Local support is everything for John

Fergus Dennehy talks to another of Tralee’s painters in John Hurley this week; John talksa about his huge appreciation for all the local support he has received over the years, what he loves about painting, getting inspiration and his essential advice for

HIS is a shop that I have passed twice a day, every day for the past year and a half and so, when my editor asked me who I had in mind for this weeks interview, my mind drifted to that snug and welcoming premises about 20 feet down the street, to the gallery of one of Tralee’s most recognisable painters, one John Hurley.

John, who is a Dublin man originally, but whose father hails from Kenmare and mother-in-law from Fenit has been living and working in Kerry for nigh on 20 years now; two decades on from deciding to give up his permanent and pensionable job in the AIB in Dublin and take a chance on his passion for painting, John says that he still feels incredibly lucky to be doing what he’s doing.

““I studied art in secondary school in Synge Street and I swear that the only A that I ever got in my life was in Art in the Leaving Certificate. I’ve just been painting ever since on a part-time basis and even while I was still working in the bank, I started to sell a few pieces through various groups and exhibitions, that type of thing,” he said, talking to The Kerryman on Wednesday.

“I’m a graduate of the National College of Art from way back in 1985 and so I just decided to put this degree into practice. All of this, getting the qualification in art from college, just fuelled my interest in it all even more. I started selling my paintings in the 80’s, not to any great degree mind you, but even selling one or two pieces back then, it gave me the encouragement to keep going.”

Keep on going he did and after deciding to walk away from the bank towards the late 90’s, John began to exhibit more and more in different galleries around the country, with one such exhibition here in Kerry providing that final spark needed to take the plunge into full-time painting.

“I had a successful show here in Tralee in what is now the defunct Wellspring Gallery on Denny Street and on the strength of that, in about 2004, I think it was, I decided to take on a premises.”

“My wife, Patricia and I, we opened up the art gallery in January 2005 at 4 Denny Street and we’ve been going 12 strong years now, not withstanding the pressures of the recession of course, that bit us in the behind big time but thankfully in the last few years, things have picked up - we’re still here and surviving!”

Handing me a brochure for his shop, he points out that wriiten on it, he is described as something called a ‘coastal landscaper’ and more importantly, he sees himself as something of an ‘abstract’ artist - a point which, by the enthusiasm in his voice, he takes delight in describing.

“My style is one that is rooted in nature and the sea largely. I would call myself a landscape painter but it would very abstract landscape painting that I would mainly work on,” he continued.

“I work with mixed media, which means I would use more than just your standard oils or acrylic paint. I’d use different things like fabric to create a texture quality to my work and I’ve definitely had some success with that you know?”

“Everything that I do, all of my work, it’s to do with the coast, the beaches, the tide, the waves, everything, it’s what I love. Tralee Bay is where I would get a large part of my inspiration for paintings from, I had an exhibition there in the shop about five to six years ago and I literally just called it ‘Tralee

Bay’, It stretches from Brandon Bay right through to Kerry Head and everything in between, The Maharees, Fenit, the harbour.”

“I’ve sold a lot of work to do with The Skelligs, the Atlantic Ocean and The Wild Atlantic Way. Basically, my inspiration comes from the coastal landscapes and the coastal environment in and around Tralee Bay. I live in Ballyroe so I’m always in and out to Banna. Banna is a place that I name check in a lot of my work.”

After interviewing another local artist in Jane Hilliard a few weeks ago and learning about her process of painting, I was curious to hear how John went about the process of creating a painting. When asked, he jokingly admits that even he’s not sure how it all works.

“The coast is a starting point for me, I would start a painting and I wouldn’t really be too sure about where it’s leading but I’d let the it take its own route and a life of its own and this will lead me to a point where I’m either happy or unhappy with the finished piece.”

“I do most of my work in studio and I would, on occasion, take reference photos of the places I’d paint, for examples the lighthouse on Fenit Island but largely for most of my work, I work mainly from my head.”

“I like the journey involved in it all, I start off with the kernel of an idea. I know that it’s going to be a seascape of some description but like I was saying, I’m never sure of where I’m going to go, what its going to be or how I’ll get there. Sometimes, I am suprised at how I got to the point where I have a nice fresh piece framed in front of me,” he chuckled.

“A lot of people of my work tends to be contemplative, in the sense that people tend to just get lost in it. I like to think that it suggests things rather than tell people exactly what it is and it allows them room to get in under the skin of the work in a way.”

Talk turns back to the 12 successful years that John has had in his premises at 4 Denny Street (3A, if you’re being precise, he says) and to say that he is emphatic in his love for the locality would be an understatement.

Simply put, John loves Tralee and he is hugely grateful for the support that it has given his town and business over the years.

“It’s the people locally that have supported me most of all and allowed me to make a sustainable career out of it. I’m still open, I’m still surviving, all with the invaluable support of my wife Patricia who’s helped me to run the business all these years.”

“My proudest commission would have been for the Manor West Hotel where they kitted out virtually the whole hotel with my work, that was during the good old years, back in 2007/2007 I think it was.”

“Kerry and Tralee has been very good to me from a financial point of view and from a landscape point of view aswell and sure I’ve been down here so long that I’m half a Kerry man by now anyway, a naturalised Kerryman.”

“To get a local commission of that stature and to get such recognition from local established businesses, this was hugely important to me, it made me feel very proud,” he continued.

As a side note, to his delight, I tell him of the pride of place that my own mother has in his paintings, displaying one of his works proudly above the mantlepiece at home.

““Well, isn’t that nice to hear! Thanks for that, it’s those kind of things that keep us going and energise us.”

“This a passion of mine, it’s just something I need to do. It’s therapeutic and frustrating in equal measures but when a piece works out to satisfactory end, there’s a great reward in it, separate to selling the piece and I’m so delighted that I could make a career out of it.”

“I think when Jane described it as an ‘obsession’, she was dead right – keeping the energy levels and passions up for so long can be difficult at times but it something that I’d be lost without if I couldn’t do it.”

“The nature of the abstract work that I do is let piece have a life of its own – intuition plays a large part in how I paint and I take risks all the time with my work, some which don’t always turn out well but when they do turn out well, it can be very satisfying.”

John’s gallery is located at 4 Denny Street and he says that you can’t miss it.

“Come in and have a browse - I’m always happy to talk about the work and it’s just great to see people enjoying it,” he finished.

To get a local commission of that stature and to get such recognition from local established businesses, this was hugely important to me. It made me feel very proud.