Friday, 29 of March of 2024

Category » Exhibitions

“Skellig Brothers” Opening Night

Our opening night was a complete success. The reception was planned form 6-8pm but we went on till well after 10.30. Sales were brisk and the red dots were out in force. It was great for my skellig brother Scott and myself to have such an enthusiastic crowd to celebrate the fruits of a whole years work.

And certainly a high point was Brother Anthony Keane of Glenstal Abbey who officially opened our show. If I say “What a lovely man” it sounds so corny, but I make no apologies for saying it. I got to spend a few hours together before the show and chat about the work. Later he said the most amazing and insightful things about our exhibition. The guests were taken in by his charm and his unique take on our seascapes. At one stage he even had us down as two painting-priests with our easels at the waters edge, or words to that effect.

Courtesy of Caroline Hubner we have great photos of the reception, and Anja Coyne kindly put them online: http://www.rodcoyne.com/opening_night.html They are well worth a look.


Hanging the “Skellig Brothers“

Well, it has been a long day but now the work is done. The show is hanging and looking very good, if I say so myself. The location is spectacular, the gallery clean and contemporary, and the paintings are strong and powerful. I hope you will be among those joining us tomorrow night for the Grand Launch of our “Skellig Brothers“ exhibition.

Below are a few photos from today’s work…

Getting ready to hang.

Rod does the percision work.

Scott: the man with the coffee, and Ger: the man with a plan.

The show starts taking shape.

Scott inspects his work: varnishing day.

Scott and Rod are the skellig brothers.


“Skellig Brothers”

Today I hang our  “Skellig Brothers” exhibition in Dublin. The van is loaded, the paintings are framed, and my skellig brother is somewhere over the Atlantic en route to Ireland. It’s an exciting, daunting time and hard not feel a little nervous after so many months of preparation.

this is an exhibition of new seascapes created en plein aire during a residency at Cill Rialaig, Co. Kerry in 2010. Commission on sales from the show will go to support the Cill Rialaig Artists Retreat.

I have to get going now and will quickly add our press release to explain more about show…

Twenty four years ago ‘two little boys’ teenagers – one a Dubliner (Rod Coyne) the other a New Yorker (Scott Redden) met and become the best of chums at the Crawford College of Art in Cork.

Scott’s Uncle the highly respected Jeff Steiner Scott was the principal then and both boys said goodbye after 2 years in Cork. Rod was finding no way to earn a living in Ireland as an artists and emigrated to Germany where he met his wife Anja and Scott went on to Hunter College New York where he got an MFA in Painting and found favour and lots of collectors through the Dillon Gallery, Oyster Bay New York and the Laurel Tracey Gallery New Jersey.

Seas apart they kept in touch over the years. Rod came back to Ireland in 1999, ten years after leaving. “The place seemed starving, untidy and melancholy in 1989 – ten years later on my arrival back it looked like my country had tidied up, shook itself out of its gloomy atmosphere and was punching above its weight culturally as well as economically.”

Rod discovered Cill Rialaig the artist’s retreat set up by former publisher Noelle Campbell-Sharp in Ballinskelligs and unveiled in 1991 by Charles Haughey (An Taoiseach). He was amongst the first Irish artists to get a residency in the newly restored cabin studios of the once abandoned pre-famine village.

And that was when he found the Great Skellig and was mesmerized so much by its majestic height he spent days and nights sketching, photographing it from all sorts of vantage points – “I liked the view from Bray head on Valentia Island, but painted it from St. Finian’s Bay, Glen Pier and best of all after a good walking hike from Bolus Head where all the Skellig Island’s glory is revealed as well as Puffin Island and the Blaskets over in Dingle.

Rod then went on to sell out shows at ORIGIN Gallery and featured in exhibitions at the RHA, RUA as well as exhibitions in London, Europe and the USA – the newly refurbished Shelbourne Hotel acquired a number of his works. He and his wife Anja and their two children now live and work in the Vale of Avoca.

