We are delighted to reopen to the public on Thursday 3rd of June with what is sure to be the major cultural event of 2021.
We are proud to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Jack Butler Yeats in his home town of Sligo, with a very special exhibition entitled Salt Water Ballads. The exhibition will showcase, for the very first time, a suite of 21 newly conserved, sea-themed watercolours, as well as Yeats’ own collection of model boats. These pieces were generously gifted to The Model in 2018 by a private donor, and were conserved thanks to support from the Heritage Council in 2020.
New original artworks by Yeats were revealed during the conservation process, and they will be on view, alongside several more maritime works, for visitors to enjoy in public for the very first time. An exhibition of Jack Butler Yeats Highlights from the Niland Collection will also open on June 3rd and this will be accompanied by a new podcast series produced by The Model.
In July, The Model will present an exhibition of fresh and exciting new work by Sligo born artist Alison Pilkington. Her work draws on a variety of eclectic influences from ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture – from the classical painting of the 17th century western traditions to the writing of Stephen King and the humourist Ivor Cutler, the stories of James Joyce, the poetry of WB Yeats, the paintings of El Greco and the cinematic imagery of Ridley Scott and Andrei Tarkovsky.