Ón Chroí Amach: Cleamhnas Péinte / Homebirds: A Duet in Paint
Ón Chroí Amach: Cleamhnas Péinte
Cornelius Browne & Paula Corcoran
Bhuail Cornelius Browne agus Paula Corcoran le chéile sa bhliain 1987, laistigh de chúpla seachtain dóibh clárú mar mhic léinn i gColáiste Náisiúnta Ealaíne agus Dearaidh i mBaile Átha Cliath. Go gairid ina dhiaidh sin, bhog na déagóirí isteach le chéile. Ó shin i leith, tá siad ina gcónaí san áit chéanna. Thar na blianta, ba nead de pháipéar agus de phinn luaidhe, de ghualach agus de fheadáin phéinte, de bhoird agus de chanbháis gach teach ina raibh siad. Is scéal grá í an taispeántas seo, agus scéal beirte ag déanamh ealaíne le chéile ar feadh a saoil fásta ar fad.
Péinteálann Paula sa bhaile, ag aistriú idir dhá bhord péinteála, ceann sa chistin agus ceann eile sa seomra leapa. Péinteálann Cornelius amuigh faoin aer, go minic laistigh de chlos Paula, agus ní bhíonn sé choíche níos faide ná siúlóid ghearr ón doras tosaigh. Cruthaíonn sé seo nasc eatarthu, ag tabhairt an taobh istigh agus an taobh amuigh le chéile, agus ag léiriú go bhfuil ealaín agus saol fite fuaite lena chéile. Sa taispeántas seo, a cuireadh le chéile go speisialta don Ghailearaí, feictear an próiseas seo go soiléir sa dá theachín éan péinteáilte, ceann déanta ag gach ealaíontóir, áit a bhfuil go leor neadacha tógtha agus sicíní beaga tagtha ar an tsaol iontu. Trasna spás an ghailearaí, labhraíonn na teachíní éan seo go séimh lena chéile, agus cineál ceoil á chruthú san aer eatarthu.
Déanann ‘Home Birds: A Duet in Paint’ ceiliúradh ar dheichiú bliain ó tháinig Paula slán ó ailse, agus ar a dara bliain ó ainéaras inchinne a réab, ar tháinig sí slán uaidh. Bhí Paula i gcónaí ag péinteáil ábhar neamhbheo, agus í ar feadh a saoil ag bailiú soithí do chleití agus do bhláthanna. Ach ó tháinig sí slán ó ailse thromchúiseach, tá na héin bheaga is ansa léi sa saol ag cur beocht ina hábhar neamhbheo. Tuirlingíonn siad ar a tábla, ag amharc ar an té atá ag amharc orthu, suíonn siad ar na vásaí, agus eitlíonn siad leo. Ó bhí sí ina páiste, tá a hintinn lán de ghairdíní fiáine agus de mheas ar an dúlra, agus tá spiorad Paula fite fuaite le seasmhacht éin cheoil.
Ó ghlórtha na ndreoilíní agus iad ag cúpláil go glaonna na bhfaoileán agus a mbolg folamh acu, tá ceol na n-éan fite fuaite i bpéintéireacht Cornelius. Níor phéinteáil Cornelius faoi dhíon ná idir ceithre bhalla ó chríochnaigh sé a thaispeántas céime NCAD i 1992. Laistigh de shrianta a cheantair féin, agus é ag filleadh ar na háiteanna céanna arís agus arís eile—ó shéasúr go séasúr, bliain i ndiaidh bliana, idir lá agus oíche agus i ngach aimsir—cuireann sé a chorp féin faoi thástáil mar láthair aireachta, mar phointe beag feasachta i lár corraíl na haimsire agus spléachadh an dúlra.
Cé gur cuireadh oiliúint fhoirmiúil orthu mar phéintéirí, le himeacht na mblianta ó bhain siad céimeanna san Fhínealaín amach, tá Cornelius agus Paula tar éis bogadh de réir a chéile ó phríomhshruth an tsaoil ealaíne i dtreo domhan imeallach na cruthaitheachta. Tá an réimse seo d’ealaín fhísí agus seachtrach ann le fada, saor ó shrianta an choinbhinsiúin, agus é lán d’ealaíontóirí a chruthaíonn saothair uathúla bunaithe ar a gcuid aeistéitic féin. Tá craobhóga ó thraidisiúin ealaíne éagsúla — idir choincheapúil, acadúil, thíre agus shaonta — fite sa nead ealaíne baile a thóg Cornelius agus Paula le linn a saoil le chéile; ach sa deireadh, is leo féin í.
