ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE SCHOOLCHILDREN’S ART EXHIBITION
ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE SCHOOLCHILDREN’S ART EXHIBITION COUNTY LIBRARY, TALLAGHT CO. DUBLIN ON
There’s a story about an art critic visiting an artist in his studio to take a look at some pictures he was about to put into an exhibition. The critic excitedly picked up one of the pieces. “And what is this?” he asked, “It is superb! What soul! What expression!”. The artist approached delicately and took a look himself. "Ah” he said, “that’s where I clean the paint off my brushes!”. Happily, looking around me this morning, I can say with absolute certainty that there’s no danger of making a mistake like that at this exhibition.
In congratulating all of you who are exhibiting I would like also to pay tribute to those who were the cause of it all really – the people like the National Gallery and Bord Gais who organised the field trip to the National Gallery last September and October – the resident artist at the Gallery, Oliver Comerford – and of course, your schools for letting you go! I can see from the quality of what you drew or painted and from the excellent written pieces on display that the trip to the Gallery was ‘interesting’ to say the least.
What you have all done, of course, is made an excursion into the world of art – to get an insiders view of the great art and artists on display at the National Gallery. I have no doubt that some of you will want to follow on with developing an interest in art, but all of you have taken a great step in getting to understand and appreciate art. For those who will follow a career in art, the possibilities are endless – there are many branches of the arts – literature, music, painting – or you might decide to go into modern art. And didn’t someone say of modern art that “if it hangs on the wall, it’s a painting; if you can walk around it, it’s sculpture!” But then, art is not about rules, it’s about expression of ideas, views and reactions. Wasn’t it Moliere who said that “It is art itself which should teach us to free ourselves from the rules of art”.
I would like today to give particular mention to the County Library here at Tallaght for the tremendous service they give to the community in Tallaght – the workshops, the seminars – the work with and for the disabled – and their work in literacy. The community in Tallaght are lucky to have people like Georgina Byrne, the Senior Librarian, and her very dedicated team of four who working to bring the library to them – to make it a part of the community – to use the resources of the library to enhance the quality of life for all the people of Tallaght. I commend the library in helping to arrange the Field Trip to the Gallery that gave rise to this huge amount of art here today, and I think we all owe a debt of gratitude to Georgina and her staff for their hard work and dedication in organising this great exhibition.
Finally, I would like to thank you all for welcoming me here today – and for inviting me to open this exhibition. I think you have been on a great adventure and I hope that the experience will give rise to many more great achievements in your future careers.