Arts

The Wexford Literary Festival, founded in 2013 as the Focal Festival, is now in its 8th year and aims to attract national and international poets, playwrights, writers and readers and lovers of literature to gather and enjoy its eclectic programme of readings, workshops and awards, as well as unique fringe events including exhibitions, music and drama performances set around the picturesque historic town of Enniscorthy. The Wexford Literary Festival seeks to shine a light on, and increase awareness of, our many successful and well-known Wexford Literary talents naming Awards in their honour. The Colm Toibín Short Story Award The Anthony Cronin Poetry Award The Billy Roche Short Play Award The Eoin Colfer Children`s Short Story Award The Peter Murphy Spoken Word Award The Denis Collins Visual Story Award The Eileen Gray Window Display Award. We are delighted to announce that we received submissions right across the globe, from all parts of Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, New York, California, Florida, Philadelphia, Denmark, Germany, France, and Canada. This year we added yet another Award and another genre to our amazing list of competitions, with famous Wexford children’s author Eoin Colfer agreeing to his name on an Award for our new category Children’s Short Story Award. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Eoin and tell him that we were delighted with both the response and the standard of the submissions. The Festival continues to grow and prosper with each passing year, and we are extremely proud to say that we took on the Covid challenge last year and going digital managed not only to

Playwright Billy Roche with Wexford Literary Festival’s Maria Nolan.

attract a greater global audience but produced the only festival in County Wexford during the pandemic. Our vision is to be recognised as a leading International Literary Festival delivering a unique bespoke programme in the inspiring environment of Enniscorthy and Wexford, and it gives us great pleasure to announce that this year we have gone a step further down that global literary path and established literary links with our close connections in both Newfoundland and Savannah, and we are delighted to have author and poet Andrea Callanan from St. John’s, Newfoundland, on this year’s Festival programme, very much in keeping with our mission is to deliver an International Literary Festival with emphasis on promoting and awarding new and existing writing across many genres. The Festival Committee is dedicated to the promotion of reading and writing through our extensive programmes with special emphasis on social inclusion and contribute to cultural tourism in Enniscorthy and Wexford through our promotion of Wexford as the Literary Capital of South East Ireland.

Pre-Covid: Launch of Wexford Literary Festival in 2019.

This year, once again because of the uncertainty of the Covid situation, we took the decision a couple of months ago to go digital and we are happy to say that we will have people from all over the world joining us over our three-day Festival. This year’s Festival programme, because of the very difficult time being had particularly by those in the literary arts world, will endeavour to focus on all the wonderful literary talent in our midst right here in Wexford and will include authors, poets, playwrights - Carmel Harrington, Sheila Forsey, Hannah McNiven, Caroline Busher, Peter Murphy, Derek Meyler, Anne McLoughlin, Maybelle Wallis, Felicity Hayes McCoy, Jack Byrne, Maria Nolan, Madeline Breen, Paul Gaul and Billy Roche, A.M. Cousins, Margaret Galvin, Mary O`Brien, Grace O`Reilly, Caroline Stevens-Taylor, Ellen Lordan-Lohier, Sinead O`Reilly, Allannah Hammel, Zeff Ryder, Dean Ray Bolger, Daithi Kavanagh, Mattie White, Aoife Rose O’Brien, Chris Black, Richard Williams, Elizabeth McGeown, Imelda Carroll, Shane Gibbons and Thomas Maher, with others confirming as we go to print. Our particular thanks to Enniscorthy Municipal District Council, Town Manager Ger Mackey, Wexford County Council, Tourism Officer Billy Byrne, Wexford Libraries, Imelda Carroll and Jarlath Glynn, and to all the amazing artists in our Festival 2021 line-up. Please support us supporting them. Running over the weekend of 2nd – 4th July, the Wexford Literary Festival 2021 truly has something for everyone, so please watch our website www.wexfordliteraryfestival.com and our Facebook Page for details of what’s on and when.

– Maria Nolan, Wexford Literary Festival Secretary.

Ochre – Ciara Roche & Emma Roche 14th June – 7th August 2021 at Wexford Arts Centre, Cornmarket, Wexford Gallery hours: Monday–Friday from 10am-5pm and Saturday from 10am-4pm.

Wexford Arts Centre is pleased to present Ochre, an exhibition of new paintings by artists Ciara Roche and Emma Roche. The exhibition is running in the lower and upper galleries to Saturday 7 August 2021. It is supported by Creative Ireland. Ochre, an anagram of the artists’ surname, presents work by two artists who share a sense of heritage and place – both live in different parts of rural County Wexford – but their works look nothing alike. Ciara Roche’s small-scale studies of recreation and retail sites are curiously devoid of people. It is apparent that it is the artist’s intention for the painted space to exist for the viewer to inhabit. The works are made quickly in an attempt to capture the experience of visiting these spaces and yet, the attention to detail and treatment of light and colour has the effect of creating a world that is vividly alive. Painted surfaces of shopping centre interiors and display stands glisten with all that is seductive and at the same time, unsettling about consumerism.

