Members & Friends Exhibition 2026: Meet the Artist - Roger Horgan

Introduction

Roger Horgan is another artist featured for this years exhibition, with a surreal acrylic on canvas painting titled "West Cork Imagined #1". Here, Roger gives us a deep insight into his methodology.

Interview with Roger Horgan

1. What inspired your submission for this year's "Members and Friends" Exhibition, and were there any particular people, places, experiences or events that influenced it?

The landscape of West Cork is a huge inspiration for me and it has grown more so since I took up kayaking.  The view of the land from the sea in a boat which is so low in the water gives a different perspective which energizes my brain.

2. What led you to choose the medium used for your work? How did it help you express your ideas?

Years of working in a commercial environment means that I’m equally adept with expressing my vision digitally.  This means that I can develop my sketches and colour palettes digitally, before translating these onto canvas using acrylics.  The speed with which acrylics dry means I can work at speed and any changes can be made at the right time.  

3. What do you hope viewers take away from your work? Whether emotionally, intellectually or otherwise.

I’m hoping to share some of the wonder, joy and good fortune I feel to live in such an inspiring area.  Subject matter is everything.

4. Did your original vision for this piece change during its creation? If so, how and why?

The fact that my work is not strictly based on specific references means I have the freedom to make the image look and feel the way I want and this gives me the flexibility to change aspects of the image as I work.  In the current painting, the overall composition didn’t change much from the concept stage but the colours evolved a lot while I worked on the canvas.

5. Is your work based on any particular location in West Cork?

Generally my work is not based on any one place, more created from my memories of places and atmospheres that affected or stayed with me from being there.  This submission was initially inspired by an old boat in Clonakilty harbour, though the rest of the painting is clearly somewhere else!

Members & Friends Exhibition 2026: Meet the Artist - Marie Bryan

 

Introduction

Marie Bryan is one of the many featured artists for this years exhibition, having submitted a fabricated metal sculpture titled "Draoi Buí Draoi Cróga Draoi Scéil: Solar Alien". During this interview, Marie shares deep insight into the process and philosophy behind it.

Interview with Marie Bryan

1. What inspired your submission for this year's "Members and Friends" Exhibition, and were there any particular people, places, experiences or events that influenced it?

I am always intrigued that there seems to be no alien life in other star systems, because no liquid water has been observed out there. I wanted to invent an alien who was decidedly fictional and also quite friendly, so I proposed a Solar Alien, beaming yellow. Draoi Buí Draoi Cróga Draoi Scéil: Solar Alien is both sunspark and sun God, and most omniscient. I have been doing space art projects, and loving the work. I really enjoyed exhibiting at MTU Blackrock Castle Observatory and at Spacefest 2025 last year. There is quite a buzz to meeting scientists, researchers and writers through this interdisciplinary pursuit.

2. What led you to choose the medium used for your work? How did it help you express your ideas?

This steel fabrication was an ATU Galway sculpture brief called Geometric Solids, where we were to learn about working with steel. I began by constructing a pentagonal dodecahedron with the help of the sculpture lecturer, Ger Leslie. Steel inspired the formidable. It inspired strength and strength of spirit.

Also, I have a background in painting, and I became fixated on finding a warm yellow. This took several sessions of spraying. I wanted my strong steel piece to have approachability.

3. What do you hope viewers take away from your work? Whether emotionally, intellectually or otherwise.

I was aiming for alien, and I guess this looks like something new to viewers. I would like to think that there is more for us, and I would like to inspire this hope in others. Life can be wearying, and we need positive surprises for reinvigoration and inspiration. 

I would like that viewers see the fun in the disarming yellow, spikey angular steel fabrication, a unique contradiction in terms. I would like it to put a positive yellow emoji on viewers' subconscious.

4. Did your original vision for this piece change during its creation? If so, how and why?

My original drawings were of a star with crooked starlight. The idea of bending time fascinates me.  My proposed piece, with twelve pentagonal bending spikes, was both ginormous and needing a lot of worktime. It was scaled back to this, with just one spike coming from the dodecahedron, and just the first part of that spike built solid. I was happy to pick up the slack, by including narrative with further potential, in ogham inscriptions, and by developing that narrative further in the film module of the course. Our film lecturer, Louise Manifold, emphasized story boarding. 

5. Is your sculpture thematically intertwined with your other works?

The resultant film, Meet Me on a Rock, is an intense two and a half minutes of new religion.  It tends to be either not noticed, or watched several times. Draoi Buí Draoi Cróga Draoi Scéil: Solar Alien gets to tell his story, and as he narrates, he compels the actress to do his bidding, to attain the party to end all parties: paradise with Armageddon. I edited sound to find a cute alien voice, which I found irresistible: you couldn’t but follow him!  Also in the film is another sculpture, a rocket filled with yellow balloons, which I am instructed to launch, west of Galway. With no engine in the rocket, my determined endeavors are laughable. Comic performance is a major part of my artistic expression.

Members & Friends Exhibition 2026

Cora Collins - "A Good Day Coming"

Exhibition: Past & Present

West Cork Arts Centre was founded in 1985 by a group of artists and community members, who held an exhibition in Skibbereen for the Welcome Home Festival. This exhibition has now become the 'Members and Friends Exhibition - a staple annual showcasing works, to showcase works from local artists in West Cork in all stages of their career. The exhibition houses a diverse range of works ranging from oil paints, charcoal, photography pieces to sculptures and much more. The exhibition aims to celebrate the achievements of our local artists and the importance of the arts in our region.

The exhibition provides an open platform for local talent to express their creative process to the general public. Whether you attend to buy a painting for your wall or admire the works on display, you will always find something awe-inspiring.

This year, the Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre will celebrate it's 42nd annual exhibition with a display of over 100 works from amatuer, student & professional artists. Two awards will also be handed out to two exhibiting artists. The first being the "Cnoc Buí Exhibition Award" which offers a solo exhibition opportunity at Cnoc Buí, Union Hall in 2027. The other is a "Sample-Studios Associate Membership" for 1 year. The latter of which provides support (e.g. professional facilities, training or mentorship, exhibition and residency opportunities) and sustains creative careers and practices in Cork.

Meeting the Artists

To celebrate 42 years of the "Members & Friends" Exhibition, I interviewed a diverse range of artists to uncover the methodology behind their submitted works. These interviews will be provided in upcoming posts here on the Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre blog.

Over the next week I will gradually release these interviews, which include the following artists: Marie Bryan, Roger Horgan, Micheál O' Connell, Lynda O' Donoghue, Claire O' Mahony and Ibrahim Kimotho.

I'm Brian Walsh, an artist from Schull with a background in animation and motion graphics. I work part-time at the Uillinn as I always had an interest in visual storytelling or using art as a means of self-expression.