Billy Austin lives in the townland of Brackish near Tandragee and at 84 he is a prolific portrait painter. He’s remarkable, he catches more than a likeness, and certainly the depth of the character is captured in his most recent work, Sinéad O’Connor, whose fans were so distressed by her recent death. But we were all shocked with news that in Clones beautiful young women, Dlava Mohamed and Kira McCann lost their lives on a night which had been full of promise as they prepared for the ball. I imagine these best friends doing their hair, putting on their make-up and their beautiful gowns, laughing and talking, thinking of the night to come, dancing the night away with school friends, coming away with excitement about the boys they’d met and maybe arranged a date, discussing what other girls were wearing, just the whole joy of being a happy teenager on the verge of stepping out into the world. Even before they got to the dance their lives were cut so short in a car accident. Lives can change in an instant, as in the tragic death of Judith McMullan following another road crash this time in Markethill and little 8 year old Scarlett Rosborough who died at the scene of a car accident in Carrickfergus.
The shock waves ripple out beyond the family, friends and into the wider community. Sympathies are not enough, prayers perhaps help, time will not heal and they will forever be remembered.
Sunday morning a couple of weeks ago I was invited to a hanging in Crumlin Road Goal. I arrived at midday as scheduled and the courtyard was packed with people. Turned out they were groups from a cruise ship there for a tour and morning coffee. I climbed the stairs into the old chapel and was immediately surrounded – by paintings!
Titles were fascinating Where The Unstoppable Meets The Immovable £750, The Hungry Caterpillar £950 and Sally on a Stool £490. There were landscapes and portraits, watercolour, oils and acrylics and they were all stacked in neatly on the floor.
Hanging had just begun.
This was the 66th annual exhibition of the Ulster Society of Woman Artists however I soon discovered they had recruited several men who were climbing ladders to fix the art work to picture rails but be sure the women were in charge!
This Society was founded by artist Gladys McCabe who formed the USWA in 1957 with ten invited artists. Interesting that one of the original women was Renee Bickerstaff, my art teacher at Holyrood junior school on the city’s Lansdown Road.
Gladys’s reason was that no local arts societies would accept female members so depriving local talent of showing their work. Much like the situation in Northern Ireland, In Dublin the Royal Hibernian Academy, celebrating it’s 200 birthday this year, took a century before women artists were allowed to exhibit and only elected a woman member to join the prestigious Academy 100 years ago when Sarah Purser blazed an artistic trail.
Gladys reckoned the best way round this misogyny was to set up an all female society and she served as the first president.
She was a woman of substance who, with her husband Max, originally started a group show just after the war and their first outing was in Belfast’s Robinson and Cleaver’s department store in 1942. The couple exhibited in London, Dublin and Belfast and she was one of the artists on a touring exhibition to Rhode Island, Boston and to Ottawa in the mid 40s. She also showed in Paris and at the Royal Scottish Academy. The Society’s first major exhibition was in the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery in 1959. During the 60s she was a fashion and arts correspondent for television and newspapers including the Irish News.
So the USWA have a proud tradition and since the days of Gladys Maccabe they have build on her foundations and had an exhibition boasting 143 works of art.
Membership Brings Prestige
Membership is by selection of submitted works by a jury and it takes four years to achieve full membership. The society has expanded membership from the original ten to well over one hundred and, with the respect it has gained over the years, becoming a member offers prestige in the art world. Treasurer Caroline McVeigh pointed out that to be part their exhibitions also brings in much needed funding for the successful artists as paints and canvases, let alone framing, is expensive.
The standard is always high as these women are a mix of professional and amateur and what hangs on the walls is the best of the best. As secretary of USWA Lesley Ann Sharp told me: “Each year I’m surprised I’m surprised!”
But is a painting a good investment? President Catherine McKeever assured me that it is, even if only for the pleasure it brings the viewer although there are plenty of galleries and sales are brisk. Perfecting skills with paint and brush on canvas is also a good investment for the artist’s wellbeing, there is no age limit, some painting on show have come from the talents of women in their 80s. Look at Grandma Moses for instance.
This famous American folk artist was self-taught and only began painting when she was 78 and turned out 1500 works of art before she died and is still sought after all over the world with reproductions turning up on thousands of greeting cards.
Pablo Picasso said that there are only two types of woman, goddesses and doormats. He might have been a renowned painter but he hadn’t a clue about women. Pity he couldn’t meet some of our women artists and have a look at their dedication and the standard of their work – no doormats these.
More about the USWA at uswa.co.uk
THE SHOW GOES ON
Last week it was Rocky Horror, this coming week Buddy Holly and his sad story grace the stage at the Grand Opera House. Always an interesting evening especially when the Holly devotes come down to the front of the stage and pray for him after a plane crash took his life.