Ghislaine Howard, ‘The Circus Animals’ Desertion.

An exhibition of paintings, drawings and prints

13th – 20th August, Estate Office, Birr, County Ofally, Ireland

‘I sought a theme and sought for it in vain, I sought it daily for six weeks or so.’

In her imagination, Ghislaine Howard equates her Irish home, the Old Distillery in Birr, with Thoor Ballylee, W. B. Yeats’ famous tower, inspiration for so many of his poem.

This suite of monotypes and related works are inspired by Yeats’ late poem, ‘The Circus Animals’ Desertion’ which centres on the mysterious nature of artistic creation.Her exhibition explores the ‘rag and bone shop of the heart’: the people, memories, ambitions, images and objects that make up an artist’s vocabulary.

Ghislaine interweaves images suggested by the poem with references to her own life and work. She also pays homage to Picasso’s Vollard Suite, etchings that the Spanish master produced just a few years before Yeats’ re-assessment of his poetic self

Recently named as a ‘Woman of the Year’ in the U.K., Ghislaine is an artist known for powerful and expressive paintings that record and interpret shared human ex-perience. She exhibits widely in the UK and Europe and has work in many public and private collections, including the Royal Collection. This will be her first exhibition in Ireland.

You are invited to the official opening of the exhibition which will take place at 6.30pm on Friday 13 August at the Estate office, Rosse Row, Birr, County Offaly, Ireland.

Click the links to see more images from The Circus Animals Desertion