This is Art! – the annual art competition run by RTÉ in association with The Creative Ireland Programme for young people 0 -18 years throughout the island of Ireland – will showcase an amazing selection of the 15,000 entries received since its launch in 2021 in a new art exhibition.
This special This is Art! exhibition is free of charge and will run in the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts (RHA), Ely Place, Dublin 2, from Friday, 6 October to Sunday, 29 October. Opening times are from 11.00am – 5.00pm, Monday – Friday (6.30pm Wednesday) and from 12.00 noon – 6.30pm on Sunday.
To help launch the event, one of the young artists,Teddy (2021 8-11 Winner), joined Barry in the news2day studio to tell us more.
THIS IS INTERACTIVE!
Through QR codes beside artists' names, visitors to the exhibition will get a unique insight into each piece by being brought directly to the artist’s statement which describes in their own words what inspired them to produce the piece. Just scan the QR code with your phone’s camera.
THEMES TO DATE – THIS IS INSPIRATION!
Three themes will be on display at this exhibition. Each year, young artists of all abilities respond visually to a theme.
In 2021, the theme was "This is Now" which invited our young artists to respond creatively to lockdown. Hope, sadness, confusion, anger, and joy converge in an invaluable time capsule of creativity from a time that rocked the world.
In the beginning of 2022, with a return to normality on the horizon, the theme was "This is Extraordinary". Again, the artworks submitted painted a picture of the concerns of young people in Ireland as we transitioned cautiously to a new freedom.
In 2023, the theme was "This is Inspiration". At last, the talent and creativity of our young people could run wild – and it did.
For more on the exhibition, visit: www.rhagallery.ie/events/exhibitions/this-is-art/.
For more on This is Art!, visit www.rte.ie/thisisart.
