Small gallery, big ambitions
Kamera 8 in Lower Rowe Street, Wexford is a small co-operative gallery with a big vision where the respected art historian and author Catherine Marshall officially opened an exhibition of drawings, bronze sculptures, ceramics, prints and jewellery by artists Sonja Landweer and Mirona Mara which is continuing until July 19.
The compact Wexford gallery named for the word room or space as in ‘in camera’, is firmly centred in the town but has its sights set internationally and in August will welcome the acclaimed New York-based photographer Alen McWeeney with an exhibition entitled ‘ The Country of Yeats’.
In September, various artists will contribute to a show intriguingly called ‘Painting is deadsays who?’ and during the forthcoming Opera Festival in October, Syrian photo-journalist Giath Taha will present an exhibition in co-operation with Wexford County Council and Wexford Arts Centre.
KAMERA 8 which opened nine months ago, was founded with the stated aim of ‘working with both artists and members of the public in creating a democratic artistic hub and space for exhibitions, knowledge and dialogue with the goal of growing and nurturing the public’s interest in photography and visual art, in the context of the wider cultural life of Wexford and Ireland.’
The current exhibition was curated by one of the gallery’s three founders Anya von Gosseln who was involved in the fashion industry and art scenes in New York and in her native Germany for many years. Her co-founders are the German-born photographer Dr. Michael Snoek who lives in Bannow and photojournalist Claudio Nego, a native of Transylvania in Romania who moved to Ireland 15 years ago. As a gallery owner, Anya has worked with many top contemporary artists from Europe, America and Ireland as well as dintinguished museums and collectors. A member of the Visual Arts Committee of Wexford Arts Centre, she has worked with the Office for Contemporary Art at Newtownbarry House in Bunclody. She took care of the Ulrich Rueckriem exhibition space at Huntington Castle in Clonegal and worked with the renowned sculptor in placing eight related monumental pieces into the Irish Musuem of Modern Art in Dublin . A woman with an abiding passion for the life and work of Eileen Gray, Anya was one of the first people to foster County Wexford interest in the world-famous Enniscorthy-born designer, initiating a 2010 homage to her with events at Wexford Arts Centre and Lost Weekend in Selskar. Having moved to Ireland 28 years ago, she founded the Eileen Gray Society of Ireland in the early 1980’s. Eighty-five year old Dutch-born artist Sonya Landweer is known for her beautiful bronze castings while Mirona Mara is a Romanian-born multi-media artist living in Wexford.