Cróna Gallagher
Printmaker/Poet
I am a dual practice artist (Visual/Literature) from the west of Ireland (Achill and Northwest Donegal) and now based in the market town of Manorhamilton Co. Leitrim. I hold a private studio in the Leitrim Sculpture Centre and practice printmaking, in particular copperplate etchings as my main visual arts practice.
The natural world is a generous source of inspiration, and I often revisit the same theme repeatedly, observing from a different angle, investigating through another medium. it is endlessly informative.
Small natural forms attract interest, insects, birds, aquatic life forms such as beetles, swans, frogs and fish.
When making etchings, my approach is meditative, and process led. I create the image in the traditional manner, applying a drawn image to a prepared plate, utilising a technique which is unchanged for hundreds of years. The press I run my images under is several hundred years old and I select papers which pick up the fine markings on the plate. Japanese papers are a favourite, especially Kitikata gampi papers for their warm tones and ability to pick up delicate lines. This paper was a favourite of Rembrandts.
Flight in all its forms attracts my attention. Perhaps in the way an autumn leaf might twisting through the air, or the astonishing engineering of a bee's wing, how a sycamore seed tumbles its way safely from branch to soil, or the way dandelion seeds are carried by the winds across the waters.