Offaly based artist to host exhibition and aid Family Carers

A RAHAN based artist will host an exhibition of her works entitled “Finding Joy” in the Central Library, Tullamore from next Monday, December 5.

All the paintings will be for sale with 20 per cent of the proceeds going to the local branch of Family Carers.

Speaking to the Tribune this week, the artists, Catherine Leavy Hickey said “growing up in the countryside in the midlands has given me a deep appreciation of landscape, nature and authenticity.”

Since her childhood Catherine has liked to draw and paint. “One of my early memories is of my father bringing home art paper, pencils, crayons and a compass. I remember him sitting down at the kitchen table and showing my brother and I the different ways we could use the compass to draw. I can still remember the feeling of excitement and happiness as I coloured in the resulting flowerlike designs.”

She added: “I appreciate all genres of art but have grown to appreciate the expressionist work of American Mark Rotko and Dublin-born Sean Scully. Growing up, I have always been inspired by the impressionist movement and those who laid its foundations as well as post-impressionists Cezanne, Gauguin and Van Gogh together with Irish counterparts such as Roderic O’Conor and Paul Henry.”

Catherine's career path in life led her to study Visual Communications and become a Graphic Designer - a profession she worked in for 19 years before making the decision to stay at home fulltime to raise her family.

In recent years, she has gone back to study in the areas of digital media, management and innovation.

“However, my lifelong interest in art and painting has led me to explore more what has previously been a hobby. The result is this, my first exhibition of artwork entitled ‘Finding Joy’. The work was created this Summer, 2022. Although creating it came in the aftermath of having processed a very difficult experience, I feel it holds relevance for all of us post pandemic.”

‘Finding Joy’ provides an escape from the often mundane realities of everyday life but conversely, joy is often found in the mundane.

Catherine classes her current work as abstract expressionist. She added; “My intention is, firstly, to experiment with colour. The subject matter is secondary. I currently work in acrylic limiting my palette to black, white and three other colours (cyan, magenta and yellow), mixing them to achieve my desired colours. This provides an element of challenge. The subject matter is abstract flashes of fleeting memories: a lemon sitting beside a lime in the fruit bowl in the kitchen, a gourmet icepop enjoyed on holidays, a fox dashing across the road glimpsed while driving home at night. I like to use rough brush strokes going in different directions in an attempt to give depth to the work.”

All are invited to attend the exhibition during normal library opening house.