Emma Roche’s works shift between the figurative and abstract combining knitting or tapestry methodologies and painting to create layered and textured works. The artist explores ideas related to day-jobs, waged and unwaged work, pregnancy and motherhood. Enquiries into labour and employment, and our attitude toward them are present in the knitted paintings and rugs which are made with long lines of dried paint and used like wool or thread. Ideas concerning how we structure and organise time is highlighted through these painted forms as the labour involved in their production is apparent. While the works of these two artists may not look anything alike on the surface, on deeper inspection it is clear that they share the same motivation to paint as they try to understand their place in the world. Traditional female elements appear in both artists’ work; the presence of crafts and the body in Emma’s paintings and the seductive leisure interiors and elongated mannequins that Ciara presents question femininity and assigned roles, and often subvert these through absence and abstraction. The work also curiously reflects on how these female artists are shaped by their location – culturally and socially. https://www.wexfordartscentre.ie/ochre-ciara-emma-roche/

Left: Ciara Roche, Mannequin Pose 2, 2021, oil on paper, 15 x 21cm.

Right: Emma Roche, Unqualified, 2020, acrylic on rug canvas, 26 x 37cm.

This month I am delighted to review yet another book in the very popular Finfarran series by my good friend Felicity Hayes McCoy, and as always with this series once I begin to read it’s like revisiting old friends, and it’s business as usual in the little town of Lissbeg on the west coast of Ireland.

We find our favourite librarian Hannah Casey gathering material to put together an exhibition on Ireland’s struggle for freedom in the War of Independence which is of course very current at the minute with the centenary of the ending of the war coming up this July. When Hannah comes across her Great Aunt’s diary, her own family secrets of love, dishonour and revenge are uncovered. The question for Hannah is will she risk personal and professional fallout by keeping the secrets to herself or will she honour the exhibition’s spirit of shared storytelling.

Meanwhile, newly-wed Aideen has just had a baby with husband Conor and for the very first time in her life it now becomes important to her to find the father that she has never known, but will she be happy with what she finds.

Secrets, dilemmas and decisions make The Year of Lost and Found an intriguing read and a real page-turner as author Felicity Hayes-McCoy cleverly demonstrates that history is never just about the past, as old wounds are opened, old memories raked through and old ghosts disturbed.

Felicity has long had an interest in memory and indeed in how we remember things, and is also very closely connected with Ireland’s struggle for freedom as her own Great Aunt Marion Stokes was one of three women who hoisted the Tricolour over the Athenaeum in Enniscorthy during Easter Week 1916 and she brings all of her own personal and nonfictional experience and research together in this wonderfully written book of family sagas and hidden truths.

Very topical and perfectly timed, another very good and enjoyable read from the pen of Felicity Hayes-McCoy.

Felicity Hayes-McCoy

The Wexford Playwright Studio was launched in March 2019 to support new writing for theatre by Wexford playwrights. Following an open call, 35 applications were received and 8 were selected to take part: Joe Brennan, Imelda Carroll, Sheila Forsey, Jack Matthews, Dominic Palmer, Megan O’Malley, Hannah McNiven and Eoghan Rua Finn.

The playwrights have been receiving mentoring supports, through a combination of online and face to face workshops, from established playwrights Billy Roche, Deirdre Kinahan and dramaturg Thomas Conway to each develop a script. Work-in-progress stage readings have been directed by Ben Barnes behind closed doors (due to Covid) and expertly filmed by Ted Moran with a company of twelve actors over two weeks in March 2021. The cast includes: Jamie Beamish, Sharon Clancy, Ingrid Craigie, Naoise Dunbar, Heather Hadrill, Mark Lambert, Elishka Lane Barnes, Ronan Leahy, Gary Lydon, Cian Malin, Katie McCann and Tiernan Messitt Greene.

All eight filmed work-in-progress staged readings can be viewed online via the Wexford Arts Centre website: www.wexfordartscentre.ie n

Wexford Arts Centre is delighted to announce Heather Hadrill as the Artist in Residence for 2021 with focus on community engagement from its first open call initiative supported by Arts Council Ireland. Heather is an experienced theatre practitioner from Wexford with many credits as theatre director, actor, speech and drama teacher, facilitator, and producer. n Heather Hadrill

In two remarkable volumes, completing a trilogy on County Wexford, the authors have introduced a novel method of bringing the past to life using the parish and townland as the basis for the project.