It was not til 2008 that Scott Redden renewed his acquaintance with Ireland when he was awarded a 2 week residency at the Co. Kerry retreat. Coincidentally, his old friend Rod Coyne was there at the same time and it was he who introduced the American to the world heritage side of the Skelligs. A further residency for both artists last year has culminated in a unique exhibition which they’ve entitled “Skellig Brothers” opening 10th March at Urban Retreat Gallery.

This story of how a Dublin born artist and a Manhattan based artist found ‘brotherly love’ will be told to art collecting patrons of Cill Rialaig and its Urban Retreat Gallery will be all the more interesting as the story will be told by another Sceilig admirer and boat building enthusiast, Brother Anthony Keane, Glenstal Abbey.

Brother Anthony is co-founder with Gary MacMahon of the AK ILEN company presently involved in the rebuilding of Irelands last sea-going wooden sailing ships.

Launched in 1926 by the pioneering voyager and maritime designer Conor O’Brien the 56’ Ilen has been in the Folkland Islands before 1998 when it was repatriated by the boat building duo above but it was almost lost to Chile!

Like Cill Rialaig ILEN is a registered charity and runs the Big Boat Build Workshops dedicated to education through wooden boat building and sailing on the sea. Several workshops in Skibbereen are attracting teenagers to 70-year-old enthusiasts – the newly unemployed are all welcome and under the supervision of qualified shipwrights.

It’s appropriate that today’s artists and boat builders come together to remember the monks who were thought to have spent years constructing the boats that would carry them down the Shannon and out of Limerick into the Atlantic Ocean ‘in search of paradise’.

And a further romantic postscript to the story of our two little boys is that Scott found his new partner coincidentally a German artist and writer at Cill Rialaig last year.

Skellig Brothers” Paintings by ROD COYNE (IRE) and SCOTT REDDEN (US) URBAN RETREAT GALLERY – March 10 – 10 April 2011

HQ Building, Hanover Quay, Dublin 2

Tel: 01 633 7865

Email: urbanretreatgallery@gmail.com

preview: www.rodcoyne.com


I have news and events for your calendar…

… please have a little look and I am sure there will be something in there for you:

“Life at the Courthouse” a figurative group exhibition opening Sunday 13th February 2011 @ 3pm in The Courthouse Arts Centre, Tinahely, Co Wicklow. www.tinahely-courthouse.ie

Love times two! Between now and Valentines Day you can double the value of your euro at the Avoca Studio Gallery. We will double the value of your euro on every Rod Coyne painting purchased. Express your love with twice the passion…http://www.rodcoyne.com/

Gormleys fine art auction: Tuesday February 22nd 2011 @ 7pm in 25 Frederick Street, Dublin 2, and online: http://www.gormleysartauctions.com/index.asp

Mullen’s fine art auction: Sunday 27th FEBRUARY 2011@ 12 noon at Mullen’s – Laurel Park, Bray, Co Dublin. http://www.mullenslaurelpark.com

I will be giving a free painting demonstration at the Avoca Studio Gallery February 19th 2010 @ 1pm. http://www.rodcoyne.com/

I have just posted a whole selection of new paintings from Cill Rialaig on my Art Blog: http://rodcoyne.ie/blog/

Also, we are now enrolling for Avoca Painting School’s springtime painting course to commence March 1st 2011. http://www.avocapaintingschool.com/

“C.S. Parnell (uncrowned King of Ireland)” 2010, oil on canvas, 40x50cm, at the Tinahely Art Centre from February 13th 2011.


Children First Art Show

The Children First Art Show was a complete success, raising €41,000 to help children reach attainable goals. On a personal level I was delighted to see my own painting chosen in the first ten of one hundred top Irish artists.


September 2010 update

Hello Art Friends,

I just got word from the Urban Retreat Gallery that the “Ocean & Sea” exhibition will be running until 30th of September and there will be a special 20% reduction off all wall prices during this period. This kicks off with an event next Sunday 19th September from12 – 2pm, when one of the artists in the group has offered kindly to give a painting demonstration (see invite attached).

