Nollaig Ealaine na mBan is the festive title of a brief presentation by three women who are participating in a Muintearas training programme in Connemara.
The work of Nora Keane from Roundstone, Frances Conroy, who lives in the Maam Valley, and Lisa Olsthoorn, of Limerick now living in Spiddal, went on public exhibition on Friday.
Staged in Spiddal Library, Co Galway, the display runs until this evening only, during which time the artists hope to have attracted many visitors to view their efforts.
Ms Keane is a watercolour artist, whose paintings of Connemara have been produced as note-cards and postcards; the former President, Mrs Mary Robinson, and Minister of State Eamon O Cuiv are among recipients of her work.
Ms Conroy specialised in craft-work and founded the Maam Valley Craft Club, and she also tutors members in patchwork, quilt-making, natural dyeing and other allied crafts. She conducts workshops in a mobile home which she converted into a studio.
Ms Olsthoorn works with acrylics on canvas, and two of her sisters are full-time artists. She draws inspiration from Celtic mythology and pre-Christian monuments, and is also influenced by archaeology which she studied at university.
A Christmas art auction and exhibition are being held next Thursday in the Merriman Hotel, Kinvara, Co Galway, in aid of the Sammy Fleming Fund. Mr Fleming suffered brain damage following a bicycle accident in 1997, when he was aged 20.
His rehabilitation programme, conceived by the Brainwave Centre in England, involves the commitment of a large number of volunteers, with constant repetition of exercises required to stimulate the brain and relearn the physical functions many of us take for granted.
Works have been donated by artists in the west and further afield, and include pieces by Pauline Bewick, Barry Cooke, Joseph Gerald Quilty, Sharon O'Malley, Rita Wobbe, Hazel Walker, Marja van Kampen and many others. The event on December 9th begins with a viewing at 6 p.m., and the auction by Mr Danno Heaslip will begin at 7.30 p.m. For further information, contact Mairin Doddy at (091) 637411 or Petra Bhreatnach at (091) 637357.