COVER TO CANVAS ARTIST OF THE DAY – Bláthnaid Ní Mhurchú, Visual Artist

Bláthnaid is a multi–award–winning artist and has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally. For this project she has embodied the fantastical world of Harry Clarke in her own inimitable style. She tells us of her inspiration…

Art Work Titles

“This love re–invades us, shifts the boundaries of our being” 

The image on a postcard of ‘The Snow Queen’ by Harry Clarke purchased from the shop in The National Gallery, has been around me for a few years. It has hung above my workspace in a few different locations and has also lived at my bedside. When I saw Hans Christian Anderson’s Fairy Tales illustrated by Clarke laid out in The King’s Inns Library, I was immediately drawn to it. All the other books faded into the background and it was there and then that I was lured into the magical, fantastical world of Harry Clarke.

I have had an incredible time delving both into the fairy tales and the exquisite work of Clarke. Because of this attraction I have had to The Snow Queen, I decided immediately to respond to this particular tale.

To my utter delight I discovered through my research that it was possible for me to view 11 of Clarke’s original illustrations for Anderson’s Fairy tales in The National Gallery’s Prints & Drawing Study Room. To be able to pour over these captivating artistic jewels was such a treat and really inspired me to nourish my own piece, both in colour and detail.

I choose the Egyptian Vulture as my snow queen and took different elements of the story to create my composition. The title, an excerpt from one of Micheal O’ Siadhail’s love poems to his wife (‘Out of the blue’), encapsulates for me the story of true love at the very heart of this magnificent fairy tale.

WANT TO SEE BLÁTHNAID’S WORK? COME ALONG TO OUR EXHIBITION. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BLÁTHNAID NI MHURCHU’S WORK, VISIT OUR LIBRARY EXHIBITION PAGE HERE.