The Drink and Draw Exhibition is now open in Billy Byrnes on John Street. The display won't be up forever though. The exhibition ends next tuesday so you only have a few more days to check out some of the best work of the group's members.
The opening night went great. The night kicked off with some live Jazz and plenty of people turned up to catch a glimpse of the work on display. The group even had a visit from Don Conroy, the man that first thaught many of us to draw as we were growing up watching The Den. In total, there are 61 works on display.
Unable to make opening night, I recently dropped into Billy Byrnes to have a gander at the member's work. It's no exaggeration to say I was blown away! The art on display is amazing and it's great to see how some of the early members have grown and improved.
Virginia Black is a South African artist and has produced many wildlife themed works in acrylics. Since founding Drink and Draw, she has branched out into using charcoal and pastels on black card. Virginia loves depicting animals and people because of the expression of emotion that can be found in the eyes.
Kevin King is a Dublin-born artist living in Kilkenny. Kevin creates stunning works full of fine detail portraying monsters, aliens, superheroes and more. He has recently has moved his focus towards recreating Irish landmarks, such as Kilkenny Castle and Kells Priory in his unique style. Viewed from afar, his work is fantastic but his use of depth and perspective draws the eye in and before you know it, the viewer has their nose against the glass examining the fine details of his works.
Ciaran Hyland is an Irish art student who has been creating art for the past three years. Ciaran likes to work in a variety of different styles and mediums and has just recently started experimenting with digital art. The art featured by him at the exhibition is some of his more realistic work.
Kersty Evans is originally from London but has been living in Kilkenny since 2006. She enjoys pencil drawings and painting in a variety of themes from landscapes and townscapes to animals and dreams. In her words: "My pictures have their own unique style, showing a place the way it should be, not always the way it is."
Patrick Neary, is a local artist that uses iron/oak gall ink (created with reference to a medieval recipe from the 14th century) to explore themes of darkness as suggested by a variety of human experiences and emotions, including death, anxiety, fear, depression and inertia.
Laura Moran is a self-thaught artist based in in kilkenny that produces works that are both personal and emotive. The pieces she has on display during the exhibition were created during significant events over the course of the past year and express the emotional impact that those events had upon her.
Sonja Horgan has been living in Ireland for 6 years where she has been working as a professional artist and art teacher. She originally hails from Novi Sad, Serbia where she graduated with a BA in Fine Arts from the Art Academy University. Sonja has been developing her style in figurative and mixed media abstract art by using vibrant mediterannean colours in her landscapes and an earthy colour pallete. Combining various martials of collage and decoupage, she likes to experiment with various textures by layering colours and various other materials into her painting to create an added 3-D impression. Her paintings are currently on show in Gallery @ no.6 on South Anne Street in Dublin.
Aimee O' Neill is an Inistioge native, now living in Kilkenny city. Aimee has a love for all things Disney and likes to use bright and vivid colours. This come across in her work in which she recreates classic Disney characters and adopts a Disney-esque style to create her own original pieces. She enjoys using coloured pencils and ink to create beautifully clean drawings but has recently started experimenting with painting where she brings her steady hand and good sense of colour to bear. The works Aimee has on display at the exhibition includes a dream-like rendition of Princess Ariel from The Little Mermaid and a psychadelic canvas painting with flowing rainbow-like colour.
