AWARD FOR WEXFORD ARTIST WHO PUT TRAIL BLAZERS IN THE FRAME
CASTLEBRIDGE-BORN illustrator Lauren O’Neill has won an An Post Irish Book Award for her work on ‘Blazing a Trail – Irish Women Who Changed the World’ written by Sarah Webb and published by O’ Brien Press.
The book shines a light on remarkable Irish women who have shaped the country we live in, from the nationalist Maud Gone, rebel leader Countess Markievicz and pioneering aviator Lilian Bland to the Enniscorthy-born designer Eileen Gray, the artist Mainie Jellett and President Mary Robinson.
‘Blazing a Trail’ also includes future world shapers such as the actor Saoirse Ronan, the scientists and business women Annie and Kate Madden and the boxer Katie Taylor.
It won the Children’s Book Award (Senior) at a glamorous awards ceremony held in the Clayton Burlington Hotel, Dublin where Lauren got to walk the red carpet in true celebrity style.
‘I was mostly just excited to be invited so I was a bit shocked to take home an award at the end of the night, to be honest’, said the Wexford woman who attended the Presentation secondary school before studying at Waterford Institute of Technology and the National College of Art and Design where she obtained a degree in Visual Communications.
‘But the whole Blazing team put so much time and effort into the project, that I was delighted to see it acknowledged’, she said.
Lauren worked as a graphic designer in studios around Dublin for several years but always took an ‘illustrative’ approach to her design projects so she gradually found her way into illustration and eventually became confident enough to go out on her own as a full-time illustrator.
‘My years working in studios were invaluable for learning how to run a business and communicate with clients and it gave me the opportunity to explore my own style through different commercial projects and personal work. I don’t think I would be succeeding otherwise’, she said.
Lauren was asked to illustrate the ‘Blazing a Trail’ book by O’ Brien Press as she had worked on a few earlier projects with the publishing company and they felt her style would be a good fit.
‘Sarah already had most of the writing and research done when they approached me about doing the illustrations so I had a good sense of what they were looking to achieve and was really excited to collaborate with her on it’ said Lauren. ‘I’d never worked with her before but she was so passionate about the subject matter that it really rubbed off on me. We met a few times after that but would mostly share ideas and feedback via email, working closely with the editor Aoife K. Walsh and in-house designer Emma Byrne, who finally put the whole book together. It was over a year in the making, from initial briefing to the date of publication’.
Lauren said she was given creative licence with the characters and was able to be interpretive with the illustrations. ‘ We really wanted to give a sense of their achievements and personalities, as opposed to just your basic portraits’.
‘Irish history is full of real-life inspirational women who have shaped the country and world we live in. These illustrations are my tribute to just a few of them and they are my own interpretations of their everyday lives, their passions, personalities and achievements. I hope they’ll give young readers a sense of what it means to be a trailblazer and inspire them to change the world in their own unique way’, Lauren wrote in the foreword to the book.
Pressed to pick her own favourite character, she chose the story of the surgeon Dr. Margaret Bulkley as one of the most interesting for her.
Born in 1799, Margaret was one of the first women in the world to study medicine and be- come a doctor, more than 50 years before women were allowed to attend college.
From Cork, she was a niece of the Irish painter James Barry and when her father was put in prison for not paying his bills, Margaret and her mother and sister moved to London where she met her uncle’s friends, including General Francisco de Miranda, who was a revolutionary from Venezuela.
Margaret wanted to become a surgeon and join General Miranda’s military campaign, so using her inheritance and presenting herself as a man, she studied medicine at Edinburgh University.
She later joined the British Army, taking the name ‘Dr. James Barry’ and living ‘James’ for the rest of her life.
Margaret became a Medical Inspector in South Africa and performed one of the first caesarian sections in the world where the mother and the baby survived.
It was only after she died that it was discovered she was a woman. This shocked the British Army which cancelled plans for a military funeral.
However, if Lauren had to pick her favourite illustration from the book, it would have to be that of the renowned designer and architect Eileen Gray whose work is on show at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks, Dublin.
‘Blazing a Trail’ is not Lauren’s first awards triumph as she also illustrated ‘Gulliver’ a modern re-telling of the classic tale Gulliver’s Travels by Mary Webb and also published by O’ Brien Press, which won the Children’s Books Ireland Honour Award for Illustration in 2016.
‘ That did wonders for my confidence as a children’s illustrator, in particular’, she said.
Apart from children’s books, Lauren is also busy with other types of work including adult publishing and she draws the character Aisling for the Oh My God What a Complete Aisling books by Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen who were also winners at the recent Irish Book Awards.
She does editorial work for magazines and character design for animation as well as illustration for music posters, packaging, advertising and generally anything that requires pictures.
She was the lead character designer on Elton John’s official Rocket Man video last year. ‘I was so star struck to be working on it’, she confessed.
Lauren lives in Dublin with her husband Donal Walsh, also from Wexford, and often hosts drawing workshops for children.
A daughter of James and Annette O’ Neill, she makes regular return visits to Wexford to catch up with family and friends who are all very proud of her award-winning achievements.