EXCITING BOOST FOR LOCAL ARTIST
CARLINGFORD ARTIST’S WORK PICKED TO ADORN THE NODE APARTMENTS
NO expense has been spared in kitting out the Node, billed as a ‘Friends’ like living experience which was unveiled in Dublin last week.
And among the artwork featured on the walls of these co-living apartments, just off Dublin’s Fitzwilliam Square, are prints by Carlingford artist Martina Scott.
She is one of eight Irish artists whose work was selected by the Node curator to adorn the walls of the 52-bedroom residence.
It’s a huge boost for the artist who set up her business at the kitchen table.
Having graduated with a history of art degree in Manchester, Martina turned her hand to print making as her four children got older.
‘I began drawing and making prints as the kids grew up and decided that I want to do something creative,’ she explains.
Martina finds inspiration in the countryside and coast surrounding Carlingford, where she has lived with her family for the past 14 years.
‘I love going up to the forest paths, through the woods and along the Greenwaym’ she says. ‘I love nature and I like to draw what I see, whether it’s wild flowers at the side of the road or plants at the shore. If ever I’m stuck for inspiration, I go for a walk and come back with an idea. That’s what I love about living here, you are never far from the wildness.’
After completing a Start Your Own Busi- ness course, which she found most helpful, Martina began selling her prints in Garrett Mallon’s Carlingford Design House and the F.E. McWilliam Gallery in Banbridge.
‘I then went to Showcase and all of a sudden found that from just having my work in two shops, everyone was getting to see it.’
She attends Showcase each year as well as the National Craft Fair and her work is stocked in the Irish Design Shop and Meadows and Byrnes.