|
|
|
Dorothy
Walker, c. 1960; courtesy Ciaràn Bennett
|
Dorothy Walker (1929-2002)
Dorothy Walker, who died
on December 8 last, was one of the most prominent
and tireless evangelists for the visual arts in Ireland
for much of the past half a century. Her passion and
commitment helped considerably to transform the status
of contemporary art within a culture notoriously resistant
to its charms. Brought up in a family environment
conducive to its appreciation, she studied art at
the École du Louvre in the years after the Second
World War, and was for a time employed there by The
New York Times to work on its cultural section.
She then returned to Ireland to work for the architect
Michael Scott, whose partner in what was to become
Ireland's leading modernist architectural practice,
Robin Walker, she later married. She was manager of
Signa Ltd. an innovative, multi-disciplinary
design practice, and contributed to a variety of international
arts journals down through the years. At various stages
she was art critic for Radio Éireann and the journal
Hibernia, as well as Art Editor of The Crane
Bag and Consulting Editor for The Arts In Ireland.
Her commitment to the thorough integration of Irish
visual culture into a wider international context
led to a long-term involvement with the International
Association of Art Critics (AICA). As President of
the Irish Section of AICA during the 1990s her enthusiastic
encouragement - one might even say, good-humoured
harrying - of any critic with even a passing interest
in the visual arts, irrespective of their backgrounds,
brought a number of interested bodies into the fold
who might not otherwise have presumed to intrude,
the present writer included.
As critic, author, curator,
agitator, committee-server, and general facilitator
of rewarding exchanges between a broad church of kindred
spirits, both at home and abroad, Dorothy Walker was
as generous in her hospitality as she was spirited
in her opinions. She was a founder member of the ROSC
exhibition, which first saw light in 1967, and was
closely involved with its five subsequent manifestations
over the following two decades. During the late 1980s
she was a prime mover behind the establishment of
the Irish Museum of Modern Art and successfully argued
for its location at the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham.
She was a member of the founding board of IMMA, and
continued as a board member until January 2002. She
served on the board acquisition committee 1990 - 2002.
When, in 1972, the National College of Art and Design
was advertising to fill the post of Director it was
entirely characteristic of Walker to write to Joseph
Beuys, one of her touchstones of artistic excellence
and engagement, begging him to apply for the post.
She was subsequently closely involved with attempts
to find an Irish home for Beuys's proposed Free International
University for Creativity and Interdisciplinary Research.
She acted as Irish Commissioner for the Paris Biennale
and her curatorial activities included the organization
of a number of exhibitions of Irish art internationally,
in London and Boston, as well as retrospective shows
for Oisín Kelly (1975) and Patrick Scott (1981). Her
books include a substantial monograph on Louis le
Brocquy, published in 1981, and Modern Art in Ireland,
published in 1997. The latter is a lively, compendious,
informative and unabashedly partisan account of art
in Ireland since the second World War from the very
heart of the Irish art world.
Caoimhín Mac Giolla
Léith is a critic and Lecturer in Modern
Irish at University College Dublin.
|
|
|
photo of Tony O'Malley by
Cornel Lucas; courtesy Taylor Gallery
|
Tony
O'Malley (1913 - 2003)
A brilliant artist, with a
unique vision and one of the major figures in twentieth-century
Irish art, everyone who met him also agrees that Tony
O'Malley was a very nice man. Born in Callan, Co.
Kilkenny in 1913, O'Malley began drawing at an early
age. But Ireland in the 1950s was not an easy place
for an artist to develop his talent: "there was a
general feeling that art or painting didn't matter,"
he once said. O'Malley found work as a bank official
in Ennis, Co. Clare, while painting in his spare time.
He came to art by natural conviction and ability rather
than through the art-school training process, and
perhaps this is one of the reasons that he was able
to develop such a uniquely innovative and personal
style.
