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Affordable Art in Donegal

Affordable Art

The rain finally stopped yesterday morning and the temperature rose a few degrees. We just had three days of steady rain. The temperatures also went up a bit. I was amused to discover that this “event” made the news. The headline in “The Donegal Daily” an online newspaper read: “Weather- Another Mild Day in Store for Donegal”. This publication is favourite of mine. It is a heart-warming mixture of stories with happy endings (swimmers get into trouble in rip tide but they are all rescued by a passer by and a lifeboat crew), lost dogs, sport stories and local crime cases (often from two years ago).

Anyway, we felt encouraged by the dry (ish) weather to do some light food shopping in Dungloe and then drive to an Affordable Art Fair in Derrybeg, Gweedore. This Art Fair was held at An Gaillearai, which is located at Ionad Aislann, Na Doira Beaga (Derrybeg).

Ionad Aislann, Na Doira Beaga
Entrance to Ionad Aislann, Na Doira Beaga

We have never been to Ionad Aislann before and I was very interested to see what this cultural centre was like. I know that “Ionad” means a centre of some sort in Irish but I didn’t know what the word “Aislann” meant. I tried looking it up on google translate but drew a blank so I thought it might be someone’s name. It was wrong. “Áislann” is a word derived from combining two words from the Irish vocabulary of South West Donegal, Áiseanna (facilities) and Lann (building).

Lots of Praking!
Lots of Parking!

The centre also houses, amongst other things,  a public library and nursery. When I looked it up here I discovered that the building hosted much more than that: a theatre/cinema, sports hall, meeting rooms, local history centre, PC centre, a gym and a tea room! This cultural centre was set up in 1992  expressly to cater for local people as well as for visitors to the area, including the many artists like me who come to live here. It was also meant to help strengthen bonds within the local community via cultural/artistic pursuits and leisure activities.  

Affordable Art Fair Poster
Affordable Art Fair Poster

 

The Gallery is large and airy and there was plenty of room for visitors and artists. Everyone was wearing masks too which was reassuring. 

Inside the Art Fair
Inside the Art Fair

Some of the artists showing include (in no particular order); Ian Gordon, Cathal MacGinley, Peadar McDaid, Heidi Nguyen , Mary Toland, Gay OToole and Nora Duffy. We had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with two of the exhibiting artists, Heidi Nguyen and Gay O’Toole. We met Cathal Mac Fhionnghaile/Cathal MacGinley when we visited Inishbofin last month.   Here is a selection of the work on display. 

Gay O Toole
Gay O Toole
Work of Gay O Toole
Work of Gay O Toole

 

Heidi Nguyen
Heidi Nguyen
Heidi Nguyen
Heidi Nguyen
Heidi Nguyen
Heidi Nguyen

 

Cathal Mac Fhionnghaile
Cathal Mac Fhionnghaile

 

Cathal Mac Fhionnghaile
Cathal Mac Fhionnghaile

 

Cathal Mac Fhionnghaile
Cathal Mac Fhionnghaile – we bought the middle one!
Ian Gordon
Ian Gordon
Ian Gordon
Ian Gordon
Maura McGlynn
Maura McGlynn

 

Nora Duffy
Nora Duffy
Nora Duffy
Nora Duffy
Nora Duffy
Nora Duffy

 

Mary Toland
Mary Toland
Sarah Lewtas
Sarah LewtasKarol Mac Geirbheith

Karol Mac Geirbheith

Karol Mac Geirbheith

Karol Mac Geirbheith

Karol Mac Geirbheith
Karol Mac Geirbheith

 

 
Peadar McDaid
Peadar McDaid

 

Peadar McDaid
Peadar McDaid – we also bought the middle one (top row).

 

As our house is already over flowing with paintings we generally don’t buy other people’s art (although I have one painting by Welsh landscape artist, Warren Heaton, in the bedroom) but we changed the habit of a lifetime yesterday and bought two small paintings at the art fair. I know that Séamas wanted to buy more. We left the two paintings on the wall with red stickers next to them (hoping that sign of success would encourage more sales) and will go back on Thursday to pick them up.

After so long in lockdown and avoiding people, it was really great to go out somewhere and to meet new people. Ionad Aislann certianly did its job of helping to strengthen the bonds between local community via cultural/artistic pursuits and leisure activities. It was well worth a visit and if you are in area I would highly recommend stopping by.  The Art Fair is on for several more days, from 12 to 5pm until this Thursday 14th October 2021.