Skibbereen Arts Festival 2019 marked its 10th Anniversary at the official launch in the O’Driscoll building in Skibbereen on Friday 12th July, with the Mayor of County Cork and Lord Puttnam officiating.

This year the O’Driscoll building hosts Catherine Hammond Gallery’s monumental exhibition of new paintings inspired by the West Cork landscape by Ireland’s greatest living landscape artist, Donald Tesky. At the rear of the building is another must-see exhibition, Falling into the Sky, which is a collaboration of works by Ber Burns, Tess Leak, Gana Roberts, Nicola Kelly and Wendy Dison.

There is more to look forward to with the Skibbereen Arts Festival Visual Arts Trail beginning on Saturday 27th July with various exhibitions around the town and be sure to pick up your Visual Arts Trail Map from the Town Hall, Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre or at the O’Driscoll Building itself.

This year also marks my 7th anniversary as the Visual Arts Facilitator of the festival. Obtaining sites for our pop-up exhibitions has become increasingly challenging as Skibbereen becomes more prosperous and we are totally dependent on the goodwill and generosity of the town’s landlords and property owners to lend venues for the duration of the festival. I’m very grateful to them all. Also, I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to meet many brilliant participating artists over these past years.

photo credit; Skibbereen Arts Festival. From left, Declan McCarthy, myself, The Mayor of County Cork, Lord Puttnam, Brendan McCarthy and Ann Davoren.