Group Exhibition by Connecting Artists Collective

1-28 August 2024.

University of Atypical is delighted to invite you to our latest exhibition of the annual Group Exhibition from Connections Arts Centre, Dublin.

LAUNCH: Thursday 1st August 2024, for Late Night Art Belfast, 5pm – 9pm. Exhibition continues to 28 August 2024.

EXHIBITION TALK: Thursday 1st August at 6pm -BSL interpretation in place

The exhibition launch will include a talk from Miriam Spollen, Founder of the Connection Arts Centre and exhibiting artists.

Exhibiting artists include: Amy Clarke, Alan Tarpey, Clement Yang, David Singleton, Jennifer Humphreys, Jenny Stafford, Mark Buckley, Matthew Sexton, Niamh Eldridge-Barry, Peter Kehoe, Samuel Hilliard, Thomas Higgins, Rachel Coen, Sarah McNulty, Joe Hallam, Tomás Malone, Richard Hickey, Bradley Farrell, Jason Grace, Kristin Reynado Suniega, Michael Hade, Brian Kennedy

The University of Atypical’s principal funder is the Arts Council of Northern Ireland through National Lottery Good Causes funding an through core funding from Belfast City Council and support from Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

Image by Joe Hallam entitled The Four Seasons, an image from the Group Exhibition by Creative Connections

Empty House – Solo exhibition by Christine Kernohan

4 June – 24 July 2024

University of Atypical are pleased to invite you to the opening of our 2023 Ulster University Graduation Awardee Solo Exhibition. The exhibition launch will take place for Late Night Art Belfast on Thursday 6 June, 6:00 – 9:00 pm. Christine will give a short artist talk at 7:00 pm which will be accompanied by British Sign Language interpretation.

Christine Kernohan received the 2023 University of Atypical Graduate Award. She is an Irish artist working in mixed media with a focus on textiles. She works with a direct method of weaving. This means that she constructs her own weaving loom and weaves the textile by hand. She also uses circular looms to explore repeating forms and spirals within the body.

Kernohan’s inspiration comes from the relationship between the mother and the child. She creates weaves that are intended to be wall tapestries or wall hangings, that could be draped around the mother-like figure to suggest a motherly protection or the protection of modesty for the child. Kernohan also works on the subject of generational trauma: trauma passed on through the womb across generations. She sees textiles as a way to create a safe environment for herself and others, as she uses her practice to work through her own personal trauma. She sees textiles and other art practices as a beneficial way for individuals to work through their distress. Christine graduated from the Belfast School of Art in 2021 with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art. She received a Master’s Degree in Fine Art in 2023.

About this exhibition:

Catharsis
‘The process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from strong or repressed emotions’
University of Atypical are pleased to host an exhibition of work by artist Scott Ramsey as part of the Northern Ireland Mental Health Arts Festival 2024. The exhibition, entitled ‘Catharsis’, features an eclectic series of Scott Ramsey’s unique boxed assemblages which the curator Noelle McAlinden has described as intricate, precious, complex, ethereal, infinite in meaning and genius in their consideration.

About the Artist:

Scott, in conversation with Noelle McAlinden describes the development of the boxes as a changing process. Sometimes the process starts with an object, then another object that has a relation to the first, sometimes it starts backwards with a ‘kind of wallpaper’. Some of the objects in the boxes are collected items, some are donated. He says it is the boxes that create the sense of order. He is inspired by the artists Hieronymus Bosch, Francis Bacon and Salvador Dali, and Scott describes the works as mini stage sets.
Scott, who lives and works in Fermanagh, is not just a visual artist. He is also an accomplished singer, songwriter, and musician. He has exhibited extensively locally and internationally including at the Royal Ulster Academy. Scott, who is a past pupil of Toni Johnston, has always been curious and highly imaginative with an eye for seeing the precious potential for the extraordinary in ordinary things.

About the curator:

Noelle McAlinden, chair of Northern Ireland Mental Health Arts Festival and curator of this touring exhibition at Strule Art Gallery, Omagh. ‘It is a privilege to be curating and supporting Scott to bring his stunning work to new audiences to enjoy as part of this year’s Mental Health Arts Festival.’

Exhibition run: Thursday 21 March – Thursday 9 May 2024
Artist Talk – Friday 26 March 2024 1– 2pm

Access: BSL Interpreter booked for artist talk on Friday 26 March.
To request other access requirements email
access@universityofatypical.org

‘A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained, and an alternative name for a living room.’
During the global pandemic of 2020 and 2021, all of our homes became more solitary spaces. The visits to care settings to those we loved were restricted. This project imagined the drawing rooms project to inspire new activity where other activity had been disrupted.

Working with staff and residents from Culling Tree Meadows, Arches Care Home and the NOW Group Club, artists David Dunlop and Paul Moore trained participants to create digital drawings. Artworks created have been printed and exhibited here in this bright and experimental exhibition.
Drawings will be delivered back to the original Drawing Rooms in which they were created to be displayed on the walls of the homes from which they came.

This Project was funded by Belfast City Council through the Department For Communities Access and Inclusion Capital Programme 2020/2021.

The University of Atypical’s principal funder is the @National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland