Posted on 17. May, 2018 in Art, Community
May 19th, is Drawing Day and the National Gallery of Ireland will be encouraging artists of all ages and abilities to take up a pen or pencil and start drawing. The Gallery will host a celebration of drawing and creativity, with events and activities for all ages. Artists, designers and illustrators will be responding to […]
Posted on 12. Apr, 2018 in Art, Community
Bealtaine, the Irish for May, is a time for celebration. And every year it is marked by the Bealtaine festival – a national celebration of creativity in older age. The ancient festival of Bealtiane or Beltane – held on May 1 – marked the midway point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice and […]
Posted on 17. Aug, 2017 in Book Reviews, Caring for Children, Church Teachings, Schools
This is a piece from 2006, looking at getting ready for school. Many new parents are facing this issue again this year, with new junior infants off to school for the first time. Whether it’s the first in the house to head off to school or someone further down the line, it’s still a day […]
Posted on 25. Jun, 2017 in Achievement, Art, Community, Conflict
It is just over three years since Martin McGuiness passed away. He was a complex and remarkable man who went from being a former IRA leader to deputy first minister of Northern Ireland. Eve Parnell, the artist, remembers him as the man who opened her “Souls of the Slain” exhibition in The Long Gallery in […]
Posted on 27. Apr, 2017 in Art, Community
Bealtaine a national Irish festival, run by Age and Opportunity, celebrating arts and creativity as we age. The festival aims to inspire older people to be creative and to engage meaningfully with their wider community. This year’s Festival has over 3,000 events taking place around the country, from dance to poetry receitals. Some of them are organised […]
Posted on 20. Apr, 2017 in Art, Christian Values, Community, Feminism/Women in the Church, Gospel Values, Vatican
Continuing on our series looking at women in Church art, we draw our attention today to the Sistine Chapel, in particular the ceiling, painted by Michelangelo. The ceiling has 300 figures and took over four years to execute. One of the things artist Eve Parnell, notes about the ceiling is the large number of […]
Posted on 30. Mar, 2017 in Art, Feminism/Women in the Church, Gospel Values, Religious patronage, Saints
In the cross vault of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City there are four niches, each one containing a very impressive statue. One in particular which stands out – Saint Veronica by Francesco Mochi. His active and passionate depiction of her is at odds with the decorum of the Basilica – the statue shows […]
Posted on 23. Feb, 2017 in Art
Caravaggio is widely acknowledged as bringing a revolution to painting during the Baroque period with his dramatic use of light and uncompromising realism. The National Gallery of Ireland is currently running an exhibition that is bringing together over 40 major works which will show the ways in which a large number of artists adopted Caravaggio’s […]
Posted on 05. Jan, 2017 in Art, Caring for Children, Christian Values, Church Teachings, Community, Music Therapy, Young people
Natalya Pakshyna is a Russian dancer who has been bringing her dancing passion to Ireland. Based in a studio in the Malahide Industrial Estate, she has a particular interest in working with students who have special emotional or physical needs. She believes dance and music to be a way to heal the person and allow them to […]
Posted on 24. Nov, 2016 in Caring for Children, Christian Values, Community, Different abilities, Gospel Values, Humanitarian Aid, Young people
It’s been 30 years since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster – the fallout of which saw many children being abandoned in orphanages all over Belarus. One of those children brought up particular memories for RTE TV presenter Colm Flynn. His family adopted one of the abandoned children, a little boy with special needs. The Flynn family […]