Stunning bog paintings in new Laois show

A WONDERFUL art exhibition in Mountrath titled ‘Bog Gothic: Primeval Place the Contested Ground’ features a fantastic collection of 21 paintings by a member of the Redline Art Group in Killenard.

The show by Sheila Hough from Banagher, Offaly in the Gallery of Divine Inspiration at Bloom HQ was opened on 1 May by art historian Kate Walsh, of Damer House Gallery in Roscrea, Co Tipperary.

Speaking to the Laois Nationalist before the launch, Sheila said that she was born in Kenya, moved to Cork city for a time and then settled in Banagher. She recalled: “I studied my art certificate, as it was known at the time, in Crawford College of Art in Cork, which was since converted to a degree. I won the Gibson Request Travelling Scholarship and went to France for a year, Copenhagen for a year and went to Oslo University. Then I went home and was told to go out and get a job.

“I got a job in the convent in Banagher and taught art for a year, met my husband and married into a pub - JJ Hough’s. Then I got a job in Athlone Institute of Technology and I taught image making there for 31 years.

“I retired in 2017 and started painting again with Ray Murphy, who runs Redline in Killenard. I had read a book called The Snake’s Pass by Bram Stoker, where the main character in the book is the bog, which is ominous and uncanny because we have a bog ourselves, so I started painting bogs.

“In this exhibition there is a body of work from the past five years and there are different things within the paintings including bog bodies and bog landscapes. There’s one called the Kilcormac Pieta, which is a great story.” 

The Kilcormac Pieta is a rare, 16th century solid oak piece carved out of one piece of wood, thought to be either Italian or Spanish, and depicts the Virgin Mary holding the body of Jesus after his descent from the cross. When Cromwell came in the 1600s, three men buried the Kilcormac Pieta in the bog so only three men knew where it was buried. Two passed away and the last man was carried to the bog on his deathbed and showed the locals where the Pieta was buried. It is now in the church in Kilcormac.

There are several landscape paintings in the exhibition, in which Sheila explores “the Irish psyche that people can’t pin down, which is an unknown quantity of Irish writers and painters”.

She said: “I’m trying to refer to that in my paintings. The bog is the last wild place and the Irish have a wildness in them, which is where you get the great writers and the great painters.” 

In her speech at the opening, Kate described Sheila as an artist whose eye is sharp and sense of place is deep. She also complimented Sheila on her ability to turn her attention to the bog and to capture the ancient, layered and quite powerful terrain.

She said: “Sheila doesn’t present the bog as a postcard rural Ireland; instead she leans into its strangeness, its darkness and its mystic undertones. What’s striking in this exhibition is how Sheila blends the organic with the mysterious. There’s beauty here but it’s a beauty with strength and the textures, colours and forms carry echoes of folklore, bodies and memories resurfacing.” 

Gallery curator Kevin McCann observed that five years’ work went into the exhibition, as Sheila did a study of the bogs like a scientist. He said: “She clearly has a passion for what she does. Sheila told me that where she lives near Banagher is all bogland and her interpretations are fabulous. The more you look at it, the more you see. By all accounts, her children are very artistic with one a filmmaker and another who studied art. Fair play to Sheila is what I say.” 

Sheila thanked Kevin for the curation and hanging of the paintings, Bloom HQ for having such a fantastic location gifted to the community from the Brigidine nuns, Kate for launching the exhibition and everyone who attended the opening night.

The super showcase will remain on view in the bright and spacious corridors of Bloom HQ until the end of May. Sheila Hough is on Instagram and Facebook and can be contacted through her social media pages.