Issued February 2006

TEXACO APPOINTS NEW MEMBER TO CHILDREN’S ART JUDGING PANEL

Texaco has appointed art expert Brenda McParland to their Texaco Children’s Art Competition judging panel.

Alongside final adjudicator Professor Declan McGonagle and fellow judges, she will have the task of selecting the winning paintings from the estimated 50,000 entries which the Competition attracts each year.

Resident in Castleknock, Brenda is from Omagh, Co, Tyrone where she received her early education at St. Brigid's Secondary School and Loreto Convent Grammar School. Later, she studied at Trinity College, Dublin where she took an Honours Degree in the History of Art and Modern English. She also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Arts Administration.

Currently Senior Curator and Head of Exhibitions at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Brenda has had a distinguished career in the visual arts spanning some 18 years. Her previous appointments include Director of Art at London’s Business Design Centre, advisor to the Scottish Arts Council, Director of Art at the Bath International Festival and Administrator of the Nigel Greenwood Gallery, London. She has also worked at the Douglas Hyde Gallery in Dublin.

During the course of her career, she has organised and curated the IMMA/Glen Dimplex Artists Award and The Nissan Art Project, a programme, which included Dorothy Cross’ ‘Ghostship’. At the IMMA, she has curated solo exhibitions by internationally renowned artists such as Sol le Witt, Rebecca Horn, Kiki Smith, Denis Oppenheim, Ann Hamilton, Gary Hume and Louise Bourgeois as well as a number of retrospective and survey shows of Irish artists including Louis le Brocquy, Felim Egan, Nigel Rolfe, Stephen McKenna, Kathy Prendergast and Willie Doherty. Brenda joins the Texaco judging panel as the Competition enters its 52nd year. Closing date for receipt of entries is Friday, 24th February next. Winners will be announced in April and prizes will be presented in May.

Issued February 2006

ENNIS EXHIBITION OF WINNING PAINTINGS IN TEXACO CHILDREN’S ART COMPETITION

The Glór Irish Music Centre in Ennis is to host an exhibition of the top 21 prize-winning paintings in last year’s 51st Texaco Children’s Art Competition. It will open on Friday, 24th February and continue until Sunday, 26th March inclusive.

Amongst the exhibits will be a work entitled ‘Gulls, Autumn Morning’ by Ennis student Cillian Boyd.

This is the second successive year in which winning entries from the Texaco Children’s Art Competition have been exhibited at the venue.