This article is from page 4 of the 2011-07-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
LAHINCH ar tist Michael Hanrahan wi ll later this mont h become the only l iving Irish ar tist to have a piece of his work included in the most exclusive ar t collection in the world.
Michael, who was the only ar tist accredited to cover the Queen’s historic visit to Ireland, will fly out from Shannon Ai r por t later this month to hand-deliver one of his works to Buckingham Palace.
The for mer banker, who reti red from the financial world to become an ar tist just five years ago, received a letter from Buckingham Palace last Wednesday, informing him t hat the Queen would be “ver y pleased” to receive the painti ng for her collection.
The painting, which depicts President Mar y McAleese and the Queen at the Garden of Remembrance, was on display at Kenny’s Ar t Galler y in Lahinch over t he weekend, and will hang at White Ar t Gallery in Dublin for three weeks before being hand-del ivered by Michael to Buckingham Palace.
“The letter came into my postbox yesterday and I knew it was an i mpor tant letter when I spot ted the royal seal on t he back of it. The letter had been sent from the Queen’s private secretar y telling me that the Queen would be ver y pleased to receive one of my paintings. I was overwhel med and ver y honoured,” said Michael.
“The Queen has one of t he biggest and most expensive ar t collections i n the world. Some are held in Buckingham Palace and some at another palace in Edinburgh.
“This work will be exhibited all around t he UK as par t of the Queen’s diamond jubilee next year and it is amazing to think that an ar tist from Clare would be par t of this collection.
“I will be t he proudest man in Ireland flying from Shannon over to London with that painting to deliver it to the Queen.”
Michael was t he only non-photographer given full access to record t he Queen’s visit to Ireland earlier t his year in its enti rety.
“I was there for t he four days of t he t rip and I think I had a unique role to play in recording the event for future generations. It was an historic occasion. Most of t he work was done back in the Cour thouse Gallery and Studios in Ennistymon,” continued Michael.
“As an ar tist, I had the oppor t unity to think about it and do somet hing a bit different. A painting is different from a photograph – it’s framed and it is an inter pret ation. I t hink this puts more of an emphasis on people to t hink about what t hey are looking at. This was an opport unity t hat I couldn’t pass up.”