Family friends indulged in a bit of nostalgia at an opening in the Peppercanister Gallery in Dublin this week. The work of Breon O'Casey, son of the playwright Sean O'Casey, was on view. The sculptor and painter, who lives in Penzance, came with his family, including his wife, Doreen, daughter Oona Connell, and his granddaughter, Isabel Connell (9).
His sister, Shivaun O'Casey, the only daughter of Sean O'Casey, was at the opening, with a film crew recording the proceedings. Their work will form part of a 90-minute film about her father, to be called Under a Colored Cap. "I'm not as clever as my father but I have other qualities," she said. "I can be quite patient, and he was. I have a bit of a sense of humour. His was greater. I think he passed that on to us. That got them through a lot of tough times." When asked to pick her favourite play, she said if she could direct and if her brother could design it, she would choose Cock-A-Doodle Dandy.
The exhibition was opened by Cormac O'Malley, a New York lawyer and son of the late Ernie O'Malley. He praised Breon O'Casey's decision to "concentrate [in his paintings\] on the use of colour and design . . . His use of colour is very soft, very earthy". In his sculptures, "he has been able to catch just the essence in the line by a basic stroke of genius. He has caught a marvellous spirit."
Breon recalled his first show in Dublin in Brown Thomas "in a tiny gallery like a little theatre". Friend and fellow artist Tony O'Malley commented on their "odd lives going down to the studio to do battle with bits of hardened clay".
There also were fond memories of Breon's mother, Eileen O'Casey. Helen O'Hanlon remembered her as "a great character, she was full of fun and very glamorous. She always wore Breon's jewellery. It was to die for."
Another family friend, Patricia McHugh, widow of the late Prof Roger McHugh, said Eileen O'Casey "was a great flirt . . . She would not let anyone see her unless she was looking superb. Even in old age she was beautiful."
Artist Conor Fallon, who went to live in Penzance in Cornwall along with O'Casey and O'Malley in the 1960s, is "one of Breon's oldest friends". Watch out for the three large bronze horses he has sculpted, which are currently being erected in City West in view of the N7. Fallon believes Breon O'Casey, who became a full-time sculptor "only recently", has been "hugely consistent" in his work, while his jewellery designs are in many museums, he explained.
The show runs at the Peppercanister Gallery at 3 Herbert Street until September 21st.