Listen to the Smashing Times Arts and Rights Radio Show with Dublin South FM every Wednesday 6-7pm, presented by Mary Moynihan, writer, poet, creator of art and photography, and Freda Manweiler, producer. Tune in to Dublin South FM 93.9, or listen online at www.dublinsouthfm.ie.
Enjoy a special Christmas edition of the Smashing Times Arts and Human Rights Radio show on December 18 with a repeat on December 25 to celebrate Christmas day.
From Sea Swimming to Fairytale of New York
The show features Mary Moynihan chatting about sea swimming, the Winter Solstice and the iconic, classic hit Fairytale of New York sung by Shane McGowan and Kirsty McColl with the Pogues. Enjoy a wander through the song’s history, how it came to life and how the song got its name.
Druidry and Celtic Traditions
Druidry can be described as many things. It may be seen as a philosophy free from dogma, but one where you choose to follow a spiritual path linked to a love of nature, landscapes and creativity. It is the idea of spirituality coming from an ancient wisdom as well as being present in our lives, communing with nature and being creative.
Enjoy a fascinating interview with Eimear Burke who is in studio to talk about druidism and well-being. Eimear is a Chartered Counselling Psychologist with the Psychological Society of Ireland. As a psychologist, Eimear has been in private practice for 20 years working with individuals, couples and groups and has worked as a supervisor with psychotherapists, psychologists, social workers, advocates, and substance abuse workers. Eimear has worked with Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality since 2008 as a psychotherapist on the Acting for the Future programme which uses the arts to promote positive mental health and well-being.
Eimear has a strong interest in druidism and Celtic mysticism and is a storyteller or Seanchaí and a druid and celebrant. Since 2020 Eimear has been the Chosen Chief of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, considered to be the largest druid organisation in the world.
News from the Network
News from the Network covers the wonderful Hugh Lane Gallery which is located in Dublin’s city centre in Parnell Square. This the last chance to see the exhibition More Power to you: Sarah Purser, a force for Irish Art. The exhibition runs until 5 January 2025, admission is free.
Sarah Henrietta Purser (1848-1943) was a portraitist and stained-glass artist. She was born in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, in 1848. She knew many influential people and from 1911 she held regular social gatherings for Dublin’s intelligentsia at her home, Mespil House. She called these gatherings ‘Second Tuesdays’ and they were networking sessions where young artists had the opportunity to meet people who would buy their work or employ them. In 1924 she founded the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland. One of its aims was to campaign for the return of Sir Hugh Lane’s pictures from London to Dublin. Subsequently, she helped to secure Charlemont House as the home for what is now The Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin. Perhaps most importantly, she was the founder of the stained-glass workshop An Túr Gloine (The Tower of Glass), which operated in Dublin from 1903 to 1944. This was a pioneering stained-glass studio that attracted artists such as Evie Hone and Wilhelmina Geddes, it promoted the medium of stained glass in Ireland and employed women which was unusual for the time. The beautiful stained-glass windows produced by An Tur Gloine can be seen in many Irish churches today in Ireland and around the world and is perhaps one of Sarah’s finest memorials. View her artworks here. She framed people’s nature, the essence of the individuals. Sarah died in August 1943 aged 95 and is buried at Mount Jerome cemetery in Harold’s Cross Dublin.
The exhibition at the Hugh Lane Gallery examines Purser’s multifaceted role as artist, activist and collector. The Hugh Lane Gallery has a collection of her work, and the exhibition has over 100 works that celebrate Sarah’s achievements. You can see some of her portraits of people including Maud Gonne and W. B. Yeats.
The gallery is also currently hosting an exhibition by the visual artist Brian Maguire called “La Grande Illusion” which runs until the 23 March 2025.
Sign the Petition – Basic Income for the Arts Scheme
Finally, we would remind everybody to sign the petition to retain and expand the Basic Income for the Arts scheme. This scheme is currently running as a pilot project providing 2,000 artists in Ireland with a stable weekly income support. It is a scheme championed by former Minister of the Arts Catherine Martin that supports Ireland’s artists. There is an urgent need to secure the continuation of this scheme, to broaden its reach so it is available to all artists and to ensure it is continued into the future on a permanent basis. Go to the Smashing Times December newsletter to find out more. Read the Smashing Times December Newsletter here
Twas the Night Before Christmas
Finally, enjoy a fun, entertaining reading of the classic poem Twas the Night Before Christmas, performed live in studio by Mary Moynihan. This is a poem of wonder and imagination first published over two hundred years ago and still popular today.
We are attaching the words below for your entertainment.
Smashing Times Monthly Newsletter – December 2025
The December edition of the Smashing Times Newsletter is out now. Check your inboxes if you are signed up (if not, subscribe here, free of charge). The theme for this month is Nature Inspiring Art (Part II).
The newsletter brings you the work of Featured Artist Mary Moynihan, author of novels, poetry, plays, and films, and creator of art and photography. Her four artworks (two photographs, a poetry-photograph hybrid, and a short piece of non-fiction) depict the beauty of Valentia Island and the Swiss Alps, as well as tackling themes of identity, loss, and the transience of life.
Also included are Quotes, Spotsolas: Smashing Times in the Spotlight, 10 We Admire, News from the Network, and Grants and Opportunities. In the Spotsolas section, we outline our plans for Tintreach: The Smashing Times Arts and Literary Journal, the first edition of which will be published on 30 January, 2025, while this month’s 10 We Admire profiles artists such as painter Georgia O’Keefe, poet Mary Oliver, and visual artist Pascale Marthine Tayou.
Read the Smashing Times December Newsletter here
The Night before Christmas
By Clement Clark Moore
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave a lustre of midday to objects below,
When what to my wondering eyes did appear,
But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny rein-deer,
With a little old driver so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
“Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”
As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the housetop the coursers they flew
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too—
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas/ came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”