Celtic renaissance

The fun begins again on Sunday afternoon at Ripley Grier Studios for the celebration of Bealtaine, the Celtic fire festival heralding summer. The picture is from the celebration of Imbolg (also known later as St. Brigid’s Day) in 2016.

By Irish Echo Staff

On Sunday, at 3:30 p.m. Nollaig na mBan NYC will celebrate Bealtaine, the Celtic fire festival heralding the start of summer, with an afternoon of poetry and dance.

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The event takes place at Ripley Grier Studios is at 520 8th Ave. in Manhattan and as with other regular Nollaig na mBan NYC events, it will be fundraiser for the Dwelling Place of New York – a privately-funded transitional residence for homeless women in Midtown Manhattan. The shelter is known for its "safe, healing and structured environment, offering women the space and time to develop a plan for building a healthy lifestyle."

The featured poet will be Margaret McCarthy who earned honorable mention in the 2016 Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition Janice Farrell Poetry Prize. Joining her will be Bernadette Cullen reading her recently composed poems of the season.

Céilí, step and sean nós dancers will herald the Celtic summer with music provided by well-known musicians Patty Furlong & Marie Reilly. The director of the Dwelling Place of New York, Sr. Joann Sambs will be on hand to accept the donations and give an update on the shelter.

Nollaig na mBan was an old Irish custom is celebrated on Jan. 6. It was once a day of rest from women’s work in the home and farm. In modern times it has become a celebration of women’s contribution to society with a focus on raising awareness of women’s issues.

Maura Mulligan and her Nollaig na mBan NYC team began organizing these fundraisers for the women's shelter last year. They chose four Celtic Fire Festivals: Samhain, Imbolg, Bealtaine and Lughnasa. For more about those and some interesting health wisdom go to this piece from a few weeks ago.

Everyone is invited on Sunday afternoon. The suggested donation $20.

‘Sacred Luminosity’ at Gallery AWA

And things stay Celtic, at least in part, at Susan Pullman Brooks’s show at Gallery AWA at 61 Greenpoint Ave., Brooklyn, through June 16. ”Sacred Luminosity” explores the connections between the goddesses of Vedic Pantheon of India and Celtic deities. Studying both, the sculptor noticed uncanny similarities between the two seemingly disparate cultures. “Sacred Luminosity” seeks to examine the divine feminine energy that was once an integral part of ancient belief systems, and to reassess and re-imagine this energy in the modern day.

 


Sculptor Susan Pullman Brooks and Abhay Wadhwa, the curator of


Gallery AWA, at the opening reception of her show “Sacred Luminosity.”


[CLICK ON PHOTOS FOR LARGER IMAGES]


 

And things stay Celtic, at least in part, at Susan Pullman Brooks’s show at Gallery AWA at 61 Greenpoint Ave., Brooklyn, through June 16. ”Sacred Luminosity” explores the connections between the goddesses of Vedic Pantheon of India and Celtic deities. Studying both, the sculptor noticed uncanny similarities between the two seemingly disparate cultures. “Sacred Luminosity” seeks to examine the divine feminine energy that was once an integral part of ancient belief systems, and to reassess and re-imagine this energy in the modern day.

Brooks’s artistic vision, creating art that reflect the cycles of life and death and in forgotten remnants of culture. Brooks is extremely familiar with Indian culture not only because she has spent a lot of time in India, but also because her husband Douglas Brooks, a professor of religion at Rochester University, has devoted decades of his life studying Sanskrit and the Hindu faith.

 


Artforum publisher Knight Landesman with Greenpoint artist


Martynka Wawrzyniak at the opening reception for "Sacred Luminosity."


She had previously studied painting; however, early in the 1990s she developed an interest in yoga and Hindu mythology, which led to many pilgrimage trips to the temples of South India. The influence of Hindu myth combined with the physicality of yoga reignited her artistic desire, but her medium changed from painting to sculpture when in 2012 she had an epiphany, realizing that she wanted to create art that translated mental narratives into three dimensions.

 


Other Rooms Press editor Michael Whalen, center, with Belfast artist Tom Bevan, left, and


County Armagh author Geoffrey Cobb at the opening reception for 'Sacred Luminosity."


PHOTOS BY PETER MCDERMOTT


 

Brooks became fascinated by the similarities in the narratives of Celtic goddesses and female Hindu deities and she began an intense study of the Celtic pantheon. She was struck by the uncanny similarities between the two seemingly disparate cultures. Not only were the stories and symbols the same, but sometimes even the very names were the same. Brigid and Tara of Irish mythology also appear among Vedic Goddesses. She even noticed similarities in the weaponry brandished by the goddesses of both cultures and the many commonalities inspired her to create the series of sculptures in the “Sacred Luminosity” show.

For more information, go to http://www.galleryawa.com

 

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