CHRISTINE THERY

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.

christinethery.com

ROHAN REILLY

 
Rohan Reilly is a landscape photographer based in Baltimore, West Cork. He often uses long exposures and inclement weather to create minimal yet powerfully atmospheric images.

He uses smooth compositions, cleanlines, and strong shapes. He likes to minimise scenes and subjects to drawout the essential elements, creating a perspective and mood for the viewer that is unique and compelling. His compositions give the viewer a space to get lost in and reflect for a moment.

He works in black and white, which is the first step away from reality and into an otherworldly atmosphere. His images evoke senses of serenity, solitude, melancholy, hope and wonder, or a combination of these whilst still retaining an earthy and organic feel.

He is widely recognised as one of the best b/w photographers in Ireland and has won many international awards over the last three years consecutively.

rohanreilly.com

PREHISTORIC ROCK ART

by Finola Finlay and Robert Harris

Finola Finlay and Robert Harris are working with the UCC-sponsored Cork Rock Art Group (CRAG) to re-locate and re-record the rock art of Cork and Kerry, with the aim of developing an internet rock art resource.

Finola completed a thesis on The Rock Art of Cork and Kerry in the 70s, and Robert brings expertise in drafting and recording techniques.

Together, they write and produce the blog Roaringwater Journal – a celebration of all things West Cork.

SHARON DIPITY

Sharon Dipity graduated from Goldsmith’s College, University of London, with a B.A. Honours degree in Textiles; and U.C.E, Birmingham with a Post Graduate Certificate in Scenography. She is currently working in the media of painting, drawing and printmaking.

Sharon draws inspiration from the environment: architecture, infrastructure, land and seascapes, often referencing the fairytales of her upbringing.

Sharon has exhibited in solo and group shows in Ireland and Europe, and is currently represented by ‘The Twenty Twenty Gallery’, Cork. Sharon is currently working on an artist commission for the HSE at Blackrock Hall Primary Care Centre in Cork.

2020 Art Gallery

JULIA ZAGAR

 
Based in West Cork I am so stimulated by my surroundings; the intimate and immediate landscapes at my feet, the hedgerows, the empty hillsides and endless rocky shorelines that I explore. I have recently discovered the joys of working with textiles: the combination of colours, pattern, texture, the history and story behind each scrap is meaningful and exciting. Gathering fabric from different sources, I ‘mix’ them together, much like a painter would use paint; layering and stitching, providing depth, tone and shading.

I feel I am ‘painting’ with textiles. The vast versatility of textiles excites me and I revel in the endless possibilities and potential of this great medium. Despite the tactile nature of my medium it is the visual impact of my pieces that stimulates and thrills me.

Mizen Artists

BRENDAN MURPHY

 
“My parents bought my first set of oil paints when I was eight years old and I sold my first portrait at ten. I graduated in philosophy at Cambridge University (1982) where the study of aesthetics allowed me to harmonize what I knew instinctively at the palette with an understanding of figurative art in broader terms. Incorporating metaphor and symbol in my work quickly lead to the use of allegory to develop stories beyond the purely visual.

I was born in Ireland, but moved to the Jura region of France to find inspiration among the forests and mountains of this unique location.

I have exhibited in the UK and Europe and my paintings are currently held in private collections around the world. I love discussing art and new approaches to figurative composition.”

http://brendanmurphy-fineart.com/

ALISON DUCKER

Living Sculpture in Wax and Stone
 
A native of West Cork, Alison has spent a lifetime consumed by art in all its beautiful forms.

At school, art was her main interest but once her education finished she took what could be regarded as a rebellious path; a four year apprenticeship in spray painting and panel beating. This fomented her artistic leanings, gave her an appreciation of the importance of attention to detail, a good work ethic, and the ability to weld.

Subsequently she undertook a course in pottery-making and discovered an inherent love for clay and learnt basic pottery techniques. During the following years Alison picked up more skills in pottery, mould making and sculpting.

