Two great events at Highlanes

START off the New Year well and join Highlanes Gallery for two evening talks & live performances of traditional music this January.

The first of two, Dissenting Voices (I) takes place on Tuesday 15th January, from 7.30pm-9.00pm, when art historian Margaret MacNamidhe will be presenting a gallery talk titled ‘F.E. McWilliam, Twentieth- Century Sculpture, and the Women of Belfast.

Almost sixty years previously, and only months before he left for an early death in Flanders, British poet T.E Hulme gave a public lecture asking sculptors to embrace modern abstraction and simplicity while continuing the naturalistic, communicable tradition of the Greeks.

This lecture by Chicago-based art historian Margaret looks at the bronze figure of F.E McWilliam – from his 1973 Women of Belfast series – through the lens of this celebrated 1914 discussion, as part of the Crossing Lines exhibition. Drawing together separated strands in twentieth-century sculpture, this lecture generates new questions about art, political responsibility, and what we expect from ‘modern’ art.

Following the talk the four-part harmony group, Landless, will perform traditional songs from Ireland, Scotland, England, and America of love, death, and lamentation.

Celebrating the lives of women in Ireland, 2018 saw Landless being invited by the RTÉ Folk Awards to set a new poem by Annemarie Ní Churreáin to music. The poem, ‘Lúireach Bhríde’ saw Annemarie revisit the pre-christian stories associated with Brigid, more commonly known in Ireland as the triple Goddess of poetry, healing, and smithcraft.

Today at The Brigid Well in Kildare, where this text was composed, the oaks are decorated with ribbons, pagan emblems, and infant cloths in memory of the Goddess, and of her outlawed son Ruadán who died in battle.

Throughout, the evening will be a warm winter reception with toasty drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) to enjoy as you listen to Margaret’s talk and Landless’ beautiful music.

Tickets are €15 for each Dissenting Event, but book for the two Dissent evenings for a special price of €20 through Eventbrite.ie