Sisters & Friends Art Exhibition November 2021
Ethna, Roisin, Clare and Oonagh first exhibited together in 2015 in the Lisburn Island Art Centre and their show was a sellout. In 2019 they exhibited to great acclaim yet again in Athlone, Co West Meath. This time they have asked some artist friends to join them and they have been thrilled with the response.
All four sisters are Art teachers, Ethna, Roisin and Clare are retired whilst Oonagh continues to work full-time in Athlone. They are all very different in their approach to Art, the way they work with their media, their regime and generally in what interests them or appeals to their sense of beauty. They cannot pinpoint what draws them to what they choose to do and they openly agree that they couldn't do what the other does. They do have a mutual admiration for each other and perhaps it is this that has motivated them in their teaching and in their Art. Their eldest sister, Kate, who died in 2013, was totally passionate about Art and an inspiration to her sisters throughout her life.
The Sisters use a wide range of media, subject matter and skills, and each in their own way create beautiful, colourful, sombre, abstract, figurative, realistic, stylistic pieces.
Ethna has been a professional Artist for many years. She has an amazing sense of colour and great flair for interweaving and manipulating her textile work to create marvellous exotic tapestry-like pieces.
Roisin loves all aspects of artistic expression and she has more recently begun to enjoy her battle with acrylics. Ceramics and sculpture both appear in her repertoire and she often wonders if this would have been the more natural road to follow after retiring.
Clare is a natural designer who sees the world in terms of pattern and shape She is instinctively drawn to a very specific palette of colour which permeates all of her work no matter what subject matter.
Oonagh’s work, draws inspiration from her surroundings in her home town of Moate. She has developed a complex and innovative technique, in which she “draws” with silk threads to depict realism whilst evoking an ethereal, moody atmosphere around her cleverly selected compositions.
Much of their work is rooted in past experiences and childhood memories. Without knowing it they have all been influenced in their styles and interpretations by their mother, Cassie, a fine artist by all accounts. One of her greatest legacies to all ten of her children is her Creativity. It would be fitting, therefore to dedicate the exhibition to her memory.
The gallery will be open from 11am Monday 22nd November with the launch with the Artists at 6pm. The show will run until Saturday 27th Nov.
All welcome.