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 Trudie Mooney, Póilín Mc Gowan, Margo McNulty, Catherine Mc Williams and Sinéad Ní Mhaonaigh.

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

Trudie Mooney

I was born in Brighton in 1961. After graduating and spending time in London and Barcelona I moved to Ramelton, Donegal in1993.  I currently live and work near Claremorris, Mayo.

 “St Brigid's cloak is a symbol of female strength and perseverance.  The ongoing elevation of women in our society has reached a level that our great grandmothers could only aspire to, but which is within reach for our daughters.’

Póilín Mc Gowan: Born in Co. Sligo where she still resides, Póilín draws inspiration from her surroundings of Maugherow’s Wild Atlantic Way, where Leyland lived her final days. She creates semi-abstract oil and encaustic wax paintings of the sea and local landscape.

“Ready for Gathering’ is created using encaustic wax and mixed media to capture the scene of an untouched reed bed, waiting to be picked. The pagan festival (Imbolc) marks the beginning of spring, I wish to convey the romantic content symbolising women’s hardships, camaraderie and strength, of what is to come, all of which Leyland Bardwell passionately writes of.

Catherine McWilliams: The Mourne and Cooley mountains dominated my world as a child but growing up and living in Belfast, it’s surrounding hills that speak to me.  In the dark days of the seventies my paintings were of figures in bleak oppressive landscapes. But in the eighties in the all woman show Pandora’s Box my Pandora was the hopeful figure temporarily trapped in the box.

Here Young Bridget walks freely and happily amongst the rushes that grow in my local Waterworks park.