Statement by Malcolm Bennett, Curator

When Conor Kenny was prepared to make the journey from Galway to Millisle in Co. Down to see me I knew that there would be important issues to be discussed. One of the proposals that we talked about that day was that I should curate an exhibition of Northern Artists to exhibit in the Kenny Gallery during the Galway Arts Festival in 2007. Having agreed, the main problem that he left me with was where to start. Going back some forty four years seemed like a good idea.

As a young artist living in Belfast in the early sixties there were limited venues for exhibiting paintings so in 1963 I was only too pleased to be showing in a small gallery called Studio 25. The other exhibitors were George Hayes, Jack Pakenham, Gerard Dillon, John Breakey, Anna Ritchie, Basil Blackshaw and Romeo Toogood. Shortly after I was to meet up again with John and Jack at the formation of Group 63, a group of young artists from the North who felt that by joining together they would collectively make a bigger impact on the Ulster Arts Scene. Other founder members of the group were Richard Croft and Om C. Mc Cartney

As political unrest shattered the peace in 1969, the arts struggled on and artists continued to cross the border in both directions, running the gauntlet of customs, security checks and cross country diversions. City galleries came under threat from explosions and civil disturbances and it was through the resilience of galleries like The Bell Gallery, The Otter, The Octagon, Art Research and Exchange, The Arts Council, The Arts Club and The Caldwell Gallery that the visual arts continued to have exposure. I remember one famous exhibition in the Tom Caldwell Gallery, during the Worker’s Strike, when, undeterred by having no electricity, Tom lit the exhibition with dozens of candles. It was during these dark days that I met and often exhibited with Vernon Carter, Joe and Catherine McWilliams, Gerry Gleason, Paul Yates, Bob Sloan, Helen Kerr, James Millar, Betty Brown and Willie Heron.

In the early seventies I first met George Campbell and Arthur Armstrong who were living in Dublin, but were from Belfast originally, and were both showing with Tom Caldwell. My wife Valerie and I often visited them in Dublin where George and Arthur would regale us with stories of Roundstone and Inishlacken, so when Arthur heard that we were going to Connemara for the summer he told me that the Kenny Gallery, where he and George exhibited, had moved from Salthill to Galway and I should call and see a man called Tom Kenny. I met Tom and have been exhibiting in the gallery ever since.

Quite a few of the artists showing in this exhibition have not exhibited in the gallery before but everyone was keen to be involved and enthusiastic about the prospect of showing in Kennys. All have been totally professional in their dealing with all aspects of the exhibition, therefore making my job an easy one.

When I approached the artists I was keen to point out that the selection of work was completely in the hands of the individual and there was no restriction on the type or size of each piece.

The exhibition represents a broad spectrum of work by long established artists where talent and dedication have marked them all as important figures in Irish Art. Although everyone in A Northern Light is at present living and working in Northern Ireland their work extends well beyond the Six Counties; Northern Art transcends boundaries. All the artists have travelled and exhibited in many parts of the world and though Northern Ireland has a reputation for being slow to accept new ideas and resistant to change, this cannot be said of its artists.

We are from the North but we are pleased to be ‘Going West’.

I wish to thank Conor and Tom Kenny for making this exhibition possible and Dean Kelly for taking care of all those behind the scene things that go to make a successful exhibition, like the catalogue, etc., etc. I would also like to thank Aisling, Bernie, Coleen, Mary, Siobhán and Shane for their work in the Gallery, all the artists for their friendship and support over the years; and finally a special thank you to Brian Keenan for agreeing to open the exhibition.

Malcolm Bennett
Curator - A Northern Light