Mayo Landscape, Artists View
Mayo Landscape, Artists View is a collection of 31 artists who did residencies in Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ballycastle, down through the years.
It serves as a journey through the landscape of the north Mayo area and, appropriately, can be viewed on Mayo Day (Saturday, May 2) on the Mayo.ie homepage.
Ballinglen Arts Foundation, established in 1992 by Margo Dolan and Peter Maxwell, awards artists time to create artwork in the idyllic village of Ballycastle surrounded by magnificent landscape. Right on Main Street, the buildings hold work spaces for artists, an art gallery and the coming Museum of Contemporary Art, which is due to open this summer.
Each artist who visits Ballinglen leaves one piece of work to the permanent collection. This notable collection, as you will be able to see from the exhibition, reflects the world around Ballycastle, a world overlaid by a map of works made by the artists who have been going to work there for 28 years.
Each work selected poignantly reflects presence and time, cyclical returns, the land, sea and sky. Scroll down and let the paintings guide you on a virtual walk from Shralagagh bog to the west of the village, to the Céide Fields and the cliffs, along the coast to the beach at Bunatrahir Bay, and the Ballinglen studios in the village before heading on out to Downpatrick Head.
Over the years the artwork made here has become a record of the passing of time, presenting evidence of that which remains the same and that which has changed. At the studios, a community of artists come and go, laying down overlapping traces in their wake.
A visit to Ballycastle is not complete without taking the road out to the monolith which is Dún Briste, catching glimpses of it nestled in the landmass. Generations of artists have recorded the power of Downpatrick Head, with its architecture of watchfulness, and Dún Briste, the broken fort, its distinctive, solitary geometry standing in the wind and the wave, perfectly jagged, unreachable and sublime.
Ballinglen is supported by the Arts Council, Mayo County Council and many donors in Ireland, the USA and throughout the world. Ballinglen is a registered Irish charity and all donations go directly to supporting the work of the foundation. Find out more at www.ballinglenartsfoundation.org.