After the deluge, Glucksman re-opens

SUNSHINE may follow rain, but it has taken eight long weeks before the director of Cork’s Lewis Glucksman Gallery saw anything to be sunny about.

Many people will remember the newspaper pictures and TV footage of Fiona Kearney standing in the UCC gallery, which at one point was under 10 feet of water. Up to 197 of its esteemed artworks were in storage in the basement, an art store that suffered a near tsunami during the November floods.

“I was devastated, completely devastated. I thought we would be lucky to get anything back, as so much of the art had been displaced. There was huge potential for damage and a piece of art really is irreplaceable if destroyed,” she said. However, in her words, “something very special has taken place”, and on Friday President Mary MacAleese will officially re-open the gallery.