IN CONNEMARA BY MICK O'DEA
Size 23.5 x 29 cm, 56 pp. with 52 images in full colour throughout.
Hardback Limited edition, with original intaglio print: € 85.00 + P&P
Hardback Limited edition, without original intaglio print: € 35.00 + P&P
In Connemara presents paintings and drawings by Mick O’Dea, PRHA. It is the fourth book in a series of artist’s books published by Occasional Press in collaboration with Ballynahinch Castle, in which an artist is invited to visit and respond to the Connemara landscape, using Ballynahinch as their base.
The limited hardback edition, includes original intaglio print, hand coloured by the artist (125 have been printed of which 100 are for sale).
The standard hardback edition of 100 is without the print.
The book is available from Ballynahinch Castle, Recess, Connemara, Co. Galway,
For purchase please contact Brid O'Malley at Ballynahinch Castle
Scroll down for extracts.
Mick O’ Dea is a painter and sculptor from County Clare who spends most of his time in Dublin and County Mayo. His work can be found in many collections including The National Gallery of Ireland, The Royal Hibernian Academy, The Crawford Gallery, Dublin City University, Trinity College Dublin, University College Cork, Notre Dame University and the Ballinglen Arts Foundation. Recent awards include The Ireland US Council/Irish Arts Review Portraiture Award and the Royal Ulster Academy Portrait Award. He has exhibited Nationally and Internationally, most recently in 2017 at the Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin, The Royal Scottish Academy Exhibition, Edinburgh, The Royal Academy Exhibition, London and Contemporary Irish Landscape Painting, 'Ireland and the Sea' Paxos, Greece. He is the President of the Royal Hibernian Academy, a member of Aosdána, an Honorary member of The Royal Scottish Academy, a Fellow of the Anatomical Society, a member of The Board of Governors of The National Gallery of Ireland, a member of An Post’s Philatelic Advisory Committee and Chairman of the Stamp Design Advisory Committee. In addition, O’ Dea’s has completed important commissions as part of his ongoing practice as a portrait painter, most recently his official portrait of President Michael D. Higgins was unveiled in 2017.
Artist’s Statement
The selection of drawings and paintings that are illustrated in this book were made over a time frame of approximately two years. Going to Connemara for the outsider, is to leave the ordinary behind. It is a place of possibilities, a realm of unspoilt nature in the form of bogs, mountains, lakes, sea and sky - somewhere where the ancient is still visible, where the imagination can be stimulated and worked upon by just being there. Intrinsic to all of this are it’s inhabitants and the Irish language. It is different - somewhere where the authentic is still said to reside, which is perhaps the reason why it has attracted so many artists and writers over the centuries. There are now many books and perspectives in existence about this extraordinary place, I am therefore grateful to Occasional Press and Ballynahinch Castle for giving me the opportunity to revisit and paint a landscape that has become part of my visual vocabulary over the past thirty eight years.