Kate Beagan in her studio Photo: facebook

LOCAL ARTIST TIPPED FOR ART BUYERS
Michael Fisher

At her studio beside her house in Donaghmoyne overlooking the fairways of the Manaan Castle golf course, artist Kate Beagan is busy preparing to exhibit her work in London and Dublin in the coming months. She concentrates on painting contemporary landscapes, inspired by scenes close to where she lives. Old houses and fields provide the inspiration for much of her work. As she spoke to me, she was working on a large canvas.
This type of oil painting takes a couple of weeks to complete. Some have been sold privately such as a Carrickmacross street scene. Others have been sold to clients in the public sector such as the Office of Public Works, which bought eight of her paintings, and the business sector including a bank. Kate’s family home where she grew up was close by and she went to the St Louis Convent in Carrickmacross. She went to art college in Galway but did not finish her degree. She emigrated to Australia, where she spent ten years before returning to Ireland. Kate is married to Kevin and they have two daughters in their early 20s and a son aged 17. Twelve of her paintings will be displayed at the affordable art fair in Battersea Park in London in March and will also be shown in Hampstead in June.

Carrickmacross painting Photo: © Kate Beagan

Her other main project is preparing for a solo exhibition in April at the Doorway Gallery in Dublin, with the theme ‘I came upon a place’. Another exhibition is due  to be held in Mullingar in September. In the past her works have been displayed in Amsterdam, Brussels, New York, Newcastle on Tyne and London. But she believes Monaghan as a county could give more support to the visual arts, as literature and theatre seem to get more attention. She is hoping to set up a visual arts festival with workshops during the weekend of the Patrick Byrne festival in Carrick at the end of March. Kate has also produced some work for charity. She is one of two County Monaghan artists contributing to the ‘Pig Parade’ next month in aid of the Jack and Jill foundation, but that work is still under wraps at the moment. She is also contributing work for a Paolo Tullio cookbook that will be sold to raise funds for schools in Nepal. In 2007 she illustrated the book ‘Monaghan: County of the Little Hills’, authored by Brian Deery. It seems her star is very much in the ascendant as she is due to be included in an art buyers’ catalogue as one of four or five Irish artists tipped by the auction houses to invest in. So Kate is hoping that 2015 will prove to be a good year.

Carrickmacross News, Northern Standard 14/01/15