A cross-Border exhibition of government-owned art was opened in Portadown tonight by Minister of State Martin Mansergh.
In the Mind's Eyefeatures 40 art works from the collections of the Northern Ireland Civil Service and the Office of Public Works (OPW) in the South.
Focusing on the theme of realism it includes both paintings and photographs by 25 artists - 10 from the North and 15 from the South.
Among them are well-known names such as Carol Graham, Cecil Maguire, Joe McWilliams, Dermot Seymour, Eithne Jordan and Fergus Bourke.
Paintings of Downpatrick and Cavehill in Co Antrim are on display as well as the now-vanished townscape of gasworks and factories of Dublin’s inner city.
The Department of Finance & Personnel, on behalf of the NICS, has been working with the OPW in organising joint art exhibitions since 1997.
Over that period, the exhibition has toured widely throughout Northern Ireland, the Irish Republic and abroad, via local arts centres, libraries, civic offices, colleges and heritage sites.
The 11th-joint exhibition will be on show at the Millennium Court Arts Centre in Portadown from tomorrow until August 23rd. It moves to University College Hospital, Galway on September 5th, 2008.
PA