'Ramie Leahy is an Irish artist known for his use of color and as a co-founder of the Kilkenny Arts Festival.
Leahy attended primary school in
Kilkenny
Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512.
Kilken ...
and later studied painting and sculpture at various art institutions in Ireland. He received a scholarship to study visual arts in Florence, Italy where he created a series of political works about the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
In 1974, Leahy co-founded the Kilkenny Arts Festival, one of Ireland's first international arts festivals. He was part of the Independent Artists Group in Ireland during this period.
In 1977, Leahy acquired the Dysart Castle, the childhood home of philosopher George Berkeley. He has lectured on Berkeley's history with the International Berkeley Society.
Founding Kilkenny Arts Festival
In 1974 Leahy co-founded Ireland's first, and still most highly regarded, international arts festival,
Kilkenny Arts Festival
The Kilkenny Arts Festival, formally known as Kilkenny Arts Week, was founded in Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1974. It covers a number of art forms, including classical music and performance. Playwright and poet Seamus Heaney gave a reading of some of ...
.
During this period, he was also involved with the Independent Artists Group a group of leading Irish artists including Cliona Cussen, Brid Ni Rinn, George and Justin Laffin, and worked as forward planner for Wexford Opera Festival.
George Berkeley, Philosophy and Dysart Castle
In 1977 Leahy acquired
Dysart Castle
Dysart Castle is a castle ruins and property just outside Thomastown in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland.
History
It is best known as the childhood home of George Berkeley, the Irish philosopher for whom Berkeley, California and ...
and farm, the childhood home of Ireland's most famous philosopher
George Berkeley
George Berkeley (; 12 March 168514 January 1753) – known as Bishop Berkeley (Bishop of Cloyne of the Anglican Church of Ireland) – was an Anglo-Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immate ...
, after whom the University of California is named.
Leahy became an expert in Berkeley's early history and has lectured with the International Berkeley society in Rhode Island, where Berkeley lived in America.
In 2008 he held a music concert at Dysart Castle with acts including John Martyn and