The 16th Annual exhibition "Common Ground" is now open!

Now in it's 16th Year, our collective exhibition Common Ground will close 2023 and open 2024 with a vast array of local talent being displayed for all to admire in our Gallery. This year's theme was "The Unseen Universe" and all the art work on display was selected by our guest curator : the artists Bridget Flannery.

Bridget Flannery (center) with Hazel Greene and Emma Nee Haslam at the opening of the 16th Comon Ground Exhibition. — Bridget Flannery (center) with Hazel Greene and Emma Nee Haslam

The local artists turned up in their droves with an overwhelming amount of brand new pieces on this year's chosen theme. Bridget and the Arts centre's staff were delighted by the success of the open call that once again demonstrate the vibrancyu of the locakl art scene.

Bridget told us more about the experience:

“On seeing all the works I was struck by the wide range of responses to the idea of the unseen world, the worlds, often quiet and overlooked, the worlds that are imagined, the worlds remembered. Artists help us the viewer to inhabit these worlds, to look at and to look again and again at the world around us, to ask questions of the worlds we wish for.

I'd like to pass on my congratulations to all who presented their work for this exhibition. To do so shows belief in one’s vision and the discipline to push ideas forward together with the joy of making and exploring one’s materials."

Bridget had to dig deep to make choices. When asked about the process Bridget added:

"In putting this exhibition together, I took works that stirred memory, joy, quiet and deep looking and something else, a curiosity about how we are within the world as we know it and the worlds we intuit and dream of”.

The Exhibition was officially opened on Tuesday the 12th in the presence of the selected artists, friends, families and birr locals.