Minister launches Shambles Art Studio Culture Night exhibition

By David Flynn

Athlone artists who work out of the Arus Brid building on Excise Street held an exhibition of their work on Culture Night, in an event which also honoured one of their recently deceased colleagues, Laurence O’Neill. The exhibition was launched on the night by Minister of State Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran, who talked about the importance of art in local society and of it helping to combat his own battle with depression.

The Minister of State told the gathering he was delighted and honoured to be at the Shambles Studio in Excise Street and commented about one of the Shambles artists being Ann McGuinness, who in another time of her life was the Westmeath County Council Manager.

“Myself and Ann go back a very long way, when we were both involved with Westmeath County Council,” he said. “This is my second time here, the first time as a councillor and now as a Minister and I’m here to see the wonderful work and display that you, the artists, do. The art and culture you do plays a huge part in the history of the town of Athlone.”

The Minister pointed to some of the young children who were at the exhibition and said that it’s wonderful to see more and more young people getting involved in art.

“Artists sit down and come up with ideas and put them to paper, and every piece of your art has a story behind it,” said Boxer. “Everyone that looks at art sees different meaning, and it can help them get a sense of what is going on in their heads.”

The Athlone Minister mentioned his own experience of suffering with depression and how art helped him in dealing with the situation.

“Art was something I could never do, but I love to look at it, and talk about it, and it’s a way of dealing with what’s going on in my own head,” he said. “I’ve helped people who come to talk to me privately about depression, since I was on The Late, Late Show. The amount of people that got into art found it a relaxing way of going forward. That’s why I got involved in it.”

He talked about his work in the OPW and said that the last piece of the Athlone flood defences won’t be far from the Excise Street art studio, on the west side of town.

“What I want to see is biodiversity brought in there, with viewing points and to get the greenway back to where I want, on top of the embankment, and I also want to see outdoor art exhibitions in those areas,” said Minister Moran. “Look at Connaught Street, the traders have looked at putting in umbrellas at Harry’s Lane for art to be done on a Saturday. It would be something small, and you’d need the weather, but you also have to start at something, or nothing will happen.

“The Connaught Street traders have done a lot for culture on this side of town. There are huge plans for art going forward in the town with places like your own. I will always support artists in Athlone, and I will always support The Shambles and the artists within The Shambles with their work and lovely paintings.”

Sculptures by Laurence O’Neill, which were inspired by the sea, were on display on a table in the middle of the Arus Brid exhibition room.

“Laurence was part of it all, and I was sorry about his passing, but his legacy lives on,” said Boxer to the Westmeath Independent, after the launch.