Bringing the Heartlands region to Longford: the HeARTlands Exhibition

Feeling low with winter taking away the flowers and leaves? Look no further than the HeARTlands Art Exhibition, which is taking place in Edgeworthstown Library from Wednesday, November 19 until December 19.

This four-week winter event is focused on celebrating nature, the beautiful Hidden Heartlands region, wildflowers and trees to bring the warmth back during these colder months.

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The summer exhibition of HeARTlands, which took place in May, was the first-ever one that was part of the W.A.L. Festival and had roughly 60 pieces of artwork on display. For the winter exhibition, it will be in the library’s gallery, and will be available for public viewing during the library opening hours on weekdays, and half-day on Saturdays.

Anna D Atkinson, who is massively involved in the Longford arts scene, such as the Longford Creatives open mic nights, chatted about what to expect for this wintertime exhibition:

“There’s a variety of work there from professional artists, to emerging artists, to people who are just putting their work out in the world now. We try to submit from Longford, Leitrim, Offaly, Galway. There are 11 counties altogether. We don’t have them all in this particular exhibition. The region is bigger than what I realised with North Cork, West Tipperary, East Clare, East Galway.

“We were trying to incorporate sustainable art practices. There’s work in acrylics, oils, as well as those practises. Rosemarie Langtry has two pieces from Rooted to the Land, which is about the collection of pieces of paper and found objects, mixed with the canvas and the board. A lady from Galway is doing textiles with wooden branches, and a lady who has glasswork.”

Creating a space for artists of various backgrounds to come together, Anna hopes to break the barriers that separate the professional, emerging and recreational artists by giving them a shared space. Intended to learn, develop and share their crafts, the exhibition provides the public the opportunity to interact and engage with the creators.

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“People who are trying to get out for the first time can learn from those who are well-established. That’s our big goal. I think as well that going forward, our aim is to host these in the different counties of the heartlands region and bring them abroad as well. That’s what we’re aiming for.”

This is an opportunity to support local artists, spectate and buy their work, as well as build connections to help the exhibition grow. Anna hopes, in the future, to take this abroad.