Remaining Places at Fota House, Arboretum & Gardens

Dates: 14th to 30th September 2022
Time: 12pm-3pm

Presenting an exhibition of artworks at Fota House and the beautiful surrounds of its Arboretum and Gardens, inspired by the idea that beauty manifests where order and entropy are coincident.

Backwater Artists Group (BAG) and Fota House, Arboretum and Gardens present ‘Remaining Places’, an exhibition of work by Backwater Artists Network members taking place from 14th to 30th September 2022. The show is curated by BAG Director Elaine Coakley, and network artist member Andrew Carroll.

The twenty exhibiting artists were invited to submit work for ‘Remaining Places’ in response
to the quote “Where power was, there beauty shall reside”, taken from writer, art historian and educator Ann Bermingham. Bermingham is the author of many books on 18th and 19th Century European Art, including the title “Landscape and Ideology”.

The Picturesque style was such an ideological application of aesthetics to the Irish landscape, and evolved from the discipline of landscape painting; it later became the design principles that guided the English Informal style of gardening. Fota House is – for more reasons than its gardens – the ideal setting for ‘Remaining Places’, as its painting collection is considered to be one of the finest collections of landscape painting outside the National Gallery of Ireland, and includes works by William Ashford PRHA, Robert Carver, Jonathan Fisher and Thomas Roberts.

The twenty artists who will present work in mediums from painting, to printmaking, to installation and ceramics are; Andrew Carroll, Angie Shanahan, Anna Barden, Bernadette Tuite, Cara Brophy, Cassandra Eustace, Claire Murphy, Don Braisby, Eadaoin Glynn, Elaine Coakley, Helen O’Keeffe, Helen O’Shea, Mary Galvin, Oonagh Hurley, Ray Murphy, Regina Fruitos, Rose McGowan, Samir Mahmood, Sinéad Ní Chionaola and Tina Whelan.

‘Remaining Places’ is running at Fota House, Arboretum and Gardens, 12pm-3pm, from 14th to 30th September 2022.

Image here 

About Fota House, Arboretum and Gardens

Fota House was designed by 19th-century architects Richard and William Morrison. The house has been immaculately maintained, featuring beautifully proportioned rooms with exquisite plasterwork and a preserved service wing and kitchens. Fota House, Arboretum and Gardens offers visitors an intimate look at how life was lived in the past, whether as a servant or as a member of the gentry. Outdoors, the Victorian Working Garden with an orchard, pit houses and working glasshouses are open to the public to explore.

The Irish Heritage Trust, an independent charity, took responsibility for Fota House, Arboretum and Gardens in 2007. In 2016 the house achieved full museum accreditation from the Heritage Council under their Museum Standards Programme. This award recognised the high standards the house has set in recent years, including the care and maintenance of its collection and its conservation efforts.

Image:
Artist: Samir Mahmood
Title: Mercy
Dimension: 53 x 36cm (framed)
Medium: Tea wash, gouache and dry pigment on handmade archival Wasli paper
Year: 2021