House party

Tuesday night saw the first opening of the year at the Temple Bar Gallery. A huge crowd turned up to support artist Colin Martin. His 15 etchings were collectively entitled House, a strong and atmospheric series of deceptively simple domestic interiors. Vaari Claffey, assistant director of the gallery, performed the opening honours.

"It's a bit strange to see my own exhibition hanging in the place where I used to work," admitted Colin, who is an ex-employee of the Temple Bar Gallery. He didn't move too far away to his next job, though, since he now works next door in the Black Church Print Studio.

Looking happily dazed by the shoulder-to-shoulder turn-out were Colin's parents, Matthew and Bernadette Martin and his brother, Gary. Performance artist Anne Seagrave, who will be staging an installation piece in Temple Bar later in the year, was attracting much attention with her hat. Composed of what looked like a family of racoons, it was the long Rapunzel-like racoon tail hanging down her back that had people sneaking many furtive stares.

Among the other artists at the opening were Oscar McLennan, Alice Hanratty, and Joe Hanly. Robert Armstrong, who has one of the studios in the gallery, was celebrating the news that he has just been appointed senior lecturer at NCAD. Actor Garrett Keogh was also celebrating: he had "just won a few pounds on a horse".

Sheila Morris of the nearby Original Print Gallery was also there, as was Rhona Byrne of the Beyond the Hall Door team. Artist Patricia Hurl, who is doing an MA in multimedia studies, was talking about how the course has inspired her in her ongoing project, whose working title is Fifty Over Fifty. "I'm making a Website of women artists over 50 who are still working as artists - it'll be like a virtual gallery," she explained.