Love letter to an island and artists it inspired

Arts Week with Judy Murphy

When author and journalist Mary J Murphy decided three years ago to write a book about Achill Island and the many artists who were enticed there over the years, particularly the 20th Century Belgian expressionist painter Marie Howet, people asked her if she was sure she knew what she was doing.

Menlough-born Mary has been going to Achill for nearly four decades, having fallen in love with the Mayo island on her first visit there with her husband Gerard, and she’s hugely knowledgeable about her home away from home.

But as an arts graduate from NUIG with a post-grad in journalism from DCU, the visual arts were not her area of expertise.

Mary knew she was embarking on a mammoth task and was terrified, but “courage outweighed fear by a fraction” as she set out to “write the book about Achill I had always wanted to read . . .”. She also followed advice given to her by gallery-owner Tom Kenny gave her, which was simply “trust yourself”.

Having decided to write Achill Painters: An Island History, she did an art course by night in NUIG three years ago – the rest was down to trust and feelings evoked in her by different paintings of the island, “from the 1830s to date, from William Evans of Eton to Camille Souter”.

Mary had a knowledge of Achill Island’s rich art history but was vague on detail. This book goes into the stories of the many artists associated with this majestic island as she explored what drew them there and in what order.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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