WESTMEATH ARTISTS AWARD TALK 2024
Luan Gallery, in collaboration with Westmeath Arts Office, is delighted to host a Westmeath Artists Awards Talk at 2pm on Saturday 18th January.
This event will feature Benjamin Stafford, guest curator of Let the Mirror Express the Room and selector of this year’s Westmeath Artists Award, in conversation with Carmel Duffy, Manager of Luan Gallery, and Laura McCormack, Acting Arts Officer of Westmeath County Council. The discussion will explore the significance of the award, the selection process, and the curatorial themes behind this year’s exhibition.
Following the talk, Amanda Ralph, the 2024 Westmeath Artists Award winner, will join Benjamin Stafford and Aoife Banks, Curator of Luan Gallery, for a discussion on her award-winning work, currently on display at Luan Gallery as part of the Westmeath Artists Awards Exhibition Let the Mirror Express the Room.
The Westmeath Artists Awards is an annual collaboration between Luan Gallery and Westmeath Arts Office aiming to celebrate, showcase, and support the development of Westmeath visual artists’ practices and careers with funding support from the Arts Council of Ireland. The exhibition presents works from the county’s practicing professional visual artists selected by guest Curator Benjamin Stafford, who is the visual arts curator at Visual, Carlow. All exhibiting artists were considered for a professional development award, which was announced at the exhibition's opening. The winner of the Westmeath Artists Award 2024, Athlone native Amanda Ralph, received a Luan Gallery Visual Arts Development Award of one thousand five hundred euros, amongst other benefits, including a future exhibition slot at Luan Gallery, a studio residency at Abbey Road Artists’ Studios, a studio visit, and mentorship from guest curator Benjamin Stafford.
Almost fifty works by thirty-two artists are showcased in the exhibition, with several of the artists exhibiting for the first time in Luan Gallery. Westmeath artists selected for exhibition include; Nataliia Bobak, Emma O' Brien, Anne Marie Burke, Eoin Butler, Emma Carter, Richard Clarke, Mary Cosgrove, Martina Coyle, Alan Crowley, Bertille de Lestrade, Kyle Collins, Maebh Donovan, Mark Duffy, Lorraine Dunne, Trish Findlater, Olivia Finn, Paul Flaherty, Nicole Gill, Jacinta Guinan, Tina Hayes, Fiona Kelly, Hilary Kinahan, Lorraine Mimnagh, Muiris Moynihan, EL Putnam, Amanda Ralph, Paul Roy, Nóilín Shaw, Celine Sheridan, Annette Treacy, Lesley Wingfield, and Ann Wingfield
The exhibition will continue until Sunday, 2nd February 2025. Luan Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11am to 5pm and Sundays from 12pm to 5pm. Admittance to Luan Gallery is free, and guided tours are available to all at no cost. More information on the exhibition and upcoming events can be found at https://www.athloneartsandtourism.ie/luan-gallery/ and on Luan Gallery’s social channels.
