The 35th year of The Boyle Arts Festival will open in the magnificent setting of King House, Boyle on Thursday 18th July.
This year’s Main Exhibition is titled ‘Visual Presence’ and it will bring together leading artists from across the Island of Ireland, continuing the strong North-South flavour that has characterised the exhibition annually over the past 35 years. The Boyle Arts Festival Main Exhibition demonstrates the quality and integrity of the visual arts in Ireland, and is curated by gallerist, Paul McKenna of the McKenna Gallery, Co. Tyrone; “It is such an honour to curate the 2024 exhibition ‘Visual Presence,’ and also hard to believe it is now eight years (2016) since I first selected for the Boyle Arts Festival Main Exhibition.”
“An enormous debt of gratitude is owed to the artists for accepting my invitation and who make the annual exhibition so special, earning it a place as one Ireland’s most anticipated and prestigious summer celebrations of the arts.”
Showcasing 150 artists, with a concentration on painting, sculpture, drawing and photography, ‘Visual Presence’ promises a visual thread celebrating the richness and diversity of Irish art that has characterised the exhibition annually since 1989.
2024 will also see the presentation of the 5th Annual Fergus Ahern Award. Fergus worked tirelessly to place the Boyle Arts Festival on a national platform, earning it a place as one of Ireland’s most anticipated and prestigious summer celebrations of the arts.
This year’s exhibiting artists
Norman Ackroyd, Yoko Akino, Robert Armstrong, Brian Ballard, Louise Barrett, Alana Barton, Zsolt Basti, Juste Bernotaite, Marjorie Bloch, Katherine Boucher Beug, Diarmuid Breen, Colm Brennan, Rory Breslin, Thomas Brezing, Cornelius Browne, Ken Browne, John Busher.
Mike Byrne, Anna Campbell, Steve Cannon, Cathy Carman, Barra Cassidy, Nuala Clarke,Tom Climent, Daniel Coleman, Michelle Conway, Simon Cook, Elizabeth Cope, Malachy Costello, Sian Costello, Catherine Creaney, David Crone, Aidan Crotty, Frances Crowe, Dominique Crowley.
Fionnuala D’Arcy, Caoimhe Dalton, Ivan Daly, Cecilia Danell, Lenka Davidikova, Leah Davis, Karen Daye Hutchinson, Orla de Brí, Diarmuid Delargy, John Doherty, Michael Doherty, Mary Donnelly, Mollie Douthit, Ana Duncan, Joe Dunne, Jason Ellis, James English.
Simon English, Brian Fay, Martin Finnin, Philip Flanagan, Ita Freeney, Julian Friers, Annette Gaffney, Conor Gallagher, Matthew Gammon, Graham Gingles, K.K. Godsee, Ian Gordon, Patrick Graham, Catherine Greene, Pat Harris, James Hayes, Diane Henshaw, Redmond Herrity.
Stephanie Hess, Jennifer Hickey, Eamonn Higgins, Carol Hodder, James Horan, Jonathan Hunter, Raphael Hynes, Jenny Jessop, Christy Keeney, Josephine Kelly, Sharon Kelly, Eddie Kennedy, Bernadette Kiely, Peter Killeen, Miseon Lee, Daniel Lipstein, Eoin Mac Lochlainn.
Brian MacMahon, Jenny Mahony, Selma Makela, Susan Mannion, Andrzej Mazur, Clement McAleer, Gavin McCandless, Paddy McCann, Shauna McCann, Brian McDonagh, Michael McGuinness, Rosie McGurran, Kenny McKendry, Colleen McSheffrey, Alan Meredith, Helen Merrigan Colfer.
Eddie Miliano, Nick Miller, Trudie Mooney, Philip Moss, Colin Murphy, Noel Murphy, Stephen Murphy, Niall Naessens, Leonora Neary, Daniel Nelis, Máire O’Sullivan , Beatrice O’Connell, Conor O’Connell, Hughie O’Donoghue, Will O’Kane, Kate Oram, Amy O’Riordan.
Andy Parsons, Cilla Patton, Peter Pearson, Michael Quane, Ann Quinn, Margot Quinn, Martha Quinn, Liz Rackard, Eddie Rafferty, John Rainey, Marc Reilly, Robert Russell, Robert Ryan, Neil Shawcross, Mark Shields, John Shinnors, Fiona Smith, Anne Marie Stanley, Tracy Staunton.
Matthew Stickland, Emma Stroude, Ger Sweeney, Donald Teskey, Christine Thery, Elke Thonnes, Oisin Tozer, Donnacha Treacy, Vadim Tuzov, Kathy Tynan, Lorcan Walshe, Michael Wann, Kathryn Warden, Colin Watson, Tommy Weir, Catherine Weld, Chris Wilson, Keith Wilson, Eugene Worrall.