Portrait Of The Octogenarian

Untitled #3 Niamh Cooke

ress release from the bould Rebecca C, issued on Thursday, August 15th 2024…

This month, Wicklow-based vibrational and abstract artist Niamh Cooke will showcase up to 50 oil paintings at her returning solo exhibition at the tranquil Knockrose Garden in The Scalp.

The exhibition – which will run from Friday, August 23rd until Sunday, September 1st, 11am to 5pm daily – reflects Niamh’s return to the canvas in her advancing years to express her unconscious self with colour, shape and flow.

Greystones native Niamh draws her inspiration from personal experiences, the environment, and cultures from around the world. It was through working with amazing people that introduced Niamh to inspirational vibration painting. The path from professional Physiotherapy to counselling to Healing therapy flowed into this space.

24 years ago, Niamh set out to take on what she was teaching, to go with what gives joy and satisfaction. Throwing herself into painting, she began to express feelings and emotions with colour, shape and flow. Many teachers and groups followed as she moved along this path. Niamh also found a teacher in stained glass during this period. This became her new love for its structure, detail, and method of this new way of working. The colours, textures, and the way the light comes through the glass are truly magical. She worked with glass for 4 or 5 years but as the body aged, that was reluctantly retired.

On returning to painting in oils 4 years ago, after a fallow period of creativity, a new flow to painting was found, one that is very different from what it was before, quite abstract but much more from the unconscious element of her.

Untitled #1

This year’s exhibition shows Niamh’s artistic development in the past six months, exploring the art of inspirational vibration painting including ties with nature and a new sense of flow and connection. According to Niamh, “It only remains for me to say, enjoy and go with the flow.”

A proud octogenarian and mother to seven grown children, in Ireland and abroad, and grandmother to 13, Niamh hopes her work will intrigue and provide a daily moment of healing, peace and joy. In addition, part of the proceeds from the sale of her work from this exhibition will go to Merchants Quay Ireland.

Running at the Knockrose Garden, The Scalp from August 23rd to September 1st, you can find out more about Niamh’s work right about here.