Laois artist Siobhán launches second solo art exhibition

LOCAL artist, sound therapist and playwright Siobhán Parkinson launched her second solo art exhibition in Mountmellick library on Tuesday 5 May with an evening of holistic sound healing, guided meditation and a lovely celebration cake.

The exhibition is titled Playing with Colour: From Dawn Til Dusk and it contains 24 pieces, varying from drawings to paintings and photographs. Each creation shows a strong theme of nature, human spirit and the interconnectedness of all life, while carrying deep spiritual messages.

The talented artist made her art debut at the same venue back in February 2023 when she was joined by her fellow members of Mountmellick writers’ group, as was featured in this newspaper at the time.

Siobhán is also part of the Mountmellick Art Collective and debuted her play titled When the Colour Went Away at the recent Page to Stage production that saw 12 short plays in one night in March by a great group of local writers at Mountmellick Community Arts Centre.

At the launch, there were comfortable seats laid out for everyone to relax on for the guided meditation session, which lasted for over 30 minutes. The spiritual artist sat on the ground and began to destress everyone of any woes through suggestions and the uplifting sounds from sound bowls, shruti box, gong and the other therapeutic instruments, which were all tuned into harmonious frequencies.

Before the launch, Siobhán spoke to the Laois Nationalist about her exhibition. She said: “This exhibition came about naturally after two years of creating things and working on things. Everything in it is about being outside with nature and about spirituality. My dog Rocco features in some parts of the exhibition, too.

“It naturally progressed into From Dawn until Dusk and here in the amazing three-roomed walk around art gallery. The first room as you come in to the left features dawn style pieces, while the main room focuses on noon and the third room highlights the dusk. The paintings, photographs and drawings just follow that pattern. It is all centred around the earth, the animals and nature in general and I really want to inspire people to get outside and know that the lovely, natural world exists out there and to see the beauty that is in the sun and the sunrise.

“I never used to get up at five in the morning, but I’m up at five every morning with Rocco and I see the way the clouds are in the summer and all of the interesting colours are magnificent. I can’t believe that I slept through this for most of my life. I also get up in the winter at five when it's pitch black and you see the stars and the crisp cool air is lovely.” 

Siobhán added that her exhibition is made up of mixed media, including photography, illustrations and some paintings.

She said: “The illustrations come from my dreams and things that I see in meditation and I tend to get an energy and feel like I want to draw something. The drawings just fly out of my hand, I don’t really have to do anything. I then take them into Illustrator and play around with them and make them digital.

“I watched a video on Instagram with whales singing their songs and how it goes across the ocean and It's like the sound bowls because it’s a frequency and one of the illustrations is of a lady just listening to the earth.” 

 Siobhán wishes to thank the staff at Mountmellick library for being so supportive, Laois Co Council for funding through the Arts Act Grant and everyone who attended the launch.

The exhibition remains on display for the month of May and can be viewed during library opening hours. All enquiries can be directed to the artist through her Instagram page @soundandsoul or by emailing siobhanparkinson1@hotmail.co.uk.