Irish artists in Welsh showcase

Four Irish artists are currently taking part in a group show in Wales this month as part of a promotion of Irish arts globally throughout 2022.

The exhibition, Cape Sacred, at the West Wales Arts Centre in Fishguard, features new work from artists who are from or are living in Wexford: Helen Gaynor, Mary O’Connor, Ciaran Bowen and Hanneke van Ryswyk, who is Welsh-Irish.

Cape Sacred references the geographical closeness of both Wexford and Fishguard. Historically, Carnsore Point in Wexford was considered the closest Irish landfall to Fishguard, and was called Cape Sacred on the second-century map of Ireland by the Greek cartographer, Ptolemy.

This is the first Cultural Ireland project with a Wexford-Wales connection since Brexit. “While Brexit continues to shape relationships on both sides of the Irish Sea, the arts can reconnect our economies and communities,” said Tom Mooney, curator. The exhibition is a joint endeavour by the West Wales Arts Centre and Wex-Art.

The artists:

Helen Gaynor

From Wexford, Helen Gaynor has worked in music and education, graduated from NCAD in Fine Art, Painting and also from UCD with a Masters in Creative Writing; Helen has a Higher Diploma in Digital Media Design from Carlow IT.

Her creative practice has involved several art forms, including musical improvisations, mixed media pieces and work with text, as well as a dedicated practice in paint. Multiple bursary recipient, Helen has been working since 2018 on a body of paintings, broadly defined as The Wilderness Paintings, which segued into the work undertaken in Lockdown. A collection of poetry The Journeywoman’s Apprenticeship, tales from the road is ongoing.

Helen has written a recorder tutor, a short screenplay, has co-curated an exhibition with Catherine Bowe on the scope of painting by artists with Wexford connections, and has been highly commended for the Gregory O Donoghue International Poetry Prize. Her recent publication A Wilderness of My Own tracks her creative journey over the period of restricted living due to Covid 19.

Solo shows include Wexford Arts Centre; Invited artist at Eigse, Carlow; Garter Lane, Waterford; the Hallward Gallery, Dublin; Newtownbarry House, Bunclody; Peyriac de Mer, France and the Creative Hub, Wexford. She has exhibited in group shows at Velletri, Italy; The West Wales Arts Centre at Fishguard and Art from Small Nations at Machynlleth, Wales. 

Hanneke van Ryswyk

Hanneke van Ryswyk is a Welsh-Dutch visual artist now living on the Wexford coast. Hanneke has held six Irish solo exhibitions since moving to Ireland in 2011 and has been selected to exhibit in the UK, Ireland and Australia. She has been awarded residencies at Cill Rialaig, The Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Kultivera, Tranås, Sweden as well as Visual Arts Bursaries by ArtLinks in 2014 and 2019. Her work can be found in the Office of Public Works Ireland and Wexford County Council collections. Hanneke paints the natural world, its vulnerability, beauty, and the effects of extreme weather on land and sea. She paints imagined lands and seas, with an abstracted aesthetic and sensitivity, working in a series of layers responding to each as they evolve.

Ciaran Bowen

Ciaran Bowen is a visual artist working and living in Wexford. He achieved his BA (Hons) in Fine Art from WCSAD in 2015.  He has exhibited his work nationally and internationally: (2022) RHA Royal Hibernian Academy 192^nd Annual Exhibition, Dublin, (2022); A Slight Hiccup, France, (2021); Playroom-Zaandam Group Show, The Netherlands, (2021); Yellow Archangel Lincolnshire, (2021); Without Borders  travelling show, Wales, USA, Canada and Japan, (2020); Beep Painting Biennial, Wales, (2020) and Wells Contemporary Somerset (2020). He was a recipient of the Making and Momentum: In Conversation with Eileen Gray Artist Prize (2022) as well as the Artlinks Bursary Award (2022). His work is also held in public and private collections including Carlow IT (2015), Wexford County Council (2019) and Wexford Arts Centre (2018 and 2021).

Mary O’Connor

Mary O’Connor is an artist from Wexford living in Dun Laoghaire. Mary studied at TU in Dublin, Chelsea College of Art, London, and in New Zealand. She lived in Belize and Kazakhstan before repatriating to Dublin in 2014. Throughout her life Mary has experienced much flux and flow. This has had a huge impact on her work. Mary makes paintings, screen prints, and large-scale wall murals as well as a recent departure into sculptural installations influenced by many vast landscapes she has encountered. These works are flat and gestural with recurrent shapes, forms, and layers of colours that emerge as abstract compositions. The works are made using bold abstract geometric designs and a strong colour pallet. Mary has exhibited regularly in group exhibitions including the Royal Academy London Summer Exhibition, RHA Annual Exhibition in Dublin, RUA Annual Exhibition in Belfast, Impressions Galway and Cairde, The Model Sligo. Her work is included in many public and private collections including The Office of Public Works, The Environmental Protection Agency, Devlin Hotel, Dean Hotel’s Cork and Galway, and the Holles Street Hospital Collection. Mary received the Galway City Council Purchase Prize at Impressions 2019, and was commissioned to make work for DLR Artworks Home, supported by The Arts Council in 2020. She received an Arts Council Agility Award in 2021 and 2022. Mary is a member of Black Church Print Studio.