FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Opening Celebration for Greywood Arts
When: Saturday, 1 July, 2017 at 18:00
Where: Greywood Arts, Main Street, Killeagh, Co. Cork P36 KN61

Contact: Jessica Bonenfant Coogan
Mobile: 083 8451750
Email: create@greywoodarts.org
Web: http://www.greywoodarts.org

Celebration to kick off opening of Greywood Arts, a multi-disciplinary artists residency in Killeagh, Co. Cork

After two years of preparation, Greywood Arts is officially opening on Saturday the 1st of July. Jessica Bonenfant and Hughie Coogan, proprietors of the multi-disciplinary artist’s residency, invite you to join them from 6pm onwards to celebrate with delicious food, stunning art, and spectacular music.

For a suggested donation of just €10 you get to meet artist-in-residence Naomi Litvack, who will share her paintings-in-progress, as well as a concert by Cork’s own Anna Mitchell. Arrive to music by cellist Ilse de Ziah, grab a glass of wine, and explore an exhibition detailing the fascinating history of the house. Enjoy a variety of delicious tapas, peruse the Exile Project micro-bookshop, and enjoy a performance by the inimitable Natasha Bourke. Paintings by local artists Belinda Walsh and Sinead Ni Chionaola will also be on display. All are welcome.

Greywood Arts is like a guesthouse for artists, where they can stay in self-catering accommodation and have access to workspace. They visit for a week, a month or even longer to delve into a project and explore their artistic process. The three-story Georgian building offers a light filled visual arts studio and a movement studio with a vaulted ceiling performing artists. A desk for writers overlooks the Dissour River, and the library holds a piano for musicians. The large rustic stone walled dining room doubles as a space for meetings. The adjacent Glenblower Wood is the perfect spot for long walks, and the character filled house invites reflection and inspires creativity. With four guest rooms, Greywood Arts can accommodate up to eight visitors at a time. Artists are encouraged to engage with the community in the form of work-in-progress showings, demonstrations, readings, or concerts. It’s a brilliant addition to Killeagh, and a great amenity for East Cork.

The village is delighted to see the transformation of a prominent historic home on the Main Street – on the verge of becoming derelict – spring back to life again. Built in 1767 by the Green Davis family, the building later became an RIC barrack before being burned out by the IRA in 1920. It then had a new life as a sawmill, and later as a guesthouse. The history exhibition, designed by Samantha Agneessens for the opening, will take viewers on a journey from the past to the present, filled with stories, images and significant objects.

Jessica Bonenfant Coogan comes to Killeagh after more than a decade in New York City, where she worked as a choreographer for dance, theatre, and film. Her background as a creator, an arts administrator and a teacher in 3^rd level education led to the idea of opening a space where artists could retreat, dialogue, and collaborate, and where creativity could flourish. Her husband, Hughie Coogan, is a native of Wicklow. He has a background in business and cultural administration, and the enthusiasm to take on any DIY project. Together they have transformed their home into a warm and welcoming haven for making, thinking and reflecting.

Discover what it’s like to be an artist-in-residence with Naomi Litvack, who lives and works in Belfast. Litvack was awarded the initial week-long residency for visual artists. Her colourful depictions of luscious plant life and hyper-sensual landscapes, as well as her use ofthe exotic to comment on the familiar, made her work stand out in the competitive application process. She seeks to capture dreamlike, strange and fantastical atmospheres within her paintings and Greywood Arts is excited to see how she interprets the East Cork terrain.

 

Anna Mitchell recently took the Opera House in Cork by storm as a special guest with Jack O’Rourke. The singer–songwriter-keyboardist moves confidently between soulful Americana, brooding late night ballads, and country-tinged folk. Her music pays homage to the past yet carves out a unique and contemporary space for her gorgeous voice – called “hauntingly beautiful” by RTE. With a reputation as a passionate live performer able to capture an audience, Anna has performed and toured with many celebrated singers & songwriters including Sarah Jarosz , Aoife O’Donovan, Mick Flannery, John Smith, Duke Special, Lisa Hannigan, Simone Felice & many more. She will play as a three-piece band for the Opening Celebration.

 

Ilse de Ziah is a classical, baroque and folk musician who resides in nearby Dungourney. Ilse frequently plays cello for the Cork Opera House, and can be seen in the return of ProdiJIG there this month. With accomplished musicianship and exquisite soul, Ilse de Ziah evokes music that is intimate and genuine.

 

Natasha Bourke is a Cork-based artist, experimental filmmaker and performer. She will create a site-specific and visually stunning performance for the Opening Celebration. Her work is darkly humorous, contemplating identity, transience, perception, pathos and play. There is often a dystopian quality to the work, rendering longing, loss and isolation with a sense of irony.

Exile was born in February 2015 as a satellite project to the Cork Community Printshop and now takes the form of a curated selection of books and zines by independent publishers. The works selected by Lola Delton for this itinerant suitcase-store are as appreciated as objets d’art as much as for their contents.

Please do not hesitate to contact Jessica at Greywood Arts for photos or further information – we would be delighted to speak with you! create@greywoodarts.org or 083 84451750 .

Social Media:
Instagram: @greywoodarts
Twitter: @greywood_arts
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/greywoodartsireland

Artist info:
http://annamitchellmusic.com/
https://naomilitvack.wordpress.com/
http://ilsedeziah.com/
https://exileproject.org/
http://www.natashabourke.com/