Geraldine O'Riordan Artist

2011 events and exhibitions

Cork Art250 in aid of the Cill Rialaig Project at Ballinskelligs, Co. Kerry.

Corn Market Centre, Corn Market Street, Cork

See link below for information and side bar for my contribution; Killgarvan Road, acrylic on linen.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Art-250/221721547842833?ref=nf

I did a residency at Cil Rialaig in 2007 and it was a wonderful opportunity to escape and indulge in the Irish landscape, for two weeks. The Cill Rialaig Artists Retreat has been an amazing success story and all due to the inspired thinking of Noelle Cambell Sharp.

Below is a link to uTube shots on the Cill Rialaig project 

http://www.google.ie/#q=cill+rialaig+ballinskelligs&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1280&bih=602&prmd=ivns&source=univ&tbm=vid&tbo=u&ei=O4bNTbOnNYyZhQeOhe2GDQ&ved=0CCMQqwQ&fp=b4469143de95cfa3

 

 An t-Éalú

Art Exhibition 

Friday 4th March 2011 

Exhibition opened by

Peadar Ó Riada

Musician & artist

Continues until 2nd May 2011

Ionad Cultúrtha, Baile Mhúirne, Co. Chorcaí. 026.45733. eolas@ionadculturtha.ie www.ionadculturtha.ie

In the recent past my work recorded memories of familiar environments. River Lee Project (2008) was a study on the evolving cityscape against an unchanging backdrop of the River Lee. That unchanging presence inspired thoughts of past generations while I sketched and painted from the quay walls.

In the late nineteenth century my Grandfather and two of his brothers crossed the River Lee in Cork on their way to Cobh. They were blacksmiths from Ballyvourney and were seeking employment in America. Like many Irish who made that journey they found work in Montana. On her visit there in 2006, President Mary McAleese spoke of how tens of thousands of Irish made Montana their home, while “they kept Ireland in their hearts”.

This exhibition records parts of that journey and the landscape and environment that many emigrants had to leave behind. I sought to experience the environment of my ancestors and painted what remains of it today.

 

An tÉalú

 

Le tamall anuas, tá fócas mo chuid oibre dírithe ar thaifeadadh a dhéanamh ar chuimhní na dtimpeallachtaí aithnidiúla. Mar shampla, is éard a bhí i gceist le Tionscadal Abha na Laoi [River Lee Project] (2008) ná staidéar ar dhreach cathrach éabhlóideach Chorcaí, neas-suite i gcoinne cúlra neamh-athraitheach Abha na Laoi. Thug an cúlra neamh-athraitheach sin smaointe ar ghlúine atá caite chun cuimhne, agus mé i mbun sceitseála agus péinteála ó bhallaí na cé. Sin é an spreagadh laistiar den tionscadal reatha seo.

 

Go déanach sa naoú haois déag chonacthas mo Sheanathair ag trasnú Abha na Laoi i gCorcaigh, i dteannta le beirt dá dheartháireacha, agus iad ag gabháil an treo go dtí an Cóbh. Gaibhne dubha ba ea na fir seo ó Bhaile Mhúirne agus é i gceist acu dul sa tóir ar fhostaíocht i Meiriceá. Cosúil le go leor Éireannach a thug faoin turas sin, d’aimsíodar roinnt oibre i Montana. Ar cuairt ann sa bhliain 2006, labhair an tUachtarán Máire Mhic Giolla Íosa ar an tslí inar chuir na céadta mílte Éireannach fúthu i Montana, fad “a choimeád siad Éire go daingean ina gcroíthe".

 

Déanann an taispeántas seo taifeadadh ar chodanna áirithe den turas sin, an tírdhreach agus timpeallacht gurb éigean don oiread sin eisimirceach a fhágaint ina ndiaidh. Theastaigh uaim blúire de thimpeallacht mo shinsir a roinnt mar atá sí inniu, agus an taithí sin a thaifeadadh.

 

Geraldine O'Riordan

 

 

 

 

Plans for 2010

Hello All,

"Backwater Twenty 10" exhibition is currently on at the Crawford Gallery, Emmet Place, Cork. The exhibition runs until 10th April, 2010. I have put up my selected painting on the side bar. Click twice on the image to view in large format.

Ballyvourney is beckoning! So, that is where I will be this Summer. I am looking forward to introducing some landscapes into my portfolio. It is all part of the "River Lee" study, my ancestors and revisitng the past. The work will be for an exhibition at Ionad Culturtha, Ballyvourney, in March/April 2011. 

(Art classes (2 a week) at my studio are ongoing. Anyone interested may email, geraldineoriordan@yahoo.ie)

Modernist Murals

Lately I have been doing some murals on my own house and also a few by commission. Some of the inspiration comes from mid-twentieth century interior design and art. I think they really lend themselves to the modern interiors of today. It's nice to add colour and design as a feature to a room. It can act as a focal point or highlight an architectural feature. The challenge of designing for individual homes is stimulating and it also gives me an opportunity to reflect on my other artwork. 

