Wexford Arts Centre in partnership with the Wexford Lions Club, are delighted to present the twenty seventh annual open submission exhibition. Wexford Lions Club has always strived to support community spirit and co-operation, and this display of local artistic talent has since become a long standing and much loved tradition, reflecting the diverse artistic skills and talents of Wexford and the surrounding area.

Wexford Lions Club is made up of men and women who volunteer their time to humanitarian causes in their local community. They work together in the belief that those who live in a community are in the best position to know who needs help or support and why, and their motto “we serve” remains their fundamental philosophy. Not only do the members help people in need, but they also gain the opportunity to develop personal friendships.

As one of the most popular events at Wexford Arts Centre, the response to the open call for work has been remarkable again this year. The open brief truly grants participants the freedom to create exciting and original artwork, allowing them to tell their own stories. This can be seen through a varied range of subjects such as urban and rural narratives, personal experiences, abstraction and even pure imagination.

The aim, as always, was to create an exhibition which truly encompasses the diverse nature of art practice, display the array of talent to be found in Wexford and the surrounding areas and provide a platform for artists at various stages of their careers to produce work and see it realised within a formal gallery context. Moreover, the ‘open show’ is just that, open to all, and strives to encourage a sense of support and community. For all these reasons, it is an incredibly important show within the Wexford Arts Centre programme.

Capturing and supporting the range of talent to be found in the area, the exhibition is open to everyone with a passion or an interest to share. It is also an opportunity for artists at various stages of their careers, to present and realise their work in a formal gallery setting. As such, the exhibition is more than just a show of art; it’s a community which welcomes artists of every age, skill and interest level. As an ‘open show’, all are welcome and free to create and display their work. Once again, the upper gallery will be dedicated to the work of the ‘young lions’, a very promising group of budding artists who amaze us with their creativity every year.

The exhibition will run in the lower and upper galleries of Wexford Arts Centre from Monday 23rd January to Saturday 18th February 2017, and gallery hours are Monday to Saturday, from 10am-5pm. For further information on the exhibition please contact Catherine Bowe, Visual Arts Manager on +353 (0)53 9123764 or email catherine@wexfordartscentre.ie.

Wexford Arts Centre and Wexford Lions Club would like to thank Spectrum Art Supply Shop for their ongoing and generous support of this exhibition.