Officially opened by guest adjudicator, Fine Art Painter & Sky Portrait Artist of the Year contestant, 2021, Rory Draper.

The Annual Wexford Lions Club Exhibition celebrates local talent and offers a platform for artists who are at various stages of their careers as well as those with an interest in art who wish to see their work realised within a gallery context. For this reason, it is an important show within the Wexford Arts Centre’s visual arts programme.

As a result of the tremendous success of last year’s show and the remarkably high-quality of work received, the theme for the 2024 Lions Club exhibition has again been left entirely open. The open brief allows participants the freedom to create exciting and original artwork, and to tell their own stories. These stories or experiences can be related through a varied range of subjects such as urban and rural narratives, abstraction, and even pure imagination.

Also, this year we will again feature the Young Lions gallery, dedicated exclusively to the work of young, budding artists. Young artists are encouraged to experiment with all types of mediums and objects – paints, glitter, buttons, transfers; Lego…the list is endless. As the Lions Club International celebrated its centenary in 2017, a Perpetual Children’s Trophy will be awarded again this year to a Young Lion for a work that explores the history and/or reflects on the aims and overall ethos of the organisation.

Wexford Lions Club has served the community of Wexford since 1979 and provides support to the local community. This support may be monetary, such as food vouchers at Christmas for families and individuals in need, or by giving their time to assist community projects such as The Trabolgan Holiday Project, The Message in a Bottle Project and the Carer’s Weekend Project, a project where carers are treated to a weekend in Ballyvaloo Centre and are provided with counsellors, reflexologists, and motivational speakers.