Mike Bernard

Born in Liverpool 1946. Studied at Liverpool College of Art. Settled in Mayo in 1976, where he lives and works from his Studio overlooking Clew Bay.

“My studio looks out towards the end of my backyard – it’s called Achill and it is thirty odd miles away. There is enough subject matter around me to paint for several lifetimes, but it’s still interesting to explore exotic places like Roscommon, Sligo and Connemara. Never mind the calendar – Spring comes over the “Black Hill” on Jan 3rd at 12.20 and moves like an hour hand from then on into the neon colours of high summer (‘Clooneach’), the rambling humid colours of ‘Crack’ into the stillness of ‘Killary’ Painting something as it looks is good… painting a thing as it feels is even better, painting both at the same time is more difficult but ultimately more satisfying. It’s about reaction – mine and yours… mine, to what is around me and how I react to it in the form of paint on canvas, the language of colours and shapes, light and shade and if you are then drawn into the invitation that is the painting, then the process is complete. It’s not possible to live here in the West without being absorbed into the landscape. It glares at you and demands to be noticed.” Mike Bernard 2008

Selected Exhibitions since 1980: Independent Artists, RHA Summer Exhibitions, Ten Realist Painters at Sligo Arts Festival, RHA Banquet Exhibition, Oireachtas, Western Artists Exhibitions, Arnotts National Portrai tExhibitions. Guinness Peat Awards Claremorris Open Exhibitions, annually. Prizewinner on two occasions: COE Prize winners Touring Exhibition; Kilcock Art Gallery Annually. Irish Contemporary Art Exhibition, Omaha, Nebraska USA, 2004 “Get Real” 2008 at Kenny Gallery Galway

Selected Solo Exhibitions: Kilcock Art Gallery Co. Kildare, 1990, 93, 2005, 2008. Liverpool City of Culture 2008, Unity Arts Centre, May 2008 Appleloft Gallery Easkey, Co. Sligo, 2004 Andrew Stone Gallery, Westport, 2000 Carroll Gallery, Longford, 1999 Linen Hall Arts Centre, Castlebar, 1999 Hallward Gallery, Dublin, 1996 Kenny Gallery, Galway, 1989 Tom Caldwell Gallery, Dublin and Belfast, 1984

Public and Private Collections: OPW, Office of An Taoiseach, Guinness Peat Aviation, Renvyle House Hotel Sligo Park Hotel, Michael Cosgrove, Ivan Durcan, Tony Ryan Brian O’Halloran & Associates, Noel Kavanagh Super Valu, Livingstone-Jones Collection, Wales. Brian Burns Irish Contemporary Art Collection San Francisco Private Collections in Ireland, Europe, U.S.A and Japan.