“A sense of place is very important to me,” Sligo-based artist Seán McSweeney tells Brian McAvera ahead of his autumn exhibition at the Taylor Galleries, Dublin.
Brian McAvera: Seán, you are celebrated as a landscape painter yet you grew up in Dublin. In childhood how far were holidays or trips out of the city formative for you?
Seán McSweeney: Yes, they were. Most of the summer holidays were spent in Sligo. For us Sligo was complete freedom, running around with our friends in our bare feet. You’re close to the sea, to animals: I loved looking after the pigs, feeding them, collecting eggs and going to the creamery on the ass and cart. We hated going back to the city. Even the dog knew the day we were leaving! The day before we left the neighbours would come with butter wrapped in cabbage leaves, chickens, and eggs. I think that my memories of Sligo are echoed in those early yellow paintings I made. I’m thinking of White Road to the Sea (Fig 3) which is in IMMA’s collectio
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