Reeling In The Greystones Years

Toni Smith: My Journey Home

aving taken up painting in 2018, homecoming queen Toni Smith will be the subject of a 2-week retrospective exhibition at Greystones library from June 10th.

Entitled My Journey Home, the exhibition is described by the artist herself as “a great big collage of my paintings covering Greystones and its neighbours”, representing many years of Smith’s work, and of the town she calls home once more.

You can find out a little more about that work here.

In the meantime, here’s Toni herself on the new collage…

My Greystones childhood and young adult life was idyllic in every way. Learning to swim in the docks, Brownies, Guides, camping in Belmont, summers hanging out and swimming at the men’s, playing tennis and dancing (or Hops!) in the old tennis club. Birthday parties and ballet in the La Touche Hotel. School was at Silverstream and St David’s.

My great-grandparents, grandparents, parents all lived in Windgates and Greystones . When I look up to Bray Head from the harbour I feel the four generations of Darcy’s tumbling down through the fields down to the harbour! Being surrounded by family and friends feeds my heart and soul and is firmly embedded in my DNA.

Aged 25 in 1986, off I went to live and work in England.

Married with a family we regularly came home to Greystones to breathe to the beat of Greystones’ heart and be with family and friends. I’ve watched my hometown evolve yet never lose it’s soul. When the docks and the men’s disappeared the cove became the ideal swimming spot as the rock pools were replaced with layers of sand.

In 2018 when my MS decided my life would be easier in a wheelchair I gave up work and looked for new experiences . I discovered I could paint! Working with acrylics I painted from photos my Greystones friends sent over and happily painted commissions for people in Ireland, and around the world. It was my way of being home in Greystones from across the Irish Sea. I painted old Greystones and new Greystones both with the same beating heart. I made prints of my paintings for greeting cards and calendars which I sold over the next few years. Then thanks to Brexit and COVID I took a break.

Over the last three years we have been planning (and manifesting!) our journey home. We are now happily back living in Greystones and looking forward to moving into our new chapter in our new home on New Road in August where I will start paint properly again.

This collage captures the moments and memories that made returning home so wonderful. Special thanks to Open Door in Bray for the practical help in its creation, to the library for their engagement with my thoughts and exhibiting it, and to the amazing HSE who welcomed me home with open arms.

More on Ms Smith here, and you can catch more of her work in our Greystones On Canvas gallery here.