First for Moville as new Art Gallery opens

Award-winning Moville artist Rikki Louise van den Berg officially opens her new art gallery in the town square on Saturday afternoon, June 8.

It will be Moville’s first art gallery and van den Berg says the opening is also timed to mark ‘I Love Inishowen Day.’

The official opening of the Glen Art Studio and Gallery runs from 2pm to 6pm, this Saturday 8th June at Bonner’s Corner on the square, and all are welcome, says Rikki. She describes her art as “a deeply personal response to the stunning landscapes and seascapes of Inishowen.”

She wants to share her interpretation of her beloved Inishowen with the local community: “I am passionate about bringing the arts closer to the community and making it more accessible. So, in addition to displaying my work, I will also be running arts classes from the gallery, for all levels of ability.”

The gallery is in a great central location so it’s easy to find, and people can just stroll in for a coffee and a chat, says Rikki. The gallery will offer a range of small and large paintings, as well as handmade greeting cards and jewellery.

Originally from the Netherlands, van den Berg spent her formative years in Ireland. In 1997, she returned to Ireland establishing herself as a figurative and abstract painter. Her work has received both national and international acclaim.

To the observer, her work embraces the tranquillity, vulnerable beauty, timelessness and the tumult of the Inishowen landscape with grace.

“The essence of painting lies in the process, the mark making, the discovery,” says van den Berg. “It’s more about expressing what I feel than painting something that already exists.”

Rikki likes to get stuck in and get her hands dirty too. During the painting process, she can build, destroy, uncover, paint over, wash and scrape, and apply layers of paint by knife or hands.

In 2012, Rikki’s work was selected as part of a small group of Irish painters to participate in ‘Irish Wave 3’, Beijing, China, curated by BIGsmall and Fion Gunn. In 2016 Rikki received the Tyrone Guthrie Residency Award for the second time. The following year, she was selected for the Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Show in 2017 which was a major boost to her career as a landscape artist. In 2022, Rikki received the McKenna Arts Award for her improvisational works in conjunction with Echo Echo Dance Theatre in Derry.

Her work travelled to China again last year as part of the St Brigid’s Well Exhibition by the Hamilton Gallery Sligo in association with Ireland’s Embassy to China. This year, 2024, Rikki has been nominated for the third time for the Richardson French Residency Award. “I work intuitively, and I welcome the tempestuous, the surprise and unexpected beauty in a stroke, movement or colour and in that I find myself.”

If you want to attend the official opening of Glen Art Studio and Gallery, just come along at 5pm on Saturday 8th June, says Rikki. To find out more about Rikki and her work or to book classes, go to her Instagram account on @rikki_louise_art or on info@rikkivandenberg.com8 

.