Gomero Gigante.
"Inspired by the giant Gomero tree which I came across while on artist residency in Valparaiso, Chile - one of the largest trees I've ever seen - I decided to recreate it in a temporary installation in the gallery. The scale, the sheer size, and grandeur of this unique tree seemed a good fit for the main gallery wall panel.
Using the same technique I used for the installation I made while on residency, i.e. painting paper in watercolour and tearing and cutting it into shapes, I've been growing the tree with painted shapes of leaves and bark applied directly to the wall. Before breaking up for the summer, the students of Scoil an Chroí Ró-Naofa enjoyed a trip to the gallery and joined in applying some leaves.
As an ongoing and interactive project, visitors over the summer are welcome to add a leaf or two!" SW July 2025
Part of the installation made for Valparaiso Profundo exhibition in Chile in February 2025 is recreated on a wall of the inner gallery. Also showing in this space are two framed pieces; remade sections of the installation - Valparaíso Wear and Tear 2025
"Arriving in Valparaiso, Chile, in early February 2025 for an artist’s residency, I was immediately struck by the vibrant colours of the city—more so than I had anticipated. I had known about this connection to a place I know well, the village of Eyeries, Co. Cork where I live, famous for its own bold, colourful houses. With this link in mind, I set out to explore Valparaiso. Upon arrival, however, I was taken aback by the city’s sense of age and disintegration, which felt both powerful and poignant. This unique quality compelled me to capture it in whatever form my work would take.
While on my residency, I decided to shift focus and work in a completely new direction to my usual painting practice. I began using simple, locally available materials, as I didn’t want to carry a heavy load of supplies with me. Before arriving in Valparaiso, I had planned to incorporate lines as well as colour into my work, a recurring theme in my paintings of wildflowers and grasses in Beara. But here, I found that the lines and colour of the city itself would be my inspiration. The lines became apparent in the vertical strips of tape, as satisfying to apply as the oil painted line made with a palette knife.
Valparaiso, with its corrugated cladding on nearly every building, turned out to be a city of lines and colour. This reminded me of home in West Cork, where corrugation is prevalent on farm buildings, and where it was a material my architect father used when designing our holiday house there.
As I continued to experiment with this idea of lines and colours, I began painting in watercolour and tearing strips of paper, adhering them to a background with masking tape. I appreciated how the tape mutes and masks the colours, creating a subtle tension. My intention with the torn edges of the paper and the loose, unrestrained tape was to reflect the city’s sense of decay and disrepair.
And also, with the busy, chaotic nature of the installation—with its interplay of paper, tape, and colour— to capture the lively noise and energy of the city with its port and hills. I hope that the combination of materials brings together the vibrancy and faded beauty that define Valparaiso." Sarah Walker April 2025
Summer 2025
In the rest of the gallery Sarah is back on the land in her familiar territory of meadow flowers in season. These new works on canvas, with a darkened edge and background, heighten the intensity of detail of the specific wildflowers which grow so abundantly in Beara.
The misty mauves and purples of mountain heather and the pinks of fireweed create a rich image of the Beara landscape bright with summer growth.
On the mezzanine there are two of the swimmer paintings along with a collection of seascapes by Cork painters known for their fresh take on the Atlantic; Margaret O'Sullivan and Sinead Cullen.
During the winter and spring the gallery is open most days except Sunday afternoons. There is a collection of work on view and visitors are welcome. There are Sarah Walker paintings and a selection of other artists including Esther Balzs, Nadette Charlet and Daisy Richardson. In the Mezzanine area glass sculpture by Barbara Kennealy, ceramic sculptures by Darren Cassidy and wood sculpture by Harold Kurreck among many other works.
