IT’S OPEN SEASON
ARTISTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD DRAWN TO WEXFORD FOR ART IN THE OPEN INTERNATIONAL PLEIN AIR FESTIVAL
WHEN County Wexford primary school children were asked to paint pictures for a 10th annual Art in the Open festival competition on the theme of ‘My Wexford’, Hook Lighthouse emerged as the top iconic image in their work.
The famous lighthouse, the oldest in the world, featured in a majority of the entries followed by paintings of strawberries and the county purple n’ gold colours of the GAA.
The winning entries were turned into promotional flags by Wexford County Council and now enjoy pride of place hanging along Wexford’s quayfront after they were unveiled last week in a ceremony attended by some of the young artists.
It was the first time that the younger generation have been encouraged to take part in the Plein Air festival and the organisers are hoping that their involvement will become a permanent fixture.
All the children’s entries in the competition were displayed in the shape of bunting at the end-of-festival exhibition which was held in Greenacres Gallery in Selskar on Sunday afternoon and Monday and featured the work of 203 adults artists from 14 different countries.
The grown-up Plein Air participants got their own chance to paint the towering lighthouse during a paint-out last Friday in the Hook Head peninsula which is also a favoured location among the artistic visitors, with its dramatic seas and skies.
Other areas that were transformed into Montmarte or Venice for a day were Rosslare Strand, Enniscorthy, Kilmore Quay and Woodville House, New Ross.
The international festival whic attracts top outdoor painters from around the world, is sponsored by Wexford County Council and generously supported by Bolands Hyundai. It injects a welcome economic boost in the form of an estimated 1600 bed nights each year with many artists bringing their partners and families with them for eight to 10 days.
Another first this year was the festival’s collaboration with the National Gallery of Ireland which hosted the premiere of a new film ‘Vermeer: Beyond Time’ and a lecture on Plein Air painting and also provided an artist John O’Reilly to spray-paint an image of Vermeer’s famous painting ‘Woman With A Pearl Necklace’ on a gable wall in Skeffington Street which can be seen from the vantage point of the Wexford to Rosslare train.
Local artists Jeff Dobson paintied the faces of iconic people on a prominent wall opposite Wexford Bridge.