Fermanagh Live Arts Festival (FLive) will officially launch on Friday, September 23 with an evening of art and music at the Devenish Gallery in Enniskillen.

Taking place on Culture Night in Fermanagh, the festival launch coincides with the opening of a new art exhibition, curated by gallery owner Colin Burns, that will feature the eclectic work of three Fermanagh artists: Anna Cieplucha, Catherine Keogh and the late Liam Blake.

Originally from Lodz in Poland and now living in Fermanagh, Anna Cieplucha has worked as an architect throughout Europe.

She integrates her technical skills and her strong passion for art and nature by creating vibrant and abstract impasto paintings in rich textures on a three-dimensional surface.

Anna expresses herself and her life experiences through her art and aims to create contemporary art on acrylic. She describes her work as rough, harsh, matte and uneven, and uses a palette knife to create thick, dramatic strokes in her work.

Catherine Keogh, who is based on Boa Island, is an artist who has sold her work worldwide, including in Singapore and Los Angeles.

Her work combines handmade gypsum-covered canvas where colour is built using hundreds of delicate lines, creating imaginatively executed work.

Liam Blake (1939 – 2002), had the distinction of being born ‘between the bridges’ in Enniskillen, regarded as the hallmark of a ‘true’ Enniskilliner. He was one of ten children born to William Blake, a highly-respected Fermanagh businessman and founder of Blake’s Of The Hollow, and Melvin House Emporium.

Educated at St. Michael’s, Enniskillen and at Castleknock College, Dublin, he returned to his native county and managed the Melvin House before devoting himself to painting.

Largely self-taught but with artistic siblings, he excelled as a painter of landscapes and portraits. He attended night classes at the Technical College in Enniskillen, tutored by Toni Johnston, who remarked that his painting prowess was obvious from an early stage.

Fermanagh artist T. P. Flanagan thought he was particularly gifted with a natural talent and flair for painting.

Blake’s landscapes owed much to his love of Fermanagh and Donegal. His painting, ‘Road by the Shore’ which is featured in this retrospective, is thought to be in Donegal.

He repeated this scene many times in different formats. His work is a mixture of Impressionism and Surrealism. Devenish Gallery hosted a hugely successful exhibition of the late artist’s work in 2018 as part of FLive.

The event will begin at the Devenish Gallery at 6.30pm on September 23. Following the festival launch and exhibition opening, the FLive programme of events will start on October 6, and runs until October 9.