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The Alternative
Photographs by Eileen Byrne and David Lane
December 2019 - January 2020


Eileen Byrne's photography is a reflection of the environment she lives in and the structural change and impact of globalisation on the wider community.  Byrne has been studying industrial underground mining and its effect on the workers, the infrastructure, the natural landscape and economy. Growing up in Tipperary which has along history in Mining, she researched the  economic growth and the impact of the closures of the Tipperary mines both financially and physically on the terrain.
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    " When I take my camera underground I'm taking images of an unavailable landscape, as I map the intangible layers of this scarred land, I', unearthing and revealing the beauty which lies beneath the holocaust of destruction. When I press the shutter realease button on my camera its like pressing the button on a detonator, an explosion o flight in a forever dark mine." - Eileen Byrne

David Lane works as a professional photographer and photography teacher, working with Limerick College of Further Education and in Community Settings. He is currently working with students in St. Annes Secondary School, Tipperary Town. David's work for this exhibition comes from his interest in working with old film cameras and film processes. 
   
     "My interest in vintage cameras stems from a place of wanting to keep these amazing machines alive and relevant. My research and tests led me to a medium format camera over eighty years old and hence the search for senior portrait sitters in their eighties. Each of These Octogenarians are actively engaging or working in their communities offering a tangible link to our past while setting an example of how we could be living positively today and into our future" - David Lane

Eileen Byrne, Stopes Alight

David Lane

CHANCE   ENCOUNTERS
October - November 2019

LP in association with the Tipperary Excel Tipperary presented showcase excerpts from a 2018 printmaking project which features 63 new works on paper made by 27 of the studio's members. The range of responses and methods used exemplifies the experimental capacity of printmaking.  Limerick Printmakers in association with the Excel will be running printmaking workshops with schools during this exhibition.
Please visit the gallery on level 4.
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BLAISE SMITH 
WEAPONS
August - September 2019

In 2006 Blaise Smith was watching a TV news report of an illegal arms seizure, in which a roomful of weapons were laid out on formica tables while the camera panned and paused briefly over each one. Smith was intrigued by the uncanny similarity of the display to the set-up for a still life painting.  He began thinking about the possibilities of how a project such as this could spark a discussion about attitudes to weapons and their role in civic society, if such a role exists.  He contacted the then Minister for Defence, Willie O’Dea who gave him permission to paint in Stephens Barracks in Kilkenny. Between 2006 and 2008 Blaise Smith made more than 14 paintings from life on site at the Kilkenny Barracks and was fascinated and humbled by the professional, efficient and supportive reception he received from the personnel there.
This exhibition is included in the Excel’s Heritage Festival as a reminder of the origins of The Irish Defence Forces as the Irish Volunteers which was founded in 1913 to fight for Irish Independence. The Irish Defence Forces official title in the Irish Language is Óglaigh na hÉireann, Irish Volunteers.

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MICHAEL HALES
HORIZONS
April 2019
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"On the horizon”
“Beyond the horizon”
“Broaden (one's) horizons”
“Cloud on the horizon”
 
Regardless of one’s position in the world there is a shared horizon that connects all humanity. Sometimes through time or circumstance, the horizon can become obscured. A loss of perspective or lack of focus hinders our progress into the unknown future. Similarly the horizon might only be understood from a singular position. This can narrow and distort our understanding of our place in the world.
Currently society is in a state of political, financial, environmental and cultural transition. The uncertainty of this epoch-ending time is masking our vision of the future and our capacity to plan through understanding. Our solace can normally be found in the natural world but this is also in a state of major upheaval and its survival is under threat from the existence of humanity. This exhibition is an exploration of the horizon using abstract landscapes based on the pastoral vistas from the Artists area and walks in Ireland.

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LOVING OUR LAND
Helping Pollinators in the Community
March 2019
As part of the decade of centenary events, the Tipperary Excel presented an exhibition of paintings by artist Mick O’Dea, entitled Armed Men.  Using photographs from the Decade of Revolution as source material, O’Dea delves into the personal backgrounds of the characters in them to find explanations of the locations, attire, posturing and comraderie, hairstyles and accessories that make these individuals come alive as though they could be walking down the main street of any Irish town today.
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Mick O’Dea
Armed Men
January – February 2019

As part of the decade of centenary events, the Tipperary Excel Arts and Heritage Centre was delighted to present an exhibition of paintings by artist Mick O’Dea, entitled Armed Men.  Born in Ennis County Clare in 1958, Mick O’Dea studied at the National College of Art and Design and the University of Massachusetts from 1976 until 1981. He was awarded an MA in European Fine Art from Winchester School of Art in 1997.
O’Dea has had a prolific output over his career and has won multiple awards including four at the National Portrait Awards Exhibition in 1985, 1989, 1993 and 1994, the KPMG prize at the Oireachtas Exhibition 1992 and 1998, the ESB Keating Medal at the Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition in 1993 and the Taylor de Vere prize in 1995.  In 1996 he was elected to the Royal Hibernian Academy and Aosdána. Since then O’Dea has been key to an ambitious reform and development programme at the RHA, including the revival of the RHA School.  In 2018 he retired from his term as President of the Royal Hibernian Academy. He works full time at his practice and divides his time between County Mayo and Dublin.

The selection of work on display at the Excel is drawn from four distinct bodies of work that O’Dea has been progressing for over 10 years, in addition to new works that were made especially for the Excel Gallery.  Those bodies of work are Black and Tan, 2010, Trouble, 2012, The Split, 2014 and The Foggy Dew, 2016. On the occasion of the Centenary of the outbreak of the War of Independence at Soloheadbeg the Excel is presenting a broad selection of O’Dea’s work that brings to life the images and people of the period through his lucid, expressive and dynamic style.  Using photographs as source material O’Dea delves into the personal backgrounds of the characters in them to find explanations of the locations, attire, posturing and comraderie, hairstyles and accessories that make these individuals come alive as though they could be walking down the main street of any Irish town today. His objective is not to make commemorative paintings that recall authorised narratives of history but rather to examine the real individuals and their human stories, both English and Irish, men and women who were caught up in a decade of rebellion and civil conflict.  
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The Tipperary Excel was delighted to present ‘Loving our Land’, Helping Pollinators in the
Community’, generously supported by the Community Foundation Ireland.
One of the many functions of the Excel, is to look at different ways, we can protect and raise
awareness around heritage. This covers much more than just the built environment, history,
ancestry, and so on, but also includes the natural world, and people’s interaction with
wildlife. Using the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan 2015 – 2020 as a guide, local environmentalist