Tá caidreamh seanbhuniathe idir na healaíontóirí agus Gailearaí Paul McKenna ar An Ómaigh a d'óstáil roinnt taispeántas go dtí seo. Ag déanamh tracht ar obair Cornelius deir McKenna;
“Tá pictiúir fhileata plein air de chuid Cornelius Browne le feiceáil i nGailearaí McKenna ó bhí 2014. Áirítear leis seo dhá thaispeántas aonair, chomh maith le roghanna níos lú pictiúr. Mar a deir sliocht as léirmheas an Belfast Telegraph maidir lena chéad taispeántas aonair, Weathering, in 2015: ‘Tá stíl an-uathúil agus léiritheach ag Browne, le go leor uigeachta trom curtha i bhfeidhm le strócanna dána, soiléire, foirfe do fhiántas thírdhreach fiáin Dhún na nGall, áit a mothaíonn sé go mór sa bhaile.' Tugann taispeántas an tsamhraidh seo sa Ghailearaí, Homebirds: A Duet in Paint, deis annamh pictiúir shainiúla lasmuigh le Cornelius a fheiceáil i gcomhrá le pictiúir mhíne laistigh dá bhean chéile, Paula Corcoran. Cuireadh pictiúir shamhlaíocha neamhbheo le Paula san áireamh i gcúig cinn de na príomhthaispeántais i dTeach an Rí a choimeád mé d’Fhéile Ealaíon Mhainistir na Búille. Beidh an-suim ag go leor daoine ar breá leo an ealaín sa chúpla péintéireachta seo.”
Paul McKenna Aibreáin 2026
Rugadh Cornelius Browne i nGlaschú sa bhliain 1968, agus d’fhás sé aníos gar don Mhachaire in iarthar Dhún na nGall, áit a bhfuil sé fós ina chónaí agus ag péinteáil. Rinne sé staidéar ar phéintéireacht i gColáiste Náisiúnta Ealaíne agus Deartha i mBaile Átha Cliath, áit ar bhain sé céim amach sa Mhínealaín. D’oibrigh sé ar feadh beagnach deich mbliana i Músaem Nua-Ealaíne na hÉireann. I measc a chuid taispeántas aonair tá ‘A Garden a Stone’s Throw from the Sea’ ag Féile Ealaíon an Chaisil (coimeádaithe ag Catherine Marshall), ‘All Nature has a Feeling’ ag Ionad Cultúrtha Réigiúnach i Leitir Ceanainn, agus ‘An Invite to Eternity’ agus ‘Weathering’, araon i nGailearaí McKenna ar an Ómaigh. Is féidir a chuid pictiúr a fheiceáil fosta i gcuid mhór taispeántas grúpa ar fud na hÉireann. Ón bhliain 2016, tá sé ag teagasc ceardlanna péinteála plein air i dTeach agus i nGailearaí an Ghleib (Glebe House & Gallery) i Mín a’ Lábáin. Sa bhliain 2024, bronnadh Agility Award air ó Chomhairle Ealaíon na hÉireann. Ba é an t-agallamh a rinne sé ar an tsraith cháiliúil The Artist’s Well an eipeasóid ba mhó a breathnaíodh air sa bhliain 2025. Tá sé ag obair i dtionscal na teilifíse mar dhearthóir léiriúcháin agus mar scríbhneoir scripte, agus tá ficsean, filíocht agus scríbhneoireacht ealaíne foilsithe aige. Le seacht mbliana anuas, tá colún á scríobh aige don Visual Artists’ News Sheet, arna fhoilsiú ag Amharcealaíontóirí Éireann (Visual Artists Ireland). Tá sé ag cur na gcolún seo in oiriúint dá chéad leabhar faoi láthair.
