Fascinating view from the Wests

Lifestyle – Three generations of one family, all artists, showcased their talents in a unique exhibition in Clifden for this year’s Arts Festival. Margaret Irwin-West who is still creating new work at the age of 96, was joined by her children Richard and Katharine and her granddaughter Manon for the show where the art on display ranged from prints to ceramics to wood and paintings. JUDY MURPHY learned about their common curiosity and diverse creativity.

As a child, Manon West was a regular visitor to her grandmother’s house in North Connemara, watching the older woman at work – and learning from her.

“We lived 10 minutes down the road and I was always going to the studio and she’d teach me how to make prints and paint – even before I could read or write,” says Manon of her grandmother, the artist Margaret Irwin-West.

Margaret and Manon were part of a unique exhibition at this year’s Clifden Arts Festival that also featured Margaret’s son, Richard (Manon’s father), and her daughter, Katharine.

Richard, who worked for years as an oyster farmer, is now a successful woodturner while Katharine is a ceramicist.

And 96-year-old Margaret – or Mo as she’s affectionately known by family and friends – is at the heart of it all.

She’s had issues with her eyes in recent years but that hasn’t dimmed her enthusiasm for life or work. Nor has it dented the discipline she deems necessary in order to remain creative.

Born in India where her father worked in the British civil service, Margaret lived there until the age of nine when the family moved to Wicklow. Her father’s people  – the Irwins – were from Roscommon and she always had a ‘grá’ for the West of Ireland.

Having initially studied languages at Trinity College, she trained as an artist in Paris – art had been her first love but her parents were unenthusiastic initially.

Back in Ireland, she painted and exhibited her art. After marrying Rodney West from Scotland, they moved to the UK in 1957, living there for 11 years before settling in Dublin with their young family.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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