Brenda Moore-Mccann visits the Sligo studio of Michael Wann as he prepares for a solo exhibition at the Cross Gallery, Dublin in April
Vasari tells the story of a visit he and Michelangelo paid to the studio of Titian. Michelangelo remarked afterwards what a fine artist he was but that it was a pity he couldn’t draw. Drawing at that time was regarded as the preliminary phase to a finished painting. Indeed drawing has had a significant role in the history of visual expression from the time of cave art to marks on paper and canvas. In spite of the recent expansion of art beyond these two-dimensional surfaces and the utilization of different media, drawing remains central to the practice of many artists. Freed from the Renaissance dialectic of line and colour and aesthetic theories that separated them into cognitive and sensory functions, drawing today is understood to be an act that connects mind and feeling directly to the nervous, muscular and sensory systems of the artist’s body.
Proving that good design is timeless, Virginia Teehan presents a selection of rare artefacts travelling to Boston College, celebrating Irish design from the Arts and Crafts Movement.
In response to the 1916 centenary, EVA International takes as its theme, the post-colonial legacy on the psyche and imagination of colonized communities, writes Michaele Cutaya.
A recent visit to Sligo County Library prompts Peter Harbison to ask, could our national institutions do more to give local communities access to their treasures?