Tunes from a Gentle Place

02 Mar 24

Glenties fiddlers weekend. Photo credit Susan Hughes.

Artists

Susan Hughes, Denise Boyle

Info

Live event: Saturday 2 March, 2–3.30pm

Tunes from a Gentle Place is a musical and conversational performance with current exhibiting artist Susan Hughes and Glenties fiddle player Denise Boyle. The two will fill the gallery with tunes associated with supernatural folklore within the Donegal fiddle tradition.

Susan and Denise have played together for the past fifteen years. Denise is a versatile and highly experienced musician and has toured nationally and internationally with a wide range of musicians including The Henry Girls. She is a member of Sí Fiddlers.

Book your free ticket via our online shop here. This event forms part of the public programme for the current solo exhibition Stones from a Gentle Place, by artist Susan Hughes. All ages are welcome.

Supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

About the Performers

Susan Hughes is from Belfast and is based between the North and South of Ireland. She graduated in 2021 with an MFA from the University of Ulster and is now a studio holder at Orchid Studios in Belfast. She has completed many artist residencies in Ireland and Scandinavia where she has used her fiddle playing as a bartering tool to gain access to local stories. She was awarded the Centre Culturel Irlandais residency (2023), was a participant of the Freelands Foundation Artists’ Programme (2022–2024) and has been commissioned by Ulster Folk Museum and Linenhall Library. Susan won the Platform Graduate Award as well as the CCA Derry~Londonderry Graduate Award in 2021.

cargocollective.com/susanhughesartist | @susandorothyhughes

Denise Boyle hails from Glenties, home of the annual 'Fiddlers Weekend' in the Highlands Hotel. Denise grew up in the Highlands Hotel and encountered many well-known fiddle players throughout her childhood, and during that time developed a great love for the style and music of older Donegal Fiddle players, in particular Vincent and Jimmy Campbell and James Byrne. Denise has recorded and toured with many well-known musicians nationally and internationally including the Galacian piper Carlos Nunez and Donegal band The Henry Girls. Denise performs regularly playing a wide-range of genres, however her roots remain in the fiddle tradition of her native county.

SíFiddlers.com

Image credits

Image 1: Glenties fiddler's weekend. Photo credit Susan Hughes.

Image 2: Susan Hughes. Photo credit Susan Hughes.

Image 3: Denise Boyle. Photo credit Denise Boyle.