Navan artist's Bray exhibition

Navan artist, Carol O'Connor's solo exhibition takes place in Signal Arts Centre, Bray from 28th January to 10th February. Carol has a BA honours degree from the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland. Prior to this she worked for a number of years as an administrator in the Toradh Gallery and as a youth arts worker. She has had three solo exhibitions in Ireland, most recently in 2009 in the Solstice Arts Centre in Navan and in the Watergate gallery in Kilkenny in 2010. She won the 'Going Solo' art award from Meath County Arts Office in 2009 and she has work in the collections of Axa Insurance, the Office of Public Works, Meath Co Council and Bank of Ireland. She explains: "My work has arisen out of a need to paint. It is a personal response to the world I perceive. It attempts to describe through colour and images, a sense of longing, the need to feel secure and the desire to escape. Colour plays an important role and images which appear to be playful are often filled with emptiness and a feeling of loss. Real and fantasy worlds collide in an effort to evaluate and draw some meaning from an often perplexing and increasingly chaotic world." "The work in the exhibition 'A Longing' stems from two years of work and is the first major body of work since my degree show at NCAD. The paintings represent all that has happened to me in that time and also reflect my view of the broad and accelerating changes in the world around us. Colour plays a pivotal role in reflecting desires, fantasies and the hope for an optimistic future. Images are collected from magazines, papers etc and are often inspired by literature, news stories and personal experiences." Opening Reception: Sunday 3rd February 3pm - 5pm ; Gallery Opening Hours: Tuesday to Friday: 10am - 1pm/2pm - 5pm; Saturday/Sunday: 12pm - 5pm.