Imagekind Gallery IrishStories

Síocháin (Peace)

Síocháin is the Irish word for peace, and this painting was conceived while Senator George Mitchell was negotiating and ultimately achieved a peace accord between Northern and the Republic of Ireland in 1998. Green, white and orange are the colors of the Irish Flag, green represents the Irish Catholics, the orange represents Northern Ireland and Irish Protestants, and the white is the hope of peace between the them. Each Color has a series of mazes with one path from the green and one from the orange leading into the center Labyrinth. A labyrinth typically has one entrance and one exit, but the labyrinth in the center of this painting has two entrances, so that one could enter from the green or orange side and meditate or pray to keep the evil spirits away from the peace that is represented by the only pure white in the center of the labyrinth.

Potato Savior (Práta Slánaitheoir)

Original assemblage 21.5” x 13” pine box, polymer clay beads, wire, acrylic, velvet fabric, wax paper. Russary 25.5” (Original not for sale)

This Print is the interior door of the Práta Reliquary

The burnt umber stained exterior of the reliquary box is unadorned, not revealing the beauty that awaits the viewer inside.

The inside of the reliquary box is ornate. The door is reminiscent of the Celtic Christian's illuminated texts, such as the “Book of Kells”, with Práta Slánaitheoir (Potato Savior) painted in elaborate Celtic lettering.

The reliquary box houses a large “Russary”, hand crafted potato shaped polymer beads containing the proper amount and formation as a Catholic Rosary, nestled in a bed of red velvet.

Just after constructing this assemblage, I read that 2008 was designated the “International Year of the Potato” by the United Nations. The mission of this noble distinction was to highlight the potato’s importance as an inexpensive and nutritional food source in an effort to save lives from poverty and hunger. I began to think about this in the context of my family’s Irish history.

The harsh penal codes enacted in Ireland in 1695 against the Irish Catholics left them unable to practice their religion as well as striping them of their land and livestock, leaving them the potato as the main food source.

1014 Sometime After April 23

1014 Sometime After April 23, was inspired King Brian Boru's defeat of the Vikings, thus ending the viking threat to Ireland. An Abandoned Viking Helmet and the bird freed from the Viking flag are symbolic of the Vikings defeat.