Rugadh Paula Corcoran i mBaile Átha Cliath sa bhliain 1969, agus tá sí ina cónaí agus ag obair i nDún na nGall ó 2003. Rinne sí staidéar ar phéintéireacht i gColáiste Náisiúnta Ealaíne agus Deartha i mBaile Átha Cliath, áit ar bhain sí céim amach sa Mhínealaín. Tionóladh a taispeántas aonair ‘Earthly Possessions’ i dTeach Lambay i mBaile Átha Cliath sa bhliain 2001. Ar feadh deich mbliana, bhí sí ag taispeáint go rialta i dTaispeántais Bhliantúla an Acadaimh Ríoga Hibernaigh na hÉireann. Tá a saothar le feiceáil freisin i roinnt taispeántas grúpa i nGailearaí Molesworth i mBaile Átha Cliath. Tá a cuid pictiúr curtha ar taispeáint go forleathan i dtaispeántais ghrúpa ar fud na hÉireann, ina measc ‘Crossings,’ ‘Legacy,’ ‘Gathering,’ ‘Facing West,’ agus ‘North by Northwest,’ ar príomhthaispeántais iad uile i dTeach an Rí mar chuid d’Fhéile Ealaíon Bhóill; dhá thaispeántas ‘Iontas’ i nGailearaí Ealaíne Shligigh, i nGailearaí an Acadaimh Ríoga Hibernaigh na hÉireann, agus i nGailearaí Ormeau Baths; ‘NCAD 250 Drawings 1746–1996’ san Acadaimh Ríoga Hibernaigh na hÉireann; ‘Siolru – National Maternity Hospital Centenary Exhibition’ san Acadaimh Ríoga Hibernaigh na hÉireann; ‘Impression’ i nGailearaí Spanish Arch, Gaillimh; ‘The Second Irish Mini Print Exhibition’ i nGailearaí an Acadaimh Ríoga Hibernaigh na hÉireann, i nGailearaí Riverrun, i nGailearaí Butler, agus in Ionad Ealaíon Triskel; agus roinnt Taispeántas Cásca i nGailearaí an Ghleib i nDún na nGall. Tá sí ar an ngearrliosta do Ghradam RTÉ don Ghearrscéal Scáileáin, agus bronnadh Gradam Eitilte Ealaíne na Comhairle Ealaíon uirthi go Nua-Eabhrac.
Homebirds: A Duet in Paint
Cornelius Browne & Paula Corcoran
Cornelius Browne and Paula Corcoran met in 1987, within weeks of enrolling as students at the National College of Art & Design in Dublin. Soon afterwards, the teenagers moved in together. They have lived in the same dwellings ever since. Over the years, each successive home has been a nest of paper and pencils, charcoal sticks and paint tubes, boards, and canvases. This exhibition is a love story, and the story of two people making art together for the entirety of their adult lives.
Paula paints at home, alternating between two painting tables, one in the kitchen, another in the bedroom. Cornelius paints outdoors, often within earshot of Paula, and never further than within walking distance of their front door. This creates a cross-fertilization between two souls, harmonizing interior and exterior, entwining art and life. In the present exhibition, conceived especially for An Gailearaí, this process finds visual expression in the two painted birdhouses, one by each artist, in both of which many nests have been built and chicks born. Across the gallery space, these birdhouses gently communicate, generating in the air a kind of songline.
‘Home Birds: A Duet in Paint’ celebrates Paula’s tenth year as a cancer survivor, and her second year as the survivor of a ruptured brain aneurysm. Paula has always been a still life painter, all her days collecting vessels for feathers and flowers. However, since battling an aggressive cancer with low five-year survival rates, the little birds she loves in life have been enlivening her motionless subject matter. They alight on her table, glance at the viewer, perch on vases, fly away. Her mind, since childhood, filled with wild gardens and a veneration of nature, Paula’s spirit has fused with the resilience of songbirds.
Birdsong, from the duets of mating wrens to the cries of empty-bellied gulls, has woven itself into the brushwork of Cornelius’s painting life. Cornelius has not painted under a roof, surrounded by walls, since completing his NCAD degree exhibition in 1992. Within the strict confines of his home patch, painting the same places across the seasons, year in, year out, at all times of day and night, in all weathers, he tests his body as a site of perception, a miniscule nub of consciousness, in the midst of meteorological confrontations, and nature’s fleeting epiphanies.
