Dingle divas reveal their inner artists

The art of female expression
Sisters were doing it for themselves in Dingle last Sunday as female artists from the Dingle Art Group unveiled an exhibition of new works at the Monastery Hall on John Street in celebration of International Women's Day.
The budding artists, who have been attending art classes at the Dingle Art Group under the guidance of teacher and mentor Claire O’Halloran, presented a wonderful range of paintings and photographs of local landscapes, scenes and still lives, as well as some very attractive abstract pieces. "We really enjoy art" explained local artist Stella Doyle who contributed an atmospheric portrait entitled The Wooden Bridge, Bull Island to the exhibit. The DIngle Art Group get together every week, working in an informal atmosphere with the goal of developing their personal creativity. Men are also free to join the group; one local man attending the exhibit, John Moriarty, was keen to celebrate his wife Ann's artistic achievements. Ex-army officer John set up his own art gallery in recent times in what was once his father's butcher shop 'Patty Attys' on Green Street. According to John, women have always had a hand in the arts in Dingle. "Dingle may now have a lively cluster of galleries but it wasn’t always so," John explained, "the first to display artworks was Kathleen Griffin, who used put pictures in her shop window in Holy Ground." "Perhaps the first gallery proper was set up by Pat Moore in Green St, she used to display Maria Simmonds-Gooding’s work" he added. “At that time you could have bought one of her painting for £50 that’d be worth maybe €5,000 now.” This very special art exhibition, hosted by Meitheal Forbartha na Gaeltachta will run in the Monastery Hall until the end of the month. Pictured above left, Stella Doyle and John Moriarty at the new local art exhibit which is currently being showcased in the Monastery on John Street.