Upcoming Exhibition: Leyden Gallery | Platform for Emerging Arts #23

This August Mary Sullivan will be participating in the Leyden Gallery London's group exhibition entitled Platform for Emerging Arts #23, alongside seven talented upcoming artists. Platform #23 is a mixed-media exhibition that showcases the work of home-grown artists in the critical early stages of their careers. Artists are selected following a rigourous application process based on both innovation and skill, by the curatorial team of the Leyden Gallery.

The exhibition will open for private viewing on August 27 at 6:30pm, and will be open to the public from August 28 - September 7. For more information see www.leydengallery.com.

'Breathe' | Beara Arts Festival 2019

On 4 August 2019, Mary Sullivan launched her first solo exhibition, entitled 'Breathe,' as part of the Beara Arts Festival 2019. The immersive morse code-inspired sound and visual installation saw over 600 visitors over the course of one week.

Mary would like to extend her kindest thanks to all those who attended the exhibition, the Beara Arts Festival Committee, and all involved in ensuring the smooth running of the exhibition throughout the week.

For more information on the Beara Arts Festival, see www.bearaartsfestival.com/

“In January of this year, Italian philosopher Franco ‘bifo’ Berardi penned an unusual little book titled Breathing: Chaos and Poetry (2019). Tying together fragments of hope and despair, from Occupy Wall Street to Eric Garners gasping last words, Berardi reflects on the contemporary chaos of our ailing respiratory passages. Warning of further political and environmental blockages to come, ‘breathing’ becomes a potent signifier of an increasingly precarious world.

A similar sentiment is captured by Breathe, which Interrogates our contemporary anxieties through a series of new works installed in the underground rooms of an ex-artillery shelter on Beara Island. Passing through lung-like tunnels of the artillery shelter the viewer is confronted by coded messages in bright neon that tap into our fragile industrial complexes. Morse-code performances installed in several rooms attempt to ‘work through’ our struggles, to express the frustrations and frantic nature of our everyday lives. Such gestures are repeated throughout the exhibition, promising relief but remaining unresolved, tense, troubled. As Giorgio Agamben has suggested, gestures express what is being “endured and supported” when language fails, that is, “gesture is essentially always a gesture of not being able to figure something out in language; it is always a gag in the proper meaning of the term” (Agamben, 1996,p.58). Having no instrumental value and no goal, the gesture aims only to support and mediate the character of ‘corporeal movement’. Framed by the stale air of the underground tunnels, breathe exhibits a ‘corporeal’ struggle with the incommunicability of life’s pressures, a performance of endurance that can only be captured in gesture, the most elemental gesture of them all, breathing. ”

— Artist Statement

Upcoming Solo Exhibition

On 4 August 2019 Mary Sullivan will launch her first solo exhibition entitled "Breathe" at Lonehort Battery, Bere Island, Co. Cork, at 4:00pm. The exhibition, funded by Cork County Council Municipal District Creative Communities Scheme in conjunction with the Beara Arts Festival, will run for a week, opening daily 11:00am - 4:30pm. Entry is free of charge.

Lonehort Battery is located on the East of Bere Island (see map below), and is approximately a thirty minute walk from Murphy's Ferry. For information on ferry times, see www.murphysferry.com.

 

Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre Residency

Mary Sullivan has concluded a four month residency at Uillinn West Cork Art Centre, Skibbereen. The artist was provided with studio space and expert advice, enabling the continuation of her work "At Home, At War," as showcased at the RDS Visual Art Awards last October.

The artist welcomed sixty five visitors into her studio space throughout the duration of her residency, and commenced a number of new projects, which she intends to continue working on from her personal studio space on Bere Island.

Mary wishes to extend her sincerest thanks to the team at Uillinn, for their continuous support, encouragement and guidance throughout her residency.