Take a look at the album on the sidebar!

"Adare and Beyond"

Vault Gallery

Village Hall

Adare

Co. Limerick

22nd November  at 7.30pm

The opening speaker will be Countess Dunraven.

Runs until 6th December 2008

Having been derailed in earlier years by the mundane pressures of life, I now find myself with the luxury of being able to revisit my past.  With the exploration of my past, comes a recognition of the muses that have inspired my work.

Returning to Adare and West Limerick, I realise how this village, and its surrounding landscape, call to mind evocative and beautiful memories from my past.  Among those memories are grazing cattle, the heavy rich soil and the distant haze of the Golden Vale.  The distinctive architecture of Adare village instils a sense of appreciation for a time when life was of a much slower pace.  These memories of the past bring with them a sense of the tangible nature of place, and particularly the tactile relationship connecting the environment with its inhabitants.  Through my work, I endeavour to capture the essence of what that past calls to mind, so that the viewer may experience something  of that special place and time.

In attempting this endeavour, the focus of my work is on cameo images of the unique buildings of Adare and its environs in the Golden Vale.  These are portrayals of the area, as seen through its characteristic colours, together with the moods created by the interplay of light and shadow.

While painting I enter into a mode of recording positive and negative colour shapes, layering the nuances to build up texture and colour.  The experience is one of moving around the painting in a magical flow.  Each brushstroke is an emotional expression of my personal connection with the subject. The secret is to walk away from the painting at the right moment.

As expressed by Antoine de Sainte-Expury:

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

"The River Lee Project" All paintings sold.

(To view paintings click on the album on the side bar on the right).

Most recent exhibition was 15th May to 13th of June 2008. The opening was by Colm Murphy. 

At the Cork City & County Archive 

Seamus Murphy Building Great William O'Brien Street 

Blackpool 

Cork

The work emerged from my experience of Cork City as a lifeworld, and specifically, the changing nature of that lifeworld. The layered unfolding of its landscape, its interaction with the passing of time is one that inspires me. As a painter, I seek to capture the nuances constituting that changing landscape, and thereby bring to mind our past, and the journey that we take with the environment that is our home. As a native of Cork City, I bring a keen sense of the evolving cityscape to my work, and this is represented in my painting. The passing of time brings with it an organic development to the architectural shape and fabric of the city, one that is interwoven into the experience of daily life for its residents. My paintings bring this passage of time to the fore, as represented by the heightened play of light, colour and shadow, calling to mind the transient nature of our experience. 

The River Lee Project has enabled me to explore my vision of the meaning of the cityscape; to explore my understanding of it as a lifeworld. The river - symbolising an essential element of city life - interplays with my vision as a painter; it has become the backdrop against which my sense of the excitement and delight of the City are played out, enabling me to express something of what we are, and the role that our environment plays for us. The solid quay walls tell their own story. They are a stable, solid and unchanging factor. Above them things are happening... 

Through this project I would like to awaken an appreciation for our experience with the environment, evoking a sense of our past and a vision of our future. By choosing to represent experience through representational painting, I am calling on my background as a decorative artist. My prior work was the application of traditional painting methods to the home environment. During the years when I ran this business, my skills as a painter developed, along with the hope of fulfilling my lifelong desire to express my vision through painting. It is my hope that those of you who viewed "The River Lee Project" exhibition will concur.

Biography

I was born and have lived most of my life in Cork. Having initially pursued a career in business the desire to paint has always been there. As the result of doing a residency at the Burren College in 2005 I decided to pursue art as a career. Soon after I acquired a studio at the Backwater Artist Group at Wansford Quay which enabled me to study and sketch the old buildings of the city and the docklands. 

Residencies

2000    Burren College of Art

2002    Moux, France

2005    Burren College of Art

2007    Cill Rialaig

 

Solo Exhibitions

2011    An tEalu, Ballyvourney, Co Cork

2008    River Lee Project, Cork City & County Archive

2008    Adare and Beyond, Vault Gallery, Adare, Co. Limerick

2006    Gallery 44, Cork

Selected Group Exhibitions

2011    Kerry Bike Festival, Siamsa Tire, Tralee    

2007    Cill Rialaig

2008    Lavit Gallery

 

Collections

McMahon Group, Limerick

Fitzgeralds Solicitors

Farmhouse Restaurant, Midleton

University College Cork

Ballymaloe House

Earl and Countess Dunraven

Various Private collections

 

Galleries;

Lavit Gallery, Cork 

Vangard, Macroom, Co.Cork

Email; geraldineoriordan@yahoo.ie