ARTS: Don't underestimate the feelgood factor in the arts

THE lurgy took away the first two weeks of my year, just as it did with a lot of people. Emerging in recent days out of a cocoon of illness and being able to be in public without having a coughing fit has seemed like an achievement.

ARTS: Home is where the art is as 4 Corners takes centre stage again

THE 4 Corners Festival theme this year is 'Home'. Father Martin Magill, Reverend Steve Stockman and the entire 4 Corners team invite you to experience yourself differently.

ARTS: US study opportunity casts a wide net

ARTS: Christmas and New Year are an artistic opening

WHAT to do with a creative child? It’s that time of the year that I feel overwhelmed with the recommendation to buy your child or grandchild a sketchbook, crayons, pencils or felt tips. These once expensive items can be bought for as little as £1 in your newsagent, bargain shop or somewhere like hobby craft. 

ARTS: A special present is unwrapped this Christmas

SEVEN years ago Lecturer Dougal Mackenzie of the Belfast School of Art instigated the Art Unwrapped programme where a singular artist in the National Art collection is shown as a gift to the city of Belfast around Christmas. 

ARTS: Who are you in Cahoots with this Christmas?

CITYSIDE shopping centre is filled with a bit of seasonal sorcery this Christmas with  Cahoots theatre company's production of the Sorcerer's Apprentice

ARTS: Get out and about for a bit of festive spirit

DECEMBER is a time of year when we can be overloaded with demands but I'm a sucker for an artist's craft fair or an open studio and always try to get along to one. It's a good way to see what's going on in the city while supporting artists and creatives in their livelihoods, capturing someone at an important point in their career and discovering places in the city not so familiar. So break out the piggy bank and come with me as we pay a festive visit.

ARTS: Make mine a double - buoyed up by Beuys and Art School birthday

Two questions that were put to me this week about art: How come Belfast School of Art is 175 years old? And what has been your favourite exhibition of the year?

ARTS: All aboard for an inspirational slice of trans history

WITH the Outburst Arts Festival turning 18 this year, Artistic Director Ruth McCarthy  says  she's putting the disco back into discombobulation in a nine-day extravaganza that includes visual arts, films, talks, workshops and performances.

ART: Sometimes an artist's legacy needs a helping hand

WHAT helps an artist's legacy rise once they have died? Why do some artists receive posthumous acclaim while others  of the same era lose visibility? This is something to consider when viewing the Arthur Armstrong Centenary exhibition at Carrickfergus Museum.

ARTS: Royal Ulster Academy's annual exhibition is back at Ulster Museum

WITH the Royal Ulster Academy's annual exhibition opening recently in the Ulster Museum many people will take time to attend the most visited art exhibition annually. It's a good opportunity to see an array of techniques and pieces from both Academy members and successful candidates from their open submission. This year there are around fifty fewer pieces hung in the galleries which is disappointing for some, but it does leave the exhibition itself with more space and oxygen to view everything that's on offer. You do not leave with a view that anyone has been given a bad spot with the art being hung lower on the wall, neither are you overwhelmed.

ARTS: Family trauma resonates from rural Spain to the Irish borderlands

FIRST premiered in 1934, Yerma by Spanish playwright Federico García Lorca has been triumphantly adapted by Patrick O'Reilly and is currently on show at the Lyric. The oppressively religious atmosphere and restrictive domestic life of the women in the play have been transformed to the Irish borderlands.

ARTS: Sowing the seeds of Belfast's performance art tradition

NOVEMBER 1974 may be remembered for different reasons, the atmosphere and daily reality of people living locally being very different to our contemporary reality 50 years on.

ARTS: Bergen's performing strongly in the world of art

RECENTLY I was invited to Norway with Bbeyond artists Siobhan Mullan-Wolfe and Thomas Wells to join a panel at their symposium 'The Challenges Performance Art Faces'.

ARTS: Lorna's literally turning her dreams into art

CAN every artist remember the very moment they decided they wanted to dedicate themselves to being an artist? Lorna Corrigan, currently exhibiting 'Dreamland' at the Cultúrlann, certainly can.