No Seatbelts, Just Trust!

Sep 16

No Seatbelts, Just Trust!
One of the paintings that accompany my poem, Jolly Holidays, now on view in Strule Arts Centre, Omagh.
Time-lapse solo exhibition continues until Saturday 26th September.
Open daily from 10am-5pm.

Jolly Holidays

One week every year
Butlins holiday camp.
We'd feel a shift in the air.

The sewing machine hummed
late into the night.
Each outfit imagined
each child measured
seven times over.

My father would arrive home
tanned and suave
as if travel polished him.
The town noticed
They always did.
Ballybofey bus stop
quietly filling with welcome.

The day finally arrived.
seven children folded
into the back of a Morris Minor.
No seat belts
just trust.
Four back
three front,
then swap.

Hours passed
and the noise rose.
My mum reached for the one sentence
that always worked
“Do you want me to turn this car around
and go back home again”.

Silence followed.

My sisters could all sing.
Voices ever ready, confident,
holiday competitions waited
and we entered everything.

I am five years old
too small for the microphone
but not for the moment.
The compere leans down to adjust
but my song arrives first
“Tá na hÉin go Léir Anseo”
Loud and fearless
sending him stumbling
to laughter and applause.
I sing on
oblivious to all.

My reward
A gold medal
a toy clutched tight
and a free family holiday promised
or the year ahead.

But I got shy after that and the singing stopped.
For years I waited for it to return.
Some voices pause, they don't disappear.
Once a child learns joy

she never forgets.

Maria Noonan-McDermott

Irish Artist Maria Noonan-McDermott Bio

Originally from Donegal, Irish artist and poet Maria Noonan McDermott now lives and works from her studio in Kinlough, Co. Leitrim.

Heavily influenced by the impressionist movement, her work focuses on the study of light and form in Irish landscapes.

With a love of folklore and story-telling, Noonan McDermott's influences lie in rural Ireland, it is in these magical places that share a colloquial history where stories and the people are often ingrained into the landscape.

I began my artistic career in Dublin in 1985 and qualified in Fashion and Design. I returned to college and completed a certificate in visual education before continuing on to study Fine Art. In the year 1990, I had my first solo exhibition of paintings. The feedback and encouragement I received helped direct me on my current path.

My work has always been influenced by a deep connection with the natural environment, the beautiful rugged Irish landscape with its endlessly changing skies and dramatic seas. I am equally fascinated by the people that the land holds so tightly and am firmly bound in kinship with their poetic writing, their stories and soulful lyrics.

I've always been in awe of the storyteller, those gifted people who so fluidly guide you into their fantasy worlds, who submerge you so deeply, you cry, laugh and often seethe with anger and frustration. To me, this is true magic, possessing the rare skill of creating something from nothing, evoking such passion and emotion.

Growing up I found words didn't come so easily to me, art and writing became my outlet. I was transformed into the 'Cailleach Feasa', the storyteller. I recorded and recollected all the tales from times gone by, breathing life back into places and quirky characters I met along the way.

I was raised in a small village in Donegal and like most small communities in Ireland, it was filled with the most amazing characters.

As a child, my head was filled with fantastical stories told and dramatised by neighbours and family, the gatekeepers of local history. These tales, were, of course, exaggerated and embellished with such fun and gusto, like only true Irish seanchai can, that I couldn't help growing up with a great love of the people around me and all their fascinating antics.

In my work, I narrate the stories with colour and humour as over the years they've formed and shaped in my memory.
My paintings become the text and you the reader and as the reader, you are challenged to participate and choose your own journey. Thus, enabling the story to live all over again!

This attachment is ingrained in my work and I strive to bring forth its warmth in the most honest and pure way I know how.

https://www.marianoonan-mcdermott.com

No Seatbelts, Just Trust!

Artist’s Public Tour Marks Culture Night at Strule Arts Centre, Omagh

Official Opening of Time-Lapse at Strule Arts Centre, Omagh.

©Maria Noonan-McDermott Artist