Throughout October, Liverpool Irish Festival is bringing Liverpool’s Irish links into clear view, and their exhibition programme is a big part of that this year.
At Bluecoat Display Centre, the festivities started early, with a collective display of some of the region’s most exciting Irish makers opening 19th September.
A few of the makers are regulars at the display Centre (Adam Frew, Christy Keeny) but many of the others are new here, making it the first time some of this work has been shown in the city,
The jewellery is sweet, whimsical, and playful in its materials; whether it’s the characters adorning Alan Ardiff’s silver pendants, or the intricate papercraft of Rike Lenzing. It’s all beautifully made, but regardless of the time each object made to make, it feels light – joyful [if you’ve read the review of FACT, this was a very welcome breather afterwards].
It is Patricia Kelly’s textiles and Christy Keeney’s busts though that made the exhibition feel like something with an identity of Ireland in material as well as intention. Their work is completely Irish in its identity. The texture, the approach, the manufacture of every push and pull of thread or clay.
Keeney, from Donegal originally, studied in London before moving back to Ireland, but retains a relationship with UK craft galleries.
Patricia Kelly’s work, despite its influence being mostly Japanese, manages to retain a sense of Irish landscape through natural dyes and motion.
If you need to just stop, breathe, and appreciate the little things, the craft gallery at Bluecoat display Centre is always worth a stop.
And there’s more to Liverpool Irish Festival this year; more art, more talks, more learning. It’s lovely and I’d also encourage anyone visiting to make the trip over the water to Rathbone Studios in Birkenhead, opening 11th October at 6pm, and running until 1st November (Tuesday-Saturday 1:30-5pm).
The studio is hosting an exhibition of film, banners and artworks made in response to the Liverpool Irish Famine Trail sites. The works are being displayed together for the first time at Rathbone Studio, which has incredible Irish links going back to William and Eleanor Rathbone’s personal links to Ireland’s land league and the abolition of slavery. Now managed by Janet Holmes, the studio has begun hosting regular exhibitions.
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Liverpool Irish Festival runs until 1st November across multiple sites. See www.liverpoolirishfestival.com for full listings
Words, Kathryn Wainwright