Highest Marks in the Country

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Gorey School of Art student Chloe Murphy has won the highest marks in the country from the National College of Art and Design for her portfolio of artwork.

Chloe, who is from Arklow, is currently studying the one year Advanced Portfolio Preparation course in Gorey but has had her eyes set on a place in NCAD since she attended an open day at the university as a fifth-year student at Arklow's St Mary's Secondary School.

The talented 18-year-old was up against tough competition for a place at Ireland's most prestigious art college and said she was shocked when she read the results she had received for her portfolio.

Chloe Murphy with Gorey Community School Principal Michael Finn and her Tutor Andrea McCorry. 

Chloe Murphy with Gorey Community School Principal Michael Finn and her Tutor Andrea McCorry. 

Graduate: David Booth

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What Lies Beneath: 'Putin' by David Booth

What Lies Beneath: 'Putin' by David Booth

Caesar Domitianus Augustus (51-96 AD), one of the 12 Caesars and one known for his reign of terror, liked, says Roman historian Suetonius, to spend an hour each day, on his own, catching flies and sticking pins in them.

Does today's ruler, sporty, outdoorsy Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin like to spend time killing flies?

Irish artist David Booth doesn't know either, but he's drawn to this "universal associative figure" and, in this recent portrait, three-time President Putin is a don't-mess-with-me presence. Mr Icy-eyes stares the viewer down. Putin on the Ritz, it ain't.  

 

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Graduate: Genieve Figgis

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Just over two years ago, Gorey School of Art and NCAD graduate Genieve Figgis was showing at Elaine Grainger’s Talbot Gallery, notable for its strong emerging artist programme. Then everything changed: “Richard Prince discovered my work on Twitter and introduced me to Harper Levine at Harper’s Books, and Bill Powers at Half Gallery [both in New York] and that’s when things really took off.”

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Graduates: Roisin Cash and Ciara Roche

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“There were painters of note at all three shows. For example, at IADT, Ciara Roche’s paintings of domestic terrain, mostly by night, were very accomplished, recalling Eithne Jordan and Mairéad Ó hEocha. ”
— Aidan Dunne, Irish Times
“Of the material artists, among the standouts was Róisín Cash at IADT, whose fabric sculptures relished the play between rigid and free-flowing forms and used colour and light very effectively.”
— Aidan Dunne, Irish Times

Ed Sheehan's tweets with delight

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A SIM­PLE retweet by Ed Sheeran knocked one doc­u­men­tary out of the ring last week.

Stu­dents from Gorey School of Art had re­cently filmed a doc­u­men­tary on Gorey Box­ing Club called ‘One More Round’ as part of their doc­u­men­tary and film-mak­ing course. A friend of Ed Sheeran found the video on­line on the col­lege’s Vimeo ac­count and tweeted it to Ed. Ed then retweeted it, say­ing: ‘Great video about Gorey Box­ing Club, which was set up by my grandad in ’86 :)”.

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