Ballydehobs Ayelet isnt letting Lymphoma stall her creativity

Ayelet Lalor: An ‘Auction for Ayelet’ will take place in Levi’s Bar in Ballydehob at 3pm on Sunday, August 30th.

BY JACKIE KEOGH

AYELET Lalor is an artist fighting Double-hit Lymphoma, but she is not doing it on her own – her artistic friends in West Cork are raising funds to add a workspace in her garden so that she can be creative in her recovery.

As the daughter of Brian and Clair Lalor, Ayelet (41) was inspired to be creative during her formative years growing up near Ballydehob and she succeeded in making a name for herself in the art world.

Her ceramic images of women are all exotic, beautiful and captivating – rather like the artist herself.

When Ayelet went into St James’s Hospital in Dublin on March 19th for tests, she was diagnosed with Double-hit Lymphoma and since then has undergone two courses of chemotherapy, as well as radiation therapy, and now she is receiving a bone marrow transplant.

This is where her friends have stepped in. The have organised a “Lymph Chic” fundraising campaign on Facebook and a great number of the region’s finest artists have submitted work for inclusion in the Auction for Ayelet event that will take place in Levi’s Bar in Ballydehob at 3pm on Sunday, August 30th.

One local artist explained that the artistic community in West Cork, as well as Ayelet’s friends in Dublin, are ‘delighted to have the opportunity as a community to create a small sunroom in her garden where she can recuperate and paint. Surrounded by light, air and greenery, it would also serve as a studio in which to work and make an income once she has recovered.’

When she became ill, Ayelet was forced to close the ceramics workshop and studio she had for the last 16 years, because the dusty environment makes it an impossible place in which to work.

Her friends are also mindful of the fact that the State provides no support for self-employed individuals who are unable to work.

Anyone who knows Ayelet will not be surprised to learn that she has retained her optimistic and positive spirit. She is moved, too, by the generosity of spirit emanating from her old stomping ground in West Cork.

Any artist who would like to submit work for the auction can contact Leda May on 028 37654 and 087 6274201. There have been so many generous offers already that the organisers of the auction would like to point out: ‘We need buyers too.’