The Model, home of the Niland Collection, formerly called Model Arts and Niland Gallery, is a contemporary arts centre and gallery space in Sligo, Ireland. The gallery houses several exhibition spaces focusing on contemporary art and education activities, a cinema/venue for concerts, an artist-in-residence programme, and a collection of 20th-century Irish art called the Niland Collection. This collection is named for the former Sligo County librarian, Nora Niland.
Located on the Mall in Sligo town, north of the Garavogue river, The Model was designed by architect James Owen for the then Board of Works. It is a detached multiple-bay, two-storey rubble and ashlar stone building in the Italianate Palazzo style. [1]
The original building was a purpose-built school, constructed in 1862, by local contractors Messrs Patrick Keighron & Son at a cost of £8000. [2] These schools were known as "model" schools as they were to function as the template for primary schools throughout the country. Originally intended to be multi-denominational, the school became predominantly Protestant with the religious control of schools being the norm under the new Free State. The school provided primary education up to the age of 12. In the 1970s, the building was abandoned with the building of a new primary school across the road.
In the early 1990s it was acquired by Sligo County Council with the intention of providing a museum. [3]
The building was refurbished and extended in 2000/2001 for use as a museum. [1] The project was designed by McCullough Mulvin Architects. This extension was shortlisted for several architectural awards. [4]
The Model was redeveloped for a second time between 2008 and 2010. This project was part of Sligo County Council's vision to create a Cultural Quarter for Sligo Town. This extension increased the building by a third in size. The extension provided artist studios, a purpose-built performance space and a new entrance from the north. The extension also created a complete gallery circuit for the visitor, a new reception area, bookstore and cafe. Works commenced in January 2008 and the Model reopened on 1 May 2010.[ citation needed ] Funding for the redevelopment included a grant of €2.4 million which was provided by the BMW Regional Assembly under an ERDF grant scheme for designated Gateways and Hub Towns. The Model:Niland project was the largest beneficiary in the BMW Region under the grant scheme. [5] A further grant of 1.75 million euro was received from Access 2 funding under the Arts Council. [6] Sligo Borough Council provided 600,000 euro in 2009. [7] The €2.9 million grant, minus 600,000 already spent on groundworks for Sligo museum was switched to the Model Arts project in late 2008. A further 118,554 was granted in 2010 under the cultural development fund of the Arts Council. [8] Sligo County Council spent 2.15 million on the Model Arts Centre project up to 2010. [9] In all, €6.4 million was borrowed by Sligo County Council in relation to a new Cultural Quarter for Sligo Town up to December 2010.
The Niland Collection is named after former Sligo County librarian Nora Niland who began the collection in the 1950s. It contains over 300 works, including pieces by Paul Henry, Louis le Brocquy, Estella Solomons, George Russell and Jack Butler Yeats.
The Niland Collections contains one of the most significant collections of Yeats work in Ireland, many of which record experiences and memories of his time living in Sligo and its environs. [10] [11] The collection was begun by Nora Niland borrowing five works by Yeats to exhibit for the duration of the first Yeats Summer School in 1959.[ citation needed ] These works consisted of three large oil paintings, Communicating with Prisoners, The Funeral of Harry Boland and The Island Funeral, along with two smaller watercolours, Market Day and The Star Gazer.[ citation needed ]
As of 2021, the museum is run by its Artistic Director / CEO, Emer McGarry, with support from administrative, educational, and other staff. [12]
The Model is primarily a centre for the contemporary arts, led by visual art, and the museum has presented exhibitions with many of the world's leading artists. The Model also has a music programme which includes a mix of contemporary and classical performances. The Model develops music projects that respond to the exhibition programme.
The Model's international film programme is presented in partnership with Sligo Film Society.[ citation needed ]
Former artists in residence include Nasan Tur, Yorgos Sapountzis, Elizabeth Price, Barbara Breitenfellner, and Caoimhin O'Raghallaigh. The Model also has eight artist studios rented by locally based artists.[ citation needed ]
Previous notable exhibitions at The Model have included shows which included works by Patti Smith, Gerard Byrne and Andy Warhol.[ citation needed ]
On 20 May 2015 the English royal, Prince Charles made a speech at The Model during a visit to promote reconciliation to the scene of Lord Mountbatten's death by an IRA bomb in 1979 at Mullaghmore, County Sligo. [13]
In 2009, controversy arose over the renaming of the centre. It was announced in June by director Seamus Kealy that the Model Arts and Niland Gallery was to be renamed as "The Model, home of The Niland Collection". Former President of the Yeats Summer School, Michael Keohane called the renaming a "public disgrace". [14] The renaming was also called "absurd" by Bruce Arnold in an opinion piece in the Irish Independent in August 2009. [15]
In 2010, controversial chef Conrad Gallagher opened a fine dining restaurant in the Model. [16] By June 2011, the restaurant had moved to Sligo town centre. [17] In July 2011, Irish Revenue commissioners ordered Gallagher to wind up his operations in Dublin and Sligo; neither had submitted accounts since incorporation the previous year and Gallagher was not listed as a director in either business. [18]
Jack Butler Yeats RHA was an Irish artist and Olympic medalist. W. B. Yeats was his brother.
