Art lovers do not have long to wait for one of the most anticipated exhibitions in the Irish visual arts calendar, as the Claremorris Open Exhibition (COE ) is set to open its doors again on Saturday, September 14. The Claremorris Arts Committee have announced that Ingrid Swenson, Director of the PEER Gallery in London will be conducting the official opening at the COE Gallery, Mount Street on Saturday, September 14 at 8.30pm. Highly regarded for imaginative and ambitious art projects by local, national and international artists, the PEER Gallery has supported and exhibited the work of many Irish artists over the years.
The annual Claremorris Open Exhibition will run until Saturday, October 6 and will showcase a stunning selection of work from 27 exceptional Irish and international visual artists. The exhibition will feature a blend of everything from traditional, gallery-based painting and sculpture to more site-based, multimedia displays.
Celebrating its 36th anniversary this year, COE is renowned for attracting curators and adjudicators of the highest calibre, and this year proves to be no exception, with the arrival of Tate Britain's Curator of Modern and Contemporary British Art, Mr Andrew Wilson. The opening will mark Mr Wilson's second visit to the West, having selected the exhibition in June from almost 300 submissions.
Viewers can experience this superb exhibition for themselves in several locations around Claremorris, as the exhibition quite literally takes over this Mayo town, with galleries appearing in a number of premises around the locality over the three weeks. COE '13 will also feature an exciting Artist in Residence programme run by Claremorris-based arts facilitator, Lisa Fahy. Lisa will be running a fantastic series of events for the duration of the three week exhibition, including lunchtime 'snippet tours', outreach visits to care homes, and school tours.
