ArtScape: The life of Jerome Hynes, Wexford Festival Opera's loved and lamented chief executive who died suddenly on September 18th, was celebrated in musical and spoken tributes in the town's Rowe Street church last Sunday afternoon.
Participants, including the festival's artistic director, David Agler, Arts Council chairwoman, Olive Braiden, and festival chairman, Paul Hennessy, spoke fondly of their memories of Jerome.
Former artistic director, Luigi Ferrari, in revealing the source of this year's festival image, told a beautiful story that came as a surprise to many of those present. Every year, and for every opera production of his 17-year tenure as chief executive, Jerome had planted a tree in a grove close to his home just outside the town.
"The place lies no more than half a mile from here, eastwards, and does look, more and more, like a peaceful little grove, marking every year the progress of the festival, linking each of the operas which every year find new life on our stage, with the life of a newly-planted tree," Ferrari said. Jerome had selected a photo of his plantation "as the image, the symbol itself of the 2005 festival".
What came as no surprise was Abbey Theatre director Fiach MacConghail's recollection that Jerome had once said to him, "When the State asks you to do a service you must give it the same energy and commitment as you should to your regular work".
MacConghail spoke of how Jerome had become an important companion in his life and how their "radars locked-on". There was a word in Irish which described Jerome, said MacConghail "and that is 'críonna'. In Munster it means old but in Connemara it means 'wise' and I shall bow to the Galway dialect on this occasion."
The musical participants included many of the singers and players in Wexford for this year's festival which opened on Thursday night. Members of the Prague Chamber Choir, the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra and the Wexford Festival Chorus were joined by members of traditional group Altan. In Jerome's other place of association, Galway - where he was general manager of Druid - there will be a month's mind Mass and celebration in St Joseph's Church, Bushypark at 4pm tomorrow. All are welcome.
Art in a cowshed
Farmleigh's busy programme of events and activities has made it a popular destination for visitors, particularly at weekends, writes Aidan Dunne. The opening of the Farmleigh Gallery a few weeks ago marks a significant stage in its development. It was by no means obvious or inevitable that Farmleigh was going to have a gallery, though the house does feature a substantial art collection, including works from the OPW collection.
The new gallery is a noteworthy addition to the facilities - but it is not an afterthought. That it is located in the former cowsheds may give entirely the wrong impression. There is still a thriving herd of cows at Farmleigh, and to judge by the quality and proportions of the building formerly allocated to them, cows were long regarded as important residents. Not every cowshed would look as if a polished marble floor was nothing more than its due, but Farmleigh's certainly does.
Niamh Hogan of Gerry Cahill Architects has done an excellent job in taking a fine structure and working with it to deliver a beautiful gallery space, one that, significantly, meets international curatorial and conservation standards. It is also surprisingly spacious and, boasting a relatively large open area and a succession of smaller though substantial spaces, very versatile. Besides which, it is situated north of the Liffey. All of these factors make it a promising addition to the list of Dublin's public exhibition venues.
It is a pity the gallery opened so close to the end of the season at Farmleigh. The calendar is currently restricted (Thursday to Sunday from Easter to the Halloween bank holiday), but a there is more potential there. Extensions to the existing schedule are being examined.
Then there is the whole question of programming. Such a fine space in an intriguing location merits serious consideration. The idea, already mooted, of guest curators is clearly appealing, and in keeping with Farmleigh's ambition of inclusion. So long, perhaps, as those curators are not already engaged in curating fully scheduled spaces.
Then there is Farmleigh's diplomatic dimension: those visitors come from places with formidable art collections of their own. The possibilities are certainly exciting.
Park and paint
The parks and gardens of Beijing, Dublin, London and Paris are the focus of a new exhibition currently showing in the Chinese capital and will move to the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin to coincide with Chinese new year in January 2006, writes Clifford Coonan in Beijing.
"The exhibition is called Green Thought in an Urban Shade and it's made up of paintings, text, fiction and garden designs and aims to explore our relationship with green urban spaces," Irish painter Fion Gunn said of the exhibition, which is being funded by Culture Ireland.
The exhibition will also be shown in London.
Gunn's residency is at the Red Gate Gallery in Beijing and her aim is to try to gather as much material as possible for the project during her time in Beijing, a city famous for its lovely parks and lively park life.
The writer, Kay Sexton, is collaborating with Gunn and they have been working on the project for about a year.
"We want to engage audiences in exploring how cities shape gardens and how gardens shape cities - examining the role of green space in ecological, quality of life, aesthetic and social terms," said Sexton.
The show hopes to produce a significant number of new paintings and stories inspired by urban green spaces and reflecting the philosophies of their host cities.
They plan to return to Beijing later with a much larger exhibition, running workshops and giving talks.
Future jazz stars tour
The Improvised Music Company is showcasing the talents of 10 young jazz musicians with a new initiative called Intro 05. These stars of the future, along with a well-seasoned musical director from the United States, will tour various venues during the rest of October.
They have also been given a prestigious platform at the Cork Jazz Festival.
Like many of the new generation of jazz players, a number of the musicians honed their skills as students of the innovative jazz programme in Newpark Music Centre. Their mentor for the tour is US guitarist Rick Peckham who is a senior faculty member at Boston's Berklee College of Music.
Matt Berrill (alto, clarinet), Bill Blackmore (trumpet), Julie Cruickshank (piano), Aoife Doyle (voice), Simone Mendonca (violin), Stephen McFarlane (guitar) and Colm O'Hara (trombone) will perform new compositions and arrangements from leading Irish jazz composers such as Ronan Guilfoyle and emerging voices like Jonathon O'Donovan and Dylan Rynhart.
Coincidentally, the company has just commissioned Rynhart to write an extended composition to be performed by the Ballymun Wind Band, which comprises teens drawn from local schools and Dylan's own group Fuzzy Logic.
The two groups will premiere the piece at next year's OpenJazz event in March, and a CD recording is also planned.
The Intro 05 tour will take in the Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray (01-2724030); Sugar Club, Dublin (01-6703885); Dunamaise Arts Centre (0502-63355); Factory Performance Space, Sligo (071- 9170431); and the Firkin Crane, Cork (021-4507487).
RHA elects McKenna
The Royal Hibernian Academy(RHA) this week elected painter Stephen McKenna as its 21st president. McKenna is currently the subject of a major retrospective in the RHA's Dublin gallery.
McKenna was born in London in 1939 and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art.
He moved to Co Donegal in 1973 and has since lived there and in Germany, Belgium and Italy.
The RHA's former president, architect Arthur Gibney, stood down after holding the office for nine years, during which the academy went through many changes, including the opening of a new gallery for the work of younger artists and the admission of photography to the annual exhibition.