A collaborative exhibition of paintings and poetry by twin siblings
Denis Kelly and Mary Pooley.
The exhibition will be launched by Lucina Russell on 3rd October at 6.45pm at Kildare Town Community Library and will continue until 25th October 2024.
Exhibition opening hours:
Tues/Wed/Fri 9.30–5pm;
Thurs 1–8pm;
Sat 10–1 & 2–5pm.
Closed Sun & Mon.
This is an exhibition inspired by the Brigid 1500 celebrations. It is also a homage to the memory of their mother Bridget. The exhibition consists of seven paintings inspired by the
St Brigid’s cross motif, where these paintings play with perceptions of reality, while complimenting and responding to the poetry on display.
There are also seven pieces of writing, inspired by the folk tales and stories associated with the life of St Brigid, with emphasis on her connection to the natural world, her love for all things
created and her faith in God. The expectation is that the pieces on display will inspire the viewer to look deeper, past the obvious, into the eye of the bridge where everything cannot be
taken at face value.
About the Artists
Denis Kelly is an artist living in Co. Kildare who makes abstract paintings characterised by
hard edge colour motifs, predominantly painted flat on wooden, canvas and paper surfaces.
He has exhibited at the RHA Dublin, RUA Belfast, Lexicon Dún Laoghaire, Riverbank
Newbridge, Galerie Weber & Weber Turin and most recently at Flowers Gallery London
(2022) in an exhibition curated by Sean Scully.
He has been awarded Kildare County Council Arts Act Grant in 2013, 2014, 2017–2022, the
KCC Emerging Visual Artist Bursary Award 2015 and the Arts Council of Ireland
Agility Award 2021 and 2022. His paintings are part of the Office of Public Works and Dún
Laoghaire-Rathdown County collections and private collections in Ireland, UK, Germany
and USA. He is a current member of Visual Arts Ireland.
Mary Pooley is a writer, living in Killaloe. She has been writing for many years, beginning
with an interest in poetry and expanding into short fiction. She was first published as a
teenager following winning first prize at The Lough Gur poetry festival and has been
published in various publications since, including, more recently, an Anthology of New
Tipperary Writing ‘Vessel of Voices’ (2020), several Ireland’s own Anthologies (2020, 2021,
and 2022) and magazines (winning first prize in an Ireland’s Own short story competition in
2020). Mary has also had poetry published in an Anthology of Tipperary Writers ‘Around
Each Bend’ (2021). And has also taken part in Poetry Ireland Day readings on local radio. She
is a member of the ‘Rosetta’ writing group in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary.
A special thanks to Kildare Town Community Library for facilitating this exhibition.