Renowned Mayo artist Niamh O’Malley has been invited by the Linenhall Arts Centre and Ballina Arts Centre to submit an artwork to their biannual Mayo Artists Show this year.
Born in Mayo and based in Dublin, O’Malley previously reunited with her home county in 2013 on the highly successful Mayo Arts Collaborative inaugural project.
The project featured a unique exhibition showcasing recent examples of her work in five different venues around the Mayo region. Creating a cultural trail through some of Ireland’s most stunning landscapes, visitors were encouraged to engage with Niamh’s work in exhibition spaces in Belmullet, Ballycastle, Ballina, Castlebar and Westport.
The project broke ground as it was the first time all five publicly-funded visual arts spaces in Mayo collaborated to show a single artist’s work simultaneously.
Her work will return to Mayo once more with a featured piece in both Ballina Arts Centre and the Linenhall for the acclaimed Mayo Artists Show which will run from December 3, in both galleries.
"I’m delighted to participate in the Mayo Artists Show. I’ve been thinking about the closeness of the words ‘from’ and ‘form’. We are formed by the places and the landscape we come from - and the shapes of Mayo’s mountains, lakes and coastline position us in the world and demand that their influence is visible in our work and life," says O’Malley.
O’Malley has been incredibly busy over recent years with exhibitions both nationally and internationally. She will represent Ireland at the Venice Biennale which is due to open in April 2022. As a sculptor and video maker, her work explores the materiality of landscape as well as conceptual ideas about how we sense the world around us.
The biannual Mayo Artists Show presents a cornucopia of work in all manner of media and celebrates the depth and breadth of visual arts talent in Mayo.
The 2021 exhibition will be selected and curated by Eamon Maxwell who said: "It’s a real thrill to be selecting and curating the 2021 Mayo Artists Show. Over the past few years, I’ve gotten to know many of the artists and organisations across the county and have been seriously impressed by the quality of both.
"I hope the selection of works captures the breadth and quality of practitioners. And I’m especially thrilled that Niamh O’Malley accepted my invitation to exhibit two works in the exhibition, as she prepares to represent Ireland at Venice Biennale in 2022."
The exhibition will launch at 6pm in the Linenhall Arts Centre and at 8pm in Ballina Arts Centre on Friday, December 3. A free bus will be available to transport audiences to Ballina and back to Castlebar on the night of the launch. All are welcome to attend.
Full details of the Mayo Artist Show are available at www.thelinenhall.com and www.ballinaartscentre.com
