George Dugan In siamsa

Lily O'Sullivan, George Dudan, Nina Dugan, Ciaran Walsh

"Around Dingle, George is well-known as the American who sits painting on a crag on a typical stormy wet day in the middle of July," says Lillie O'Sullivan, artist and teacher. Lillie was speaking at the opening of an exceptional exhibition, curated by herself, in Siamsa Tire.

If you are the old-fashioned type of art lover who refuses to be 'fobbed off' with abstract blobs of pigment smeared haphazardly on a scrap of tissue paper, for example, then George Dugan's work is for you, because this guy can paint. Not only that but George paints from life - no painting from photographs on a cosy seat in a heated studio for him.

"I could paint from photographs", he says, "and I've tried it sometimes. It's easier, but I just don't get the same feeling."

Is this what gives the work a rare, simple and special glow?

The Round Gallery in Siamsa Tire is a snug sanctuary for George Dugan's beautifully observed and warmly lit Kerry landscapes. Walking into this gallery space, one perceives a sense of delicacy and loving sensibility in the depth of regard for the subject matter, and an uplifting delight in the rich variation of colour in fields, mountains, sunlight, sea, sky and cliffs.

It is hard to believe that George Dugan, who has been visiting Kerry to paint, as Lillie says, "in the manner of the monks", for almost three decades, is only now having his first solo exhibition here. The grandson of Irish emigrants he is Professor of Art Emeritus at Cortland State University of New York College.

It is there that Lillie came to know him and his wife, Nina, enjoying their warm American hospitality when she stayed with them for the most of a year. She also observed him as a teacher, "George teaches classes nobody ever forgets; he inspires people", and as a painter, "Occasionally I got to watch him paint, he could see light and mix colour like no-one else."

Lillie showed her appreciation and admiration for George's work in her introductory speech, noting his "intense careful exacting craftsmanship."

Lillie also commended Siamsa as "a place that values and nurtures tradition" and said that the "calibre of exhibitions and dialogue of place" continually leaves her "gobsmacked".

Ciaran Walsh, Visual Arts Co-ordinator of Siamsa, spoke about the pride he felt in being a "member of Siamsa and of the work he does with his colleagues." He sees George Dugan's work as fitting the fabric of what Siamsa represents for Kerry, depicting as it does "one man's engagement with the particularities of a place."
And it is a nice thing to see the particularities of our place, so familiar to us, through the eyes of George Dugan. Boats tied at Dingle Harbour, Slea Head, Couminole on a sunny day, the Sleeping Giant suffused in the light of a pearly grey sunset, sheep grazing over Ceann Tra and all manner of lovely sights.

In chatting with George he mentioned his doubt in his own abilities to capture colour. I was amazed and told him that I felt he was a very good colourist.

"Yes, but there's a shade of green here that I just can't get and I keep trying."

Well, I think he's captured the other thirty nine so that's good enough for me.

For further information contact Siamsa Tire on 066 712 3055