Offaly artists taking part in online art sale for children's charity
Seven artists from Offaly are among the many Irish and international artists taking part in an online art sale this month in aid of the Jack & Jill Children's Foundation
The Incognito art collection is now live at www.incognito.ie, with the art sale taking place on Thursday, April 22, at 10am sharp.
The paintings are for sale at €60 each and the unique feature of Incognito, compared with other art sales, is that the identity of the artists behind the paintings is kept top secret until the sale has closed.
Among the Offaly artists taking part are Hazel Greene from Shinrone, and Denise Colgan, David Fox, and Vincent Devine from Tullamore.
Some of the famous national and international faces taking part this year are U2's The Edge, rock star Bob Geldof, fashion designer Paul Costelloe, comedians Jason Byrne and Tommy Tiernan, artist Don Conroy and Nobel prize winner Dr William Campbell.
The Incognito collection is made up of 3,000-plus original postcard-sized artworks in a range of mediums, from oils and pastels, to glass and metalwork.
The sale is usually a sprint to the checkout, and last year everything sold out in just 15 minutes!
In the five years since its inception, Incognito has raised almost €450,000 for Jack & Jill's home nursing care for children with highly complex medical conditions, including end-of-life care.
This equates to more than 28,000 hours of specialist home nursing care provided by Jack & Jill nurses and carers the length and breadth of the country.
For curator Lucinda Hall, Incognito 2021 is an opportunity to bring the talents of Offaly artists to a brand-new audience.
"We are so very grateful to each of our artists from Offaly who have shared their talents with us and given their art for free," she said.
"It is a huge tribute to their generosity of time and spirit following what has been an extremely difficult period for the arts world."
Carmel Doyle, CEO of the Jack & Jill Children's Foundation, said the online initiative was about generous and talented artists turning their art into a real currency for care.
"Each year, Jack & Jill has to raise over €4 million to continue doing what we do, supporting families to look after their sick children at home where they belong.
"Less than 20% of our funding comes from Government, and with COVID-19 continuing to restrict our public-facing fundraising and our charity shops still closed, including our shop in Tullamore, we are relying hugely on the generosity and support of the public for Incognito 2021.
"Each piece sold translates into almost four hours of specialist home nursing care for local children, turning this beautiful art into a real currency for care."