'Breadwinner' Exhibition Kicks Off In Kilkenny

Kilkenny’s Butler Gallery are currently presenting an interactive, multi-media exhibition providing an imaginative and accessible viewing of Cartoon Saloon’s movie-making process. Curated by Gallery Director Anna O’Sullivan, this is Butler Gallery’s second collaboration with Cartoon Saloon after the acclaimed Song of the Sea exhibition in 2015.
The exhibition has been designed by Steven McNamara of Roji Designs.
The film boasts the breathtaking hand-drawn animation that has made Kilkenny-based Cartoon Saloon one of the world’s most well-loved and respected animation studios. Directed by Nora Twomey, the film has been winning the hearts of audiences at home and around the world.
The exhibition features original drawings, storyboards, cutouts and animation as well as the exquisite watercolours and cutouts that serve as vibrant backdrops to the animated action.
The exhibition experience also includes an immersion in the film’s world of Kabul, including marketplace images and aromas.
The Breadwinner: Artists Talk Series of artist’s talks by Cartoon Saloon artists and directors will be held during the exhibition. There are talks scheduled for:
• Wednesday 4th July
• Wednesday 11th July
• Wednesday 18th July
Further details and times can be obtained from theButler Gallery.

The Breadwinner: Children’s Storytelling in the gallery, which is supported by Kilkenny County Libraries, is for 5-9 year olds.
It includes storytelling with Hollie Kearns, Learning and Public Engagement Curator, Butler Gallery. With reading excerptsfrom the new graphic novel of The Breadwinner, and children's books from Afghanistan. It takes places on 11am – 11.30am Fridays: July 6th, 13th & 20th in Butler Gallery.

For ages 9+, an excerpts from The Breadwinner book will be read by Catriona Kenneally, Loughboy Library Branch Librarian from 3pm – 3.45pm Wednesdays: July 4th, 11th & 18th in Butler Gallery/ Places are limited, booking via Eventbrite. https://www.eventbrite.ie/o/butler-gallery-11080078399
The Breadwinner: Artist-in-Residence will work with visitors to the gallery at the following times in July. The schedule is:
Tuesday 2 – 4pm – Paul Bokslag
Thursday 2 – 4pm – Paul Bokslag
Saturday 10am – 1pm & 2 – 5pm - Cartoon Saloon Animator.

Visitors will be able to work with the Artist in Residence, Paul Bokslag to make their own cut-out designs inspired by the cut-out style populating the Story World in The Breadwinner.
Paul, who is a Callan, Co. Kilkenny based visual artist from the Netherlands, is a co-founder and facilitator at KCAT Arts Centre. Cutting paper forms an important part of his work. He has shown his work in numerous exhibitions around Ireland and abroad, from wall based abstract pieces and posters to large room filling installations. For further information check out his website www.paulbokslag.com
Rory O’Connor and Desiree Meade from Cartoon Saloon will be the artists in residence on alternate Saturdays.
Partnership with Arts & Disability Ireland (ADI). The exhibition is audio-described for people who are blind or visually impairedthanks to a welcome partnership with ADI (Arts & Disability Ireland)
ADI and Butler Gallery, Kilkenny started a partnership in 2013 to provide access to visual art exhibitions at Butler Gallery to audiences with visual impairments.
For the first time in Ireland audio description was made available with the Discovery Pen, a light handheld device, about the size of an ice-cream cone and similar in shape.
By using them, audiences who are blind and visually impaired are able to explore the art works through descriptions, artists’ statements and curatorial statements. The pens were debuted in Ireland at Butler Gallery, Kilkenny in 2013.
The Breadwinner is the visually stunning and moving story of Parvana, an 11-year-old girl growing up under the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001. When her father is wrongfully arrested, Parvana cuts off her hair and dresses like a boy in order to support her family. With undaunted courage, Parvana draws strength from the fantastical stories she invents, as she embarks on a quest to find her father and reunite her family.
Equal parts thrilling and enchanting, The Breadwinner is an inspiring and luminouslyanimated tale about the power of stories to sustain hope and carry us through dark times. The story is based on the award-winning, best-selling young adult novel by Deborah Ellis.
See www.butlergallery.com for full Learning & Public Engagement programme, workshops and events/
Opening Hours: Daily from 10:00am – 5:00pm
Admission is Free to all