In 1995 she returned to West Cork to sculpt in earnest. In 1998 she received her first big commission and the following year completed the critically acclaimed 5′ bronze work. Alison’s artistic career was put on hold due to family commitments for a 14 year period thereafter, but during the winter of 2012 the creative juices started flowing stronger than ever and she set about a body of work which was both mature, intelligent and insightful.

Livingstone Sculpture Studio

DAMARIS LYSAGHT

 
Damaris Lysaght grew up in Doneraile, Co Cork. She studied Fine Art for two years in the Crawford Municipal School of Art in Cork and for an additional two years at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. She was awarded an Italian Government Scholarship to continue her painting studies with the renowned teacher of classical painting Nerina Simi. Since those four years in the Simi Studio she has been painting full time. She moved to Ballydehob, West Cork in 2009.

“The natural world, its richness of colours, textures, light effects, moods and atmospheres is what fires my desire to paint. I work outside directly in front of my subject, usually in oils. It is my way of cherishing and being conscious of our planet’s breathtaking but rapidly diminishing bio-diversity.

I love living in West Cork, I find it an awe-inspiring land and seascape, still relatively unspoilt. Wonderful wild places still remain but it is distressing how rapidly the natural landscape is disappearing before the JCB and the rock- breaker”.

Mizen Artists

HAMMOND JOURNEAUX

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.

She is currently working on “The Burning Garden” with Poet Padraic Fiacc.

Mizen Artists

SOPHIE VAUTOUR

Light Waves

Sophie captures the wind, invites the light, and sketches alongside the rain drops. She seeks to bring closer the image and the world which inspires it. These lines and colours evolve through the day, combining and separating themselves as the weather journeys.

This is her first exhibition.

DIARMUID BREEN

Existing Realities
 
Diarmuid Breen is an artist living and working in Ireland. Diarmuid embraces an extensive range of materials and techniques including mixed media, large canvases, print making.

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

Some of his ongoing work examines the object of work. Using old 1938 photographs from a photo album picked up at a flea market in Belgium, we are presented with the alternative spaces the workers wish to be at rather than tied to their desks.
 
diarmuidbreen.com

MELANIA LYNCH

 
Melania achieved her Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts at Instituto de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago, Chile, in 1996, and a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts and Art Theory escpecializacion in graphics and painting at ARCIS University, Santiago, in 2001. From 2000 to date, she has exhibited her work with the art collective “Caja Negra Artes visuales”, as well as internationally exhibiting her work individually since 1998.

“Qualitas occulta” is an installation consisting of 4 figures made of wood and paper painted in acrylic, and five sentences text-extracts of Friedrich Nietzsche, “On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense” written on wood.

The “bust-figures” are painted like sky, somehow referring to the work of René Magritte.

In both aspects (formal and intellectual) try to talk about language, reality and perception. This work is an exercise of thinking, it is a reflexion of F.N text and the practice of “making objects” or images. It is in a way, a conection between thoughts and images, hiding “truth” through language and creating metaphors as results.

Sarah Walker Gallery

BRENDAN LAUNDERS

 
Brendan Launders has been a Graphic Artist for 25 years. Brendan worked as an artist in France for 10 years before returning to Ireland in 2014 to set up his art studio in Ballydehob, West Cork.

He holds an honours BA in Art History and is passionate about this subject.

TOMA McCULLIM

 

Toma McCullim holds a Masters of Art in Art Process from CCAD in Cork. Her primary degree is from the Sainsbury School of World Art and Museology at University of East Anglia. Most recently she has exhibited as an invited artist at the RHA, and in Beijing as part of Ireland’s Third wave. Her Masters work centered on artworks as anthropology.

She is an artist with West Cork Art Centre’s ‘Arts for Health’ program, bringing her practice into hospitals and day centers to work with elderly people. She teaches art in small classes for all levels from her studio at Lissard. Contact her on 086 669 3037.