PRESS RELEASE
Helena Brennan,
potter/sculptor mother of six, grandmother of four and Pioneer of Irish
Ceramics, is taking on a new lease of life as she moves from Dublin to Wicklow.
In celebration, a week long retrospective of Helena and her late husband
Peter’s work is being shown at 37 Northumberland Avenue, Dun Laoghaire, where
they lived and worked for thirty years.
As a student Helena met Peter, who
following his twenty years of developing Irish earthenware art pottery in
Kilkenny, was Professor of Ceramics at NCAD until he retired in 1982. Their
shared interest in ceramics and sculpture was the beginning of their
relationship and they went on to be married and have a large family.
Helena and her late husband Peter
Brennan were the first ever to make and
exhibit hand-thrown stoneware and
porcelain in Ireland. That exhibition was opened by the late Ann Crookshank and
was held in The Irish Times Gallery in D'Ollier St in 1966.
After the success of that watershed
exhibition, Peter and Helena went on to show and teach both nationally and internationally. Following Peter’s death in 1995, Helena continued her
exploration of ceramics through life drawing, and has most recently developed
her interested in the sculptural aspect of clay; recently completing a
commission, 'The Rosary Way' for a prayer garden in Inchicore for The Oblate
Fathers, supported by Dublin City Council. The new Mysteries of Light are
included.
On leaving 37 Northumberland Avenue,
it seems fitting that the exhibition would include works by Peter so that
tribute could be paid to the wonderful teacher, husband, father and artist he
was.
Helena Brennan is a co-founder of the Craft Potters Society
of Ireland, The Crafts Council of Ireland, and a founding member of The Society
of Designers of Ireland.
The exhibition will also feature work by Aoife Hannan.
A dozen years ago Aoife first discovered a love of pottery as a student of
Peter Brennan. Under Helena’s guidance Aoife is continuing the much respected
Bernard Leach tradition where a simple, unadorned style emphasizes purity of
form. The pieces are cleanly made with ease, balance and naturalness of form
and are intended to be enjoyed in everyday use. We look forward with anticipation
to Aoife’s own studio production in the years to come.
The exhibition will open at 37,
Northumberland Avenue, on Thursday, September 1st and run daily
until Thursday 9th, 11am-7pm.
Admission is free.
As well as the many of the exhibits,
a large part of the studio equipment will be for sale, including a 40ft K&F
gas kiln, several Alsager potters’ wheels & some kick wheels, books and
tools.
Enquiries and further information
can be obtained by contacting Helena at 01-2800030 or by e-mailing her at studio@helenabrennan.com & www.helenabrennan.com