Votives 

Exhibition Residency 2022 and Solo Exhibition

Exhibition Launch: this Friday 13th May 5-8pm at Leitrim Sculpture Centre, Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim. 

Artist Statement: 
Mannion’s work both embraces the tradition of enamelling, and also seeks to push the boundaries of this medium, experimenting by using multiple plates, three-dimensional forms, layering of colour and the use of natural found materials. In her most recent work Mannion explores human relationships with water and how it has changed through different historical periods to the present day.  The Keshcarrigan drinking cup, a votive offering found near the edge of Lough Marrave, Co. Leitrim, was the inspiration for this exhibition.  Votives were gifts offered to deities for benefits already conferred or in anticipation of future divine favours. Or, they could be offered to propitiate the gods for crimes involving blood-guilt, impiety, or the breach of religious customs. Travelling from Lough Marrave in south Leitrim, to holy wells, along rivers and beside lakes, finally to the sea in the north of the County Mannion photographed metalwork associated with these waterways and collected objects from the shorelines. The found objects were incorporated into the exhibition artworks; the grit and sand from the shorelines was used for printmaking to give texture; the glass and stones are part of the enamel installation and she experimented with adding sand to the enamel powders. The resultant work in this exhibition is therefore a record of these journeys through the County, tracing the waterways, but also reflecting on the symbolic charge of objects placed by people as offerings or votives to the water deities. 

Proud to be supported by the Arts Council and Leitrim County Council.
 

Exhibition runs until Thursday 2nd June, 3pm

Gallery opening times - 11am-4pm Tuesday to Saturday.
 

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The River Remembers - stories from the Roscommon Shannon River basin

Use the QR code to access a film specially commissioned for Culture Night 17th September 2021 from artists Susan Mannion, Rory Pierce, Matthew Gammon and Conor Horgan.

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This Culture Night – Decade of Centenaries 1921::2021 commissioned film and accompanying sculpture mark the second in a series of artistic commissions from artists to reflect on Roscommon’s role in the struggle for independence.

Artist Susan Mannion was awarded the 2021 commission for her proposal to create a sculpture and a film. The river and associated stories provide the basis for an artistic interpretation of the development of the nation since 1921 linking to specific points along the River Shannon basin in County Roscommon.

The sculpture created by Susan Mannion will be on display at King House, Boyle, on Culture Night, Friday 17th September 2021.

Funded by Roscommon County Council and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, under the Community Strand of the Decade of Centenaries programme for Culture Night 2021.