For more information about Uillinn, the West Cork Arts Centre, see www.westcorkartscentre.com

Amanda Coogan | Floats in the Aether

On December 15 2018, Mary Sullivan along with 40 Irish female artists performed alongside acclaimed artist Amanda Coogan in Floats in the Aether, Coogan's large scale performance marking the centenary of the parliamentary vote for women in Ireland and the election of Constance Markievicz as the first woman to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Coogan's performances run from 6 November 2018 - 21 January 2019. For more information, and details on how to attend performances see www.nationalgallery.ie (HERE).

CUH launches Art Collection as part of 40th Anniversary Celebration

CUH has launched a collection of work donated free of charge by West Cork Artists to mark their 40th Anniversary. The art collection, curated to enhance the hospital environment through the arts and promoting patient and staff well-being included work from Bere Island artist Mary Sullivan.

Pictures from Mary's work, entitled At Home, At War feature on pages 68 - 71. For more information and to view the e-Book or support CUH through purchasing the book, see HERE.

Mary Sullivan launches phase one of Lonehort redevelopment works

On Sunday, 11th November, Mary Sullivan launched the completion of phase one of the Lonehort Battery redevelopment on Bere Island, by the Bere Island Projects Group. The launch event marked the centenary of the end of the Great War, Armistice Day.

Speaking at the event, Mary thanked her community for their support following her recent win at the RDS Visual Art Awards. Also fittingly on Armistice Day, Mary recited a poem which brought to mind reasoning for the Irish people's part in the war. The poem, by Thomas Kettle, entitled "To My Dear Betty, The Gift of God to Her," read;

In wiser days, my darling rosebud, blown In that desired, delayed, incredible time, You’ll ask why I abandoned you, my own, And the dear heart that was your baby throne, To dice with death. And Oh! They’ll give you rhyme And reason: some will call the thing sublime, And some decry it in a knowing tone. So here, while mad guns curse overhead, And tired men sigh with mud for couch and floor, Know that we fools, now with the foolish dead, Died not for flag, nor King, nor Emperor, But for a dream, born in a herdsman’s shed, And for the secret Scripture of the poor.

This was followed shortly by a moment of silence by those who lost their lives in the war. Following the event, attendees enjoyed refreshments in O'Sullivan Wines and Spirits.

Mary Sullivan Wins 2018 RDS Taylor Art Award

On 22 October 2018, Mary Sullivan was awarded the 2018 RDS Taylor Art Award of €10,000 for her BA work At Home, At War. The esteemed award dates back to 1878. Previous winners include Louis le Brocquy, Nora McGuiness and Sean Keating. The Taylor Art Award is annually given to an Irish art graduate to assist them with the development of their career as an artist.

Mary's At Home, At War video sculpture piece consisted of a self-constructed military style shed and a series of performance videos, designed to link the repetitive nature of domestic chores to the drill and precision of military discipline. For more information on Mary's award winning piece, see HERE.

Mary's work will be exhibited in the RDS from 22 - 29 October.

RDS Visual Art Awards

On Monday 22nd October, 2018, Mary Sullivan will exhibit at and attend the RDS Visual Art Awards. The RDS Visual Art Awards provides a platform for graduating artists as they transition from student into early professional career. Following Mary's final year project, "At Home, At War", a physical and performance piece, the artist was one of thirteen chosen to present her work at the RDS Visual Art Graduate Exhibition, showcasing the work of Ireland's most talented graduates. Mary represents Dublin Institute of Technology's Sherkin Island BA Visual Arts programme.

The Award ceremony kicks off the week long exhibition which is open to the public free of charge. Renowned performance artist Amanda Coogan will curate the 2018 exhibition, which will run from October 23-29 in the RDS Concert Hall, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.

For more information on Mary's project "At Home, At War" see HERE. Alternatively, visit the artist at the RDS Visual Art Awards Exhibition The exhibition is open to the public and runs from October 23-29

Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre Residency

Mary Sullivan has been announced as an Uillinn: West Cork Art's Centre Artist in residency following the completion of Dublin Institute of Technology's Sherkin Island BA Visual Arts programme.

Based in Skibbereen, the centre provides expertise and physical and human resources to assist artist, arts organisations, groups and individuals to realise arts projects.

For more information on Uilinn, the West Cork Arts Centre, see www.westcorkartscentre.com