Dena O'Brien works from a printmaking studio in Camborne. She has led workshops in screen printing at Truro Arts Company (2018).
Toby O'Brien lived at St Buryan, near Penzance. After his death in 2022, the Toby O'Brien Foundation was set up in honour of his memory. This pays the fees for a student to attend the Newlyn School of Art Mentoring Course each year - a course in which Toby had participated in 2018, and which had helped him immensely in his art practice.
John O'Carroll was born in Cornwall, and became a student at Cornwall College of Art. Among his influences at that time were Roy WALKER, Brian INGHAM and Tony O'MALLEY. Much of his adult life has been spent working and exhibiting in America, Mexico and the Netherlands. He spent 23 years as an archaeological illustrator in the Dakhla Oasis in Egypt's Western Desert. The experience fed his imagination, affecting his spatial and visual awareness. Here he began collecting pigments from the desert in order to make his own paints, and developed his own version of an ancient art technique which combines layers of natural pigments with layers of wax.
In 2005 he returned to Cornwall but divides his time between the UK and Egypt, where he is a trustee on the Dakhleh Oasis Project. O'Carroll is currently resident artist at Circle Contemporary at Hawksfield on the A39 near Padstow and Wadebridge.
O'Carroll's work combines modern and natural materials, and makes reference to ancient lost worlds.
Born in London, the son of the Irish playwright Sean O'Casey, Breon became one of the most versatile and highly regarded artists in West Cornwall, and in the St Ives School. He served an apprenticeship to Barbara HEPWORTH as did a number of the sculptors and artists important after WWII, but a twist of the Celtic spirit of adventure entered a wide range of his skills which ncluded painting, printmaking, sculpture, weaving and jewellery, making him the doyen of artist craftsmen working in the area.
In 2008 in Falmouth, the Great Atlantic Arwenack St Gallery showed 14 of his abstract designs in collage, watercolour, gouache and oils, in their memorable show 'The Golden Age of Cornish Art'. He exhibited at Rainyday Gallery, Penzance, and his work was also regularly shown at the Stoneman Gallery, Chapel Street, Penzance.
Included in the main history of the Newlyn Art Gallery edited by Hardie in 1995, to celebrate the centennial of the institution presented to the artists in 1895 by John Passmore-Edward, are extracts and photographs provided by Sheelagh O'Donnell from her MA thesis at Falmouth College of Art (pp 26-7). This was a valuable addition to the research necessary to bring together a well-rounded history of this long-standing public art gallery.
Always a stalwart supporter of NAG and the NSA, Sheelagh was awarded a solo exhibition of her work in the summer of 1981. Then in 1988 she became the organiser for 'Craft Work', a show at NAG to highlight the wide ranging talented craftsmen and women living and working in the south-west of Britain.
Sheelagh was married to the painter Michael O'DONNELL, but the two parted, and for some years Sheelagh lived and worked in Bath, Somerset where she also ran an art gallery. She has now returned to West Cornwall and lives near Ludgvan.
O'Donnell was born in Penzance just after WWII, and studied art at the Bath Academy of Art at Corsham in the sixties. After completing his course there in 1967, he taught for two years in Sussex then worked in London on design projects.
Michael has worked in various Art Schools including the Falmouth College of Arts and was involved with the development of a number of Arts organisations and initiatives, includingTate St. Ives, the Leach Restoration Project, and South West Arts in Exeter (as outlined below). He was closely associated with the original Trewarveneth Studio in Newlyn for over 30 years, while also maintaining his own studio focused entirely on his drawings and paintings. Since 2000 he has worked solely and full-time on his own artwork. Throughout his long career he has exhibited widely in every part of the United Kingdom. His paintings can be seen in various churches in west Penwith, and his work has been exhibited abroad, including Italy, France and Japan.
1985-7 - South West Arts, Bradninch Place, Gandy Street, Exeter. [Various Arts Panels,Awards Panels, Management Boards, Exhibition Selection and Hanging Committees, Arts Forum and planning meetings etc..
1987-1988: Elected Member, South West Arts Council of Management working in an advisory capacity to the Executive Board.
1988-1989: Appointed to the Executive Board as a non-executive Director for the Visual Arts and Crafts. Working with Sir Anthony Wilson (Chairman) in setting up the new Regional Arts Board. Member of the South West Arts Appointments Panel.
1989-1992: Member Regional Arts Executive Board, South West Arts.
