Category: Artist Archives

My images are the result of my personal struggle to accept and find beauty in my immediate world, it means keeping an eye on the past and recognizing the demands of the immediate. Underwriting everything is a need for discovery and inventiveness. I keep my tools simple; colour, eye, hand and surface, because my interest lies in the one painting I am doing, more than the technique or the business of art.

Historically, I get energy from Pieter Bruegel, the Elder. His images recede into the far distance, giving story upon story beautifully told to the observer. One only has to be familiar with his painting of Golgotha or the frail legs of Icarus the moment before they disappear into the sea, to realize what can be achieved pictorially. True to life, a great drama is woven into a context where any event could happen at any time. The unsought gifts of beauty in the mundane balance the tragic. I come from a school of thought that recognizes the grace of simple pleasures and fears the loss of natural contentment. I look for commonality, constancy and find nourishment in who we are. I owe it recognition.

Why look for truth at street level?

At it’s best, street level is an environment where new ideas and voluntary association can happen. The people in our daily lives who live alongside us without concern for our faults or weakness give us, as we give them, a sense of belonging. With acceptance and co-operation of others, we express our opinions unfettered by our status elsewhere. We enjoy a normalcy that is basic to our personal dignity, to our understanding of family and community. Without civility, the sense of place is impossible. Is your name known? Does anyone inquire about your welfare in your absence? Are you secure that you will accomplish your purpose? Interaction at street level is a powerful good. As witness to societies torn apart by hatred and distrust, I believe we all live with a sense of impending loss. Patterns of successful civil relationship are undermined by fear and accelerated economic change. In lifting up situations that are common, I want to declare their complexity and importance. I want to say ‘instead of loss, this can happen’.

http://www.annmartin.ie

Anthony has been painting the West Cork landscape since he and his family first bought a house near Schull over forty years ago. His mother was an accomplished artist and worked in oils. Anthony works mainly in watercolour and his use of line within these pieces, all created en plein air, show his skill as a draughtsman. Anthony has organised annual watercolour groups in Schull for many years, where practitioners of all levels come together to share their practice. This is the first time that Anthony has agreed to exhibit some of his work.

All proceeds from sales of Anthony’s work at the Aisling Art Gallery exhibition will be donated to ’Music as Therapy International’. Both Anthony’s wife, Katya, and Jo Ashby are trustees of this small international charity.

Christine Thery was born and raised in Hong Kong of mixed Russian, French and Welsh descent. She completed a 4 year degree course at Winchester College of Art where she received her B.A. with first class honours.

On receipt of her degree Christine returned to Hong Kong to live on the outer islands in traditional villages. She became involved in a rural farming project as a photographer, photo journalist, illustrator and artist. Whilst there Christine exhibited mainly drawings in pencil, charcoal and ink.

Christine moved to England and began working as an etcher. Subsequently Christine and her husband moved aboard a boat complete with etching press and sailed to the Caribbean and the USA. Before setting off they first visited Heir Island. A few years later they returned to Heir Island to live. Christine started working on etchings and oil paintings of the islands and island life.

Christine’s work has documented many aspects of West Cork and its islands, the people, buildings, landscapes and seascapes. In time her work will be a remarkable reminder of many dimensions of life in West Cork that sometimes go unnoticed, yet are very special and captivating.

Christine has had solo shows of her paintings at the Morris Gallery in Skibbereen every year since 2002. Her work can be found in many collections both private and public. She also sells from her studio on Heir Island and has recently opened a new ‘studio gallery’.

She can be contacted on 028 38379.

www.christinethery.com

Cormac was born in Cork City, Ireland in 1969, and studied at Sligo RTC from 1987 to 1991. Having acquired a National Diploma in Fine Art he moved to Barcelona, Spain, where he regularly visited the Picasso Art Museum, the Joan Miro Foundation, The Antoni Tapies Foundation and the famous Gaudi buildings. On returning to Ireland he joined other local artists and set up group art studios. He began to exhibit his paintings locally and nationally, and also published art reviews and illustrations in various outlets, including Arts West magazine, Circa, and the Sculpture Society of Ireland newsletter.

Now living in County Leitrim with his family, Cormac has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Ireland, the UK and America. He has had artist’s residencies in Vermont, USA, Cill Rialaig Artist’s Retreat, Co Kerry and at Triskel Arts Centre, Cork, and has received a number of awards for his work.

His art is held in many public collections, and in private collections across Ireland, UK, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, USA, Australia and Japan.

“My work explores the atmosphere of place, usually remote areas marked by the elements. I return to certain images over time, reworking the paint, building it up in layers on the surface. Memory and imagination will mix in the final composition, which I hope captures the essence of a fleeting vision.”

The Aisling Art Gallery is proud to launch an exhibition of Cormac’s work at 7pm on Friday 16th September 2016.

Cormac O’Leary

Dee paints from her studio in West Cork. She works in oils, mainly with palette knife, to achieve texture, tone and depth. A signature theme of her work is the play of light on water.

Large skies, reflected light, cliffs, the changing moods of the coastline, the juxtaposition of the sea and the surrounding landscape, mountains and hidden lakes, bog lands, heather in sunlight – all inspire Dee. Walks on coastal paths looking down on the sweep of a beach at tide’s ebb, or along moorland tracks which lead to distant places provide her with colours and shapes and contours of the scenery that she loves to observe.

Yet she paints from her memories.

