The NorthWest Artists have moved

Hi Everyone

Just to let you know that the NorthWest Artists Blog has moved to

http://www.nwag.ie

Click on the link to checkout all the latest updates.

NorthWest Artists Web Updates

Several of Thomas Sheridan paintings are reproduced in full color in a recently published book

Lisa Caughlin Bond has relaunched her site:

Thomas Sheridan now has a Facebook group:

Stephen Bennett also has set-up a Facebook group:

Kathy O'Leary - NorthWest Artist Profile

Artist's Statement

I’m an interactive multidisciplinary visual artist with a disability, working in mediums such as paint, charcoal, paper, print, film, photography and Photoshop. My studio-based work reflects how I collect and collate imagery using many different mediums. I use different subject matters from found objects in nature i.e. shells on a beach, to creating paper sculptures with form and linear in mind and also making drawings, paintings to then editing these in Photoshop.

My intention is to create layers upon layers and build up imagery throughout this way of working. These become abstract, often sculptural, 2D images once edited in Photoshop.

skin tones series 3 lambda digital print 594x841cm

'spacial 2' oil painting

These layers help me to conceptualize the idea that life is based upon many layers, each layer is made throughout different stages of the process.

Sculptural layers, lambda digital print

This makes the process of each layer very important to the final piece of work and also generates each piece of work as equally unique.

Compositional Lambda digital print 841x594cm

I have chosen to create digital images because they can be layered in a way that reflects the layers of changing culture, society, history, geology and politics. I build layers that intermingle creating a subtext for those layers of life. Like life, you never know what will happen next and that is how I use whatever medium I’m working with. And so is life, seeming to be linear in content but obviously more cyclical, alternating, flowing, and random.

Shell Galore Lambda digital print 841x594cm

I never know how these pieces will be resolved or what the end-product will be since they are not planned. This compels me to put myself in an explorative mode, employing the abstract space to create a pliable structure for intuition, improvisation and chance. Connecting paper fragments together through collage, drawing in delicate, intricately marked layers and detailed symbols, printing and cutting paper have become my methods for navigating the blurry terrain of memory and imagination. I often find myself teetering on the brink of what is too much and what is not quite enough. I think about tracing and retracing paths, and how doing that makes them known and familiar. I think about how things layer and get all tangled up. Spending time constructing the small parts that accumulate to create a large work, I find a meditative possibility in working with my hands, creating a closeness and “depth of value” for me. Painting through staining, seepage, and absorption becomes a metaphor for the fluidity of remembering, mimicking the geologic layers that constitute memories. Mapping serves as a metaphor for searching, an implication of the unknown in wide, open spaces, and a trace of how we see where we've been.

Shell Galore Lambda digital print 841x594cm

Ode to Grandmother lambda digital print 594x841cm

"Chiaroscruo" - Exhibition by Heidi Wickham

Tom Conneely - NorthWest Artists Group Profile

The main influences on Tom’s work are the sky, land and water and how light interacts with each, whether breaking through clouds, highlighting the countryside or reflecting on water.

Sligo has been Tom’s home for the past 25 years. It’s natural, then, for him to use the west coast as inspiration for his oil paintings, mostly capturing the effects of the rising and setting sun on this varied background of sea shore, lakeside and captivating, diverse land.

The moments he values most are when rays of sunlight glance through overcast skies, with the subsequent interplay of color, light and space on the clouds and landscape. This shifting light and variety of moods give him no end of possibilities and motivation to interpret something new from what he sees around him every day, to turn paint into images that constantly challenges him and to convey how it feels to be there at that time.

His work is mostly held in private collections, mainly in Ireland and the UK, including that of the Polish Ambassador to Ireland and Mark Feehily from Westlife. His recent exhibitions were as part of a group show of Sligo Artists titled Art, Land of Heart’s Desire at Gallery Zozimus, Dublin and as part of a group show at Lissadell House, Sligo.

www.tomconneely.com

Tranquil Inlet

30.5cm X 40.6cm

Atlantic Force
40.6cm X 50.8cm

Flash Fog
30.5cm X 40.6cm

Gentle Slopes
35.6cm X 45.7cm

NWAG Ireland on Facebook

Check out our new Facebook page NWAG Ireland and become a fan.

NWAG IRELAND link

Artists Profile- Maria Noonan-McDermott

If you learn to see beyond the mundane, you expose yourself to all the wonders of the world. A child's tears, a mother's gentle kiss, a lover's touch - we never have to look too far...

'My paintings explore these everyday ordinary things that most people take for granted, and strive to recreate these images of beauty onto canvas.'

Maria's work is a reflection of the way she views life. It is about searching for the ultimate statement through colour and form, revealing the inner soul we all possess, spiritual and mysterious.

Her fascination with people, their traits, character and interactions is echoed in her work through her characteristic use of colour and texture. Her style is distinctly recognisable as she paints with knife, confidently applying layer upon layer, enhancing the quality of light and movement and allowing the texture of the paint to play a key role in the structure of her work.

She currently works from her studio in Co. Leitrim. She has been painting for over twenty years and has contributed successfully to many gallery and public exhibitions throughout her career.

Maria's work is highly original; her creative and imaginative one-off pieces ensure her reputation for innovative and inspiring artwork that is eminently collectable and truly unique.

Her paintings reveal the hidden depths around us, and exhibit a lasting appeal and enduring interest through their subtle complexity of colour, texture and content.

On show, her paintings demand attention, grip the imagination and reward the curiosity of our senses.

Web: http://www.voiceboxartgallery.com
Art Blog: http://www.voiceboxart.com