MARY GEELEHER, a former nurse in University Hospital Galway, is once more at the hospital, not as staff, but as an exhibiting artist, with her show, Symphony of Colour, featuring new and recent works.
Geeleher spent many years working in traditional printmaking, and uses brilliant colour, layering on different plates - a response to her visual observations and fascination with the effects light and the changing seasons have on the Irish landscape.
"I work a lot using carborundum," she says. "I can get lots of tone and velvety finishes with this technique. It gives a very different finish to other types of printmaking. It’s a relief technique that uses textured plates, so it creates different effects on the print. I sometimes overprint with a drypoint plate or silk screen. I like the scratching and scraping that occurs in creating a drypoint print. I feel it relates to the farmer tilling the land.”
Originally from Cork, Geeleher, attended art college in Galway as a mature student and qualified with an honours degree in fine art in 2004. She has exhibited in Ireland, England, France, Australia, China, and USA. She has been a member of Galway Printmakers since its foundation and is also a member of Visual Artists Ireland.
Symphony of Colour runs until Bank Holiday Monday.
