GREAT things and good things are generated by the arts scene in Limerick City, so the great and good reassured a thronged Limerick City Gallery of Art at its relaunch last week.
The €1.7mn remodelled art centre and new café Zest within Carnegie Building was especially pleasing to Minister for Arts, Gaeltacht and Heritage Jimmy Deenihan who liked the synergy between the historic and new, the interior visuals and immediacy of People’s Park.
“I am very impressed with what is happening here in Limerick in the arts,” he told the eclectic crowd. Ministers (Jan O’Sullivan, himself), city and county council members, city manager Tom Mackey, Carnegie architect Hugh Murray, designer John A. Reilly, arts officer Sheila Deegan and heads of numerous art bodies rubbed with artists, collectors, art-loving plebs and those in search of a free canapé.
Minister Deenihan told us that we got rhythm where it counts. “Look at what is happening in Mary Immaculate College, in dance at UL through Mary Nunan and her developing dance programme, The Hunt Museum, Belltable Arts Centre which is a most accessible building for the community. Also the Frank McCourt Museum, and other developments of which I might not be aware”.
Officiating at the occasion, cllr. Tom Shortt, city director of services Pat Dowling, Mayor Jim Long and new head of Arts Council Orlaigh McBride made individual contributions to the swelling of pride that buoys up nationally.
Perhaps Orlaigh McBride crystallised it with her observation that “LCGA is a gallery that I and my colleagues on the Art Council view as holding a unique position in Irish arts. It has a key place in the city and county, a crucial role in the mid-west in providing the opportunity to engage with the arts locally and in accessing international exhibitions”.
The Carnegie Building is, she said “a stunning building with the poshest café of an arts centre that I have seen in the country. LCGA should continue to position itself at the vanguard of the arts community in Ireland, a main driver in the contemporary arts scene”.
Everybody seemed pleased that such tribute was paid to directors-curators who have fostered Limerick City Gallery of Art shows, specifically Paul O’Reilly, Dr Michael Fitzpatrick, Dr Pippa Little (acting) and Marion Lovett (acting). As of January 30, new director-curator Helen Carey takes up her post.
LCGA’s permanent collection of 800 pieces is worth €7mn. Ours was the first city council to support the opening of library /gallery, coughing up for the acquisition of art as early as 1937.Carnegie Building houses the National Collection of Drawing and Michael O’Connor’s International Poster Collection as well as platforming Irish and international shows in all sorts of media.