Trained in Devon, London and Ireland, Dee has exhibited successfully since 2000, and as well as solo shows has been included in selected group shows in London, Dublin, Cork City and West Cork. Her work is in private collections in Ireland, the UK, mainland Europe, USA, Hong Kong, and South Africa as well as with corporate clients and the Office of Public Works. Dee’s painting ‘Dreaming of West Cork’ is on display in Brussels at the headquarters of Ireland’s representative to the European Union.

http://deepieters.com/

Born in Cork City in 1972, Diarmuid graduated in 2012 from the DIT Visual Art Degree course on Sherkin Island. Living and working in Ireland his art embraces an extensive range of materials and techniques including mixed media, large canvases and print making.

Diarmuid’s landscape paintings reflect the surroundings he finds himself in, be it the Urban city streets of Cork City, the rural landscapes, or the riverscapes where he spends his free time.

diarmuidbreen.com

Born in 1961, Donagh Carey is a native of West Cork, Ireland. He moved to Dublin in 1979 where he worked in advertising as an illustrator and graphic designer for 20 years. He has also lived and worked in Canada, England, France and Spain.

In 2008, he returned to West Cork, where he completed a four year DIT Visual Arts degree course. Graduating in 2012, Donagh was awarded a residency in Cill Rialaig Artist Retreat and has revisited regularly to paint and exhibit.

Since Donagh’s initial residency at Cill Rialaig, the nearby island of Skellig Michael, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with it’s intact monastic Hermitage at the summit, continues to be a source of inspiration for his paintings. He returns each year, finding a different narrative on each visit to inform his work.

Donagh Carey has been the Visual Arts Co-ordinator for the Skibbereen Arts Festival since 2013 and has a consulting role with the recently opened Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen.

His work is on show in public and private collections.

http://www.donaghcarey.com/

Hammond Journeaux, painter and illustrator, was born in 1964 in New Zealand. She was selected for the Whose Day Book, 1999. She represented Ireland European City of Culture, Cork, 2005.

She has exhibited images inspired by “The Lament of Art O’Laoghaire”, permission granted by Thomas Kinsella, which lead to a series entitled “Red Horses”. She designed the cover of Shop Poetry Magazine Spring 2000, from which followed her “Blue Bulls” sequence of work.

Hammond has exhibited in Germany, Spain, England, and New Zealand, and specialises in collaborating with writers and poets. This has lead to numerous literary magazine contributions, Aquarius,Southword, and Force 10, and book covers for Carcarnet publishing house “The Sound of Light” 1999, “The Return of the Cranes” 2002, John Heath Stubbs and Gallery Press “Homage to Gaia” 2008, Sextus and Cynthia” 2009, Derek Mahon and Souvenir Press, “The Little People of Ireland” 2008, Aine Conor, “Listening to One Language” 2010 Sue Toole.

Ian Humphreys lives and paints on Heir Island, West Cork. He was born in Hertfordshire in 1956 and moved to Ireland in 1999. He studied at Exeter College of Art, gaining a BA (Hons) Fine Art Painting in 1979.

Since 1979, Ian has exhibited widely both nationally & internationally, including the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and the Hunting Prize, winning 2nd prize in 1998.

His work is in countless prestigious private & public collections, including The Josef & Anni Albers Foundation, Burmah Castrol, Credit Suisse Societé Generale, Glaxo Smithkline, JP Morgan, University of Cambridge and Allied Irish Bank.

IanHumphreys.ie

Ian studied at St Martins and Goldsmiths London, and spent some years working in architecture and archaeology in Dublin. He moved to West Cork in 1980 and now devotes his full attention to sculpture and drawing.

Ian’s work mainly comprises pieces composed of found objects which he gathers from many sources, especially from the coastline of West Cork. His inspirations are the landscape, seascape and his sense of fun and the ridiculous. Ian is also known for his pen and ink drawings and his maps.

Ian’s work has been exhibited in Wexford, Rosscarbery, Skibbereen, Schull and Listowel. He has work in private hands in Ireland, England, France and Canada. He also regularly exhibits during the annual Wexford Fringe Festival.

His work can be viewed on his Facebook page ‘Sculpture Gallery Leap’, and on his website http://ianmcninch.com

Isabella trained at the Artistic Lyceum in Padova, Italy, where she was also an art teacher before coming to Ireland to marry and raise a family. She returned to her love of art in recent years, focusing on plant and animal life in a unique and vibrant style that reflects her Italian ‘gioia di vivere’.

Janet lives and works near Skibbereen in Co.Cork. Her influences are firmly rooted in the landscape of West Cork, making the often invisible visible or at least allowing the viewer a close-up glimpse, exploring notions of the everyday, the often overlooked and the discarded in her rural surroundings. Subjects such as the spiral rubber marks left behind on the roads by the nightly activity of the ‘boy racers’ or a visit to a fish factory, or a field of maize in winter are all worthy subjects being examined in Janet’s work.

She starts a body of work by spending time researching around a subject. An avid photographer, she catalogues her local landscape and elements within a starting point for her studio practice while at the same time drawing her subjects from like as she feels that this connects the hand to the head and gives her a greater understanding and respect for of the subject matter. Notebooks are also an important part of her practice as she uses these to sketch, write down thoughts, ideas and inspirations as the present themselves.

She works mainly with charcoal on a painted background, building up layers of texture and definition by both adding and erasing tone, deconstructing the painting by scratching, placing marks or paint over the entire piece, reworking the piece until that something magic happens in the translation and the relationship of artist and medium which can surpass the original objective.

https://www.janetmurran.ie/