A colourful-portal to my arty past

WORDSMITH

Gerard Smith

We look so corporate, like law-graduates – a newspaper cutting from my Art College Graduation turned up on social media, and it’s far from arty we look. I’ve no recollection of it being taken, it’s so contrived and cringey, I probably purposefully blocked it out. We were photobombed by a lady in the background, which is the most creative thing about the image given the term ‘photobomb’ wasn’t coined till the 2000s – that lady and her surreptitious sabotage of the photographer’s image was way ahead of her time.

I look happy in the picture; despite the fact I wasn’t. That day was full of sad goodbyes, heartfelt hugs and promises to, “Keep in touch.” Despite our good intentions, I knew they’d be broken-promises; our student days were over and a new era was beginning. The ‘goodbyes’ would be final, and most of them were.

My college days were hyper-halcyon, I loved them all. Yet, as my art student days approached, much of the world was in the midst of recession; it was a bleak time for Ireland. Cavan was deeply-depressed, and it showed. The town was literally broken, potholes and cracked pavements proliferated; the colour was drained from the place and its people. As many of my peers took the boat to England, I was on the bus to Dublin. With me was a massive backpack full of lovingly laundered clothes and canned foods carefully packed by my mother.

I arrived at a house in the liberties. A man took me to my room. He laid down the house-rules, then left. He must have felt sorry for me, because five minutes later he returned with a transistor radio, it was most welcome as its sound settled my pre-college anxiety.

Nerves rattled me as I walked towards my first day. I didn’t know what to expect; and more so, I wasn’t sure of my talent and worried I might be exposed as a fraud when surrounded by the cream of Ireland’s true creatives.

The main campus of the college was on Thomas Street and, as I approached, I saw all the cool-dudes arriving. Suddenly, I felt incredibly self-conscious in my brown cowl-necked jumper from Patsy Boyle’s.

Once registered and given my student card, I made my way to the concourse where we would be welcomed by the Director and have our first-year group photo taken. I vividly recall my awe at seeing my college class mates for the first time; there was so much big hair and bold eye-liner (and that was just the boys). It was a time when fashion was tribal, and that concourse had them all: punks, goths, new romantics, and when I took my place for the group shot, I added ‘Boyle’s of Cavan’ to the fashion mix. Today, I view my college life through a filter of vivid colour.

And it was vivid colour that brought my college days back to me, when I walked into the Town Hall Arts Space on a sunny Saturday. The current exhibition is by artist Stephen Johnston from County Antrim; and I urge you to go view his work if you’re in Cavan (exhibition runs until May 22). Johnston’s work is so masterfully magnificent it reminded me of a latter-day old-master, like Caravaggio. The exhibition is mostly made up of skilfully rendered still-life paintings, yet it’s the stories in his skill that kept me in the room, looking and thinking.

A portrait of a man held my attention. Exploring the face, I settled on the title ‘Dad'. He looked nothing like my dad, yet he was the spitting image of him: the kind blue eyes and gentle expression conveyed the characteristics of my father and I viewed the picture with positive affection. For me, Johnston’s portrait of his dad embodies every-dad, and that’s testament to the artist’s talent.

While reading the brochure, I noted Johnston was born in 1987, my graduation was 1988, this fact gave me a personal connection to his work and a portal back to my own arty past.

In the reception I bantered with a lovely lady who was manning the exhibition. As she spoke, she sculpted strips of newspaper into fan like shapes that fascinated me. Watching her work, I wished I had the newspaper cutting of my graduation, for she’d have no doubt turned that corporate looking image into something far more fittingly creative.