1992-1994: Appointed Vice-Chairman, Executive Hon Officer to the South West Arts Regional Arts Board in Exeter with responsibilities across all Art Forms on all Executive Matters, throughout the Region. Liaison on National Issues,and planning.
1993-2009: Appointed to the Tate (St. Ives) Advisory Council.
2003-2008: Advocate / Founder member Leach Pottery Restoration Project.
Bart admits to a thoroughly Celtic-fringe personality, born in Wales of Irish stock, but living in Cornwall, and continues to frequent all three countries in his search for roots and subjects. His interest is in the figurative representation of people, their activities and animals, throughout the cycle of the seasonal year.
Trained as an illustrator at Cardiff College of Art (1959-62) and further at the Polytechnic of Wales, Barry (1974-8), his careers have included work in advertising, and teaching, both of which he has given up in order to continue his painting. He works from St Keverne on the Lizard.
Tatiana O'Mahony studied at Moscow Correspondent Public University of Art, following this up with a teaching qualification. She was an art teacher from 1994 to 2004, when she moved to the UK. She is inspired by the contrast between the cosy Cornish cottages and the harsh hills set against the backdrop of the Atlantic.
Irish-born artist (Callan, County Kilkenny) who initially worked in a bank before military service, and created his first oil painting in 1945 (Tate). He came to Cornwall on a painting holiday in 1955 and stayed, living in various places between St Ives and Penzance. Altogether he worked in Cornwall in the Land's End district for more than 30 years.
Latterly (1990) he and his wife Jane O'MALLEY(nee Harris), were drawn home to Ireland though maintaining their friends and memberships in Cornwall, where Tony has been greatly honoured and celebrated as a 'national treasure'. He was especially honoured in 1993 when the President of the Irish Republic, Mary Robinson, made him a Saoi (Aosdana title) presented to only 'Five Living Artists' at any one time. Together Jane and Tony created a rural idyll of a home in extensive laid-out gardens in which their studios and storerooms were contructed. Many Penwith friends, visited them and continue now to make the trip to Kilkenny to pay homage to the memory of a great friend and artist, who had spent the majority of his artistic life in Cornwall.
Canadian painter, born in Montreal, who met and married Irish artist Tony O'MALLEY after meeting him in St Ives in 1969. Jane had attended art school in Canada, and after a bout of travelling, had come to St Ives to attend the School of Art (Phil Whiting Principal). They were both popular in St Ives and West Cornwall, and were also members of NSA and exhibitors at NAG and Penwith Galleries.
Now his widow, Jane lives in the home they built together in Ireland. Her close friends are Breon O'CASEY, Jane SCOTT and many others who travel to Ireland to paint with her. She continues to paint from her home studio and elsewhere, while exhibiting her work widely and at the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, including regularly in West Cornwall at private and public galleries.
In later years she has purchased the childhood home of Tony, and developed this into a well-conceived residential studio for visiting and student artists. On this project she is working with the National Gallery of Ireland who hold a permanent collection of her late husband's work.
Jane returns to Cornwall frequently where she has many friends and colleagues. Her work is exhibited locally at the Yew Tree Gallery near Morvah, and regularly with other Cornish and Irish artists by the Stour Gallery in Warwickshire.
Deborah Udy O'Nyons runs improvised dance and art workshops in Cornwall. Her speciality is portraiture.
Chris O'Reilly had a career in financial services before moving to St Ives in 2016, to concentrate full-time on painting. With no formal art training, he taught himself to paint using a wide variety of mediums.
He is a member of St Ives Arts Club, where he participates in mixed exhibitions, and has held a number of solo shows.
He is represented by Blue Mist Gallery in St Ives, and is a regular exhibitor at STISA open shows.
Flynn O'Reilly graduated from University College Falmouth in Fine Art in 2010. He lives and works in west Cornwall and his paintings have been exhibited in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and in London.
Carol O'Toole is a painter and printmaker who studied Fine Art at Falmouth School of Art and Birmingham School of Art. She has lectured in Art & Design for many years and runs specialist art workshops and masterclasses. She works from a studio on the Roseland peninsula, and exhibits regularly in Cornwall, London and beyond.
The artist uses hand made paper, which she recycles from offcuts and office waste. This is then dyed and stitched together onto fabric.
She has been exhibiting throughout the South West, London, Birmingham and further afield since the mid-1990s.
