Events & Festivals

A new artwork by Waterford artist Denis Power was unveiled this week as part of the galleries ‘Recent Works: Donations, Acquisitions, Commissions’ exhibition. The artwork was inspired by a series of photographs depicting the street in 1900 and includes a portrayal of the Waterford Gallery of Art with its now removed clock tower. The gallery was built in 1845 as a savings bank and also hosted the first ever art school in Waterford in 1950.

Power is mixed media artist who studied art at Waterford Institute of Technology (now SETU) under Tony Ryan.  He takes his influence from his childhood memories, pop culture, and the environment.  Power is a resident artist at GOMA, co-founder of the Rogue Gallery, and has been involved in various art institutes in the city including Waterford Healing Arts Trust, Greyfriars, and Waterford Gallery of Art.

Power notes: “After over a year of trial and error, lessons learned, stops and starts, sections redone and an ungodly battle with the very concept of perspective, it’s finally done! My Mum joked that it wouldn’t be finished in her lifetime, something she was heartbreakingly right about. I’d like to dedicate this piece to her.”

The mural and exhibition is free to visit during gallery opening hours, Wed-Sat, 10am-5pm

Other artworks on show in the ‘Recent Works’ exhibition include paintings by:  Letitia Marion Hamilton (RHA), Geraldine O’Brien, Harry Kernoff, Lillian Davidson (ARHA), Rebecca Shackleton, Frances Kelly (ARHA), Josephine Webb, Damaris Lysaght, Fr. Jack Hanlon, Tony Ryan, Anna Moore, Samuel McCloy­­ and Patric Stevenson (PPRUA).

The exhibition also features: recently commissioned poetry in partnership with the Waterford literary journal The Waxed Lemon; Waterford Cultural Quarter films celebrating the rich heritage of O’Connell Street; work in progress by SETU graduate and Waterford Collection of Art Graduate Award winner, Rhys Wallace; documentary short film on Una Sealy (RHA) whose painting ‘Portrait of Caoilfhionn Hanton, Waterford’ was commissioned by Waterford City and County Council and featured in the
Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts (RHA) Annual Exhibition 2022 (this work will be shown in the upcoming WGOA exhibition, ‘Portraits: People & Place’ opening 8^th September 2022).

Dates:

21st July – September 3rd, 2022

Launch and Private View, August 4th, 2022, 6pm,

Times: The gallery is open to the public Wednesday -Saturday, 10am-5pm – Free for all.

In accordance with the Part XVI of the Planning & Development Act, 2000 as amended, Waterford City & County Council hereby gives notice that it intends to hold the following event:
Waterford Harvest Festival 2022, Waterford City, September 9th – 11th 2022.

This event is a celebration of food and culture, particularly highlighting artisan organic food production from the South East Region. The event shall be held throughout
Waterford City Centre but particularly at locations in Arundel Square, John Roberts Square (inc Broad Street, Georges Street & Barronstrand Street), Little Patrick Street,
Gladstone Street, Hanover Street O’Connell Street, Micheal Street and John Street (Applemarket).

The event will include the following:-

• Family friendly activities with a food, food related, health or lifestyle element;
  • Quality Market;
  • Relevant, topical and interesting food & food related demonstrations, talks, discussions and activities;
  • Music;
  • Presentation of Waterford’s food heritage.

The anticipated attendance at the event is 40,000 over the duration of the festival
The proposals including the Draft Event Management Plan may be inspected online at the Waterford City & County Council website www.waterfordcouncil.ie for a period of
5 weeks commencing on 21st July 2022.

Submissions or observations in respect of the proposal may be made to Waterford City Council on, or before, 10th August 2022. Submissions should be submitted via post to the
address below or email to planning@waterfordcouncil.ie

Just over a year since it opened its doors, Ireland’s first horological museum has enjoyed a remarkably busy year, with visitors travelling from all over Ireland, Europe and the US.  Visitors have flocked to the Museum of Time at Greyfriars to see over 600 pieces that showcase the history of time.  The museum is in fact the most popular of all the five Waterford Treasures museums.

The creation of the museum is due to the foresight and generosity of its benefactors, namely David Boles, Colman Curran and Elizabeth Clooney, who were honoured with a Civic Reception at City Hall, hosted by the Mayor of Waterford City and County.

David Boles has donated many significant pieces to the museum, including the oldest Irish watch, bracket clock and a grandfather clock, dating to the 1680s.  He also donated the famous William Clement clock dating to 1663, the very first in the world to have an anchor escapement mechanism that made clocks more accurate and was subsequently copied by all clockmakers.

Colman Curran and his wife Elizabeth Clooney, who first mooted the idea of a museum of time back in 2015, donated their significant collection of museum quality Irish grandfather clocks, bracket clocks and watches.

Mayor of Waterford City and Council, Cllr. Joe Kelly welcomed the creators of the National Museum of Time to the civic reception.  “I am absolutely delighted to be joined by Elizabeth, Colman and David in order to recognise their extraordinarily generous contributions to Waterford and indeed the Irish nation, by founding the Irish Museum of Time.”

“Colman and his wife Elizabeth spent over thirty years collecting museum quality Irish timepieces.  The collections they donated give a revealing insight into the technical, scientific, social and political landscape of Ireland from the late 17^th century through to the end of the 19^th century.”

“David Boles collected clocks all his life. His donation of some of the oldest clocks in the world has been game-changing as it has given Waterford Treasures Museums not only some of the world’s finest pieces, but has also given the curators valuable insight into how watch makers and craftsmen created time pieces of accuracy and remarkable beauty.”

“The desire of David, Colman and Elizabeth to share their collections with the public has indeed been transformative for tourism in Waterford, borne out by the very recent article on the museum in the New York Times.”

Director of Waterford Treasures, Eamonn McEneaney added, “Working with David, Colman and Elizabeth has been one of the highlights of my career.  The creators of this museum came to us with openhanded generosity. There were no egos involved, their sole aim was to create a museum that featured the very best of Irish timepiece making.”

“What they have done is unique in Ireland – not only did they give their collections, but also their knowledge and the resources to refurbish the museum building and to conserve and display the objects magnificently. They also share their expertise very generously.  This level of philanthropy is reminiscent of Renaissance patronage.  Present and future generations owe them a debt of gratitude for their true patriotism. I would like also to recognise friends and stalwart supporters of the benefactors, people like Kevin Chellar from Dublin and Bertie McClure from Belfast who freely gave of their time and expertise to the project.”

The Irish Museum of Time is located on Greyfriars Street in the heart of Waterford’s Viking Triangle. The refurbished gothic-style church is a fitting home for what is beyond doubt the finest collection of Irish timepieces in the world.

To find out more visit www.waterfordtreasures.com

-ENDS-

All are welcome to the launch of the poetry book collection, Four Voices: A Conversation on Thursday 16 ^th June from 6pm – 8pm in Dungarvan Library.

This collection is by four Waterford-based women, Mary McCarthy, Siobhán Mullins, Marie O’Meara and Sherry Young and the publication was assisted by a grant from the Waterford City and County Council Arts Office.

The collection draws upon the experiences of the authors in Ireland, Africa, India and New England. The authors’ status as Irish citizens anchors the literary conversation. Their lives as women, poets and international workers brought them together. The poems reflect the diversity and rich influences of the places and people about which they write. At the launch, Waterford poet Lani O’Hanlon will moderate a short discussion amongst the poets. There will be time for refreshments and conversation.

The books will be on sale in Dungarvan at David Walsh’s on Main Street and The Country Store on Mitchell Street. You can find it in Waterford at The Book Centre on Barronstrand Street.