Art and the Outdoors, our community celebration, is inspired by artists who moved out of their studio to paint en plein air or out of doors. For all ages.
This August Bank Holiday weekend be inspired by artists who moved out of their studio to paint out of doors. We are rediscovering the creative potential of our surroundings, our city, and our streets…on the doorstep of the Hugh Lane Gallery.
We look forward to seeing you!
We are delighted to welcome you again to our exciting Art and the Outdoors 2024 two day family art event on Saturday 3 August and Sunday 4 August 2024 on Parnell Square North. Art and the Outdoors is inspired by artists who moved out of their studio to paint en plein air or out of doors. This free family-friendly programme includes artist-led outdoor drawing, printmaking, pop up art workshops, street art with Jess Tobin aka Novice, live music, poetry, street spectacle, face painting, magician, quiet and sensory spaces and more! The Gallery café Fáilte Le Grá will have an outdoor stall and food vendors The Crepe Wagon and Arctic Stone hand rolled ice cream will also be here.
Download the Art and the Outdoors 2024 PROGRAMME
Keep an eye out here for regular updates!
Scroll down to find out more.
Free, all welcome!
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Street Art with Jess Tobin aka Novice
Although Jess Tobin has spent her life with a pencil in her hand she gave herself the street artist name of Novice. Read on here to find out more!
Saturday 3 August, Noon-4pm
On Saturday watch the processes involved in creating a large scale art piece using spray paint. Hang out and watch as Jess creates a piece in her signature style designed especially for and inspired by the Hugh Lane Gallery.
Sunday 4 August, Noon-4pm
On Sunday Jess (aka Novice) is hosting workshops. Over the course of each workshop session you will have an opportunity to learn can control techniques from Jess, try out using spray paint and most importantly have fun while being creative. Numbers limited for each session and suitable for ages 8+
Jess aka Novice, a Dublin native and member of the Minaw Collective, whose work is a mixture of the mediums that she loves, pencil, Photoshop and spray paint recently experimenting again with acrylic paint. On paper her illustrations feature sayings that make her smile and drawings that challenge her skill while exploring what colour can do.
The work she creates on walls feature large faces, which lately have become more stylised. Jess likes to design these pieces using photoshops many features and filters to manipulate and over produce photos combining them with other textures in a digital collage design. The designs are then applied to walls using spray paint.
Hailing from a very creative family, Jess spent 2 years in BCFE in Dublin, graduated from the National College of Art and design with a Hons degree in Ceramic Design and a Post grad in Community Art education.
Although Jess has spent her life with a pencil in her hand she gave herself the street artist name of Novice. This is for two reasons. One was because when she chose a street art name she was very new to the media and scale. And two because as a creative person (and human) she believes in having to always be a novice, always learning, always discovering. Jess maintains that the longer she creates art the more she feels the need to learn or thinks that may be what getting older & wiser does to you.
Her favourite thing about being an artist is getting lost in creating art, facing the challenges and enjoying the wins along the way.
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Music Programme
Come along and enjoy live music in the open air.
Saturday 3 August and Sunday 4 August
12.15pm Marmosets – Cello Folk Duo (both days)
Long-term artistic collaborators and friends Mary Barnecutt and Lioba Petrie gather some of their thoughts, melodies and musings in ‘ Marmosets’, a duo cello project that combines their humour, fury and love of a good folk tune into live performance. Including works from Hildegard Von Bingen, Swedish and Irish traditional dance tunes and original works. @liobap @marypigeons
13.15pm Dermot Dunne and Martin Tourish – Accordion Duo, J S Bach: Goldberg Variations (both days)
Martin Tourish and Dermot Dunne present their own arrangement of the Goldbergs for 2 accordions which aims to bring alive the dance rhythms which permeate the variations and invite you to dance along or tap your foot to this most uplifting and joyous of masterpieces! martintourishmusic.com
2.15pm Méabh McKenna – Harp and Voice (both days)
Utilising the harp, voice, electronics and percussion, Méabh McKenna is a multi-instrumental sound artist based in Dublin city. Drawing on years of experimentation and collaboration, her live performances have evolved from traversing the eclectic worlds of traditional, classical, and early music, intuitively weaving them with contemporary and electronic elements. Her solo project forges a soundworld of mycelial improvisation and memory, connecting the ancient with the futuristic to make a music of resonance and reflection that’s entirely her own. @meabh.mckenna
3.15 Saturday 3August –O’Kelly, Roche, Whyte Trio
Cathal Roche – saxes, Darragh O’Kelly – keys, Derek Whyte – bass
Together they are one half of ‘The Dirty Jazz Club’. The members have a collective playing history of over twenty years. All members have been part of some of the most important contemporary Irish jazz groups in recent times. Expect experimental versions of both well known and more avant garde compositions
Sunday 4 August 3.15pm: O’Kelly, Roche, Whyte Trio
Barry McCormack – guitar, Derek Whyte – bass, Shane O’ Donovan – drums
Barry McCormack and Derek Whyte have been playing as a guitar/bass duo every week since the beginning of 2024. They have created a great understanding and cohesion in their approaches to improvisation and traditional jazz. They will be joined by one of the great Irish drummers, Shane O’ Donovan. Together they will perform energetic renditions of Bebop, traditional and Bossa classics.
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Art Spaces
Get creative at Art and the Outdoors! All materials provided.
“You can’t do sketches enough.
