See an exhibition by Jo Ashby at Cork Airport this June!
The ebb and flow of arrivals and departures at Cork Airport will echo the beautiful sea and landscapes of Sherkin Island artist, Jo Ashby. Her solo exhibition, ‘Heading West’ opens at the airport on Saturday 1st June and runs until 28th June.
Jo Ashby’s work is rooted in observation and drawing, capturing the patterns and rhythms of nature; in particular, the changing sea and landscapes of Sherkin island in Roaring Water Bay, WestCork.
She works in series, investigating and exploring a particular aspect of the landscape or sea, such as patterns on the water surface, how the wind and weather impact on sea, trees and landscape, or the effect of light playing on water.
Jo first came to Sherkin Island over twenty five years ago, where she has a home and studio. She has consistently drawn her inspiration from the coast, having spent time in her early years with her artist parents in Cornwall and Devon. Coming to Sherkin and West Cork has enabled her to develop further her visual relationship with land and sea.
“My work is all about my responses to being in a particular place and getting to know it in all its guises from repeated small sketches and allowing my memory to crystallize my thoughts,” she said.
“I’m interested in the patterns of nature, when land and sea meet sky and the complexities of sharp focus and detail with softened wider horizons and blurred edges. It makes you realise how insignificant we humans are. I am a small speck finding ways to record transient moments of vastness.”
Jo has exhibited widely in the UK and Ireland. She has won numerous awards and prizes and is an elected Member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists. She was invited to have a solo exhibition at Cork Airport after successfully curating the Taste of West Cork Festival ‘West Cork Creates’ showcase exhibition at Cork Airport in 2017.
Jo will also curate the 2019 exhibition when it returns to Cork Airport in August to show work by creatives from across West Cork and to signpost visitors to the main annual West Cork Creates exhibition in Skibbereen.
“There is a palpable creative energy in West Cork. Sherkin Island, in particular, has a thriving community of artists and crafts people inspired by the breath-taking scenery and sense of space and peace there,” Jo said.
The Sherkin Island community is currently preparing for its annual ‘Samhraidh le Cheile’ art exhibition as part of West Cork Islands Festival from 13th – 24th June when Jo and other island artists will open their studios to visitors.
