ARTS: Wood on the walls of Belmullet
A NEW exhibition of mixed-media (painting and collage) work by Westport-based artist Marie Wood is opening in Aras Inis Gluaire, Belmullet on Friday, January 26, at 7pm. Entitled ‘Solas Draiochta Mhaigh Eo’ (‘Mayo’s Magic Light’), the show includes many works that reference Belmullet, and all are rooted in Mayo.
Marie Wood studied and trained in Birmingham, and then worked in art education in both Birmingham and Cumbria for nearly 20 years. She has been working as a professional artist for 23 years and has been living in Mayo for almost ten, having moved from the UK. She has exhibited widely in public and commercial galleries throughout Scotland, England and Ireland.
Her first solo exhibition was in the National Gallery of Scotland, Duff House, and twice she has exhibited works at The Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh.
“My work is a distillation of the spirit of the Mayo landscape, revealing a sense of the extraordinary, looking past the obvious and capturing the fleeting magical light,” the artist explains.
The land/seascape images are all mixed media painting/collage which cast a fresh eye on the visual riches of Mayo, in all its drama and moods. Energy and passion are a constant presence throughout the work.
“I delight in the pleasure of seeing,” Marie says, “being totally in tune with my surroundings, and somehow trying to find the right alchemy between the medium, the subject and the moment.
“My camera is my sketch book, and the photographs I take are often the starting point for working, influencing composition and colour of each new piece. I am not interested in portraying a likeness but want to create something which represents the total experience and excitement of that place, at that time.
“I use prepared experimental painted and printed papers that create an unusual palette of textures and colours, these materials throw up unexpected pathways into the work. When applied, they take on a life of their own, creating a new order, an equivalence, which invariably develops its own dynamic aesthetic beyond the initial photograph, often more abstract, but beating to the time of the initial idea.”
Marie is excited to be the first artist showing in the Aras Inis Gluaire exhibition programme for 2024. One of the exhibition’s highlights will be a recently completed painting of Blacksod Lighthouse, which includes a portrait of Maureen Sweeney. Sadly, Maureen died recently at the age of 100. She has been feted for her famous D-Day weather forecast which resulted in the Normandy Landings being postponed for 24 hours, thus changing the course of the World War II. This work is an homage to her.
Val Rogers, retired rector, Westport, will be guest speaker at the official opening of ‘Solas Draiochta Mhaigh Eo’ on January 26. The show will run Aras Inis Gluaire until March 8.