`Hurling is an art form. Just as the artist must first master his materials, and learn the craft before ex-pressing himself in paint or in bronze, so the hurler must learn the skills, master techniques, become a craftsman before developing into a true artist on the playing pitch.
"It is a game of beauty and passion, of style and skill, of stickwork, wristwork and footwork, striking and pulling, side-stepping and doubling on, of ground hurling and high catches, of poetry in motion.
"Some hurl with their heads as well as their hands - brain and skill versus strength and brawn, others prefer the man-to-man aspect - the duel ..."
So reads the introduction to one of the many artistic events taking place in Galway over the next fortnight - an exhibition on the art of hurling in the Kenny Gallery. It came about from a chat about a bronze sculpture by John Behan. The bronze depicted a save made by the great goalkeeper, Sean Duggan, over 50 years ago. The Kenny Gallery decided to invite a group of artists to draw, paint and carve, and generally "capture the magic" of the game.
The response has, the gallery says, been "generous, imaginative and wonderfully skilled, sometimes funny and irreverent".
There is Gertrude Degenhardt's buxomy "hurling queen", Avril Daly's snoozing hurler on the ditch, Dick Donoghue's clever "sunhurleys" in a vase, Tom Mathews's cheeky cartoons, and Paddy Lennon's extraordinary drawings.
There are many more, and the images are available to buy. Opened by Micheal O Muircheartaigh last Friday, it runs in the Kenny Gallery at Middle Street during the Galway Arts Festival fortnight (tel 091-534760).
The festival is set to make mobile communications history, according to one of its sponsors. Eircell is set to become the "definitive" source for all the festival-related information on tickets, performance times and reviews, through its mobile phone text messaging service and the information provided on WAP phones. It has set up a WAP site which will be maintained by a team of writers and programmers with local knowledge. Mobile information experts equipped with WAP phones will be roaming the streets, wearing "Don't Panic" T-shirts. To key in with an ordinary mobile, text messages reading SUB GAF should be sent to 1745. To "unsubscribe", send UNS GAF to 1745.
