Bronagh Lawson is an artist based in Belfast who has written a blog about the vibrant local contemporary visual arts scene for the last ten years. Previously starting as a participant then manager she ran cross-community cross border development programmes for 13 years.
Originally from Portaferry and Strangford she is a Fulbright scholar and graduate of Winchester School of Art.
Bronagh is a co-founder of the Hydrangea project a Belfast — a Chicago collaboration which uses contemporary art underpinned with art therapy to act as a healing mechanism. Her book 'Belfast City of Light: Looking and Listening to Belfast Come with Me' is based on her experience as a non-churchgoer attending every church in Belfast for a service over a ten year period.
THERE was a feeling that hell had frozen over for the unveiling of two new statues of Mary Ann McCracken and Winifred Carney at City Hall. If you had been one of the people in the crowd at, say, Bill Clinton addressing Belfast, or this rally or that rally over the years, you'd have seen that there was a markedly different atmosphere and a very eclectic crowd of people. A real diversity of political opinion.
TOWNSEND Enterprise Park at the bottom of the Falls and Shankill have launched a project with their relatively new neighbours, the Ulster Orchestra, who have taken over Townsend Street Presbyterian church.
NOT since Rihanna found love in a hopeless place has the New Lodge been the feature of global attention. A new UK/Ireland/Belgium film, The Flats, directed by Alessandria Celesia, is having its world premier in Copenhagen in March.
SITTING in St Matthew's, the only shamrock-shaped church in Ireland (on the Woodvale Road, would you believe?), for an inter-church Ash Wednesday service I was considering was it the ultimate cross-community experience?
The 4 Corners Festival has just finished its 13th annual celebration "bringing Belfast together". This initiative of the Christian faith communities certainly did that this year, not a mean feat in a city where culture can be used as a weapon.
WHEN regimes change some artists can feel it in their bones – and their work reflects that. It was said that when the Iron Curtain fell art dealers working with artists behind the Berlin Wall knew of its fall three years in advance because they could see the change in the artists' work.
CATHY Carson's 'Becoming Marvellous' at the Black Box as part of the Out to Lunch festival took the audience on a journey from West Belfast through homelessness to eventual recovery. As we sat down to our chicken and potato lunch, Carson – playing a women called Danielle – gripped the audience in a one-woman show.
JOEL Simon arrived in Belfast from Belgium, drawn by the lure of an animation course. He had been inspired by the cartoon Tintin as a child and loved the storytelling flow of cartoon books. He had previously studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Liège.
IF visual art is your passion your creative journey can meander in different directions at different life stages, but the core pulse of creativity often demands to push through no matter your life circumstances or life changes. In fact, it can often be the actual life saviour to whatever situation you find yourself in.
WHY are we so scared of the faith communities in the city? Why are we afraid of including them in any arts-based activity?
THERE is a jewel of an exhibition currently on at the Ulster Museum: Kelpra Artists and Printmakers' 'Concepts - Conversations - Collaborations'.
WHERE is the hope on the horizon for the New Year?
VISUAL art comes in many forms in the city. All of it is relevant and as it gets closer to the present-giving season my recommendation always is for anyone wishing to encourage and develop an artistic interest in their children and grandchildren to simply buy a sketchbook and some pencils or felt-tips.
BELFAST 2024 is almost upon us. It's the Belfast City Council cultural year that emerged from the European Capital of Culture bid but got stalled by Brexit then Covid.
MY optician's assistant told me recently that Christmas is the time of the year that he and his wife go out for a Christmas show. There was never any spare cash for me and all my sisters to go to a professional production, so the nativity play had to fill that gap.