iBAM!

Elizabeth Cope draws on the everyday minutiae of her family life at Shankill Castle in the lush hills of County Kilkenny, on the borders of County Carlaw.  Gothick windows overlook the long ornamental lake. There are vast Monterey Pines, and Wellingtonias,  walled vegetable  gardens, and old stone stables,  the moated garden all ferny and wild, white geese on the green lawns, her beloved donkeys, the cats outside and the dogs close to the Aga.  While inside the house, dark stone passage –ways, unexpected stairways, old kitchens, and vast mirrors imported from France in the castle’s glory days, all provided Elizabeth with motifs for her work;   her still-lifes, landscapes and donkey-scapes. Elizabeth's children: Reuben and Phoebe Cope will display a video and painting, respectively.

Jennifer Allen is a self-taught artist specializing in a unique style, using white pencil on black paper. Jennifer uses white pencil to accentuate intricate features of a face or a hand, but also to capture something of what makes a person tick, be it an old fiddler lost in a tune or someone caught unawares in their thoughts.Her work has taken many forms over the years, including more colorful Celtic knot-work, a style which she used when commissioned to design St Patrick's Day cards for An Post, the national postal service in Ireland.

Having submitted work to joint exhibitions over the years, at the Georgian House, the Hunt Museum and Draiocht in Adare Co Limerick, Jennifer held her first solo exhibition, 'Into the Light' last year at Leamy Gallery in Limerick, the former school of writer Frank McCourt. The exhibition was hugely successful, with the majority of the pieces selling on the opening night! Her work has appeared at trade shows in the U.S. before, but iBAM! 2011 will be her first personal appearance in America.

Cynthia Mayti- Designs and Music

Born and raised in Ohio, Cindy was influenced at an early age by her Appalachian grandmother's stories which she says "really fired my imagination". She developed a love of history, legend and the supernatural, rooted in the Scots-Irish tradition. After a lengthy career in health care, she returned to school and earned a BFA in painting at Mt. St. Joseph College. She now gives workshops in Celtic art and is one of the organizers of the touring art show "American Celtic". Cindy's work has appeared in galleries throughout the US and in Europe. She has illustrated book and CD covers, posters and websites. She still finds time to play traditional music with the band, Silver Arm and is the founder and artistic director of the Cincinnati Celtic World Festival.

James Fraher is a professional photographer and photographic educator. His photographs have been exhibited in museums and galleries in the United States, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and France. Fraher was one of 82 photographers photographing for A Day In The Life of Ireland, Collins, 1991. He is the photographer for the book Stories from a Sacred Landscape by Caimin O’Brien, Mercier Press, 2006 and a featured photographer for Lumen Christi: The Stained Glass Windows of Mount Saint Joseph by Dom Laurence Walsh, Cistercian Press, 2009. Fraher is the author of The Blues is a Feeling: Voices and Visions of African-American Blues Musicians, Face to Face Books, 1998. He is the photographer of two collaborative book projects with author Roger Wood, Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues, University of Texas Press, 2003 and Texas Zydeco, University of Texas Press, 2006.
He has previously lectured about his photographs at the University of St. Thomas, Houston; Irish American Center, Gaelic Park, Chicago; Photography and the City Conference, University College Dublin; School of the Art Institute, Chicago; DePaul University, Chicago; Houston Institute for Culture, University of Houston; American Conference for Irish Studies, UWM, Milwaukee; Irish Fest, Milwaukee; and National College of Art and Design, Dublin.
Two traditional Irish music recordings of South Sligo musicians have been co/produced by Fraher, One’s Own Place by flute player Kevin Henry and Farewell to Evening Dances by flute, whistle, singer, Colm O’Donnell issued on the Bogfire label.
James Fraher holds a BA in photography and an MA in media communications. He has been a photographer for over thirty years and taught college-level photography for fifteen years. He is a principal of Bogfire, a business specializing in graphic design and photography. Originally from the Chicago area he currently resides in Skreen, County Sligo.
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it | USA phone: 847-280-9122 | www.bogfire.com