Cancer Care West and the Arts

Background to Art In Inis Aoibhinn and Support Centre

The idea to decorate Inis Aoibhinn was a simple one. It originated from a visit to the oncology day ward of University College Hospital Galway some years ago. The waiting room had nice comfortable chairs and the walls were tastefully decorated with original prints. The effect of the homely surroundings has, without doubt a positive effect on the patients and their families waiting for their next treatment or consultation.

Having spoken to Jim Sweeney about his hopes and aspirations for this building, we decided we would contribute by trying to decorate it; so we wrote to some 100 Artists. Almost all of the works of art in this collection have been donated by their creators, the rest were gifts from individuals. They all gave freely and generously. No one refused. This willingness to share their work is heartwarming.

Working with  the Cancer Care West team on this project has been a pleasure. In addition to the Artists a special thank you is due to Martin and John Maloney who framed over 60 paintings at greatly reduced cost and to Dean Kelly who created this catalogue.

See slide images below from the project

AN EVENING WITH SEAMUS HEANEY

On 7th September 201, renowned Irish poet and Nobel Prize Winner, Seamus Heaney, delighted a capacity crowd of 800 at the Bailey-Allen Hall in NUI Galway, where he gave one of his first public and highly anticipated reading of his collection Human Chain. 

The collection was about human relationships, human dependencies, and human solidarities - between parent and child, husband and wife, personal friends and the human family at large. Along with reading from his current collection, Seamus also hand-picked poems from previous collections and in particular that of which he wrote while in the Galway area and those of which made unique reference to kites, a symbolism of Cancer Care West, all of which resonated with the audience.

The following day Seamus visited the Cancer Care West Support Centre where he met with the creative writing group who presented Seamus with the first edition of their collection from the book The Healing Pen. This book was officially launched in the Support Centre on Thursday Sept 23rd 2010.

Richard Flaherty, CCW was delighted with the proceeding on the night and extends his gratitude to Seamus Heaney “We had a phenomenal response to the event, we were particularly touched that someone of Seamus Heaneys stature spoke so highly on the night of the work Cancer Care West carry out. We were also deeply honoured that Seamus and Marie took the time to visit both Inis Aoibhinn and our Cancer Support Centre during their time in Galway”.

Seamus Heaney was born in County Derry in Northern Ireland. Death of a Naturalist, his first collection of poems, appeared in 1966 and since then he has published poetry, criticism and translations - including Beowulf (1999) - which have established him as one of the leading poets now at work. In 1995 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. District and Circle (2006) was awarded the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2006. Stepping Stones, a book of interviews conducted by Dennis O'Driscoll, appeared in 2008. In 2009 he received the David Cohen Prize for Literature.

PAINTING DEMONSTRATIONS

Kennys Bookshop and Gallery in Galway arranged various artist demonstrations in their Galway studio. The event was opened up to the public and we have some lovely pictures taken from some of the sessions.

THE HEALING PEN

Using art and writing as a way of coping with a diagnosis of cancer has been recognised as a very valuable approach to what can be a very stressful life event. For this reason the creative art and creative writing class has been a very valuable aspect of our services at the centre. The classes take place weekly on a Wednesday afternoon.

We would like congratulate the writing class on their achievement of producing this book and we hope that it will encourage those who read it to take hope and solace from the wonderful stories that the writing stories has so generously shared with us.

Click to view slideshow of the launch or

Click to read a few lines from the book

CAPTIVATING BRIGHTNESS

For the past number of years Ballynahinch Castle has undertaken the publishing of art based or literary works that pertain to the property, locality or people. In 2009 they published a collection of writings and drawings by friends of Ballynahinch. These were individuals who have an association with Ballynahinch Castle and in particular with Des Lally one of their team. They were each invited to contribute a piece and the result is a collection of work by writers, poets and artists from Margaret Atwood to Edna O'Brien, Dave Lilburn to Dorothy Cross, Brian Friel to Seamus Heaney, Conor McPherson to Vona Groarke and many many more. The profits from this work all go to Cancer Care West.

Click to order a copy

AN EVENING BY THE RVER

An evening with friends celebrated the 65th anniversary of Ballynahinch Castle opening its doors as a hotel. A roomful of arts lovers joined the company of Bill Whelan, Peter Fallon, Julie Feeney and Dorothy Cross in conversation and celebration with broadcaster John Kelly.

The team at Ballynahinch Castle designed a superb menu for the dinner in the Owenmore Restaurant overlooking the famous Ballynahinch salmon river. Dinner was preceded by a champagne reception and the guests will dined on the finest local produce prepared by Xin Sun and his team in the kitchen. Dinner was accompanied by a selection of fine wines provided by J&C Kenny of Galway.

Following dinner the guests proceeded to the walled garden and enjoyed a lively discourse on the arts, music and creativity by the guests under the guiding hand of John Kelly.

A very special guest appearance by Gabriel Byrne ended the evening on a great high with all the contributions to Cancer Care West.