Arts / Culture

Waterford’s Multicultural Festival, A Slice of Culture, will take place during this year’s Waterford Harvest Festival.

A Slice of Culture, first held in 2021, is collaborative effort between migrant individuals and communities of the Waterford New Communities Network, supported by Waterford City and County Council, Creative Ireland and SICAP.

Taking place in Wyse Park in the city centre from 11am to 7pm on Saturday, September 7^th, the event promises a day of vibrant cultural celebrations, showcasing the rich diversity in Waterford’s communities.

The jam-packed lineup will feature music, dance and performances from Waterford’s varied cultural groups, food stalls with cuisines from across the globe, along with arts and crafts exhibitions showcasing art and international traditional attire.

At 3pm there will be the unveiling of a collaborative art collage created by migrant groups. The event is free and all are welcome.  The Slice of Culture festival is a fantastic opportunity to experience the beauty of multiculturalism and foster community spirit.

For further details of Waterford’s Multicultural Festival at Waterford Harvest Festival, follow Waterford New Communities Network on social media or visit www.waterfordncn.ie

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10 years of Waterford Walls!

45 artists, 45 walls, 30 events…

This year the Waterford Walls Street Art Festival celebrates its tenth anniversary. From Friday 9^th to Sunday 18^th August, the streets of Waterford will transform as a spectacular line up of 45 local, national and international artists unleash their creativity across the city. This will be accompanied by an action packed festival programme with an additional 30 events featuring panel talks, street art movie screenings, guided tours, a breakdancing extravaganza, workshops for teens and much more.

For more details and the latest updates visit wallsproject.ie

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Heritage Week takes place across the country from August 17^th to August 25^th and Waterford Libraries will host a series of free events throughout the city and county.

An initiative of the Heritage Council, National Heritage Week celebrates all things heritage.  It brings together communities, families, organisations, cultural institutions, academics and enthusiasts, to build awareness about the value of heritage and support its conservation.

Local historian Paul Brent will lead a Promenade walk in Tramore on Sunday, August 18^th starting at 2pm at the Old Train Station.  This walk is an opportunity to hear about the people, places and events that shaped the Tramore of today, with a walk along the promenade and a visit to the Men’s and Ladies Slips. This is a free event and booking is not required.

On Tuesday, August 20^th at Ardkeen Library, musicologist, singer and piper, Tigerlily Keoghan, will explore the traditional music of the Irish diaspora of the United States in the decades following the Great Famine.

On Wednesday, August 21^st Central Library will hold a craft demonstration in Basket Weaving with local Tramore basket maker, Cathy Hayden.  A Waterford Crafts member for nearly 30 years, Cathy runs basketry workshops for beginners and grows her own willow for all her baskets.

Also at Central Library, Dr. Maxine Keoghan will give a talk “From the Southeast of Ireland to the Shores of Newfoundland – Ireland’s Greatest Diaspora” and discuss Irish Newfoundland connections which began over two hundred years ago and continue to this day.

On August 22^nd Marcus Copley from Waterford City Trust will talk about the heritage of Blue Plaques of Waterford City and County and delve into the rich social and general history of the city and county. There will also be a Map Making Craft Workshop for children on Friday, August 23^rd.

Dungarvan Library will be treating visitors to excerpts from Crotty the Highwayman and Petticoat Loose by award-winning playwright Martina Collender and performed by Dungarvan Drama Circle on Saturday, August 24^th.

Step back in time and into local folklore to join us for this dramatic storytelling experience by Dungarvan Drama Circle. Learn about these two Waterford legends and be transported to the days of robbers, witches and ghosts. Meet William Crotty, the highwayman who stole from the rich to give to the poor, the woman who loved him and the man who betrayed him. Listen to the tale of the woman undone and her revenge taken during her lifetime and from beyond.

