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 Baylee, 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