Connacht Tribune
Galway is a place of magic in artist’s eyes
By Judy Murphy
Lifestyle – Artist Jennifer Cunningham sees Galway in a different light to most and her rose-tinted, nostalgic look at the city, and its iconic buildings, forms one of the highlight exhibitions of the Galway International Arts Festival.
The Hangar, Seapoint, O’Brien’s Shop in Salthill, Heneghan’s Nurseries in Mervue, the Corrib Great Southern Hotel – iconic Galway buildings are central to the paintings of city artist Jennifer Cunningham. But while they’re instantly recognisable because Jennifer is a brilliant draughtswoman, the Galway she has created is also very different from the one we encounter every day.
Her rose-tinted buildings are either under construction or falling apart and some have images of fairground and circuses juxtaposed on the landscape, while young girls populate many of the works, evoking a different, otherworldly place.
After the Future, Jennifer Cunningham’s exhibition for this year’s Galway International Arts Festival is in the Festival Gallery, sited in the former printworks of the Connacht Tribune.
In addition to 20 paintings, she has also created a video installation and nine model pieces, depicting funfairs, and woodlands. These are playful and fun and show meticulous attention to detail.
In person, Jennifer is pretty precise, too. Warm and happy to explain her artistic process and the ideas behind her work, she can trace her love of art back to her childhood.
Home for Jennifer as a young child was in the now-demolished Rahoon Flats, before her family moved to Castle Park and then to Newcastle when she was a teenager. These days, she lives in Tuam with her husband, Tim Acheson, also an artist, and their three-year-old daughter, Emily, but Galway city and its deserted buildings continue to inspire her.
Her English-born grandmother had been awarded a place in art college but World War II put paid to herdream. Jennifer’s mother, Marie, inherited that talent, and graduated from GMIT with a Fine Arts Degree as a mature student. Jennifer’s maternal grandfather, meanwhile, was an engineer who was involved in designing Merlin Park Hospital in the 1950s, while her late father Pádraig was a highly skilled carpenter, who loved stories and music – stories are a vital element of her work.
Jennifer won her first art competition aged six and still has her prize of a teddy bear. After that, she entered the Galway Advertiser Christmas Art competition, winning a watercolour set which she still uses. A prize that has endured, she says with her warm smile.
And she sold her first painting – a Connemara landscape – for twenty pence when she was nine to a neighbour across the road.
So, it was no wonder Jennifer opted to study Fine Art at GMIT where she specialised in print-making and her tutors included the renowned UK artist Norman Ackroyd. His attention to detail and precision were incredible, she says, and he was a big influence.
She loved college and was there from 10am-10pm every day.
“For me, it was my Utopia. I knew I had found my tribe of wonderful eccentric people and I could be as eccentric as I wanted to be. A lot of them are still very good friends today.”
Jennifer graduated in 2002 with First Class honours and won several awards for her etchings, including the Taylor Art Award at the RDS. She used the money from that to set up a print studio in the garden shed of her family home.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
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Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
