ON THE TOWN/Catherine Foley: Cilla Patton, the winner of an art competition run by RTÉ's Open House and the quarterly Irish Arts Review, was congratulated by guests at an exhibition of the winning entries at the Private Collector Gallery on South Frederick Street this week.
The paintings by Patton, who lives in Magheraveely, Co Fermanagh, hang in the gallery's main room off the hall.
"My interest is in relationships," she says. "Everybody has their own story and things are not always obvious. I try and show that with body language and gestures."
Her work also features horses. "They always feature in my work. I used to work with horses when I was young. I like them for their symbolism and shape but in the end it's colour that's the most important thing for me."
Patton will also be showing her work at the Ashford Gallery on Ely Place in a group show from Thursday, April 17th.
Her husband, Robert Patton, and their daughter, Liza, were both at the opening.
Work by Adam Devir and Susan Connolly, who were the two runners up in the competition for emerging artists - which attracted 64 entries in total - was also on view.
According to Devir, who is from Donegal, his work is "1950s kitsch style but traditional type paintings".
Newscaster, Bryan Dobson, director, Justin McColgan, Larry Masterson, producer of Open House, the programme's presenter, Marty Whelan, and journalist and researcher, Zoe Liston, all came to admire the work, which will remain on view at No 11 South Frederick Street for the next week.
Sonya Perkins, publisher of the Irish Arts Review, said the next step for the art magazine will be its launch in New York later this year. The current spring issue includes a price guide to Irish art sold in 2002.