Athlone’s Luan Gallery to host Westmeath Artists Award talk
Luan Gallery, in collaboration with Westmeath Arts Office, is hosting Westmeath Artists Awards Talk on Saturday, January 18, at 2pm.
This event will feature Benjamin Stafford, guest curator of Let the Mirror Express the Room and selector of this year’s Westmeath Artists Award, in conversation with Carmel Duffy, Manager of Luan Gallery, and Laura McCormack, Acting Arts Officer of Westmeath County Council. The discussion will explore the significance of the award, the selection process, and the curatorial themes behind this year’s exhibition.
Following the talk, Amanda Ralph, the 2024 Westmeath Artists Award winner, will join Benjamin Stafford and Aoife Banks, Curator of Luan Gallery, for a discussion on her award-winning work.
The Westmeath Artists Awards is an annual collaboration between Luan Gallery and Westmeath Arts Office aiming to celebrate, showcase, and support the development of Westmeath visual artists with funding support from the Arts Council of Ireland.
The exhibition presents works selected by guest Curator Benjamin Stafford, who is the visual arts curator at Visual, Carlow. All exhibiting artists were considered for a professional development award. The winner of the Westmeath Artists Award 2024, Athlone native Amanda Ralph, received a Luan Gallery Visual Arts Development Award of €1500, a future exhibition slot at Luan Gallery, a studio residency at Abbey Road Artists’ Studios, a studio visit, and mentorship from Benjamin Stafford.
Almost fifty works by thirty-two artists are showcased in the exhibition, with several of the artists exhibiting for the first time in Luan Gallery. Westmeath artists selected for exhibition include; Nataliia Bobak, Emma O'Brien, Anne Marie Burke, Eoin Butler, Emma Carter, Richard Clarke, Mary Cosgrove, Martina Coyle, Alan Crowley, Bertille de Lestrade, Kyle Collins, Maebh Donovan, Mark Duffy, Lorraine Dunne, Trish Findlater, Olivia Finn, Paul Flaherty, Nicole Gill, Jacinta Guinan, Tina Hayes, Fiona Kelly, Hilary Kinahan, Lorraine Mimnagh, Muiris Moynihan, EL Putnam, Amanda Ralph, Paul Roy, Nóilín Shaw, Celine Sheridan, Annette Treacy, Lesley Wingfield, and Ann Wingfield
The exhibition will continue until Sunday, February 2.