Heinrich Böll Association announce purchase of artist's cottage on Mayo island

The Achill Heinrich Böll Association have announced that they have completed the purchase of a cottage on the Mayo island which they plan to turn into an artist's residence.

Last year, the Achill Heinrich Böll Association launched a campaign to raise funds for the purchase and renovation of the cottage in Dooagh on Achill Island owned by acclaimed Irish artist Camille Souter.

The English born artist lived in the cottage on Achill Island from 1958 into the early 1960s and on a permanent basis from the 1980s until her death at the age of 93 in March 2023. Previous to this she lived in London, Italy as well as her childhood home in Co Wicklow.

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The market value of the cottage was set at €200,000 and speaking at the opening of the Heinrich Böll Memorial Weekend in Achill on Friday evening, Kathleen Smyth, Chairperson of the Achill Heinrich Böll Association announced that they have successfully reached their goal to purchase the cottage.

“I am now thrilled to announce tonight that we have successfully reached our goal in securing the cottage to ensure that Camille's legacy endures. The cottage will soon be revitalised and transformed into a vibrant artist residency in Dooagh.

“We received donations from individuals from €20 to up €25,000 and from foundations and companies, separate donations from €10,000 up to €40,000. We received donations and gifts of artworks from visual artists and all have a strong admiration and affection for Camille Souter and for the works she created and for her encouragement and support she foisted for younger artists. These gifted artworks were sold at auction as part of the fundraising efforts for purchase of the cottage.

Generous contriubtions

“Thanks to generous contributions from individuals, Camille's friends, her family and associates here in Achill Island and beyond. We are deeply grateful for this incredible support,” she explained.

Camille Souter was widely admired by generations of Irish artists, writers, poets and critics alike and was the recipient of numerous awards and honours including doctorates from UCD, Trinity College and the Sustained Contribution to the Visual Arts Award from IMMA. She was also the founding member of Aosdána and has inspired generations of Irish painters.

A number of fundraising efforts were staged last year including the staging of 'Illumination' , a concert by Kathy Fahey, performed by Choral Symphony West with soloist Patrick Quinn in Achill

Ms Smyth thanked and highly commended the work of the fundraising sub committee which consisted of John McHugh, Dr Edward King and Ronan Halphin who she said 'oversaw this project from its inception to its present fruition'.

The proposal is to renovate the cottage to establish a funded artist residency in Camille Souter's memory where professional artists will be invited to live and work with financial support for a given period of time.

Renovations

Planned renovations, including roof, chimney, bathroom and kitchen upgrades, rewiring, heating, insulation, cleaning and painting are expected to come to €114,000.

Ms Smyth said that the next stage will be to secure funding to renovate the cottage which is one of the oldest of the original traditional cottages still standing in the village.

“We are in the process of assessing the building and planning the necessary improvement works needed to restore the building as an artist residency.

“We are in a position to apply for Government funding under various schemes, however we will need to raise matching funding for some of these grants. So our fundraising efforts will continue as we aim to restore and renovate the cottage,” she said.