Dublin artist James Earley (Fb) was in Belfast last week for Culture Night (CNB15 ) and painted this large-scale horse on the side of the National Grande Café. A wide shot and in progress shot are below. Here is a short video of Earley discussing his work; this piece is in a less-definite stained-glass style than previously – see his Wolf for CNB14.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Soldiers from the 36th (Ulster) division in the trenches of WWI prepare to go ‘over the top’. One waits for the precise moment according to his watch, ready to fire a shot, while the other prepares to blow a whistle and launch a flare. “‘Throughout the long years of struggle, the men of Ulster have proved how nobly they fight and die.’ King George V”. The quote also appears on the Ulster Tower in Thiepval (Ulster Tower) and on the Cenotaph in Belfast (WP).
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Street art is often vandalised (see: the whole of Cupar Way and also A Short Treatise On The Ephemerality Of Art in which NIKO destroyed Praise’s CNB12 piece) but rarely is the vandal a commercial company drumming up business.
In a first for Belfast murals, speech balloons have been added to the Ring Of Peace mural in Waring Street to advertise office space. They read “Forget it, Muriel. I’m moving my business to CQHQ without you!” “Oh Jeff … It’s too close to the City Centre! I want to be with nature …”. We hope that indeed the ad does move away from the “muriel” – the balloons appear to be pasted over the mural, rather than painted on.
The speech-balloons are in fact an improvement over the earlier complete covering of the mural (paperjamdesign). In a less successful part of its media strategy, the business’s web site, at cqhqbelfast.com, appears to be non-functioning.
Report and video on the corporate vandalism from BBC-NI.
See the unadulterated original: Ring Of Peace.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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A view of east Belfast from the perspective of the children in a nursery school in Beechfield and Westbourne Streets: the modes of modern travel, including the Seacat, and a long-standing symbol of industry, the ever-present H&W crane.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Culture Night Belfast is on tonight (2015-09-18) and will include about 30 pieces of street art under the heading Hit The North. Above is a piece of London-/Derry/Doire street art by artists RTM and TDA representing (we think!) St. Brigid’s ‘Church of the Oak’ (Kildare) and the coming of Spring (after her feast day of February 1st).
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Battle Of The Somme – named after a French river – began on July 1st, 1916 and went on until the 18th of November. In those four and half months more than one million soldiers were killed or wounded, including, on July 1st alone, about 60,000 British troops. The 36th (Ulster) Division, on the left flank, pushed ahead of other units and found itself unsupported; 5,240 of its soldiers died.
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The “Little Blooms” receive a lecture in history and politics each day as they mount the painted kerb-stones and take in a mural of Orange Order flag-bearers and a scene from the Siege of Derry, perhaps of James II demanding the city and being rebuffed with cries of “No surrender”.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02825 X02824 X02826 painted 2015-06 walls gate Londonderry siege william union jack ulster banner bishop’s gate 18 april 1869 west bank loyalists still under siege
The Kashmir Bar on the Springfield Road gets a face-lift with a mural of the old Kashmir Bar, including the boast that it was home to the best singers in the west. A look at the Kashmir Bar Facebook page reveals that pool seems to be the foremost activity. For a photo of the old (green-fronted) bar, see D00283. (There is also a small image on the Belfast Forum.) If you can identify any of the locals pictured, please comment or e-mail.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02749 X02760 X02751 established 1895 brendan smyth wine spirits céad míle fáılte in memory of IRA volunteer sean gaynor who was murdered in his home at 236 springfield road by members of the ric on the the 26th september 1920 Image of Sean Gaynor’s grave in Milltown. Account of killing and funeral from Rıstead O Murchú
Bangor native David Gordon Dalzell was killed at age 20 in Helmland Province, Afghanistan, in 2011, shot accidentally by one of his comrades as he was cleaning his weapon. For an account of his death, see BBC-NI. Dalzell’s ‘fatality’ notice can be read at the MOD. In the image above (and detailed below), the front of this Whitehill house carries the emblem of Dalzell’s Royal Irish regiment and a funeral piper.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02783 X02960 royal irish regiment sean barry lest we forget
The eagle (of the Red Hand Commando?) pulls back one UVF flag to reveal … an earlier UVF mural. Close-up below.
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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02767 X02768 ulster for all a. company 1st battalion 1912 YCV for god and ulster ballyree ballyminetragh
Extramural Activity 