Beure, the second exhibition of this year’s season at Oughterard’s Courthouse Gallery, will open this Friday evening, June 28, and run until July 7.

It’s joint show by Mullingar painters, Emma Carter and Rachel Coyne, who both attended ATU, graduating in the same year and with very different practices.

Emma works in a style that she says is best described as ‘abstract expressionism’, where she explores the dialogue between lines, marks and colours. How these interact on the canvas creates a different response from viewers.

Rachel’s figurative work investigates feminist and social issues and for Beure, she has created drawings and paintings.

‘Beure’ is a slang word for an attractive, or a ‘fine woman’ and, with this exhibition, the artists aim to claim ownership of the term and turn it on its head.

According to Rachel, the hope is “to change it to an identifier of female power and strength, seeking empowerment through the female form and a feminine, emotional response through painting”.

Beure will be officially opened this Friday night by artist,

Olga Magliocco, a committee member of the Oughterard Courthouse Arts Programme (OCAP), which hosts the summer exhibitions.

The third exhibition of the season is Shadowpraise, from the Nova Collective, which will run from July 12 to 21, and the fourth and final show will be Moving On, a solo exhibition by acclaimed artist Richard Ward, running from July 26 until August 4.

The Courthouse Gallery is open from 10am-5pm Monday to Saturday and 12pm-5pm on Sundays, and all are welcome to visit Beure, which runs until Sunday, July 7.

Pictured: Is it Summer Yet? by Emma Carter.