Pat Gillen

Artist’s profile

From the beginning:                                                                                                                 

Pat Gillen was born in 1957 on a small farm in the town land of Killerry in county Sligo, Ireland.

He is an artist, painter and sculptor. His paintings are mostly oil on canvas and his sculptures turn out mainly in wood, stone and steel.

Pat says he has a vague memory from his very early infancy, while sitting on his mother’s lap, of squiggling with his fingers through some milk that had been spilled on a stool. “I wonder was this where my art began”.

Another story from his early childhood tells us about a neighbour; Pat Connor who was visiting on a winter night (dark outside, curtains closed).

Pat Connor probably filled with so many questions from the 3 / 4 year old, got a piece of paper and showed him how to draw a horse and said for him to copy this on another piece of paper. Pat Connor’s comment on the young artist’s efforts “Oh, that’s toppin “ was the first encouragement that started Pat off as an artist: drawing horses on every scrap of paper that he could find: Sugar bags were a brown textured paper, the inside of cornflakes boxes (which he still draws on) and many more kinds of paper. “I think my journey as an artist started from the moment I was born”.

Background:                                                                                                                             

Pat studied art and design at Sligo IT from 1975 to 1979 where he obtained a diploma in fine art. During his time in art school he studied jewellery design, pottery and print-making; block and screen printing,

The artist has won many competitions from when he was nine years old to recent years. He has had many group and solo exhibitions and his work has been much sought after by private collectors around the world.

While during the early years it was difficult to make a living from his art, Pat worked in a global manufacturing organization for many years. Here he gained a lot of experience of organizational structure, working with people and manufacturing technology. During these years, he always made time for his much loved art practices.      

Artist’s influence:                                                                                                                                         

As an artist living in the west of Ireland, Pat counts himself blessed with the rich landscape around him. Mountains, woodland, rivers, lakes, seashore and ancient monuments.

“The landscape; the environment in which we live, embraces everything in nature: space, light, wind, warm, cold, time of day/night, seasons, and, I suppose much more including the things we can touch, pick up in our hands. smell, taste etc”.

Of course human intervention such as ancient monuments, tillage, turf-cutting, roads, towns and cities also form part of the landscape and feature in his art,

Utilitarian objects; mugs, bottles, oil lamps and much more feature in his still life paintings and old farm machinery feature in some of his sculptures.

The human figure, whether heavily dressed to endure the elements or making every muscle and bone visible on the beach or perhaps just out for a walk on a hot summer day, is always treated with respect wherever they appear in his paintings and sculptures.

Growing up on a small farm in rural Ireland has had a profound influence on Pat’s art. He has great memories of the seasonal work, such as mowing the meadow, saving the hay, setting and harvesting potatoes, Sowing and reaping oats, the thresher. Bringing home the turf, thatching the stack. Even as a child, he can remember the feeling of security when all was gathered into the haggard. The autumn winds began to blow and the dark clouds began to curl.

Other influences such as events from the past; distant and some not too distant.

His reactions to a poem or a story that he may have read.

“My art is not just something that develops in my brain or create with my hands. It comes from deep down in the centre of my body, my gut, my deepest inner being.

With all these influences, the main reason why Pat creates his art is to express his most inner thoughts and concepts into physical entity that he can look at it, colour it, shape it, smell it, touch it and share it with others.

Pat finds that he must work along with the spirit of the various materials that he uses. Recognising what limits they will have, what the material will and will not allow him to create. “Steel may be flat, round or box section. This will dictate the design to some extent, and so I will create a sculpture around this. Wood for example may have a distinctive knot or an interesting grain; so I will consider how I will involve this to its best potential, allowing the material to have a voice of its own. Whatever the material, always respect it and be kind to it”.