All About Buildings

June 2017 @ Solas Gallery, Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim.

My Artist Statement –

Joan Walsh is from Dublin, and lived in Ballinamore for 10 years. This is Joan’s 8^thSolo Art Exhibition; her 3^rd Solo Show at Solas Gallery.

Her work for this show “All About Buildings” started in September 2015. She was drawn to really observe and take note, on a daily basis, the lines, angles, shades, shadows and shapes that the townscape of Ballinamore made. Due to Ballinamore’s hilly topography, the buildings and roofs make wonderful shapes and angles.

She noted, how the movement of the sun and changing skies affected the building surfaces and structures throughout the day, and how structural patterns, angles, lines, random geometric shapes, blocks of colour, hues and shades would exist at any given view point, regardless of weather.

This is what Joan was interested in.

She started to sketch and take reference photographs of her observations and study of Ballinamore’s townscape her eye was so keenly drawn to. In tandem, she was exploring and making 3D geometric constructions, and 2D angles and shapes in collage and colour (not featured in this exhibition).

Throughout 2016 Joan continued to sketch buildings, and take reference photographs of what she sketched. This also included sketches of Carrick-on-Shannon and elsewhere.

In turn, in the Autumn of 2016 she worked with her sketches and photographs in charcoal, pencil and chalk pastel to produce the work, some of which you will see today in this exhibition.

Her wish was to further develop these concepts with paint, but due to time constraints this was not possible. This exhibition is a demonstration of the artistic process and a record of her observations.

Joan has been measuring, surveying, drawing up, sketching buildings and squinting at their angles, shapes, inside and out since the early 1980’s. She was trained in Interior & Architectural Design for commercial properties, Fundamental Design, Fabric and Furniture Design.