Although formally trained as painters, the decades since they graduated with degrees in Fine Art, have seen Cornelius and Paula move steadily away from the mainstream art world, towards a peripheral world of creation. This realm of outsider and visionary art has long existed, free of the constraints of convention, peopled by artists producing unique works based on their own individual aesthetics and parameters. The homespun art nest built by Cornelius and Paula during their lives together, incorporates twigs from many different art trees, from conceptual and academic, to folk and naïve, yet in the end it is entirely their own.
The artists have a long-standing relationship with the Paul McKenna Gallery in Omagh who has paid host to a number of exhibitions to date. Commenting on Cornelius’s work, McKenna states;
“The poetic plein air paintings of Cornelius Browne have been a presence at McKenna Gallery since 2014. This has encompassed two solo exhibitions, in addition to smaller selections of paintings. To quote the Belfast Telegraph review of his first solo exhibition, Weathering, in 2015: 'Browne has a very individual and expressive style, with lots of heavy texture applied with bold, obvious strokes, perfect for the wildness of the wild Donegal landscape where he feels particularly at home.' This summer's exhibition at An Gailearaí, Homebirds: A Duet in Paint, offers a rare opportunity to view Cornelius's distinctive outdoor paintings in dialogue with the delicate indoor paintings of his wife Paula Corcoran. Paula's imaginative still life paintings have been included in five of the main exhibitions at King House that I curated for Boyle Arts Festival. This painterly duet will be of great interest to a great many art lovers.”
Paul McKenna April 2026
Born in Glasgow in 1968, Cornelius Browne grew up near the small coastal village of Maghery in west Donegal, where he still lives and paints. He studied painting at the National College of Art & Design in Dublin, graduating with a degree in Fine Art. He worked for almost a decade at the Irish Museum of Modern Art. His solo exhibitions include ‘A Garden a Stone’s Throw from the Sea’ at Cashel Arts Festival (curated by Catherine Marshall), ‘All Nature has a Feeling’ at Regional Culture Centre in Letterkenny, ‘An Invite to Eternity’ and ‘Weathering,’ both at McKenna Gallery in Omagh. His paintings have also been exhibited in many group exhibitions around Ireland. Since 2016, he has tutored plein air workshops at Glebe House & Gallery in Churchill. In 2024, he received an Agility Award from the Arts Council of Ireland. His interview on the popular series The Artist’s Well was the most watched episode of 2025. He has worked in film as a production designer and screenwriter, and has published fiction, poetry, and art writing. For the last seven years, he has written a column for The Visual Artists’ News Sheet, published by Visual Artists Ireland. He is currently adapting these columns into his first book.
Born in Dublin in 1969, Paula Corcoran has lived and worked in Donegal since 2003. She studied painting at the National College of Art & Design in Dublin, graduating with a degree in Fine Art. Her solo exhibition ‘Earthly Possessions’ was held at Lambay House Gallery in Dublin in 2001. For ten years, she exhibited regularly at the Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibitions. Her work has also been shown in several group exhibitions at The Molesworth Gallery in Dublin. Her paintings have been exhibited widely in group exhibitions around Ireland, including ‘Crossings,’ ‘Legacy,’ ‘Gathering,’ ‘Facing West,’ and ‘North by Northwest,’ all main exhibitions at King House as part of Boyle Arts Festival; two ‘Iontas’ exhibitions at Sligo Art Gallery, RHA Gallery, and Ormeau Baths Gallery; ‘NCAD 250 Drawings 1746-1996’ at RHA; ‘Siolru – National Maternity Hospital Centenary Exhibition’ at RHA; ‘Impression’ at Spanish Arch Gallery, Galway; ‘The Second Irish Mini Print Exhibition’ at RHA Gallery, Riverrun Gallery, Butler Gallery, and Triskel Arts Centre; and several Easter Exhibitions at the Glebe Gallery in Donegal. She has been shortlisted for an RTE Short Screenplay Award and received an Arts Council Art Flight Award to New York.