been set up in Raheny. Hopefully that will lead to another exhibition of local talent in the near future.

Michael Edwards

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Michael Edwards is a photographer and he has a shop in the Donaghmede Shopping Centre in North Dublin. I was in the centre today and happened to see this notice in the window of the shop next door to his.

So, in I went.

There were certainly well over a hundred photos on display and they varied from the fantastic to the banal. I think I had seen some of them before, as some of the clubs have their own exhibitions which travel round the local libraries.

This jumbo exhibition, however, was a mighty venture.

Two photos, in particular appealed to me.

The naturalness of this photo with the lady sharing the newspaper with the street sculpture man in the main street in Kiltimagh, Co. Mayo, really made me smile. It's by Peter Bates from the Howth Photographic Club.

I had seen the statue when I was chasing up my family history in the town in 2007.

This one also made me smile. Reminded me of Beckett, I think. And I used to work across the road from O'Donoghues pub, though I think I was in it only the once. The photo is by Patrick O'Leary from the An Oige Camera Club.

Anyway, full marks to Michael for his exhibition. It's great to see this happening locally. You could spend most of a day looking around this exhibition and, as Dermot Edwards said to me, the great thing is that the subject matter is open, so the variety of topics dealt with and the style of that dealing was enormous.

As you can see below, you still have another five days to get yourself to the Donaghmede Shopping Centre to check it out.

Accidental Art

The lads at the Come Here to Me! blog are always collecting first class graffiti from Dublin car parks.

This is something quite different. It is a piece of art created on a wall by a casually parked car and the angle of the sun earlier today.

The carpark is at Dunne's Donaghmede, and neither the car nor the wall have anything to do with me.

You can see both the car and the art in the shot below. It is a reflection from what we used to call the radiator, the shiney part across the front of the car. I checked it by selectively obstructing the light.

Isn't that something?