Atlantic TU graduate art show at Mayo campus

OVER 80 final year students of contemporary art, design and film are joining forces to hold their first graduate exhibition together in ATU Galway City from June 4 to 11. In ATU Mayo, nine students on the contemporary art practices programme in the School of Health Science, Wellbeing & Society will host their graduate show in St. Mary’s Hall on campus from June 13 to 17.

Both graduate shows mark the golden jubilee of the former GMIT which became Atlantic Technological University two months ago.

The ATU Mayo campus exhibition will be opened by Fiona Neary, interim director of the Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar, on Friday, June 10, at 6 p.m.

The annual graduate exhibitions are highlights of ATU’s academic calendar, drawing visitors and the students’ families and relatives from across the country to celebrate their work.

In ATU Galway City, the students’ exhibition will be displayed across three floors of the historic former Redemptorist building at Wellpark Road, formerly known as GMIT Cluain Mhuire. In Mayo, the students’ work will be showcased in the historic St. Mary’s Hall, formerly St. Mary’s Hospital, which now accommodates Atlantic TU (formerly GMIT and RTC Mayo).

Said Celine Curtin, Head of Department, ATU Creative Arts & Media, said: “We are delighted to welcome the students’ families, friends and the community to come on campus and view the range of work on display. Their creativity and tenacity in generating exciting new work is all the more remarkable in light of the difficult circumstances they endured during their studies since the pandemic. We look forward to celebrating their work with the wider community.”

Added Hazel Walker, lecturer at ATU Mayo: “The degree show of the BA in Contemporary Art Practices has been an integral part of life on the Mayo campus. We are delighted to be back live in St. Mary's Hall and to welcome everyone to this year's graduates’ exhibition.”