BUTLER GALLERY - Benefit Sale of Contemporary Art 16 SEPTEMBER 2019

BUTLER GALLERY AT EVANS’ HOME The Campaign for a Permanent Gallery in Kilkenny The Butler Gallery is delighted to have achieved its long-term goal of securing our own home. In 2020, we will move to the stunning Evans’ Home behind the Carnegie Library in Kilkenny, bringing a long-disused building back to life. This is a transformative move, increasing our current gallery footprint of 114sqm to a fully fit-for-purpose building of over 1,000sqm, along with a range of gardens. In 2008, the Butler Gallery was given the Evans’ Home, a former disused alms house, by the Kilkenny Local Authority to develop and relocate. This move to a building of great heritage value will hugely increase our offer and allow us to expand our organisation’s output and progress sustainability for the future. We will be combining the stories of the history of the building and the site along with the rich history the Butler Gallery has built over its long life. This move from Kilkenny Castle to the Evans’ Home will allow the gallery for the first time in its history to provide a space that will be accessible to all to: showcase works from our Permanent Collection; have a gallery dedicated to Kilkenny-born artist’s Tony O’Malley and Jane O’Malley; have a double height/flexible Temporary Exhibition gallery; a media gallery, and finally a Learning Centre to undertake lectures and workshops that allow us to reach out to our diverse audience. We will also have a café for our visitors and outside gardens to exhibit sculpture. Exciting times! The majority of the funds required for the development (€5.5m) have been committed by the Kilkenny County Council (c.€2.5m), Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (€2m), and Failte Ireland (€1.135m). To ensure our sustainable development the Butler Gallery has a robust three-year Fundraising plan in place. Over three years we need to raise over €250,000. This will enable the appropriate specification and operation of the building equipment for all spaces, including the Learning Centre. This Benefit Art Auction is an important element of our 2019 campaign. We reached out to our artist alumni – our family of artists – who have either exhibited with us or have had a strong association with the gallery over the years for some much needed help. Many of these artists were emerging when they first showed at the Butler Gallery and have gone on to develop significant careers. These artists have responded with huge generosity and good will and as a result we are honoured to have such a strong sale of works on offer. Special thanks to each and every one of them. We would also like to extend grateful thanks to Barrie Cooke’s daughters, Julia Cooke, Liadin Cooke and Aoine Landweer Cooke for their generous donation and to David Kirwan of Artisan Frames. On behalf of the board and the staff of the Butler Gallery we would like to extend sincerest thanks to Ian Whyte for allowing us to be including in his September sale at the RDS. We are immensely indebted to the entire team at Whyte’s for their support in helping us to achieve our fundraising goals. Anna O’Sullivan Director, Butler Gallery NOTE: The entire proceeds of each work sold including the buyers’ premium will go to The Butler Gallery. Biographies of all the artists represented in this section may be found in the online catalogues at www . whytes.ie