All Waterford Libraries events are free, however booking is advised.  To find out about Heritage Week at Waterford Libraries visit https://waterfordlibraries.ie/heritage-week-2024-at-waterford-libraries/

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Masterpieces of Irish Olympic Art to be revealed in new landmark exhibition in Waterford

An exciting new exhibition is to due open in the Waterford Gallery of Art this summer featuring an incredible selection of artists that represented Ireland in the Olympic Games, and a select group of contemporary artists inspired by their story.

“MUSCLES & MIND: IRISH ART OLYMPIANS” (26th July 2024 – 26th November 2024) coincides with the official opening of the XXXIII Paris Olympic Games 2024, and will be launched by Olympic Silver Medal winner, John Treacy.

The revival of the modern Olympic Games in the late 1890’s by Baron Pierre De Coubertin embodied the ideal of a marriage between ‘Art and Sport, Muscles and Mind’.  With support from the Waterford Arts Office, Creative Ireland, and the Olympic Federation of Ireland, the exhibition features artists from the Waterford Art Collection, as well as some of Ireland’s most renowned artists, who competed for their country in the Olympics between 1924 and 1948.

Artists included are Jack B. Yeats, Letitia Hamilton, Seán Keating, Mainie Jellett, Fr. Jack P. Hanlon, Desmond Broe, Flora Vere O’Brien, Ina Boyle, Stella Steyn, Hilda Roberts, Sir John Lavery, Sir William Orpen and more.

One of the main focuses of the exhibition is to highlight how integral art was to the early Olympics and question what is means to compete and represent your nation as an artist. The gallery has made some exciting discoveries including Mainie Jellett’s ‘The Bathers/Baigneurs’ artwork that was painted in 1922 but only recently has been identified as featuring in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics.

Also enigmatic, and somewhat eccentric artist, Flora Vere O’Brien was featured twice in the 1948 Olympics with a poem ‘A Song for the Road’ and a print, assumed lost, entitled ‘The Hurlers’. Through the family of O’Brien, the gallery has managed to locate one of the original editions of the print as well as the linocut the image was made from.

The granddaughter of artist Desmond Broe, Sonachú O’Callaghan-Broe, has located a treasure trove of his work including his 1948 London Olympic Medal, Competing Certificate, images of his sculpture submitted in the 1948 Olympics and ‘Race of the Gael’, which was his sculpture featured in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

The Gallery also has works on display by Sir John Lavery (who represented Ireland and then changed allegiance to Great Britain) and a sketch and letter by Sir William Orpen of a billiards match. Orpen, a self-declared sports enthusiast, represented Great Britain and served as a part of the organising committee and judge in 1924.

The Olympic Council of Ireland has very kindly given on loan to the gallery a section of the Olympic Cauldron from London 2012 Games as well as artwork by this years commissioned Irish Art Olympian, Shane O’Driscoll.

As part of the Creative Ireland funded ‘Muscles & Mind: Open-Call’, the gallery is also to present a group exhibition exploring themes of nationality, representation, and art as competition, by contemporary artists living and working in Ireland including Catherine Barron, James Horan, Ramon Kassam, Alison Lowry, Séamus O’Brien, Noel O’Donoghue, Laurence O’Toole, Csilla Toldy, Duc Van Pham, Síle Walsh and Lee Welch.

Lastly, the WGOA SETU Graduate Award Commission, will officially launch the newly commissioned portrait of Olympic silver medal winner John Treacy, by recent SETU Waterford Visual Arts Graduate, Sammy Kane.

This Exhibition is a ‘Must See’ and the Gallery would like to thank all those who have made it possible, through their hard work and dedication. This very special exhibition will no doubt be one to remember and one that will be part of the history of the Waterford Gallery of Art in years to come.

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Image:  Artist Sammy Kane photographing Olympic Silver Medal winner, John Treacy in preparation for his portrait.

For further information:

Luke Currall, Visual Arts Co-Ordinator, Waterford City & County Council, Waterford Gallery of Art

31-32 O’Connell St, Waterford, X91 RR2R

Mobile: +353 (0)87 338 6880

Email:  lcurrall@waterfordcouncil.ie