Artists put work in the shop window

With little opportunity to exhibit their works publicly, a group of local artists have literally taken to putting their work in the shop window.

Many of the artists to exhibit at the former bookshop Crannóg are involved in the Moth Studio drawing groups. In ordinary times the welcoming group met every Tuesday to draw or paint mainly portraits in a nurturing environment.

A relative gave Paul Connolly the opportunity to display his work in the shop window on Church Street, and he spread word of the showcase to his artist friends.

“Artists don't get an awful lot of chances to show their work – I thought it was a good idea to expand it out as much as possible. And there has been a very good response.

“We will have a group exhibition over Christmas from December 21 for two weeks.”

Paul has a couple of dozen artworks on display. While he starts off in creating an image in a conventional way with paint on paper, he develops the image using digital editing tools.

“I photograph it and digitally manipulate it, to brighten it up if you like. The digital print is the finished product – the original would look quite different,” he explains.

Paul volunteers that he is drawn to using bright colours and suggests: "It's no harm in Covid times to brighten things up a bit.”

Actually the coronavirus has understandably crept into his work. The Celt admires his abstract take on the molecular structure of the coronavirus - it's like the fading memory of a neon sign, suggestive of our dying social life.

He explains: “I would be into taking ideas from contemporary situations and try to express something artistic about them.”

After Paul, the artists to display are: Liam O'Reilly (November 2), Sharon Mundy (November 9), Eliza McEvoy (November 16), Marilyn Gaffney (November 23), Daniel Downey (November 30), Eimear Crowe (December 7), Paul Galligan (December 14), Moth Artists (December 21). Photographer Hu O'Reilly will display some of his photos of the 365 lakes of County Cavan from January; and Laura Brady rounds it off (January 18).

For further information on Paul Connolly's work, call: 087 9356 756.