Sketch everything and
keep your curiosity fresh.”
John Singer Sargent
Drawing Out of Doors
We invite you to look around you and sketch what you see! Draw from the Life Model and our artists have plenty of ideas and tips too for capturing nature, the outdoors, streetscapes and more. Drawing is a great way to discover more about the world around you.
Embossed and Screen Print-Making
Our artists will show you how to create a beautiful embossed print or a screen print by pressing simple shapes onto special paper. Look for inspiration in the patterns around you or from nature when composing your ideas.
‘Make Your Mark’ Pop Up installation
Join us to celebrate the outdoors by making your own mini artwork inspired by the idea of ‘what the outdoors means to you’. Maybe it is playing outside, or riding your bike, taking your dog for a walk, enjoying the seaside or being in awe of ever changing skies, we would love to see your creation on a mini canvas measuring only 8.5cms x 6cms!
When finished, add your mini canvas to an every growing pop up installation in the Gallery’s Sculpture Hall!
Crowns to Creatures Art Craft
We will use a variety of techniques to recreate some beautiful crowns or fans or paper insect-blossoms to wear and take way!
“In drawing, nothing is better than the first attempt.”
Pablo Picasso
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Quiet Space at Art and the Outdoors
Seek quiet drawing in our drop-in still life gallery.
Quiet Space at Art and the Outdoors
Location: Gallery 6, inside Hugh Lane Gallery
Seek quiet drawing in our drop-in still life gallery.
We will have clip boards and paper, drawing pencils, colouring pencils and crayons. In this quiet space we can sit for as long as we want and draw a sea themed and a forest themed sill life. This is a room with white walls and wooden benches. We can find this space off the Sculpture Hall on the ground floor. There will be an artist there to help us if we need anything.
One parent/guardian must stay with children.
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Sensory Space
Location: Gallery 8, inside Hugh Lane Gallery
Seek sensory activities in our drop-in colourful cave gallery.
We will have a soft carpeted area with bean bags, a wall of sticky paper to put soft pom poms on, a large sheet of paper on the floor with colouring pencils and a fluffy blue seat. We can play or relax here for as long as we want. This is a room with black walls, it is softly lit and has wooden benches. We can find this space off the Sculpture Hall. There will be an artist there to help us if we need anything.
One parent/guardian must stay with children.
Seek time alone in the outdoor Sensory Unit.
Location in an enclosed unit outside the Gallery.
Dublin City Council’s mobile outdoor sensory unit is built for individuals with sensory processing differences. This space is for one child accompanied by one parent/guardian. There are time slots that can be booked online.
This is an enclosed unit with soft, blue padded walls and floors, bubble units and low colourful lights. There will be an artist there to help us if we need anything. A time slot can be booked here Select a Date & Time – Calendly
One parent/guardian must stay with children.
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Poetry Bursts
We delighted to be linking in with Poetry Ireland.
Saturday 3 August
1-15pm Katie Donovan
Katie Donovan has published six books of poetry, all with Bloodaxe Books. “May Swim” was launched, appropriately, in May of this year. “Off Duty” (2016) was shortlisted for the “Irish Times”/Poetry Now Prize. In 2017, Katie received the O’Shaughnessy Award for Irish Poetry. Her work has appeared in many anthologies, including the best-selling “Staying Alive” series, and she has given readings all over Ireland and abroad. In April her poem “Winter Heroes” was chosen for Poetry Day Ireland, appearing on trains and in libraries to celebrate the theme of “Good Sports”.
Saturday 3 August, 2024
2.-2.15pm Rafael Mendes is a Brazilian migrant poet with upcoming work in Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry Salzburg Review, and Propel Magazine. He has been selected for Poetry Ireland’s 2023 Introduction Series and was awarded the Irish Writers Centre/Tyrone Guthrie Centre Lacuna Bursary 2023.
Sunday 4 August 2024
1-1.15pm Enda Wyley
Enda Wyley was born in Dublin and has published six collections of poetry, from her debut Eating Baby Jesus, (1993 ), through to Borrowed Space, New and Selected Poems, (2014), and her most recent, The Painter on his Bike (2019 ). A seventh collection, Through the Window, is due 2025. Awards include the Vincent Buckley Poetry Prize, Melbourne University and she is a recipient of a Katherine and Patrick Kavanagh Fellowship for Poetry. She has been widely broadcast, translated and anthologised, including in The Harvard Anthology of Modern Irish Poetry and Lines of Vision, The National Gallery of Ireland. Her books for children include, I won’t Go to China! Boo and Bear and The Silver Notebook, O’Brien Press. She co-hosts the podcast Books for Breakfast, about books and writing. Enda is a member of Aosdána, the Irish academy of artists. ‘Enda Wyley is a true poet.’ The Irish Times.
2-2.15pm David Nash
David Nash, born 1985, is a poet and translator from County Cork. His pamphlet, The Islands of Chile, came out in 2022 with 14poems, and his first full collection, No Man’s Land, was published by Dedalus Press in 2023. The latter won the Seamus Heaney Prize in 2024, and was shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize and the Listowel Pigott Prize. He lives between Ireland and Chile.
In conjunction with Poetry Ireland
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Street Spectacle
From face painting, to Balloon artist to a magician and more have fun discovering what’s on offer at Art and the Outdoors. Entry our free draws at the outdoor Info Booth for a chance to win a Hugh Lane Goodie Bag.