County Sligo is a county in Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county was 70,198 at the 2022 census. It is noted for Benbulben Mountain, one of Ireland's most distinctive natural landmarks.
Sligo is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of 20,608 in 2022, it is the county's largest urban centre and the 24th largest in the Republic of Ireland.
The Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts (RHA) is an artist-based and artist-oriented institution in Ireland, founded in Dublin in 1823. Like many other Irish institutions, such as the Royal Irish Academy, the academy retained the word "Royal" after most of Ireland became independent as the Irish Free State in December 1922.
Paul Henry was an Irish artist noted for depicting the West of Ireland landscape in a spare Post-Impressionist style.
Anne Butler Yeats was an Irish painter, costume and stage designer.
This is a list of private and public art galleries, centres and collections on the island of Ireland arranged by county and city/town.
The Crawford Art Gallery is a public art gallery and museum in the city of Cork, Ireland. Known informally as the Crawford, it was designated a 'National Cultural Institution' in 2006. It is "dedicated to the visual arts, both historic and contemporary", and welcomed 265,438 visitors in 2019. The gallery is named after William Horatio Crawford.
Eileen MacDonagh was born in Geevagh, County Sligo in 1956 and has worked as a sculptor since the 1980s. For her contribution to sculpture and the Arts in Ireland, MacDonagh was elected in 2004 to Aosdána, the Irish organisation that recognises artists that have contributed a unique body of work.
Nick Miller is an Irish contemporary artist who has become known for reinvigorating painting and drawing in the traditional genres of portraiture, landscape and still-life. He has developed an intense and individual approach to the practice of working directly from life, that has been described as a form of encounter painting.
Nora Niland was the County Librarian of Sligo and the founder of the Sligo municipal art collection.
Water Colour Society of Ireland (WCSI) is a watercolour society in Ireland, founded in 1870. The Society held its first exhibition in the Courthouse, Lismore, County Waterford in May 1871.
Eva Henrietta Hamilton (1876–1960), an Irish artist, was a portrait, landscape, and watercolour painter.
Men of Destiny is a painting by Irish artist Jack Butler Yeats, painted in 1946. An oil artwork on canvas, the modernist piece is noted for the strength and vibrancy of its colour palette and is considered to rank amongst Yeats' best work. The painting is on permanent display at the National Gallery of Ireland.
Sligo County Museum is a museum dedicated to the history of County Sligo. The museum is housed in a former manse on Stephen Street, Sligo town.
Alison Pilkington is an Irish artist. She graduated with a Diploma in Fine Art Painting and Printmaking from Sligo RTC in 1989 and with a BA Hons in Fine Art Painting from The National College of Art and Design, Dublin in 1990. She is a lecturer in Painting at IADT Dun Laoghaire, a Board Member of The Model Arts and Niland Gallery, Sligo and Co – Editor of ‘The Fold’ publication with Cora Cummins, a publishing platform for invited artists to consider various themes. In 2012 she won a British Institution award for painting at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London. In the same year she was shortlisted for the Marmite Painting Prize, which toured the UK from December 2012 to June 2013. In 2013 Pilkington was a Prizewinner in the 5th International ArtSlant Prize.
Janet Mullarney was an Irish artist and sculptor.
Seán Larkin is an Irish art curator and art educationist. Having held senior posts at several Irish art institutions, including director of the Dún Laoghaire School of Art and Design, Larkin has worked extensively in Sligo and his native Dublin.
Catherine Carman is an Irish sculptor, noted for large figurative works, often based on the human figure, in multiple materials. She is also a painter, and latterly additionally works with "found objects", digital imaging and sound. She is a member of Aosdána, Ireland's national academy of artists, and examples of her works are held in multiple major collections.
Niamh McCann is an Irish visual artist. Her "work includes sculpture, installation, video and painting."
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