Hamilton Gallery countdown to our St Brigid’s Day exhibition at 12 Star Gallery, Europe House London, is underway.

The exhibition will open to the public from January 23rd and run until February 1st, St Brigid’s Day, and it is part of the Irish Embassy in London’s St Brigid’s Day Celebration of Women and creativity.

In the run up to our opening night in London we bring you a daily blog with a selection of the 90 works by Irish women artists that will be shown at the exhibition.

We will include interviews and insights from the artists involved as well as other news and developments relating to events at the 12 Star Gallery in London which will occur in compliment to the exhibition.

Tonight our artists are Alison Pilkington, Paula Pholi, Fiona Power, Sarah Quick and Maureen Quinn.

We also include the poem “Obituary for Leland Bardwell” by Leland Bardwell. Leland’s poem “St Brigid’s Day 1989” was circulated to all participating artists as the thematic inspiration for the exhibition.

Alison Pilkington: Alison Pilkington holds a PhD in painting.  She was a prize winner at Royal Academy Summer Show London 2012, selected for the Marmite Painting Prize, London 2012 and 2016.   Prizewinner at the Artslant International Jurors Award in Dec 2013.

 References to paintings from different periods of art history frequently come through her paintings as well as classical portraiture, landscape painting and the sublime. The paintings are frequently charged with a visual tension and are both humorous and unsettling

Paula Pohli a Dubliner, lives in Mayo. She makes hand-burnished Lino cuts in limited editions since 1990 and paints in egg tempera. Paula held 8 Solo shows & 3 Print Presentations in the USA, 2012. Her prints appeared in 27 International Print Biennials.

“Memento Mori, Brigid is a lino cut mounted on canvas. It connects to the world of Grunewald's Crucifixion. The suffering behind the beauty of a St Brigid's cross inspired this work.”

Fiona Power: Born in London of Irish parents, Fiona moved to the North-west of Ireland when she was 12. Fiona has lived in West Cork for 25 years, where she paints from her studio overlooking Dunmanus Bay inspired by the changing light of the landscape.

 “The strong stone wall guides the viewer’s eyes towards the figures on the shoreline, also dividing the warmth and stability of the road (representing the past) against the cool and changeable water (representing the fluidity of the future).  The warm clouds of the evening sky against the bare winter trees signal the end of winter.”

Sarah Quick: Sarah Quick is a Canadian-Irish Artist. She studied Fine Art at Mount Allison University and was awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Grant. She lives in the Burren, Co. Clare.

 “An Talamh represents generations of women who, in their struggle, have claimed new ground for those coming after. The painting is the artist’s hand in the clay of her craft.”

Maureen Quinn: I am originally from Ballinasloe, Co Galway and now reside in Sligo.  Holy icons spoke to me like no other art form as a result of my visits to museums and churches in Greece, Italy, Bulgaria and Russia.  Ì answered the call, learned from the most eminent and exhibited in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, Derry and Hyde Bridge Gallery, Sligo.

 History tell us that St. Brigid was an inveterate traveller around Ireland, driven by her faith in God and love for the poor. That image of an all action woman, contrasts with my icon depiction of her in quieter moments, which in contemporary parlance would be referred to as being in the now.