Review In The Munster Express
6th May, 2014
Liam Murphy

BLAWNIN CLANCY

At the Joan Clancy Gallery at the picturesque, Maoil a' Choirne, An Rinn, the work of Blawnin Clancy dominated a bright, sunlit space.

The title Draíocht (magical) caught the imagination with the many blues of sea and sky that Blawnin Clancy has absorbed into her life and her painting.

You could feel the nature and age of the place, a real location, but at the same time, a place like no other that has the people embedded into the work.

The rocks as depicted in several paintings are like people beaten into the actual rock, shaped by the power of water and place. Ancient rocks containing mythic people, weathered and obdurate, solid, specific and memorable.

The variety of blues of sea and sky, seemed alive, and the large painting, Momentary Shelter, has a world of blue, with human shapes gathered into the rockscape.

The way Blawnin Clancy catches the play of light on water is impressive and in The Afternoon Lengthens you can see the water rippling, as it does in Inlet. The aspect of life in a place, a place she knows so well is indeed magical and mystical.

I knew the locations of The Way Of The World and Carraig An Scamaill, places I had visited in happier times, with the late Sean Dunne, swimming in the clear sea. A shiver passed through me. Also in Carraig An Scamaill, I sensed the tail of a mythical sea creature, ready to flex and pulse.

I could see the whiteness of stars in a velvety blue heaven in Moonbeam. The way Blawnin Clancy creates life and movement with sprinkles and speckles of paint, like art freckles, reflecting dots, specks and spots, is so beautiful.