Aseries of art pieces portraying the struggle for survival aboard the “coffin ships” on which 1.5 million Irish escaped the Great Hunger are now on display at the Knights of Columbus Museum in New Haven, Connecticut. The exhibit, Fleeing Famine: Irish Immigration to North America, 1845-1860, includes six oil paintings of the harrowing, often-deadly conditions on such vessels, … [Read more...] about Connecticut’s Coffin Ship Art Exhibit
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North America Acts Irish
Community theater groups from throughout the United States and Canada converged at the Geva Theater Center in Rochester, New York for the 24th Annual Acting Irish International Theater Festival in April. The adjudicated festival, founded in 1993, consisted this year of seven full-length productions presented over five days, all of which were attended by Oleans-based theater … [Read more...] about North America Acts Irish
A Global Artist’s Irish Roots
A centenary symposium was held at London’s Royal Academy of Arts in April to honor artist Sir Sidney Nolan (right), an Australian with Irish roots who called himself a “citizen of the planet.” An avid traveler, Nolan spent time in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Antarctica. His refusal to be geographically tied down became the calling- card of his creative endeavors. The one-day … [Read more...] about A Global Artist’s Irish Roots
Californian Student Discovers Cork Link
A Californian student attending University College Cork had a prominent role in the centenary commemoration of the first time the U.S. Navy ever landed in Ireland, after making the discovery that her great-grandfather commanded the flotilla that arrived in Cork Harbor. Lizzie Helmer, a 20-year-old journalism student of Chico State University, was informed by her uncle just one … [Read more...] about Californian Student Discovers Cork Link
Obama Receives JFK Profile in Courage Award
In May, former president Barack Obama received the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Profile in Courage Award at the JFK Library in Boston. The award, which was created in 1990, is given each year in recognition of outstanding public service. The award is named after Kennedy’s 1957 book Profiles in Courage, which documented the congressional careers of eight U.S. Senators who had voted … [Read more...] about Obama Receives JFK Profile in Courage Award