Also coming this Sunday the Children First fundraising Art Show reaches it’s climax with the Draw and Auction Sunday 19th at 2pm sharp, RHA, 15 Ely Place, Dublin 2.

And still to come during this busy month of September I have work in the following events:

“Arthur’s Day – Guinness on Canvas” Balla Ban Art Gallery, Westbury Mall, Dublin, 23rd – 25th Sept 2010 with a Guinness

& Wine Reception on the Thursday 23rd from 5pm until 7pm.

I am showing with the Tinahely Artists Group, in the Riverside Business Park, Tinahely, Co. Wicklow from 24th until 29th of September.
And there’s a Fine Art Auction at Mullen’s Laurel Park, Bray, Co. Dublin – 26th September 2010.

http://www.rodcoyne.com/exhibitions-1.html is the link for full details on all of the above.

"Weather Imminent"

by Rod Coyne, oil on canvas, 70×100cm,

on show at the Urban Retreat Gallery, Hanover Quay, Dublin 2.

I hope you can make it to one or the other event, and best regards,

Rod Coyne.

www.rodcoyne.com


September 2010

Today I am posting a few images of paintings on view and sale at various events during September 2010. In order of appearance: Gormleys are having a fine art auction in Athlone http://www.gormleysartauctions.com/auction.asp?ArtistID=822&AuctionID=29, where I will be showing in some esteemed company. Mid September is the big Children First Charity fundraiser at the RHA in Dublin where you could pick mine or another Irish master’s piece for a mere €350 ticket price http://www.childrenfirst.ie/default.asp?p=artshow for details. An exhibition celebrating the black stuff for Arthur’s Day at the Balla Ban Gallery in Dublin promises fun for all. The month finishes with three works at Mullen’s fine art auction in Bray, Co. Dublin, http://www.mullenslaurelpark.com/home.asp for online catalogue. You can check dates, times and addresses on my own site http://www.rodcoyne.com/exhibitions-1.html , I hope there’s something in there for you, and please feel free to leave a comment on the blog, cheers for now, Rod.

"Howth" at Gormley's Art Auctions - 7th Sept 2010 Sheraton Hotel, Athlone

"Heart of Gold" at the Children First fundraising Art Show - 16th - 19th Sept 2010, RHA, 15 Ely Place, Dublin 2

"Mrs Brown's Creamy Dreaminess" 65x90cm, oil on canvas, €1900 at “Arthur’s Day – Guinness on Canvas” Balla Ban Art Gallery, Dublin, 23rd – 25th Sept 2010

"Waterville" 40x40cm, oil on canvas at Fine Art Auction - Mullens Laurel Park, Bray, Co. Wicklow - 26th September 2010

"Tony's Trees" 30x90cm, oil on canvas at Fine Art Auction - Mullens Laurel Park, Bray, Co. Wicklow - 26th September 2010


“Oceans and Sea”

“Oceans and Sea” is up and running and will continue until mid September. The opening night was a great event and a successful and fun event. There were lots of “Ooo”s and “Ahh”s from the attending guests.

Graphic Designer Anja Coyne and Musician Ger Griffin.

Noelle Campbell-Sharp and Rod Coyne at the reception of “Oceans and Sea”

I dropped in last week to get an unobstructed look at the show. The exhibition is a true celebration of amazing Irish seascapes. There are so many various ways to depict this one theme. Many of the artists, including myself, worked at Cill Rialaig for this show, and it is fascinating to realize how differently we all can see the same location.

The Grand Canal Theatre is the newest jewel in the Dublin dockland’s crown.

Like all of Dublin the old is alongside the new.

It’s a seascape in its own right, with an impressive mix of 19th, 20th and 21st century architecture.

Friendly help always on-hand at the gallery.

Lunchtime visitors at the show.

The Urban Retreat Gallery is set in a stunning location, adjacent to canal, river, bay and sea.