In Pictures: Johnny Boyle’s paintings inspired by poet Francis Harvey on display

There was a fantastic turnout for the opening of Glenties artist Johnny Boyle’s exhibition of paintings inspired by the poetry of the late Francis Harvey. Click on the arrows to see Siobhan McNamara's photos of the event.

Members of the Boyle and Harvey families were joined by friends and well wishers in the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, on Friday, January 17.

The Light on the Stones in the Rain is a fitting title for an exhibition which is deeply rooted in and inspired by the landscape of Donegal.

Both men have drawn from the wildness and beauty of the Bluestack Mountains and south and west Donegal in their respective art forms. Johnny Boyle has a wonderful eye for capturing the way in which the changing light and colour draws the eye to specific elements. Francis Harvey’s poetry is unflinchingly intimate in its conveyance of the people and place of rural Donegal, in all its weathers and moods, its rawness and its beauty. 

READ NEXT: Major €2 million refurbishment planned for Bundoran Waterworld

The exhibition was opened by renowned journalist Gerry Moriarty. 

He told those gathered: “It’s great to be here in Letterkenny, my father’s home town. It’s great too to be with old friends, to be with Johnny and Christine and the family, and the Harvey family.

“This first-rate exhibition of work by Johnny, as you know, is inspired by the poetry of Frank Harvey. It’s a perfect juxtaposition in many ways; firstly because here we have an exhibition of work that takes its cue from a poet who had a pathological antipathy to self-promotion carried out by a painter who is probably Ireland’s most laid-back artist. They were well met.

“And it is the perfect juxtaposition: the painter and the poet. I interviewed Frank a number of times over the years for the Donegal Democrat, the Irish Press and The Irish Times and he was the most reluctant of subjects but I did drag out of him that he wrote to ‘get something out and to leave something behind’.

“And that’s what Johnny does in his paintings, reflecting and seeking to create the images he wants from his own mind’s eye, and in the case of this exhibition taking inspiration from the images that Frank created. Creating art and leaving something behind. And, of course, showing off the landscape of Donegal, particularly of west Donegal, as Frank did in his poetry.

“Late in his life Frank was taken with an article written by William Maxwell called Nearing Ninety, as in 90 years of age. Maxwell was a writer and longtime fiction editor of the New Yorker. He finished his piece with the line: ‘I still like making sentences. Every now and then, in my waking moments, and especially when I am in the country, I stand and look hard at everything.’

“That’s what Frank did in his poetry and that’s what Johnny does in his painting, as exemplified by the work on display here, to stand and look hard at everything. And then, the difficult bit, to find a way of illustrating by writer’s ink or painter’s oil – or acrylic or whatever - what is seen.

“Take what is probably Frank’s most famous poem, In the Light on the Stones in the Rain. The image comes to mind immediately. Anyone from Donegal or who knows the county well is familiar with that special veiled light of Donegal in a soft rain. Johnny knows it too and he takes that image to create his own interpretation of west Donegal in that mysterious light.”

Praising the collection not only as a celebration of the Donegal landscape but of the friendship and affinity between the two artists, Mr Moriarty said of the title poem In the Light on the Stones in the Rain: “I love that poem, particularly its last six lines: ‘I know there are people round here who think/ I’m a bit gone in the head the way/ I keep going on about drystone walls but/ I could go on for as long, or longer/ about old  houses, castles, cathedrals. What I’m gone in the head about is stone.’

“I think Johnny has the same affliction.”

Following Mr Moriarty’s welcoming address, Portnoo poet Charlie Boyle read a number of Francis Harvey’s poems, his wonderful spoken word delivery bringing another dimension to the poems and paintings in the room.

He spoke of having sat down in the preceding days to chat to Johnny Boyle - no relation - about the process of creating the collection. The conversation, he said, would stay with him for all of his life.

“The genius of extracting the written word onto the canvas was mindblowing,” he said.

“It is a labour of love.”

The entertaining evening was rounded off with traditional music performed by two of Johnny’s very talented daughters, Sinead on the flute and Denise on the fiddle.

The Light on the Stones in the Rain exhibition continues in Gallery 2 of the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny until March 1. 

Follow Donegallive.ie for coverage of news, sports and events across Donegal