Linenhall Arts Centre
Find Art Kicks Off!
29, Mar 2014 - 10:37

Mayo County Council Arts Office Public Art Programme in collaboration with the Linenhall Arts Centre present FIND: an exciting artistic venture presenting a series of temporary artworks/installations/events in and around the town of Castlebar, with the Linenhall Arts Centre acting as central focus for participating artists and audience alike.

FIND is a special public art programme created by County Mayo based artists, includes a performance and re-enactment of a tug of war that used to be an annual event for workers at the Old Hat Factory. The artist searched out descendants of the hat factory to take part, along with students from St Joseph's school in the town. Other artworks to be found include a series of miniature drawings in business environments, an outdoor film projection, a building that lights up and interacts with passers by, a side street crammed with flags and text relating to the old Linen industry and the old Castlebar Star Cinema rediscovered and represented in a very unexpected way.

Local artists were encouraged via an open competition to consider and propose discreet or 'hidden' works that will be 'unravelled', or be revealed, via the event tour and maps encouraging the public to seek out the works.

The Mayo artists who were selected for the commissions are Nuala Clarke (with Crystal Gandrud), Alice Dixon (with Anthony Champa), Joanna Hopkins, Chris Leach, Amanda Rice and Ian Wieczorek. This project is the first collaboration of the Mayo County Council Arts Office Public Art Programme and the Linenhall Arts Centre, with international status Irish artists Alice Maher and Aideen Barry acting as mentors for this initiative.

This accompanying exhibition at the Linenhall will expose the studio work and processes behind the production of these artworks. The gallery space will in effect become a living installation of artist's studios during the month of the exhibition and audience members throughout April will have the opportunity to observe and meet the artists working in the space.

Full details of the project, the artists and their artworks are available on the FIND website including a downloadable brochure, with location map for the artworks.