Joe Dolan, musician-turned-artist, has been absorbing the Connemara landscape in a cottage on the southern slopes of the Maumturk mountains for the past 20 years. The former front man with Sweeney's Men has just opened an exhibition of his work in Galway's Logan Gallery on Woodquay.
For those old enough to remember, Sweeney's Men played a major part in the revival of interest in traditional music in the 1960s. The line-up constitutes a "Who's Who" of the subsequent music scene, according to John O'Regan of the Logan Gallery. Johnny Moynihan, Andy Irvine, Henry McCullough and Terry Woods went on to play with Planxty, Wings, the Woods Band, Steeleye Span and the Pogues with Shane McGowan.
Joe was the group's songwriter, but he has hung up his guitar to concentrate on painting. His work, according to Mr O'Regan, is "about as real as it gets: the artist confronting the landscape directly, often out with his easel or sketch-pad in all weathers, recording his impressions as the sun bakes the heather or yet another rain squall lashes the cliffs that loom over his cottage".
Joe's exhibition continues at the gallery for a three-week run, until April 28th, and is entitled A Maumturk Rainbow.
The Logan Gallery can be found at 4a St Anthony's Place, Woodquay, Galway, telephone (091)563635 or e-mail: Logangallery@hotmail.com
A Steinway grand piano is the focus of forthcoming celebrations by Music for Galway. The piano is marking its 10th birthday with a concert by the English pianist Peter Donohoe on April 20th. The Steinway has a special place in Music for Galway members' hearts, as their first grand piano was destroyed by fire. Mr Donohoe selected the replacement for them at Steinway's in London.
The performance will take place in the Aula Maxima in NUI Galway on April 20th, and more details can be obtained from Music for Galway at phone/fax (091)798140.
Finally, the Connemara writer Ann Henning Jocelyn witnessed the opening of one of her plays against the backdrop of the Balkan conflict late last month when she travelled to Bulgaria. The play, Baptism of Fire, is said to have received a standing ovation in Pernik, Bulgaria - even as NATO planes flew overhead on their way to bomb targets in Yugoslavia, 50 miles away.
The Bulgarian interpretation of the plot - concerning a Church of Ireland vicar and his wayward daughter - received great praise from the author, and from the co-director of Connemara Theatre, Maire Holmes. However, the performance was overshadowed by concern among the many Bulgarians they met about the Balkan conflict and its economic impact on their own country.
"Everyone was very depressed, and this was before we heard of fatalities and all that has happened since," Ms Henning Jocelyn said. "It will have a terrible effect on the whole middle Europe region for decades to come, and we tend to overlook this."