Creative escapes: ‘A studio isn't a luxury – it's a necessity'

Irish Times

7 hours ago

Settings don't get much more scenic than
watercolour
artist Edel Treacy's studio in Inistioge, Co Kilkenny. Dating back more than 300 years, the small stone outbuilding is located on a dairy farm, which has been in her husband Luke's family for generations.
'It's looking particularly beautiful this morning,' says Treacy, who has dropped her three sons (aged nine, seven and five) at school, made a coffee and taken 'about five steps to the art shed', from her house to work on a commission.
'There's inspiration everywhere around here. Beside my studio there's a lane full of hedges, greenery, bluebells, primroses, bees and birdsong.'
Inside the single-storey building, there's a vaulted ceiling, small traditional windows, plus new roof windows installed by a neighbour. The walls are made from exposed stone, native to the area, and the concrete floor allows for paint spillages.
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Artist Edel Treacy at her home studio in Coolraney, Inistioge, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny. Photo: Bryan O'Brien / The Irish Times
'It's not the brightest space, but there's a softness to the light and it gets a lot of sun,' says Treacy. 'When my dad saw it, he said, 'You can mess away in there to your heart's content Edel.''
Working from home is nothing new for many artists, who were operating from kitchen tables, spare bedrooms and draughty garages long before lockdown.
A rented studio space seems increasingly out of reach for a lot of Irish creatives, with the housing crisis, rising costs and the closure of a number of shared workspaces in recent years.
But despite the challenges, carving out space to make art is as vital as ever; whether it's in a 'room of one's own', to borrow
Virginia Woolf
's phrase, or just a quiet corner.
Work of artist Edel Treacy at her home studio in Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny. Photograph: Bryan O'Brien/The Irish Times
In winter, Treacy prefers to work in the warmth of her house. But she enjoys the separation between the two buildings. 'I can walk out the front door, leave housework or laundry behind, and just get engrossed'.
Rural life has also aided her creative practice. 'The farmer shows up every day to the farm, no matter what's going on, so I show up every day to my art,' she says. 'Even if it's for five or 10 minutes, that discipline has made me better.'
There are some drawbacks to living in a rural idyll. 'I'm incredibly lucky, but sometimes you miss the city as an artist – the people, cafes, galleries and art shops,' Treacy admits.
From the sounds of things though, the art shed can be fairly bustling. Treacy shares it with her husband if he's working remotely, and her sons pop in to paint or draw at a little picnic table beside her.
Edel Treacy's home studio in Coolraney, Inistioge, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny. Photo: Bryan O'Brien / The Irish Times
'The boys sometimes knock something over and run off, but they usually leave me to it. Once or twice, they've signed a piece with their own name and I have to start again. But they're actually very inspiring,' says the remarkably patient Treacy, who also job-shares as a primary schoolteacher. 'They enhance my creativity because they're so playful.'
Spare bedroom studio
Georgina O'Hanlon's illustration, which she produces in a room in her Dublin home.
At first glance, illustrator Georgina O'Hanlon's studio is very different from Treacy's rustic outbuilding. A converted spare bedroom in the artist's semidetached house in Whitehall, Dublin 9, its view isn't of flower-filled lanes, or rolling valleys, but other homes in a quiet cul-de-sac.
North Dublin might seem like a less romantic location than Inistioge, but O'Hanlon has created a light-filled, joyful workspace, adorned with her nature and folklore-inspired designs.
She hand-draws at a desk by the window, scans the illustrations into her computer, and sends them to be printed or woven in Europe. Seamstresses in Stoneybatter then turn the colourful fabric into Italian silk kaftans, cushions, hair accessories and blankets.
Georgina O'Hanlon
O'Hanlon's latest collection, Fairytales on Silk, recalls magical childhood summers with her grandmother in Co Clare. But she insists she has plenty of access to nature in her urban location, wandering through the park or nearby Botanic Gardens when she needs 'brain candy'.
'I'm close enough to the energy of town when I need it, but day to day, I get to enjoy the slower pace of local life,' says the artist, who purchased the house last year with her husband. The couple are expecting their first child in July.
Cushions based on Georgina O'Hanlon's illustrations
O'Hanlon does miss meeting fellow creatives in shared studios, and with no commute, 'there's no clear line between where your day begins and ends'.
The National College of Art and Design graduate previously worked in shared spaces such as Moxie Studios, which closed in 2014. She then rented a studio space in the city, which proved expensive. She's fully aware of how fortunate she is as an artist to have this workspace – 'a haven' – and her own home in the capital.
'Compared to artists in regional areas, the pressure in Dublin is particularly acute. The cost of living, the scarcity of space, and the absence of long-term support mean that many have simply had to leave the field,' O'Hanlon says.
'A studio isn't a luxury – it's a necessity. It's a space to spread ideas out, to see them fully, to build on them. Yet the infrastructure just isn't there. The whole situation feels deeply disheartening. Artists are expected to leap without a safety net, and for many, that leap is simply too far.'
Garden room art
Lorraine Coll's garden studio
For the Derry-based contemporary abstract artist Lorraine Coll, the challenges of working from home can be seen in her livingroom – but only if you look very closely.
'I've scrubbed the walls, the blinds – and don't lift the rug!' laughs Coll, whose beautiful, striking paintings can take a month to create and employ a range of techniques – such as burning paint with a hot gun to add texture.
A graduate of Manchester School of Art, Coll worked as an artist in Manchester 'from the kitchen table in our flat'. She returned to her hometown in 2013 and got a job with the local library service.
After taking a career break due to baby loss, Coll took up painting again. Returning to her passion proved therapeutic, and demand for Coll's pieces began to increase. Working from home made sense from a cost perspective, but as an artist who loves to 'work big', and with prospective customers wanting to view the paintings, the small, dark livingroom wasn't fit for purpose.
In 2022, garden rooms were enjoying a surge in popularity post-lockdown. Coll decided to invest, enlisting a local company to build the stand-alone structure in her back garden. Hedges were cleared, Coll's son gave up his trampoline (happily – 'football was taking over anyway') to make space, and her husband installed the electrics, plastering and flooring to save money.
Lorraine Coll works in her garden studio
The 3.8m x 3.2m space has large double doors to let in plenty of light, low-maintenance vinyl flooring, and paint-splattered walls which currently display two large canvases with moody burgundy hues, florescent pinks and oranges.
'They're at the 'ugly stage' where I'm building up vibrant colours underneath,' Coll says. 'I'll layer them up and they'll look totally different at the end.'
The traditional model of selling at art fairs, or to galleries, is changing. Most of Coll's sales now come via social media and her website. She has recouped her spend on the garden room, and it's also added value to her home.
'I've sent pieces to Australia, America, and connected with people all over the world,' Coll says. 'It's lovely to be able to do that from my back garden in Derry.'
www.instagram.com/edeltreacywatercolours
;
lorrainecollart.com
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georginaohanlonillustration.com