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Synergy in ‘Desert to Sea' exhibition linking West Cork and Arizona

July 9th, 2016 7:15 AM

By Southern Star Team

Majella O'Neill-Collins lives and works on Sherkin

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An exciting new exhibition by artists Majella O’Neill Collins and Joan Maureen Collins will run at Inchydoney Lodge and Spa Hotel from July until October.

AN exciting new exhibition by artists Majella O’Neill Collins and Joan Maureen Collins will run at Inchydoney Lodge and Spa Hotel from July until October.

The exhibition, entitled ‘Desert to Sea’ begin on July 26th and is the first of two joint exhibitions by the artists, with the second set to run in Phoenix, Arizona, next year. The artists will be present at an opening reception at the hotel on July 26th from 11am-1pm. 

The collaboration came about when Joan, who is from Cave Creek, Arizona, attended The Sherkin Art Workshop on Sherkin Island in West Cork, run by international artist Majella and interior designer and colour consultant Cora Collins. Majella and Joan discovered a unique synergy in their work, which sparked this collection. ‘Desert to Sea’ explores the balance of elements in nature.

Majella is from West Cork and now lives and works on Sherkin Island, having studied at Limerick School of Art and Design. Her work has been exhibited as far away as Rome, Zurich and Australia and is also represented in many public and private collections in Ireland, Europe, the United States and Australia including those of actors Jeremy Irons and Sinéad Cusack and George and Amal Clooney.

The exhibition harnesses Majella’s sea and shoreline abstractions and Joan’s contemporary interpretations of earth, water, and sky.  The glowing power, great intensity of vision and vibrant colour of Majella’s palette is harmonized with the heat and fieriness in Joan’s bold and dreamy strokes. It is as if both artists brushed these intrinsic elements of nature; desert, sea, land, and sky on canvas, resulting in dramatic and captivating images.

Her long experience of studying the shoreline, the sea, and the weather conditions, skies, and clouds associated with them, is combined with structural approaches, qualities of light and colour, and new levels of directness, simplification, and abstraction.  Colour continues to play a central role in Majella’s work. Her palette is free and broad, and colours are built up in the traditional method of layering. Majella is clearly emotionally drawn to the sea and her paintings communicate its power to reinforce, challenge, and change people’s emotions.

For additional information please contact Eileen Sheppard at 023-8821104 or [email protected].

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