John Short: Dalkey Visual Record & Other Works | 1 April - 31 December 2020

As soon as the strict COVID-related travel restrictions were introduced in Ireland on 29 March 2020 John Short began using his daily 2km permitted walk to make a visual record of his neighbourhood under 'lockdown'. Luckily for Short, his house and studio lie in the picturesque and historic town of Dalkey in Co. Dublin, known for its many medieval castles, grand Victorian architecture and superb coastal vistas overlooking Dublin and Killiney Bays. Using both sketchbook drawings and photography, Short made quick observations on his walks and then returned to his garden studio to paint the watercolours. John began sharing his daily paintings via Instagram and on the wildly popular local community Dalkey Open Forum Facebook page. The response was overwhelmingly positive from both locals and ex-pats worldwide and Jamie Gill of Gill's Opticians generously offered to hang a selection of works in his shop windows. When lockdown travel restrictions were lifted the series was postponed but with the introduction of a second lockdown in Oct/Nov, the watercolours started to appear again! To date, John has created 37 original watercolour paintings and 16 limited edition prints.

Between 4 - 7th December an exhibition was held in Dalkey's Town Hall which included the Visual Record series, plus a number of larger original paintings of Dun Laoghaire, Sandycove and Killiney also painted this year. The show was a great success and all works can still be viewed and purchased here in our online viewing room with unframed prints also available for shipping worldwide.

As we move into 2021 John continues with his lockdown creations. The newest additions to his ongoing study of Dalkey are his delightful 3D figures of winter sea-swimmers. John has been producing unique 3D pieces of his drawings for some time largely in mixed media, cardboard and fabric. This new departure utilises salvaged sheet metals - copper (recycled from hot water cylinder boilers and easily workable) is cut, folded and painted in John's unmistakable style.

For further details please telephone +353 1 6724429

"Since March this year I have been using the opportunity to work on a project creating a collection of watercolour drawings of views of Dalkey. Very quickly it turned into an attempt to lift the mood during lockdown. I have Dalkey Open Forum on Facebook to thank as it became the platform to show these works, often in daily posts, and I was delighted that they stimulated quite a positive following both from residents of Dalkey and surprisingly many Dalkey ex-pats around the world. In all, my ‘Dalkey Visual Record’ consisted of thirty watercolours and such was the response that I published a series of fourteen of them as a range of limited edition prints which are available to view below.

I’m including in this exhibition some other locally inspired larger works which I have been working on during this year.

Among others who live in Dalkey whom I have to thank are Tara Murphy, Director of Solomon Fine Art who is hosting this exhibition, Barry Dunne and Ken for picture framing and Jamie Gill of Gill’s Opticians who generously displayed a mini exhibition in his shop windows."

FRAMING

Framing of prints is available through Barry's Art & Framing Service in Dalkey. Depending on size, the cost is approximately €140 + VAT. We can deliver unframed prints directly to the workshop if required.

More details: Barry's Art & Framing, Rere 2A St Patrick's Road, Dalkey / tel: 086 6860510

BIOGRAPHY

John Short is from Fife in Scotland and is a graduate of Edinburgh College of Art and the Royal College of Art, London where he was awarded a travelling scholarship, the Berger Colour Prize and the Royal College of Art Drawing Prize. He worked for many years as a freelance illustrator in London and Ireland for various publications, including commissions from The Sunday Times, Harpers & Queen, Vogue, The Irish Times and The Sunday Independent. He has also had his illustrations published by Walker Books and Random House Group. A former Senior Lecturer in Drawing and Imagemaking at the School of Creative Arts, Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin, John recently retired from third level-teaching in order to concentrate on painting from his Dalkey-based studio full-time.

He contributes his paintings and prints to many gallery group and solo exhibitions including the Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, the Irish Watercolour Annual Exhibition, The Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh, Solomon Fine Art, Dublin and V Gallery in Shanghai, China. Short’s distinctively joyous and highly original watercolours have earned him multiple Irish & international awards, including the prestigious 2012 Artist Prize at the Royal Watercolour Society in London and the Arnott’s National Portrait Award here in Ireland. His work can be found in numerous public and private collections such as the Áras an Uachtaráin, Department of Foreign Affairs, Bank of Ireland, the Shelbourne Hotel and Berger Paints. Most recently he completed a specially commissioned suite of prints for the King’s Inn Law Library in Dublin.

He is currently working on a collection of drawings, paintings and sculptures for a solo exhibition at Solomon Fine Art, Dublin in July/August 2020.