The townland is the smallest territorial and administrative unit in Ireland. It is, also, the place that people know best, where every field, stream, hill and valley is part of their consciousness, thus providing the most intimate connection between the landscape and its inhabitants. For over 5,000 years County Wexford has provided a rich environment for its inhabitants. The generations of men and women who forged a living from this landscape left their mark in the form of Stone Age portal tombs, Bronze Age standing stones, Iron Age forts, Early Medieval church and monastic sites, ringforts, Anglo-Norman defended farmsteads, castles and tower houses, and later churches, mills, kilns, bridges and other traces of the past. Places of natural interest are also included.

Each of the thirty-seven parishes is given a separate chapter containing an overall introduction outlining some of the most interesting features. This is followed by a clear description of every archaeological and environmental site, large and small, still visible in each townland. These are placed in their archaeological and historical contexts.

The text of these hard-covered books is beautifully illustrated with photographs

Welcome to our new ‘Librarian Likes’ series where the knowledgeable staff at Enniscorthy Library share some of their recent reads and favourite titles. This month, Jarlath has picked On Our Own Ground – County Wexford Parish by Parish by Edward Culleton and Celestine Murphy.

and drawings. For those wishing for further details, references are given at the end of each chapter. A section explaining the technical terms in simple language is also included.

Obviously, the authors hope that providing the information in this manner will create a greater awareness of our rich heritage to which the people are both heirs and guardians. The volumes will be extremely useful, too, for primary school teachers in assigning projects to their pupils.

The Wexford County Library Service has published these unique volumes. Their uptake will, no doubt, be keenly watched by other counties with a view to their emulation.

Volume 1 and 2 by Edward Culleton. Volume 3 by Edward Culleton and Celestine Murphy. All published by Wexford County Library Services. n

Lymington Road - Phone: 053 9236055 enniscorthylib@wexfordcoco.ie https://www.wexfordcoco.ie/libraries https://www.facebook.com/enniscorthylibrary

The fifth and final piece of the Wexford County Council/The Walls Project series in New Ross is now complete with a stunning mural on the gable wall at Breen's Hardware. This amazing piece was undertaken by the talented Dutch muralist Nina Valkhoff who has completed works all over the world and has now left an indelible mark on New Ross.

Nina was blown away by the personalities and people of the town and by their generosity towards her.

See https://www.facebook.com/VisitNewRoss/videos/768116400567382 to learn more about this stunning mural.

Nina Valkhoff

The ‘Wexford Blue Whale: Chanies Across the Sea’ project is an art project which connects shipwrecks, a blue whale and a 77-year-old woman’s extraordinary collection of pieces of pottery collected over the years on the beach in Rosslare. A large whale mosaic created by artist Helen McLean, in association with Wexford Arts Centre, supported by Wexford County Council, recalls the 25m blue whale which beached in Wexford in 1891 and whose skeleton now hangs at the entrance hall of the Natural History Museum in London. It is as much of a community project as it is an artistic one. The story of the whale and that of Ann Borg, who collected the shards of pottery over the past seven decades, has sparked the attention of people on both sides of the Atlantic, including that of the Natural History Museum in London. RTÉ recently interviewed Helen, Ann and Elizabeth Whyte of Wexford Arts Centre about this fascinating project. See: https://rb.gy/uwnnsg The Whale Mosaic was installed last month on Wexford’s Quay at the Wexford Bridge side. It was officially unveiled as part of the Arts Council’s ‘Brightening Air/Coiscéim Coiligh’ festival. And supported by Wexford County Council. The mosaic whale recalls the 25-metre blue whale named “Hope” beached in Wexford in 1891 and subsequently sold to the Natural History Museum in London where it now hangs in the entrance hall. The materials used in the making of the mosaics are shards of Staffordshire pottery, ’chanies’, from Stoke that have, for more than a century, washed ashore on Rosslare harbour from shipwrecks, including a ship bound for Savannah, Georgia, USA, in 1857. The mosaic represents hope in our ability to stay connected and sustain community collaboration on a local and international level.

Helen McLean specialises in creating original, site-specific art in mosaic, stained glass and paint, commissioned by a wide range of individuals and organisations in the USA, Ireland, and UK. Previous artworks range in size from 1 square foot to over 2,000 square feet. Working closely with the client, Helen designs artworks in harmony with the architecture, environment and those who interact with the space.

