Munster Express
Arts & Theatre Column for week ending 28th April 2012
Liam Murphy

As part of the excellent, Waterford Festival of Food, the Joan Clancy Gallery in Ring put on an art exhibition with Féile Bia, that had colour, pizzazz and a fun element to delight the many visitors to a glorious part of Waterford.

Hanging from the ceiling were lots of colourfully painted Tortillas, creating a cave of possibility, arranged by Rayleen Clancy with tortillas supplied by the Flat Bread Company, Clara, Co. Offaly. Not only was there this rainbow effect, but a rope of coloured Rice cakes caught your eye like the circular cork attachments on trawlers. Food was the theme and Joan Clancy has an eye for the occasion and the paintings on the walls celebrated the wealth of food available in this fair Déise.

Andrea Jameson's The Cooples, River Blackwater, showed where the salmon, served to Queen Elizabeth, at a banquet at Dublin Castle came from. Orla Clancy had, Five Brown Trout, Caoimhghin O'Croidheain had Aubergines, Pink Ladies and a Temple Bar Food Market setting. Arthur Maderson, brought a touch of French with, The Saturday Market in Midi. Kevin Miller had colourful still lifes of Cups and Jugs. Ruth Carbery had Today's Lovely Catch: Mackerel, and a lovely drawing, Lobster Study V. Damaris Lysaght had Herbs and Conor O'Mahony and Dave West caught those moments of pleasurable relaxation, after a great day in the outdoors, or a memorable meal.

My favourites were small canvases by Blawnin Clancy. Oyster Beds in Dungarvan Bay was a beautiful study of a vision of the beds as viewed from outside the gallery. There was a luminous sense of magic realism in two Apple themed paintings. Apple Picking and Under The Apple Tree. They reminded me of a gentler time and the Andrews Sisters singing "Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree With Anyone Else But Me". The way Clancy catches the light, to create mystery and memory is breathtaking.