LIMERICK HAS been firmly painted on the country’s cultural map after a €1.7 million extension to the city’s Gallery of Art was officially opened last night in the redeveloped Carnegie Library building.
The major extension includes state-of-the-art storage facilities, workshop spaces, a modern café and a renewal of the 1948 West Gallery.
The new facilities have made it “one of the finest in the country”, according to Minster for Arts Jimmy Deenihan, who performed the official opening.
“It certainly is the biggest contemporary art gallery in the midwest and one of the finest in the country and its own collection is very impressive with over 800 pieces, representing over 450 artists.
“Also, it combines the modern with the historic very effectively as well. This is a very exciting development and besides it’s in a very important building, the Carnegie Library.
“I’m all in favour of using historic buildings for modern themes and I think this is a very good example of that,” Mr Deenihan added.
He said Limerick could market itself effectively as a city of culture to rival its crown as a European City of Sport 2011. Last year, the city hosted the Special Olympics, Heineken European rugby cup matches and many other sporting events.
Two exhibitions, A Vivid Imagination and Transitive Relationships, have been opened in conjunction with the gallery launch to celebrate the embrace of both historic and contemporary works.
“There’s a history of Limerick’s loves on display here really,” the gallery’s newly appointed African-born curator, Helen Carey, said. “There’s a history of some of Limerick’s finest painters and current artists who are providing a very vibrant and energetic visual arts scene in Limerick. So, the idea here is, that kind of energy is for all of Limerick.
“When I told people I was coming to Limerick,” she added, “they so said, ‘Oh, the Berlin of Ireland’, so there you are, that’s quite nice, isn’t it? I’m looking forward to finding that out.”