KNIGHT GALLERY

From the moment I stepped on the tarmac of Dublin Airport in 2016, I felt the thrill of achieving my lifelong goal of visiting Ireland. I felt I had somehow returned to a place I had known from a time before, maybe a lifetime before. Soon, I was driving (on the left-hand side of the road) through Ireland’s lush countryside. I had never seen so many shades of green! For two short weeks I drove two-thousand miles around the Emerald Isle, taking in as much of the beauty as I could of this magical place. When I returned home, I painted many of the scenes I had passed through. I would return someday.

That day arrived on July 1st 2024. With support from the Faben Artist Fund, I had the opportunity to attend a month-long artist residency at Watershed Studios, just outside of Galway on the west coast of Ireland. The road in front of the residency leads straight into Connermara, a region I had promised myself to return to and paint. And paint I did! Tagged on to the end of my month-long stay were visits to the two countries where my ancestors had lived before emigrating to America, Antrim in the North, and Cork in the South. My paintings are a celebration of the continuously stunning landscape of Ireland, and my ancestral home, a land of friendly, courteous people, with lovely Irish accents, and a culture rich in all of the arts. - Maureen McGarry