Exploring secrets of stone

Lifestyle – A new exhibition from Killimor artist Bernice Cooke captures historic buildings in Galway and further afield, with which she feels a connection. Bernice believes stones can talk and that each of these buildings has a story to tell. Her debut show, Stone Tape, will open this Sunday in Portumna Castle’s Courtyard Gallery and will remain open throughout July. Bernice tells JUDY MURPHY the story behind her art.

‘If those walls could only talk.’

In a country that’s coming down with historic buildings, that’s a phrase we’re all familiar with.

And according to people who espouse the Stone Tape Theory, walls do indeed contain information about past events, good and bad, and can share that information.

The Stone Tape Theory holds that, under certain conditions, buildings release recordings from the past – something that leads to some places having a reputation for being haunted.

This is a theory that Killimor artist Bernice Cook feels is perfectly reasonable and it’s why she’s called her debut solo exhibition Stone Tape.

The exhibition, which opens this Sunday at the Courtyard Gallery at Portumna Castle, deals with buildings – most of them ancient – and our connections with them.

A self-taught artist, Bernice was offered a place in art college after completing secondary school in Portumna but turned it down. It was the right decision for her, she says, and although she did contemplate college during lockdown, she ultimately decided not to.

After her Leaving Cert, Bernice worked in various places in Galway City, including Boston Scientific, before training in Equine Science. That mightn’t seem to be much of an advantage in the world of art, but she laughs and says the business and administrative part of the course has since proved very useful.

Bernice also took part in art classes and workshops through the years and her creative side came to the fore in 2010. That was when, after completing an aromatherapy course, she began making and selling artisan candles. Her business, Canvas to Candle, was supported by the Local Enterprise Office and progressed well.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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