Eamon Colman at Butler Gallery

The Place of the Hooded Crow, Dreams of Coal provided a wonderful backdrop for a brilliant artist talk/discussion between artist Eamon Colman and the director of Butler Gallery, Anna O'Sullivan. The event took place in the midst of Eamon's latest exhibition, Twenty Eight Acres, at Butler Gallery till the end of the month (July 2023).

Since I wanted to see the show and couldn't get to Eamon's launch a couple of weeks ago, the talk was the perfect excuse to make the road trip to Kilkenny a reality. The conversation was great – frank discussions of the autobiography of abstract art, the gestures of mark making, colour, the importance of feeling, seeing vs looking, and everything else that interests artists and non-artists alike! Afterwards I was able to look around the gallery at the work.

Echo from Time was the largest piece in the exhibition at approximately 3m x 3m ; this piece was begun in 2017 and completed in 2023. While I have been familiar with Eamon's work for over 30 years, it is always a joy to see he and his work can still surprise me. 

There were several diptychs and Eamon revealed how they evolved. Certainly both the fragility and the resilience of the handmade paper mirrors that of the human body. On close inspection the viewer can see how each half of the diptych yearns to get closer to the other half; there is both a gentleness and a strength in the materials. Colman's vibrant marks and gorgeous colour are simply teeming with life; energy abounds!

The Wind Had a Skin on It, mixed media on paper, diptych, framed size 101 x 251 x 5.5 cm. 2019-2023

For this exhibition, filmmaker Kevin Hughes followed Eamon working in his studio and on his walks of the 28 acres (an old mining site that has been wildly rejunevated by nature). The film A man - A place was showing in The Digital Gallery upstairs, so I saw part before and part after the talk. Even though I have known Eamon since 1988 the film offered insights into his process that were never articulated to me before.

Apple Howling, mixed media on paper, framed size 76 x 96 x 5.5 cm, 2020-2023

At one point during the artist talk, Eamon spoke about how titling a work offered the viewer a path into the abstract work and yet each work was also open to the viewer's own interpretive response. I agree wholeheartedly with the use of a title and how it can also be an integral part of the visual work's storytelling.

The Miners Nest Sits Precariously Above the Imagination, mixed media on paper, framed size 76 x 96 x 5.5 cm.2019-2023

Ecclesiastic ruins

The days are still gorgeous here at home, but I am so glad they were amazing while on Easter break, and especially for the little sojourn down to Waterford and surrounding area. On the leisurely way back home, the first stop was Jerpoint Abbey, County Kilkenny. This was a ruin I had seen pictures of and was meaning to visit for a long time, but never found the opportunity. It was originally founded for the Benedictine order in 1158 AD but became a Cistercian abbey by 1180 AD.

It is a well-kept OPW site with information displays in the small visitor centre and an additional museum style room containing items that were found on site and further didactics.

The colonnaded cloister area was beautifully decorated with carvings on all window columns.

One of the didactics claimed that it was against their order for the Cistercian monks to live in highly decorated surrounds. As there were carvings everywhere and evidential remnants of frescoes on the walls, the monks here must have been a rebellious lot!

Continuing along the road home, we were going through the town of Gowran (also in Kilkenny) and happened upon this ecclesiastic ruin, so stopped to take a look at St. Mary's Church, originally built around 1275 AD.

My monuments book talks about how the decoration here contrasts to Cistercian building, but as I said above, Jerpoint Abbey was quite decorated, and certainly would have been anything but austere in its heyday!