Olwen O'Herlihy Dowling

Artist Statement

The Connemara/Kerry landscape has always been a beautiful memory for me. I first visited these parts of Ireland in the early 1980's. I found the isolation and the wild countryside strangely familiar though I had never seen anything before quite like the ever-changing light and clouds. This visit sparked a longing to go back and paint, in Kerry, the shifting clouds on the deep green and dark blue mountains and the barren hillsides, waters and mysterious bogs of Connemara. For me, the west of Ireland is the most beautiful place in the world and more dramatic, alluring, and lonely than I ever imagined.

Biography

Olwen was born in Dublin Ireland and emigrated with her family to the United States. She grew up in Malibu California. Her primary inspirations in art are Van Gogh, Winslow Homer, and Walter Osborne and Joseph O'Sickey. Olwen has been painting images in oil and watercolor of the West of Ireland and will be artist in residence at Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Fall 2008. Olwen has also been invited to be an exhibiting artist at the Florence Bianelle, Florence, Italy, December 2007. Olwen's paintings are in Private Collections in the United States and Europe. In recent years, she has exhibited at The Watkins Gallery Northampton MA; The James Joyce Gallery and The Hallward Gallery in Dublin, Ireland; Smith College Alumnae Gallery, Hosmer Gallery Northampton MA ; and the Lenox Gallery where she received Honorable Mention in the Fem in Art Show. She graduated as a Studio Art Major with a minor in Biology from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts and has also studied at the L'Ecole d'Art, Vallauris, France and the Sun Valley Arts Program in Hailey, Idaho.

Education