Today ICC Digital is delighted to bring you another painting from the gallery of the gifted Irish artist Kate Kavanagh. This haunting and evocative picture, “Famine Cottage” seems full of stillness and silence and yet at the same time it so subtly speaks volumes. It’s as if Kate has just stumbled across this little ruin along the road, with it’s old iron gate still standing and it’s little wooden door, decaying but still intact;
Here Kate has so beautifully captured a frozen moment in time; This cottage would have once stood strong, made of mud and stone and it would have had two small rooms, a loft with a ladder and it’s roof would have been made of hay and thatch – but now all that’s left of it has fallen and broken and as we stare upon it we can’t help but ask ourselves so many questions, – who were the family who once lived here in this cabin? What was their family name? What language did they speak and how many children did they have to crowd into that tiny little house? And how did they manage when the crop failed? and did they, like so many of the families who lived in the Famine, have to take to that long and winding road, which Kate has so beautifully drawn here; and did they emigrate? Or did they survive? Or did they die in that terrible blight.
The resonance of this painting inspires and calls out to us to ask ourselves more and more unanswered questions, the silence in the picture becomes deafening, you can almost hear the cries of wailing and the roars of the heart broken. It seems that this is in fact not just a simple painting at all, but it’s Kate’s deeply powerful tribute to our ancestors, the forgotten poor who suffered so much. The picture demands us to quietly and silently hold a vigil for them, to whisper a prayer in remembrance for them, just like the whispering wind in Kate’s picture.
Congratulations to Kate for painting this remarkable, emotional image, it’s is another fine example of her unique and brilliant talent with the brush, the ink and the pen
If you would like to view Kate’s previous four paintings in her gallery of seven, go to the Artists Corner on ICC Digital.
Here is what Kate Kavanagh has to say about herself and her approach to her work…
I have been drawing my whole life. After more than 20 years working as a journalist in national Newspapers and online broadcast in RTÉ, I returned to my first and pursued art as my primary profession. I started doodling character and situation insights – comic book style – and this developed into strong narrative and reportage … it’s always about story. Mostly I sketch-report live on site to record what, when and as ‘something’ is happening … a budding cherry blossom, a bunch of buskers, a conference, or a political demonstration … me actually being there as the artist-reporter captures the energy of the moment. I look at the subject – people, birds, foliage on a breezy day … and it doesn’t stay still … and I look and look … for a long time before I begin … and my pen follows the movement and the movement chases my pen … and as I’m drawing I see even more detail … even in a wall, where all seems still, I see how the tendrils creep imperceptibly around the stones … and I feel the pulse of them growing – especially in spring. When you look this hard everything comes to life … even the stones … and the birds become characters in the narrative. I especially love musicians … I love how they get lost in the moment and how they seem to move independently of intention, which can’t be right but sometimes they move so fast you think the intention must be catching up with the action. My process can be a bit scary as I usually go straight to paper with pen and waterproof ink … so it’s first lines down and that’s what I have to live with – and that’s OK … I often don’t know how things are going until I’ve finished because I’m mainly looking up at what I’m drawing rather than down at the paper. Initially I explored all media but am now totally in love with watercolour and ink … for it’s vibrancy and vitality. It used to be thought that watercolour wasn’t lightfast – but that’s a myth … contemporary artist quality paints are ever bit as good as oil – and environmentally better … and then here’s the challenge of not being able to ‘correct’ in watercolour … but this is compensated by how well watercolours respond to intuitive painting … it all adds to the dynamic energy. I am influenced by the natural world and am constantly amazed and reassured by the resilience of life on our planet – especially in areas under the threat of human impact and lets face it – greed. I want to use art to report and reflect the positive energy that’s all around us – and fighting back … not just rural areas but urban too …from the day to day human activity … to daily and seasonal changes. I love this earth … I want to forge a path to raise awareness of its beauty though art … and to bring people with me on this what I hope is an eye opening and exciting journey … we need to keep an eye on things.
If you would like to buy any of Kates Pictures or Prints her email is [email protected] ; Her instagram is @katekavart and she is the process of setting up her website www.katekavart.com
