On the wearing of sandals

 

A big thank you to all who came to the opening last Saturday evening. It was lovely to see all of you !!
With the heat* reaching its zenith at the back end of last week I have been wearing sandals for my commute home, which includes a failry steep walk from the train station through a wood.
This has taught me several lessons- first that walking on a slope in sandals is hazardous, secondly that merely shaking your foot in a comfortable sandal does not remove unwelcome ‘bits’.  Thirdly, neither does a sudden heavy rain shower enhance the sandal-wearing experience.   (*for those not in the UK, or from the north-west of Ireland, ‘heat’ is a relative concept. What counts in Donegal as ‘pure and utter torture’ may just mean you don’t need a jacket today.)

But then at a gap in the trees you look out through the rain into the westren sky…..

 

 

What to do with this knowledge that our living is not guaranteed?
 
Perhaps one day you touch the young branch
of something beautiful. & it grows & grows
despite your birthdays & the death certificate,
& it one day shades the heads of something beautiful
or makes itself useful to the nest. Walk out
of your house, then, believing in this.
Nothing else matters.
 
All above us is the touching
of strangers & parrots,
some of them human,
some of them not human.
 
Listen to me. I am telling you
a true thing. This is the only kingdom.
The kingdom of touching;
the touches of the disappearing, things.

Elegy by Aracelis girmay


In the gallery Jack Doherty’s work continues to dazzle.  Jack is able to turn his hand to an amazing variety of forms, all coloured with his distinctive turquoise, charcoal and russet glazes, giving the impression at times of a bulbous land or sea-scape…

 

Paintings on the wall include this lovely piece of work by Helen Simmonds

 

…
5
One or two things are all you need
to travel over the blue pond, over the deep
roughage of the trees and through the stiff
flowers of lightning — some deep
memory of pleasure, some cutting
knowledge of pain.
6
But to lift the hoof!
For that you need
an idea.
 7
For years and years I struggled
just to love my life. And then

the butterfly
rose, weightless, in the wind.
“Don’t love your life
too much,” it said,

and vanished
into the world.

from Mary Oliver One or Two things

 

 

And finally…

The story behind lobsters
is that they weren’t thought of as cuisine
until the nineteenth century. Before that
 they were considered peasant food
and most often served in prisons.
 
The story behind diamonds
is that they were just rocks until 1938
when a marketing campaign
 forever linked them with love.
The story behind us
 is that you said I won’t wait forever
and I didn’t really listen.
 
The story behind art
 is that no one calls it a masterpiece
 until it has already been bought,
until it is hanging on the wall
in someone else’s home.
 
The story behind us
is that until I lost you I had no idea
what you were worth.

The Story behind Lobsters by Clementine von Radics

 

Please look our current exhibitions webpage to see all the artists exhibiting in the Art of SIlence exhibition.

Thank you as always for reading. 
Please click on the images above for links to webpages.

Contact the gallery by phone or email to purchase, or for any further information.
We ship worldwide.

Best wishes,

Aidan.