Christine Oates was born in Bradford, Yorkshire. From 1930 to 1935 she attended her local college of art, then the RCA in London (1935-1939). She began a career in teaching at Ely High School, followed by a school in Lancaster and at Truro High School (1945-1970). Examples of her work are in the collection of the V & A.
She died in Truro.
She exhibits with the Lamorna Valley Group and more information is available at http://www.lamornaartsfestival.co.uk/members.php
Born in Philadelphia, he studied under William Merritt Chase in New York, and Thomas Anshutz at the Pennsylvania Academy.
He is mentioned as a friend of Elmer SCHOFIELD and Julius OLSSON, who painted in St Ives, and had lived and worked in Paris (Julian Academie) at same time as the other two in 1909. Later he taught at the Art Institute of Chicao, and the Pennsylvania Academy. He died in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
At this stage, it isstill speculative as to when and if he worked at his plein-air paintings in Cornwall itself.
After studying at York St John University, Julia Odell spent many years in Yorkshire teaching art, before focussing full-time on her art practice. She now works from Krowji Studios, Redruth, having returned to Cornwall where she spent her childhood.
She is a Harrogate Mercer Open winner and in 2021 exhibited at the RWA Annual Open Exhibition.
Born in Ashton under Lyne, the artist first came to Cornwall in 1965, where he has worked steadily and successfully since. He has been a longtime member of the NSA, and has exhibited widely in Cornwall and the southwest, and also in the north of England. His landscapes and family/domestic scenes are usually figurative, and he maintains a distinctive and recognisable style.
Michelle Ohlson is a printmaker working from KROWJI Studios, Redruth.
At the NAG Exhibition of 1937, Ernest Oldham exhibited Ghosting Home and Departing Shower, Manaccan Cross, two paintings in addition to displays within the Craft section (probably bookplates: not specified). Their bookplates are numerous and designed for many of their fellow artists.
He was married to the painter and bookplate designer Mary OLDHAM, and from family correspondence it seems that the Oldhams lived at the Helford, Helston, Cornwall. A recent image has been shared by Ernest's descendants of a watercolour of Wheal Trewavas and The Lizard (nd). The couple began to exhibit at Newlyn in the 1920s, and remained active until the mid-1950s, when Mrs Oldham was chosen by the Committee to serve the teas at Newlyn Opening Show Days. They are not listed in standard artist indices.
A recent correspondent (2013) has sent this communication:
'I can confirm that Ernest & Mary Oldham lived in Helford Village as I visited
their studio several times, in the 1950s and 1960s which was right by the
footbridge. My mother's family (De Vere Hunt), who were keen sailors with a
cottage in Helford, bought several of Mary's water colours, one of which
hangs in my kitchen, and several prints by Ernest, who also painted water
colours of the Helford Estuary and the Scottish Highlands. Mary also
published prints and a booklet for Helford's War Relief with prints of the
houses of the 5 men from the village who died in the Second World War,
including my uncle, Bunch Hunt.'
An even more recent correspondent (2014) has shared further information:
'My wife Valerie and I were on holiday in 1952 at Gillan. We spent much time walking the footpaths to S.Anthony, Manaccan and Helford. At Helford we came across the little studio beside the stream near the ford and met the Oldhams. We purchased some prints including: Path to Manaccan, The Fig Ttree Manaccan, St Anthony from Gillan. There are some others one of which is a bookmark illustrating the course of the Helford from Gweek to the sea.'
In the 1937 Exhibition at NAG, Mary Oldham exhibited two paintings, Come live with me and Garden in April, Helford. She was best known for designing bookplates (a talent shared by her husband, Ernest OLDHAM) which were exhibited regularly in the craft section at Newlyn. The WCAA have, on loan from the Hypatia Collection of Art, an almost complete series of the Oldham designs.
Tracey Oldham's paintings depict the day-to-day. She has a fascination with the suburban home, the neatly cut grass, and the perfectly polished car on the driveway. She says that this may have developed through her own upbringing, or it may emerge from the dream of living in such a place. Some of her images are a reminder of the past. She finds herself drawn to times and places which represent her childhood.
Oldham is a member of Art Space Gallery, a co-operative group based in St Ives.
The work of this artist is included in the art collection of the University College Falmouth (UCF).
Amy Olds is based in Landrake, near Saltash. She holds a Masters in Fine Arts degree from Manchester Metropolitan University.