Ill health dogged O'Malley
throughout his life, but it was the periods of recovery
which these bouts entailed that gave him the time
and space to further deepen and develop his interest
in art. In the 1950s his work was accepted in several
of the leading Dublin exhibitions, such as the Irish
Exhibition of Living Art. In 1955 he made a trip
to St. Ives in Cornwall on a painting holiday, and
there discovered the freedom and inspiration that
travel would continue to bring to his work. At that
time, St. Ives was the main centre of abstract art
in Britain, and it was there that O'Malley found himself
accepted into a circle of friends who included Patrick
Heron, Peter Lanyon, and Bryan Wynters. While contemporary
British and European trends influenced the development
of his art, O'Malley ultimately remained true to his
own aesthetic, which was located somewhere between
the figurative and the abstract, while being grounded
in the artist's deep love of the landscapes where
he worked.
In 1958 O'Malley retired
from the bank, moving to live in St. Ives in 1959,
although he returned to Ireland every summer to paint.
Reflecting on his decision to become a full-time artist,
with his own studio, O'Malley remarked, "it was all
I ever wanted." In 1970, O'Malley met his future wife
Jane Harris, and in 1974 they began to spend winters
painting in the Bahamas, staying with her family.
Here, the tropical light gave a new brightness of
colour to O'Malley's palette, and a lifting of the
brooding elements which had characterised his earlier
work. O'Malley became a regular exhibitor at Dublin's
Taylor Galleries and 1990 saw the O'Malleys move back
to Ireland, to live in Physicianstown near Callan,
where he continued to paint every day.
|
|
|
Tony O'Malley: Black cat,
oil on paper, 40.5 x 29 cm;
courtesy Jorgensen Fine Art
|
O'Malley at last began to receive
the honours due an artist of his stature. Major exhibitions
were held of his work in 1975 and 1979. He was given
an Irish American Cultural Institute Award in 1989.
In 1993 he was elected a Saoi of Aosdána, an honour
open to only five living artists at any time, and
in 1994 an honorary degree was conferred on him by
Trinity College, Dublin. He received the IMMA/Glen
Dimplex Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, and in
2000 he was honoured in his home town with his cherished
Freedom of Kilkenny.
These awards were presented
in recognition of the dazzling beauty of O'Malley's
work, the dedication he brought to his art and the
independence of his creative sprit. Whether painting
in the Bahamas, Cornwall or Callan, O'Malley's work
was rooted in an experience of the Irish landscape
which transcended the physical space of his works.
The results are some great paintings which will continue
to delight the eye and mind.
O'Malley was a shy man, but
a great storyteller with a wonderful sense of humour.
He was esteemed and adored by his friends, and will
be greatly missed by all who knew him. A generation
of younger artists also have a reason to remember
Tony O'Malley with gratitude as the award which bears
his name has enabled many to broaden and enrich their
own artistic experience through travel.
Gemma Tipton is a
writer.
|
From
CIRCA 102: the first page of Ian Hunter's 'offending
article'; the image is of Dorothy Cross' Ghost
ship, 1999;
photo Kate Horgan; courtesy IMMA
|
 |
Dear Editor
Catalyst Arts surveyed with
some pleasure Ian Hunter's broadside New critical
centres for art in Ireland? in CIRCA 102.
The root-and-branch criticism raised would prove challenging
for any organisation or individual involved in contemporary
art structures. It may seems churlish then to pick
on a single citing regarding Catalyst Arts; however;
an unacceptably incomplete view of Catalyst's role
in relation to urban gentrification was raised which
gives a misleading picture of what has actually been
happening on the ground in Belfast. It is instructive
that in December 2002, the time when CIRCA 102 was
being issued, the Catalyst Arts membership were voting
to leave the 'managed workspace' developed by Laganside
corporation, to find new premises unburdened by Laganside.
