University to host symposium on the Great Hunger May 17

Quinnipiac University will host the symposium, “Exploring the Legacies of the Great Hunger: The Cultural, Spiritual, Psychological and Political Consequences for Today’s Ireland from Centuries of Colonization,” from 1-4:30 p.m. on Friday, May 17, in the Grand Courtroom of the School of Law Center on the Mount Carmel Campus. This event is free and open to the public.

Christine Kinealy, a visiting professor in residence at Quinnipiac who is known internationally for her ground-breaking research on the Great Hunger, and Dr. Garrett O’Connor, an internationally recognized psychiatrist who specializes in addiction and healing, will present at the symposium, which is being sponsored by Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University, 3011 Whitney Ave., Hamden.

Kinealy’s presentation, “The Famine Killed Everything: Cultural and Political Legacies of Colonial Rule,” will run from 1:15-2 p.m. Kinealy’s talk will explore the Great Hunger in relation to Ireland’s colonial relationship with Britain.

O’Connor’s address, “Ireland Sober is Ireland Free!: A Laughable, Desirable or Feasible Proposition,”  will take place from 2:15-3:15 p.m. O’Connor will discuss his 1997 work, “Recognizing and Healing Malignant Shame: A Statement About the Urgent Need for Psychological and Spiritual Recovery from the Effects of Colonialism in Ireland.” He will revisit this topic, placing it in the context of both recent developments in Ireland and the longer-term impact of colonization on the Irish spirit.

The symposium will conclude with Kinealy and O’Connor facilitating the session, “Sharing Stories,” from 3:30-4:30 p.m.

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Influential Irish author to lecture and sign books April 18

Tim Pat Coogan, the Irish historical writer and author of “The Famine Plot,” will lecture and sign books from 5:30-7 p.m. on Thursday, April 18, at Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University, 3011 Whitney Ave.

This event is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required by calling 203-582-6500.

“The Famine Plot” offers fresh insights into the famine’s causes, its unspeakable effects, the legacy of the famine mentality that followed immigrants across the Atlantic to the shores of the United States and the lasting effects on the population left behind.

Coogan, who is Ireland’s best known historical writer, wrote the 1966 book, “Ireland Since The Rising,” which was the first history of the 50 years that followed the 1916 Rising. It provided insight into the Civil War, partition, the emergence and constitutional development of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the unconstitutional development of the Irish Republican Army.

His subsequent book, “The IRA,” first published in 1970, became the definitive work on the subject and has been reissued in several editions and languages.

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Boston Globe lauds Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac

The Boston Globe showcased Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University on April 7, saying the world’s largest collection of paintings, sculptures and visual arts related to the Famine will help amplify the role that art has played in giving a voice to the victims and healing the still-raw wounds of the Great Hunger.

“The hollow figures, with eyes as vacant as their stomachs, in the latter-day artwork on exhibit continue to evoke the dark side of Ireland’s terrible beauty,” the newspaper reports. “Clothes drip off the barefoot and wasted subjects in John Behan’s bronze sculpture ‘Famine Mother and Children,’ and the slender, life-size figures that Kieran Tuohy carved from primordial Irish bog oak drown in grief. The grotesque subjects that Lilian Davidson has painted in her blue-tinged ‘Burying the Dead’ resemble zombies with their gaunt countenances and sunken eyes.”

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Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum featured on Forbes.com

Forbes praised Quinnipiac University‘s efforts to educate the public about the mass emigration of the Irish during the great Famine.

“Quinnipiac University has just opened Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum, the first museum in North America solely devoted to the Irish Famine,” the article states. “Long passionate about the subject, Quinnipiac president John Lahey eventually inspired the ear of bagel entrepreneur Murray Lender who helped make the museum a reality. Its trove of historical artifacts is complemented by a powerful range of Famine-related  artworks – including skeletons rising from a coffin before the British lord responsible for Irish relief efforts, and a bronze model of  John Behan’s  iconic  “Famine Ship” which looms before the County Mayo pilgrimage mountain of Croagh Patrick.”

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Irish and American Folk Artist Danny Quinn to perform free concert March 14 at Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum

​Danny Quinn, an Irish and American folk musician, will perform a free community concert at Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University, 3011 Whitney Avenue, at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 14.

Quinn, who has been entertaining audiences for nearly three decades, has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Ireland and England at concerts, coffee houses, festivals, corporate events and pubs. In addition to being an engaging entertainer, Quinn also is an accomplished songwriter with more than 40 published songs to his credit.

Since 1979, Quinn has shared the stage with or opened for renowned artists, including the Clancy Brothers, Tom Chapin, Peter Yarrow, Robbie O’Connell, the Makem & Spain Brothers, John Prine, David Mallett, Walt Michael, Eilleen Ivers, The Chieftains and others. For more than 20 years, Quinn toured nationally with Tommy Makem.

Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum is home to the world’s largest collection of visual art, artifacts and printed materials relating to the Irish Famine. The museum preserves, builds and presents its art collection in order to stimulate reflection, inspire imagination and advance awareness of Ireland’s Great Hunger and its long aftermath on both sides of the Atlantic.

The collection focuses on the famine years from 1845-52, when blight destroyed virtually all of Ireland’s potato crops for consecutive years. The crop destruction, coupled with British governmental indifference to the plight of the Irish, who at the time were part of the United Kingdom, resulted in the deaths of more than 1 million Irish men, women and children and the emigration of more than 2 million to nations around the world. This tragedy occurred even though there was more than adequate food in the country to feed its starving populace. Exports of food and livestock from Ireland actually increased during the years of the Great Hunger.

Works by noted contemporary Irish artists are featured at the museum including internationally known sculptors John Behan, Rowan Gillespie and Eamonn O’Doherty; as well as contemporary visual artists, Robert Ballagh, Alanna O’Kelly Brian Maguire and Hughie O’Donoghue. Featured paintings include several important 19th and 20th‐century works by artists such as James Brenan, Daniel MacDonald, James Arthur O’Connor and Jack B. Yeats.

The museum is open Wednesdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sundays 1-5 p.m.

For more information and to make a reservation, call 203-582-6500.