Love of wood inspires late starter Ambrose

Mid-life crisis. We are all well acquainted with the cliched idea of a man struggling through his midlife crisis. His balding head reflecting the sun while he drives his flashy new convertible in a desperate attempt to seem ‘cool’, and failing miserably.

However, this stereotype could never be applied to Ambrose O’Halloran. When Ambrose, who works as a technical officer at NUIG, approached his late thirties, he wanted to do something different.

“I wanted to find something that I could create for myself, because so many people are defined by what they do for a living,” he explains.

A chance encounter with Benedictine monk Ciaran Forbes opened up a whole new creative world for him, one that he has combined with his day job at NUIG.

Their paths crossed at Glenstal Abbey in Limerick where Brother Ciaran, a renowned bowl turner, was giving a demonstration.

“He blew me away, not just with the technique, but the whole philosophical approach to the craft. It was he who first opened the door for me that, at its purest, this is an outlook on life, not just a manual skill,” Ambrose recalls.

Ambrose then followed in his father’s footsteps by turned his attention to woodturning.

“My dad took an early retirement and started production-trade woodturning. But while production-trade turning did not interest me at all, the creative side excited me greatly.”

Twenty-one years later and Ambrose can be found in the townland of Cregboy, Claregalway, producing unique textured wooden pieces, made from trees which have reached the natural end of their life.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.