After completing a BA (Hons) in Fine Art, Helen continued her studies with a post graduate qualification from St Martin’s College and a stained glass apprenticeship in Siena, Italy. Now based in Wexford, she has travelled and exhibited extensively. She recently completed mosaics included in the exterior building of the new Wexford County Council HQ. If you’d like to know more about Helen’s artwork, visit https://www.helenmcleanart.com/ or follow her Facebook and Instagram. n

The unveiling of the Wexford Blue Whale on Wexford Quays by the Mayor of Wexford Leonard Kelly on 11th June 2021. Above: Cllr Leonard Kelly (Mayor of Wexford), Ann Borg who collected the pottery for the mosaic, Eva Carley, Helen McLean (artist) and Elizabeth Whyte (CEO, Wexford Arts Centre). Left: Johnny Mythen TD and Cllr Davy Hynes. Right: Elizabeth Whyte, CEO of Wexford Arts Centre. Below: Mayor Leonard Kelly with the Rosslare Harbour Group.

More exciting news from The Presentation Centre, at the heart of Enniscorthy, as RTE’s Nationwide team paid them a visit recently to film its current, stunning exhibition, Chrysalis and interview artist Eva O’Donovan and the Centre’s Visual Arts Manager Lisa Byrne, along with having a chat to some of the portrait sitters and film them with their individual portraits.

The episode of Nationwide is scheduled to feature in the autumn and will no doubt contribute to giving artist Eva and The Presentation Centre a higher profile on the national visual art scene. Meanwhile, we, here in Enniscorthy, can call into the Centre on Nunnery Road and enjoy this amazing exhibition free of charge. How good is that – well done to all at the Centre and to Eva O’Donovan for creating something aesthetically beautiful and without doubt, thought provoking. Words and pics below by Maria Nolan

The 2021 WFO 13-day programme, celebrating Wexford’s 70th anniversary, looks forward to welcoming live audiences back into the National Opera House, to experience in person the magic that is Wexford Festival Opera. All events will be delivered safely, within government guidelines. Live audience numbers for festival performances will be at a reduced capacity, but this is not expected to dampen the excitement of this 70th Anniversary festival programme. There will be three evening operas, performed in the O’Reilly Theatre to a limited audience – a fully-staged production of Edmea (Alfredo Catalani), a semi-staged production of Le Songe d’une nuit d’été (Ambroise Thomas), and a concert performance of Ein Wintermärchen (Karl Goldmark). n

Staff at The Presentation Centre, Enniscorthy, with Kevin and Lily, of Wexford Sk8tr Kids. All are are eagerly awaiting the painting of The Presentation Centre building due to take place this summer in conjunction with SUBSET, Science Foundation Ireland, and the Enniscorthy Walls Project. Wexford Sk8tr Kids have come on board to assist with the design. Wexford Sk8tr Kids is a group for all ages and abilities who want to skateboard and have fun. Their mission is to lead young people on a positive path through skateboarding and skate culture. See ‘Wexford Sk8tr Kids’ on Facebook. Words and pic by Maria Nolan.

Wexford Arts Centre are seeking submissions from young singer/songwriters to be included in a new series of Summer Sessions – Young Voices to be held weekly on Thursdays from 22nd July until Thursday 12th August 7pm-8.30pm. These weekly sessions will be hosted by singer/songwriter Rachel Grace and each weekly event will feature new voices performing their original work selected from submissions. Each Young Voice will have opportunity to perform two songs acoustically. The events will be open to a limited audience and recorded. To be considered, singer/songwriters must be aged between 13-18, please email link to audio/video of file of maximum two original songs to elizabeth@wexfordartscentre.ie by Thursday 1st July at 5pm. Please note availability to perform on any of the Thursday dates between 22nd July to 12th August. n

Small Arts Festivals 2021 is a grant scheme which promotes and supports a diverse range of small arts festivals and experimental events throughout Co. Wexford. Twenty-four applications were received by Wexford County Council in total for 2021 and eleven festival/events shared €23,200 ranging between €1,000 –€3,000 each.

The successful groups were: Three Billboards outside Gorey, Fuddle Fest (Fuddletown, Kilinick), New Ross Piano Festival, Sean Nos Singing i nGuaire, On Board The Gorey Caravan Feile, Spring Moves Dance Festival, Theatre Al Fresco- with St. Michael’s Theatre, The First Fathom (Kilmore Quay, Little Beach, the Burrow and surroundings), The Gap Arts Festival 2021 (Ballythomas, north Wexford), The Eugene O’Neill International Festival of Theatre ‘One Festival, Two Countries’ New Ross, The Wexford May Bush Festival 2021, One Voice Festival – Tales from the Quay (Wexford Arts Centre). n