A one-man art boom in the Donegal wilds

Opening a gallery in the middle of recession, in a remote town 17 miles from a cash machine – well, it worked for Glencolmcille artist Conal McIntyre, he tells MARY PHELAN

LIVING OUR DREAMS, daring to do what we most wish for, the struggle between inspiration, aspiration and harsh reality – it’s something most of us grapple with in the course of our lives, and never more so than in moments of uncertainty. The current crisis, with all its psychological, social and economic baggage, has left most people battening down the hatches, treading carefully, taking the cautious approach.

With money tight, and everyone thinking at least twice before they make any purchase deemed non-essential, opening a new art gallery in a remote rural area would seem, at this moment in time, a somewhat foolhardy undertaking, entirely out of synch with the zeitgeist.

This, however, is exactly what Donegal artist Conal McIntyre has done. And, amazingly, it has been an astounding success.

Having trained in Limerick and London, McIntyre returned to his native Glencolmcille, in Co Donegal, almost 20 years ago. He spent almost a decade living abroad, doing development work in Sudan and then teaching art at the American school there. His time in Khartoum resulted in some stunning line drawings and portraits, the minimal materials capturing starkly the strength and striking beauty of local features, as well as making a virtue of necessity by dispensing with the need for sophisticated art materials.

When he settled back into his native Glencolmcille turf, he and his wife renovated a rundown house, and he built a studio and began to paint. Unsurprisingly, it was the dramatic local landscape that provided his primary inspiration. Wild Donegal vistas have always been hugely appealing to artists, and over the past decade or so, since the peace process began, many artists have settled in the county.

Conal McIntyre didn’t much engage with the wider arts world, teaching, painting (mostly in oils) and exhibiting locally. He got the odd commission and sold pictures from his garden studio, on the road to the deserted village of Port, close to the recent landslide. “But,” he says, “there was not a lot of marketing involved.”

He dreamed of having a solo exhibition, but such opportunities were few and far between in southwest Donegal. Meanwhile, the work in the garden studio was beginning to pile up.

Earlier this year McIntyre noticed a recently built but vacant retail premises, the like of which now sport “to let” signs all over the country. A clean, bright, white space with a simple wooden floor and big windows, it had been a craft shop. Despite the prevailing gloom, McIntyre decided to give it a go and convert it into a gallery.

“To be honest, I really didn’t give the economic climate all that much thought” he says. “I knew it wasn’t a good time to do it. But it wasn’t a good time to be doing it in the garden either. Yes, I was taking a risk, but really I didn’t do a whole lot of agonising about it. The premises were there, it was something I had always wanted to do. This was a now-or-never moment. So, recession or no recession, I was going to take it.”

The owner was happy to lease it for the summer, so McIntyre installed spotlights, put batons on the wall and there it was: The Glen Gallery.

“The main investment was in terms of my time,” says McIntyre. “Obviously I was going to have to cover the rent and overheads. The biggest risk was not selling at all, and not covering my costs.”

His DIY approach to exhibiting has been a huge success. The Glen Gallery opened at the beginning of June and closed this month, with very little work left unsold. McIntyre sold almost all of the 35-plus pieces he first showed, and also created new work in the space. The sight of him painting in the gallery has been a feature of life in Glencolmcille this summer, and his engaging personal manner made the gallery an open and attractive social arena, drawing in people of all ages and backgrounds, locals and tourists.

HIS PAINTINGS, stylistically quite diverse, range from representational landscapes through to abstract and semi-abstract works. McIntyre is blessed with a spectacular local area, with Slieve League, some of the highest sea cliffs in Europe, three times as high as the Cliffs of Moher, just down the road. They feature regularly in his work.

The nature of the local tourist industry, if such it can be called, probably also worked in his favour. Glencolmcille is not exactly a peak destination. Tour buses, though some do occasionally come, are not the mainstay of the local tourist industry.

The isolated village – the nearest bank machine is some 17 miles away in Killybegs – attracts a different kind of tourist. It is a place for independent travellers with a fondness for the wilderness: hillwalkers, cyclists, those who love nature – and, most significantly in the language of the marketeers, “cultural tourists”.

Many of these are drawn to Glencomcille by Oideas Gael, the innovative Irish college, geared to adults, which draws around 200 people each week over the summer. Oideas Gael’s clients, many of them from abroad, who return year after year, are vital to the local economy and the continuing cultural vibrancy of the area.

McIntyre’s pricing policy – between €200 and €500 – no doubt also helped, making original artworks accessible.

So who bought art in Glencolmcille this summer? Everybody, it would seem. Locals and visitors, young and old, Irish and foreigners.

“It really did vary, and I was really surprised, pleasantly surprised,” McIntyre says. “Very few people arrived with the intention of buying art. They came in to have a look. Some people bought straight away, others came back again and again, having another look. Some even bought a couple of pieces.”

As the red dots increased, McIntyre found himself having to fill in the gaps on the walls with new work, and the sight of him painting in the gallery sparked conversation and extra atmosphere.

“Obviously I’m really delighted, as well as being somewhat flabbergasted,” he says. “I’m already making plans for next year. As well as a great shot in the arm financially, it has given me the artistic confidence to do more of what I really like doing for next year. I will be very busy painting over the winter and am determined to open the gallery again next year.”

There are few in the arts world so galvanised by positivity right now, but the gallery’s success suggests potential creative uses for some of the empty property littering the country. And it underlines the significance of art in people’s lives, perhaps especially in times of hardship.