Two new solo painting exhibitions opening at Mayo gallery

TWO new exhibitions will open at the Custom House Studios and Gallery, Westport Quay, on Friday, April 5, and continuing until April 28.

They feature works by Orla Whelan and Blawnin Clancy.

Coloured by Weather is an exhibition of new work by visual artst Orla Whelan. The exhibition tittle borrows its name from the final chapter in the 2009 book What Colour Is the Sacred? in which anthropologist Michael Taussig considers the western world's complicated relationship to colour, and how this relationship has been explored through literature and philosophy.

This work includes oil paint on linen, and wood veneers on panel.

Working intuitively with a limited palette and the same basic forms, the artist develops a broad range of colours and tones.

Portals and Pilgrims is solo exhibition by Blawnin Clancy, which will be on display in the upper gallery.

Blawnin Clancy’s visual arts practice examines the themes of voyages, discovery and colonisation by exploring the relationship between landscape, memory and place.

Living on the coast of Co. Waterford, the sea connects her to the wider Atlantic and entices her to investigate experiences of seafaring islanders from both a personal and historical perspective.

Her paintings are made using Umton Barvy paints, she applies thin layers of oil paint to gesso primed birch ply, and each fine glaze is further manipulated by partially eroding the surface with sandpaper, blocking out areas with masking fluid and then further layering.