Claremorris Open 11

The exhibition will be launched by Senator Marie Louise O’ Donnell at a reception in the COE Gallery, Chapel Lane, Claremorris. Curator of COE 2011, Chris Hammond (MOT International & Goldsmith’s, University of London) will also be in attendance to announce the winners of this year’s exhibition.

From its humble beginnings in a school gym, the Claremorris Open Exhibition has evolved into one of the premier events on the Irish visual arts calendar. Founded in 1978, COE has served as a showcase for the very best in contemporary art, both Irish and international. As both a competition and event the exhibition has proven to be fluid in nature, adapting to the constantly evolving nature of contemporary art and the changing contexts in which it takes place. From a traditional, gallery-based exhibition of painting and sculpture to a site-based, multimedia showcase of all that is exciting, challenging, weird and wonderful, COE has consistently remained a vital force in Irish art.Both as a consequence of and a compliment to the consistently high standard of work showcased in the exhibition, COE has become renowned, both far and wide, for the calibre of curators seeking the pleasure of serving as both adjudicator and curator of the event. Indeed, the list of past curators serves as a roll call of some of the most highly regarded curators from both Ireland and the U.K. We believe that maintaining such a high standard in the selection of our curators has played an important role in ensuring the continuing high standard and success of the exhibition. This year’s exhibition carries a prize fund of €8,000 euro and over three hundred artists from both home and abroad submitted proposals for consideration by our Curator. This year’s Curator is Chris Hammond, founder and Director of MOT International and Lecturer at Goldsmith’s, University of London. Thirty four artists have been fortunate enough to be selected to participate in the exhibition and their works will be on show in a variety of locations throughout the town.

The exhibition will be open for viewing until Sep 24th. Tue – Sat: 12 – 5 pm  Sun: 2 – 5pm Mon: Closed

The artists selected are as follows:

Cormac Browne – Dublin, Fiona Burke – Galway, Alan James Burns – Dublin, Michelle Conway- Galway, Loretto Cooney – Longford, Fergus Daly – Galway, Harald Den Breejen – Zoetermeer, Holland, Aideen Doran – Glasgow, Scotland, Brid Egan – Galway, Laura Fitzgerald – Kerry, Sarah Flynn – Wexford, Judy Foley – Wicklow, Brendan Fox – Dublin, Betty Gannon – Westport ,Brian Hegarty – Louth, Helen Hughes – Dublin, Barbara Knezevic – Dublin, Sam Knowles – London, UK, Christopher Leach – Mayo, Elaine Leader – Dublin, Antonio Julio Lopez Castro – Kerry, Selma Makela – Galway, Jonathan Mayhew – Kilkenny,    Sean Molloy – Dublin, Gavin Murphy – Dublin, Doireann Ni Ghrioghair – London, UK, Bridget O’Gorman – Kilkenny, David O’Kane – Berlin, Germany, Will O’Kane – Tipperary ,Marie Padden – Mayo, Jane Queally – Galway, Una Quigley – Berlin, Germany, Aindreas Scholz – Dublin, Lucy Sheridan – Dublin