New exhibition gallery for art in Laois
Vice chairperson of the Mountmellick Community Arts Centre Ger Lynch pictured in the new art gallery space during the first exhibition which is titled Mountmellick: 'The Way we Were' Photos: Stan Henderson
A NEW art exhibition gallery now open at Mountmellick Community Arts Centre was recently launched with a pictorial display titled Mountmellick: The Way We Were and the spacious and brightly lit space is open to artists to show their works.
The current exhibition features 28 old, memorable and historical photographs of Mountmellick from the Lawrence Collection, ranging in time from c1864 to c1920. Also included in the exhibition space are two tall free-standing glass cases, holding telegrams from the late 1800s, along with memorabilia from Mountmellick textiles. There are also two sizeable wall display cases which are filled with books and DVDs as part of the exhibition.
For the remarkable number of talented artists living throughout the county, this newly refurbished gallery complete with its top-class lighting will be a welcome venue for them to exhibit their works.
Ger Lynch is the vice-chairperson of the committee at Mountmellick Community Arts Centre and he spoke to the Laois Nationalist in the gallery recently.
Ger explained that the auditorium used to have 800 seats but now has 448 in the Balcony Theatre and 138 in the Balcony Cinema, while he pointed to a photograph by well-known local photographer Kevin Byrne. The photograph of the auditorium was taken on the last day of that era before over 200 seats were removed back in the early 1990s. That memorable photograph remains as a permanent fixture in the gallery space.
Ger said: “Over the years, the space that was left by those refurbishments was done up gradually by a grant from the Town and Village Renewal Scheme. We were still left with this space that was a kind of no-man’s land. My daughter came up with the idea of turning it into an exhibition centre for artists and photographers and we applied for a grant from Laois Partnership. It was a great idea because we are an arts centre, but we didn’t have a dedicated space for artists to show their works.
“We got Molloy Electrical to come and do the spotlights and our great in-house team of community employment scheme workers did fantastic work with painting and decorating the rest of the gallery. We really have to thank the community employment workers; they’re a great group.
“We were delighted to open the gallery with the current photographic exhibition and Brian Fergus of Fuji Image Services in Portlaoise did an excellent job on producing the quality prints and framing the exhibition pieces for us.” Booking the gallery space for exhibitions is not free, however. Ger said that the rates will be reasonable and that it will cater for the needs of each artist on an individual basis and for the timeframes that they require, whether it is for a week or a month. He also said that facilities for refreshments at exhibition launches are available and that Mountmellick Community Arts Centre looks forward to welcoming artists to display their works in the new art gallery.
People are welcome to view the current exhibition Mountmellick: The Way We Were from 11am to 2pm Monday to Thursday and from 11am to 1pm and 7-9pm on Fridays. For artists who wish to make enquiries, more information is available by phoning the centre on 057 8697600 or by checking out the website www.mountmellickcommunityartscentre.ie. Mountmellick Community Arts Centre can also be found on Facebook.