This was the culmination of a long period of debate
and consultation engaged in by Catalyst specifically
on the implications and hazards of the 'regeneration'
agenda, which the author would be aware of had he
contacted Catalyst. The use of Catalyst as a cipher
to back up a particular point in the article does
not do justice to the many complex issues around development
and its impact on arts organisations, which would
take an entire article to begin to address.
Catalyst Arts has been attempting
to balance securing its future with maintaining the
integrity of its working methods throughout its dealings
with the development quango Laganside. During this
process Catalyst has not proceeded from any fixed
ideological view, indeed conversely it has utilised
open and responsive dialogue with its members and
other supportive and like-minded bodies as its premise.
If this has involved it in navigating the murky business
of conflicting economic, social and political agendas,
so be it. Catalyst has not proceeded through any of
this 'unwittingly', and any willingness is not provisional
on being co-opted by antithetical bodies or agenda.
Catalyst's credentials in this regard are demonstrated
by its moving to new premises when it became clear
that the overall balance of arrangements were hostile
to the integrity of Catalyst's workings. Catalyst's
membership and committee were flexible enough to deal
with the failure of the calculated risk made in moving
to the temporary managed workspace in October 2001,
and, most importantly, moved swiftly to source alternative
premises once it became necessary.
Catalyst's watchwords continue
to be independence and self-direction, which apply
to its thinking and organisational structure. These
are not just anti-corporate buzzwords, as they apply
specifically to Catalyst's actual role, which is to
facilitate cultural events in Belfast in addition
to acting as a meeting place for cultural practitioners.
Notably, at the very time Catalyst was wrangling through
legal and financial issues it also hosted the Fix02
live-art festival, the largest event of its kind held
in Ireland or Britain in 2002, bringing 32 international
artists to Belfast for an intensive four-day event.
Fix02 was an exemplary event in affirming Catalyst's
commitment to bringing international art work of the
highest standard to Ireland. While the failure of
even CIRCA magazine to cover an event of this calibre
is a missed opportunity for all parties and somewhat
perplexing, Catalyst also refutes the badge of marginality
just as it does running-dog allegations. Undaunted,
the business of Catalyst continues at its current
premises; a down-market relocation perhaps, but the
same ambition of intention and execution as ever -
which constitutes its own integrity.
Catalyst Arts committee
 |
|
Seán
Hillen and Rúán Magan: image from
the billboard
project Focail; courtesy the artists
|
How's the cúpla focal?
Keep an eye on the billboards
in your area around St. Patrick's Day. On March 16,
2003,
...a series of 5 artistic
images will appear on advertising billboards throughout
Ireland for 2 weeks. Their purpose will be to engage
the people of Ireland in a meditation about their
culture, their language and their place in the world.
Each image will have Irish words attached...The words
are as follows:
Tír gan Teanga - A
Land without Language; Bóthar - Road; Mise
Ogigia - I am Ogigia; Mo Ghrá - My love; Géaga
Ginealaigh - The Branches of Ancestry
Behind the project are artist
Seán Hillen, well known for his Irelantis collages
using John Hinde postcards, and documentary maker
Rúán Magan. Funding comes from the Arts
Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon and Foras na
Gaelige.
ACNI up, An Chomhairle Ealaíon
down
What a difference a border
makes... There was widespread gloom across the arts
in the Republic before Christmas, as the revenue-grant
decisions from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon
landed like so many scud missiles. Organisations considered
themselves very lucky indeed, in most cases, if their
grant was cut by only 10%.
Meanwhile, the sun shines
in Belfast. Shortly before Christmas the Arts Council
of Northern Ireland announced that it had secured
an extra £18 million in funding over the next three
years. With the new funding, the projected per-capita
spend on arts in Northern Ireland will be £6.45 by
2004/2005. This increase will hopefully remedy Northern
Ireland's poor-last-place positioning with regard
to central-government funding of the arts in the UK.
Of particular note is that
ACNI grants to support individual artists is to be
raised by 100%, from £500,000 per annum to £1 million.
