Birr artist launches magnificent exhibition focussing on stunning natural beauty

BIRR artist Chris O'Donoghue last week launched an art exhibition which will without doubt be one of the standout exhibitions in the Midlands region this year.
Chris has produced a series of highly skilful oil paintings, all of them focussing on the stunning natural beauty of the Skellig Islands in Kerry.
The exhibition was officially opened by fellow artist and Birr man John Joyce in Birr Library on Wednesday evening, and will run until the end of January. Several of the paintings have sold already and people are strongly advised to go and have a look before it comes to an end.
Addressing the gathering Chris took us back to the late 1970s in Birr when Carmel Joyce put a notice in The Midland Tribune telling people that she would like to set up an art group and was anyone interested? The response was good and Birr Arts Group was born, eventually flourishing. It welcomed all and wasn't an exclusive group. However, it did attract some very talented artists, including Chris, Alison Rosse and the late Frankie Gallagher. “The group held two major exhibitions every year,” remarked Chris, “one during Christmas and the other during Vintage Week. Members came from the wider Midlands region, including Tipperary, Galway and Laois. It kept going for over two decades until sadly coming to an end in 2000.”
Chris said he returned to Ireland from Britain in 1981 and joined the Arts Group after being told about it by John Joyce. "In Britain I studied the History of Art, Architecture and Religion in Leicester University. Then I did a postgraduate course in teaching in a third level institute in West Sussex. When I returned to Birr I freelanced as a painter for a few years. I did a lot of work for Birr Stage Guild, painting the sets. In '83 to '84 I did a year's study in the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. In 1986 I took up a post as an art teacher in Mt St Joseph's Roscrea which I held until I retired three years ago.”
Referring to his study of architecture in Leicester University, Chris drew our attention to the building we were standing in, which was designed by one of the world's great architects, Augustus Welby Pugin.
The Birr artist's exhibition is called “The Legend of Skellig Michael” and each of the thirteen paintings depict the Skelligs in a number of different moods.
John Joyce, who officially opened the exhibition, pointed out that the stunning, soaring shapes of the Skelligs have an “unworldly” presence. Chris pointed out that when you visit the Skelligs you feel as if you have come to Finisterre, the end of the Earth. The visitor feels he is on a threshold between this world and our next stop - Heaven. He urged everyone to visit the Skelligs, “a very special place,” if we haven't already done so, adding that it should be on our top 10 list of places to visit before we die.
“A month ago,” commented John, “Chris called me and asked me to launch the exhibition. I felt very honoured and could not refuse. Chris and I have been involved in art for a very long time, since the early 1980s when we were both members of Birr Arts Group. It was a great group. There were members from the wider Midlands region. Members included Pauline Wilson, Maureen Good, Frankie Gallagher, Eileen Grogan, Alison Rosse, Gladys O'Meara, Monica Haines and Ebba Hamilton. We put on two large exhibitions, featuring as many as 50 pieces, twice a year, in Christmas and during Vintage Week.
“Chalk, pastille, water colours, Japanese ink paintings - Chris is skilled in these as well. He shows great skill in these mediums. He has the ability to transform features, even such features as nondescript lanes and doorways in towns, and infuse them with a sense of magic.
“In this exhibition Chris has done a wonderful job depicting the unworldly shapes of the Skelligs. He captures them very realistically, with their brilliant summer skies and the sea reflecting those skies, with their many birds. He also evokes the monastic past of Skellig Michael and the spiritual aspect of the place.
“These oil paintings display a great skill in perspective. The viewer feels as if you could fall into the painting, that you could fall into the sea. Without a shadow of a doubt this wonderful exhibition deserves a wider audience.”
The paintings are very reasonably priced and will be on sale in the Library until the end of January. Chris has transposed some of the images onto posters and cards, which are also for sale.
During his speech the artist also recalled a nun and hermit, Sister Monica Clare, who asked him “that after her death her ashes would be brought to the island. Which I did. Thankfully it was a beautiful day as I motored over to the island with the ashes.”