Boyle Arts Festival 2018

Myself and my friend took a day trip to Boyle today to check out the Arts Festival. There are so many fantastic events taking place and it’s well worth a visit. We only checked out the exhibitions but there are also concerts, readings, workshops and more which you can find out all about here.

I’ve come home inspired by the many artists whose work I have seen today. I’ve also slightly overwhelmed as there was so much to look at, a visual feast and one I’ve not seen the likes of for a long time.

I saw some beautiful pieces in the Open Art exhibition and I especially enjoyed the photography exhibitions. We got chatting to a lovely man from the Boyle Camera Club and we watched the slide show they had running.

A special mention has to go to the very talented photographer Tony Murphy. Tony moved to Boyle a number of years ago and he wanted to document the area; the people, the landscape, the houses, so that the generations to come could have a glimpse into life in the town-land of Cornameeltha. Tony ran the idea by his neighbours and they all agreed that he would be welcome to photograph them just as they were. If he called to the house and there was washing hanging over the range or spuds being peeled they went into the photo. Tony has a selection of the images as an exhibition Cornameeltha: Portrait of an Irish Townland and its People which is running at his photography studio near the courthouse until August 4th. This really is worth a look.

It wasn’t all art we did, of course, have to check out some of the cafes. I broke the diet for the day and had been hoping for the cup of chocolate that I’d seen on Facebook at the King House tearooms – they didn’t have it so I made do with a slice of cake instead – it’s a hard life! We also had a lovely coffee in The Bazaar Coffee Shop which is a gorgeous little cafe, a haven of blue with a beautiful secret garden at the back of the premises…well worth a visit.

So that was our day in Boyle. It was a really lovely day and well done to all involved in the arts festival, you should be very proud.