PRESS RELEASE  21 October 2010

'FLOW'

A Joint Exhibition of Government Art Works

The annual joint touring exhibition of art works from the collections of the Office of Public Works (OPW) in the Republic of Ireland and the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP) of Northern Ireland is this year entitled 'Flow'.  It is an exhibition of forty Government art works all focusing on the theme of water.

The OPW has been working in co-operation with the DFP in relation to art exhibitions since 1997 and the joint exhibitions have toured extensively throughout Ireland – to arts centres, libraries, civic offices, colleges and heritage properties – and to several venues abroad. The art works included in these exhibitions have mainly been purchased for public buildings located throughout the island.  Flow, the thirteenth such exhibition, contains paintings, prints, photography and a video piece.  In their joint foreword to the exhibition, Minister Martin Mansergh, TD, and Sammy Wilson, MP MLA, explain that the works describe “society's relationship with water... in the many forms it takes, such as that of transport, leisure, work, power and sustenance.”

Both figurative art works and abstract compositions appear in the exhibition, which includes images of seascapes, ships, harbours, rivers, lakes, beaches, marine life and watermills by a range of renowned artists such as Patrick Collins, Mary Swanzy, Barrie Cooke and William Conor.  These are joined by a number of art works by contemporary young artists including Sean Lynch, Colm MacAthlaoich and Irene Barry, all of whom live and work on the island of Ireland.

This year’s Exhibition is travelling to five venues.  The Braid Arts Centre in Ballymena, Co. Antrim, was the first venue to host the show in August, and from there it travelled to the Linenhall Library, Belfast, in September.  At the end of October, Flow will travel to the Waterways Ireland Headquarters in Enniskillen, where in co-operation with Waterways Ireland, it will hang for nearly three weeks.  It will then move South to the Republic of Ireland and the new OPW Headquarters in Trim, Co. Meath.  The southern leg of the tour will finish in the Pearse Museum, Rathfarnham, Dublin, in December/January.

The exhibition at Waterways Ireland will be opened by Dr. Martin Mansergh, T.D., Minister of State at the Department of Finance with special responsibility for the Office of Public Works and the Arts.  An exhibition catalogue is available from the OPW Art Management Office (+353 (0)1 647 6692).

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•  For further information contact Kevin Kennedy, OPW Press Office, +353 (0)1 647 6159 or  +353 (0) 87 930 3888.