Brian Ferran HRHA, HRUA
Born in Derry 1940
Trained as an art teacher at St Joseph’s College of Education, Belfast 1963
BA Hon. in Art History, Cautauld Institute, London University & Post-Graduate
Diploma in Business Administration from Queen’s University, Belfast
Brera Academy of Fine Art, Milan, Italy 1970/71
Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the last ten years as Chief Executive 1966-1990
He has lectured at universities and public galleries in the United States on aspects of contemporary Irish art. He has served on the following committees and boards: British Council Fine Art Committee; Crafts Council of Great Britain International Committee; Visiting Arts Unit of Great Britain; Ulster Museum Fine Art Committee; Alice Berger Hammerschlah Trust; Irish Exhibition of Living Art; GPA Awards for Emerging Artists; Arts Centre Board of Queen’s University, Belfast; North-West Arts Trust, Thomas Dammann Junior Memorial Trust; National Self Portrait Collection; Burren College of Art Board and ROSC.
1965, he designed the logo of the Irish American Cultural Institute. 1972, four of his works were reproduced on the covers of the Cultural Journal Eire Ireland. 1972, he illustrated Lares poems by Michael Longley. 1980, he was commissioner for Northern Ireland at the Paris Biennale in France. 1985, he was commissioner for Ireland at the Sào Paolo Bienal in Brazil. He is an editorial advisor of Irish Arts Review.
He organised an exhibition of paintings & sculptures by five artists from Northern Ireland for the 1990 Houston International Festival in Texas. This exhibition was subsequently shown in Chicago, Boston & Springfield, Massachusetts, Waco in Texas and Portland, Indiana. He organised a USA tour of paintings by Basil Blackshaw in 1996.
1989, he completed three large stained glass windows for a church at St. Patrick’s College College, Maghera, Co. Derry and in 1990, a mural 10 feet high by 15 feet long for the entrance to St. Columb’s College Derry.
Solo exhibitions:
Waterside Gallery, Derry 1965
Molesworth Gallery, Dublin 1967
New Gallery, Belfast 1968
Queen’s University Gallery, Belfast 1970
gordon gallery, Derry 1970
David Hendricks Gallery, Dublin 1974
gordon gallery, Derry 1974
Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast 1974
Irish Tourist Office, New York 1975
Sean Desmond Gallery, New York 1976
David Hendricks Gallery, Dublin 1977
Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast 1977
North-West Arts Festival, Keys Gallery, Derry 1978
Aisling Gallery, New York 1978
David Hendricks Gallery, Dublin 1983
Trevelyan Gallery, University of Durham 1982
Salve Regina College, Newport, Rhode Island
Karen Sprague Cultural Arts Centre, American International College, Springfield, Massachusetts 1990
Gallery on the Green, Lexington, Massachusetts 1991
Aisling Gallery, Hingham, Massachusetts 1991
Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee 1992
Jorgensen Gallery, Dublin 1993
United First Parish Church, Quincy, Massachusetts 1993
Savva Gallery, East 53rd Street, New York 1996
Emily Lowe Gallery, Hofstra University, Long Island, New York 1996
Group exhibitions:
Irish Exhibition of Living Art
Young Irish Artists’ Foundation
Royal Hibernian Academy
Ulster Academy, Belfast
Oireachtas, Dublin
Cuimneachán 1916, Municipal Gallery, Dublin
Irish Graphic Artists, Minnesota
Independent Artists, Dublin
Gordon Lambert Collection shown at Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin, Wexford
Festival & Ulster Museum
From Yeats to Ballagh, Lunds Kunstall, Sweden
Galerie des Philiosophes, Geneva
Galleria Solferino, Milan
Galerie Stebler, Geneva
Collector’s Choice, Playhouse Gallery, Leeds & Dartington College of Art Gallery, Devon
ROSC Young Irish Artists, Galway 1971
Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh 1971
Westgate Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1971
ROSC Irish Art 1943-73, Crawford Municipal Gallery, Cork 1980
Belfast Artists, Museo Francisco Goritia, Mexico City 1984
Northern Irish Artists, Hong Kong Cvic Centre 1985
Sense of Ireland Festival – Contemporary Works on Paper, Singapore 1986
Wortzel Gallery, Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts 1989
Eight Artists from Britain, Boston, Massachusetts 1990
Curators’ & Critics – Exhibition, Boat House Gallery, Skibereen, Co. Cork 1994
Collections:
An Chomhairle Ealaíon
Arts Council of Northern Ireland
Derry City Council
Belfast Education & Library Board
Córas Iompair Eireann
Córas Tráchtála, Dublin
First Trust Bank, Belfast
Great Southern Hotels
Institute of Public Administration, Dublin
Kilkenny Design Centre
Gordon Lambert Collection
University of Ulster, Coleraine
North West Arts Trust
Northern Bank Finance Group, Dublin
Northern Ireland Department of Commerce
Queen’s University of Belfast
St. Mary’s College of Education, Belfast
St. Joseph’s College of Education, Belfast
Office of Public Works, Dublin
Stranmillis College, Belfast
Ulster Arts Club
Ulster College, Arts & Design Centre, Belfast
Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork
Allied Irish Bank, Dublin,
Ulster Museum
Bibliography:
Painting & Sculpture by Kenneth Jaimison, Causeway, 1971
The Arts in Ulster, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Gill and MacMilan, Dublin
Mike Catto, Art in Ulster, Blackstaff Press Ltd 1957-77
Irish Art from 1600, by Anne Crookshank, published by Department Foreign Affairs, Dublin 1979
Making Sense of Ulster, Art and Artists Magazine 1980
A Concise History of Irish Art, Thames & Hudson, London
Artist, Model & Reality by Belinda Loftus
The Arts in Ireland, a chronology by Christopher Fitz-simon, Gill & MacMillan 1982
Publications:
Arts Council of Northern Ireland exhibition catalogues
Ulster Painting for Ulster Commentary 1968
Apologia pro Arte Nuovo, for Everyman Ireland: A Cultural Encyclopaedia,
edited by Brian de Breffny, Thames & Hudson 1983
Four Irish Artists at the Saó Paolo Bienal, Irish Arts Review, Volume 2 1985
Belfast’s Cultural Environment, 1957-87, for Province, City & People / Belfast & its Region,
edited by RH Buchanan & BM Walker, published by Greystone Press 1987
The Visual Arts in Northern Ireland, for the Irish Banker Quarterly 1989
Basil Blackshaw – Painter, monograph on Basil Blackshaw, published by Nicholson & Bass 1995
Irish Times review of Tony O’Malley’ 1996
Awards:
Douglas Hyde Gold Medal & Arts Council (An Chomhairle Ealaíon) supplementary awards at Oireachtas Exhibitions, Dublin 1965 & 1978
Leverhulme European Awards, London 1969
Conor Prize of the Royal Ulster Academy, Belfast 1979
Pittsburg Creative Arts Fellowship at Massaciuccoli, Lucca, Italy 1983
Haughton Award of the Ulster Watercolour Society 1985
