This article is from page 36 of the 2008-05-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 36 JPG
A BRAND new solo exhibition of paintings from north Clare artist, Sara Foust takes up residence in he Courthouse Gallery in Ennistymon this week.
The exhibition which is entitled The Other Place, includes a number works painted by Sara over the last 12 months. After focusing on coast- al areas in her last exhibition, Sara has decided to turn her attention to woodland for this latest collection of V0) 0.@
‘“T wanted to explore a different sub- ject matter with this exhibition. One of the main reasons that I focussed
on trees was that it can be really hard to find a nice woodland around here – it’s fairly barren. They’re there but they’re tucked away,” said Sara.
“My own way of working with colour is far more vibrant than what you might see with your own eyes. At times it’s riding that line between representation and abstract – a lot of people are scared of abstract art, but my work can straddle that line a lhit- tle bit.”
The exhibition features a number of scenes taken from woods in the Clare area. The paintings span dif- ferent times of the year and attempt to capture the woods as they pass through the different seasons.
This collection attempts to create the feeling that the woodland is a distinct arena to other areas.
‘The idea of the other place was a combination of a lot of other ideas that I have been playing with. One of the main ones is that we are still here in Clare, we’re still in a local place but it’s a very different feeling out in the woods. It a completely different personal feeling of nature,’ contin- ued Sara.
‘There is so much a sence of pro- tection, enclosure and quiet. It’s a really different feeling and experi- ence of nature. I learned a lot as I was working through the exhibition and different aspects became really
fascinating.
“In some painting the interesting thing was to focus in on something small like a section of bark and it’s texture, while in other ones I became fascinated on the dabs of light locat- ed underneath the tree. To see how the shadows of the trees flutter down in the undergrowth and the play of the different shades of light.”
‘The Other Place’ runs in the Court- house Gallery until May 24, from Tuesday to Saturday each week.