Artist's African Inspiration: An interview with Avril Kiernan
Displaying a colourful and impressive collection of her recent paintings, Avril Kiernan explains that they all have something unusual in common: Not a single paintbrush was involved in creating them.
Instead, her fingers were the tools of choice. “I love the feel of the paint on my hands,” she says.
The Ballymahon native, who works in Athlone’s Radisson Blu Hotel, is a keen artist whose love of bright and bold colours stems from the years she spent living in South Africa.
She had been working in a shop in the Midlands when she first visited South Africa, and quickly fell in love with the place.
“I went for two weeks’ holidays and I just loved the scenery and the people, so I came home, handed in my notice, and went back over again,” she says.
It was coming to the end of the country’s apartheid regime when she moved there. Avril lived in a picturesque town called Montagu, on the Western Cape.
“It was a beautiful place. Absolutely beautiful. I’d go back there in the morning,” she says.
Her time in South Africa also reawakened her interest in art. As a child, attending national school and secondary school in Ballymahon, she was actively involved in art.
“In secondary school we didn’t have an art teacher, so I fought to get one and we did get one on a part-time basis: Maggie Henshaw from Athlone,” she says.
“Then, when I was 16 and a half, I won a scholarship for four years to the College of Art and Design on Kildare Street.”
She subsequently stopped painting for a few years until she was living in South Africa and met one of its top artists, Ronel Preston, who was also living in Montagu.
“She is the one who got me back painting, and I actually worked in her studio,” Avril says.
“In her paintings she used very bright colours as well, but she painted in oils. You’d look at one of them first and you’d see purple or pink, and then you’d study it and see a street and a tree and the mountains.”
Avril worked with underprivileged South African children, teaching them art.
“I remember coming home to Ireland one time, and going to the pound shop to buy pencils, pens and colouring things for them.
“There was one little guy, Johan, who was seven or eight at the time. He was very intelligent. He used to call me ‘Donty’, which is South African for Auntie. ‘Donty Avie, when were you in Taiwan?’ he said.
“I said I was never in Taiwan. And he said, ‘it says on the pencils, made in Taiwan.’ There was a shamrock and ‘a present from Ireland’ written on them, but it also said on the side, ‘made in Taiwan’. How do you explain that to a South African eight-year-old?” she smiles.
She found the people very easygoing and laid-back. “If you asked for something to be done by a builder, he’d say ‘next Tuesday’ and it could be two or three months down the road (before he shows up). But there was no pressure.
“The children went to school at six in the morning, and no matter how rich or poor they were they went in their bare feet. They had lovely uniforms but went in their bare feet.
“You had to bring in your washing off the line before 12 o’clock or otherwise the sun would fade it. I loved it.
“When I was there I took in Zimbabwe, Namibia, Nigeria, and that’s where I got partial to all of those bright colours and dark colours together.”
She eventually returned home to Ireland and worked in The Olive Grove restaurant before joining the team in the Radisson. She has been at the hotel for over a decade and enjoys her work, which is mainly in the hotel restaurant.
One of the advantages of the job is getting to take in the hotel's setting, overlooking the River Shannon, each day. “We can sometimes take it for granted but it is beautiful, either in the winter or the summer.
“I actually think it’s nicer in the winter time, if there’s snow or ice. To come in here early in the morning and look out on the river is fantastic.”
Athlone's Rotary Club meets in the Radisson every Monday and Avril said its members had been very supportive of her and encouraged her to display her artwork to the wider public.
While she has not yet held an art exhibition, there are provisional plans to stage one at the library in Ballymahon, and possibly also as part of the 'festival fringe' at next month's RTE All Ireland Drama Festival in Athlone.
She has no set routine in terms of when she works on her paintings.
“Because I live on my own, I don’t have to answer to anyone. If I’m in the mood to paint, I’ll drop everything and paint. If I’m going to bed at 11 o’clock, and I don’t have work in the morning and can’t sleep, I'll get up and paint.”
Her native Ballymahon will see the opening of the massive Center Parcs holiday village at Newcastle Wood in this summer.
Avril grew up beside the forest and painted Newcastle House as part of her portfolio for the College of Art and Design. Overall, she thinks Center Parcs will be a positive addition to the area.
“I think it’s great for the community. Ok, I’m sad to see some of (the forest) go, but it’s the way forward and it’s for our children and grandchildren.”
She walked around the holiday village last week and was very impressed.
“The cabins are like something from 'Little House on the Prairie', and the outdoor pool is just like a lake, with trees hanging over it and steam coming up from it.”
Avril's other interests include gardening, baking, and, not least, travel. Her home in Ballymahon won a 'best garden in Longford' award two years ago.
“I'd spend all day in the garden,” she says. “I bake, and I have a table at the Christmas fair in Abbeyshrule every year. I make Christmas puddings, jams, chutneys...
“And I love to travel. Two or three times a year I’d go (on trips). I’ve taken in nearly every country. The nicest one I went to was Iceland, a few years back. I went to see the geysers erupting.
“When I go to different places, I have to meet the locals, live the way they live, and eat what they’re eating.
“I wouldn't be the sort of Irish person who goes looking for an Irish pub. That’s not me. The idea of going to these countries is to get a feel for the place,” she concludes.